CheeseShop, 137 Lodder Lane Riwaka, Nelson (2026)

03/09/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 100 - Krakow

Wandering the Streets

To get ready for the quest ending we've slowed down quite a bit. Today's just another day wandering the streets looking for interesting things and not getting too tired.

The first thing we did was walk through the old Jewish section of town. Plenty of synagogues and sad pieces of history. On the bright side nearby there was an area under the train tracks full of approved graffiti art, which we love.

Other than that just more picture of statues and Barb hunting Baltic Porters.

Managed two cheeses from the stash for the end of the day.

Pariano Robusto - very standard delicious Dutch gouda.

Noord Holland - light milk cheese, texture a bit more crumbly like Red Leicester, mild despite maturity, and just a hint of funk.

Just noting on day 100 we just passed 1.5 million steps, so averaging a solid 15,000 per day. Still gaining weight though....

Quest: 548/500

Steps: 1,508,000

28/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 99 - Krakow

A Slow Recovery

We're over the worst of the lurgy, but are still planning to take it pretty easy today. So just a wander around town looking for places to pop into and statues to pictorally record.

Found some good ones but then it was time for cheese.

Black Truffle Brie - i wanted to try this to compare with the BTB from Over the Moon Dairy Company . I prefer the French style runny brie to the extra creamy OTM one, but that's just a preference thing. The Truffle in this one doesn't permeate the rest of the brie as well as the OTM one does.

Kirsch Washed Rind - never had cheese washed in Kirsch before so had to try it. Solid washed rind, funky without being stanky, and the Kirsch really came through as a nice flavour undernote.

Twarozek Tradycyjny Kozi - soft Goat's cheese made locally by a cheesemaker with a small herd of goats. Very traditional. Sharp and very fresh.

That left only dinner to do, so why not poutine in Poland eh?

Quest: 546/500

Steps: 1,491,700

27/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 98 - Krakow

A Hero of Two Worlds

Tadeusz Kościuszko was a young Polish aristocrat. He joined the military and went to Paris to train. There, in pre-revolutionary France, he decided to devote his life to helping the lower classes and fighting authoritarianism.

He heard about a small kerfuffle over in the British colonies so went to help out. After surviving a horrific shipwreck he volunteered to assist the USArmy. He put his military engineering skills to use right away and helped the USA tremendously.

During the war he designed multiple fortifications including West Point that saved countless lives. He also led the defenses many times and was promoted to brigadier general. Thomas Jefferson called him the greatest democrat he had ever met.

Only once after the war did he return to the states. That time he came for a year to push for abolition and freeing the enslaved people.

He returned to Poland just in time to see it destroyed by its three imperial neighbours. He immediately put together an uprising and drove Prussians and Russians out of many cities.

Alas, with no allies (France was busy exploding) they never had a chance. But the Kosciuszko uprising is still considered one of the great struggles of Polish history.

After his death they built a mound in Krakow. It was built over three years by people from all over Poland bringing a handful of their local sand and just adding it to the pile. In 2026 the USA added handfuls of soil from all the battlefields he had fought at in the USA.

This is why i am sharing a lot of pictures of a barren hill. It's amazing.

Now, enough history. Where's the cheese? Well I found one of the two real cheesemongers in Krakow (the other is on holiday). His shop obviously has a srong focus of the best cheeses from other European countries. The Cheeseshop sells many of the exact same cheeses. But he had some polish cheese and some other novelty cheeses I wanted to try so they went in the stash.

Irish Old Cheddar - not really old, but he let me try a bit. Not even as nice as mainland tasty. He had some better cheddar, but it was too big.

Piast - a salty hard local cheese from less than 100km away. Nice enough, very typical bergkase style.

Went for food at an old communist hotel that has been abandoned and now new businesses has started using it as a base. Big and cementy.

Lasty, found this wierd romanesque statue in the hotel hallway.

Quest: 543/500

Steps: 1,475,400

26/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 97 - Wieliczka Salt Mine

Workin' in a Salt Mine, Goin' Down Down Down

You're supposed to gargle with salt to help a sore throat. Didn't have any salt handy so took a tour to a salt mine that's been running for 750 years.

It has enough tunnels to reach from Krakow to Warsaw. Made from an ancient seabed, the miners have been tunneling from pocket to pocket in the rock to find the salt. All the tunnels are reinforced by wood, literally millions of logs. They even used to use horses down here to turn pumps.

The tour which is over 4km long shows you several rooms still in use for things like weddings. There are also plenty of educational exhibits. Of course, the coolest bits are the statues all carved out of salt. And yes, i did lick the wall. Not a recommendation.

That took up most of the day so there was just time for a little shopping. What does the average Pole have to choose from at the market? Quite a bit really. We tried some cheese from there and found a gem in the stash back at the hotel.

Dziugas (36) - this is the famous Latvian cheese. Clearly a parmesan clone, it's a fine cheese. This one was well aged, great flavour, but pasturization makes it second to the real thing.

Lavender Cheese - had to try it, but yes, just a cheap quality gouda from the Netherlands with added flavour. Barely edible.

Ser Krowlewski Sierpc - the standard household cheese in Poland. Like a very mild cheddar or colby. Pleasant, but sandwiches only for me.

Quest: 541/500

Steps: 1,458,800

25/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

DAY 96 - Krakow

How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down

So, a new city, it must be walking tour time.

Unfortunately, the tour took almost the exact route we had wandered yesterday. So I didn't bother with more pictures of the same things. However, it was worthwhile as we learned some interesting history and stories.

Then, as usual, museum time. Spent several hours here and could have spent more, but really just wanted a lie down. Took lots of pictures.

No time for cheese. Having a lie down.

Quest: 538/500

Steps: 1,444,300

25/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 95 - Krakow

Here There Be Dragons

Still Ill, but the quest must go on. Wandered old town today starting with the bastion fortress by the wall. The wall itself gave us a great view down the street our hotel is on, all the way to the central cathedral.

Wandered the market again. May have purchased presents.

Took pictures of statues as usual, and ended up at the Krakow castle. Amazing to see since it didn't get destroyed in WW2, so you can see the impact of centuries of change on it.

Of course we ended the walk beneath the castle where the dragon lives. And yes, that is real fire he's breathing in one of the pictures...

Other than that I really just needed more rest. Was well enough to crack into our Polish cheese vault.

Oscypek - the most famous cheese in Poland. Hard sheep cheese rolled and patterned with traditional designs. Like a fairly basic manchego but without as much flavour. Fries well.

Redykolka - baby Oscypek. Sold usually already grilled and with cranberry sauce. Often wrapped with bacon. Same flavor as Oscypek.

Serek Weijski - cottage cheese. Yup.

Bryndza Podhalanska - like a pressed sheep feta. Sliceable, but not a lot of flavour. Used in pirogis mostly.

Korycinski - a more traditional gouda style cheese, just without the flavour or aging.

Quest: 538/500

Steps: 1,430,700

24/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 94 - Wroclaw

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go

Well the lurgy is pretty special. I don't even remember what happened on Day 93, but apparently we are in Wroclaw for this morning.

Still quite ill, but getting some sun is good so we went dwarf hunting. Realistically that's the only thing people do in Wroclaw, so might as well join in. There are over 1000 dwarves to find, but we settled for about a dozen.

Then the train to Krakow. Enough energy to see the town square where it turns out our timing is again almost miraculous. The local fair is on and dozens of stalls selling crafts and goods cover half the square and will for another few days. The middle also has a market hall very reminiscent of the grand bazaar in Istanbul, but with only one isle instead of dozens.

Bought more drugs. Back to bed. Too ill to quest.

Quest: 533/500

Steps: 1,419,100

24/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 93 - Krakow

Kill Me Now

After railing against the gods and ingesting all that modern medicine could provide, I gave up.

No questing today. No cheese, no pictures, just pain.

So, party to make me feel better, here's a video of Estonian Dancing.

Quest: 533/500

Steps: 1,410,800

23/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 92 - Poznan

It's a Riddle for Me.

Started the day off right, no hotel cheese. Instead these lovelies:

Banon de Provence - raw unpasturized Goat's milk wrapped in brown chestnut leaves. Very specific to retain its legal protection. White mold, unctious, nicely stinky, oozy, and soft.

Golka - this is the cow milk version of Poland's most famouse cheese. Comes in a cylinder with symbols on it, but nothing near as good or popular as the sheep original. (Have some in the stash) would be better fried.

Then off to the Enigma Museum. It turns out all the heavy lifting in breaking the enigma codes during ww2 wasn't Alan Turing and the crew in the UK, but it all started in Poznan. The History was so absorbing I forgot to take pictures. I left furious that History has so whitewashed the contributions of Poland and that movies like The Imitation Game steal rightful credit.

Then time for Polish art. Another huge art gallery focused on polish art in the last couple of centuries. I continue to be stunned at how impressive Polish art is. This isn't something I expected. It's amazing. Took lots of pictures.

Finally we top off the night at Fromagerie. This bib gourmand Michelin restaurant focuses its menu around cheese. Plus it does all sorts of tasting trays and drink pairings. Sadly, Barb isn't back to 100% yet and I'm starting to fade, so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we wanted to. They did love having a cheesemonger from NZ so we got two extra cheeses as a treat.

Bursztn - not sure on the name as it is local and they just call it old gold. It's very much a gouda, and aged well. Delicious.

Lazur - also not sure on name. This local one had blue mold on it, but it isn't innoculated. So you get a bit of blue flavour mostly in the white rind, but overall it is mild and nice.

We had some other tastes of cheeses that were part of the menu. But I'm not counting them as they were integrated into a whole, so not really able to evaluate as a straight cheese.

Everything was delicious.

Quest: 533/500

Steps: 1,405,800

23/08/2026

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 91 - Poznan

What's Better Than One Goat?

Started the day still in Torun. Reminded myself I'm doing this for science and braved hotel breakfast cheese again. Reader, science isn't all fun and delicious cheese.

Zolty Ser - sliced Emmental style mild polish boring cheese. Would put a rat to sleep.

Twarog Wedzony - smoked cottage cheese. I'm not sure how you can make something less interesting by smoking it, but they managed.

Selection of blues - blehg.. I give up. Not even counting these.

Barb's not feeling well. So she sent me off solo to the gingerbread museum where I took lots of pictures and bought gingerbread. Delicious, tasty gingerbread.

Got to Poznan, which is known for two goats that come of of the town hall clock tower twice a day and butt heads. They're also known for....uh..nope, that's pretty much it.

One side note, now that we learned that Fat Freddy's Drop and Six60 had been following us we weren't surprised at all to see Lorde on a Poznan concert poster. Fortunately she missed us by two days or we might have had to go.

Barb still out of action so I reconnoitered the situation and besides lots of pictures found two things. 1. A cheese based michelin recommended restaurant. 2. That Poznan is actually also known for starting an uprising in 1956 that again is a foundational part of Poland's story.

Also ate some very boring polish cheese.

Bundz - white cheese

Hmm...is that a tickle in my throat?

Quest: 529/500

Steps: 1,394,200

CheeseShop

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