You’ve probably worked out by now the more fun I have, the less frequently I blog. Let me seek to remedy that… the blogging not the fun.
Riding into Poland I immediately noticed a deterioration of the highway compared with Germany. Fortunately, it was only to last an hour or two. Overall it seemed there was a lot of infrastructure improvements happening in Poland and no doubt a lot of the money pouring in from the EU was put to good use. My first stop was Wrocław (pronounced something like Wroshov. Polish is pretty difficult to pronounce let me tell you). Given my delays in Germany I would only have one night in this city and it proved to be a bit of a shame because it is absolutely stunning. My AirBnB residence was right in the heart of the old town and the river was but a stone’s throw away. Everything about Wroclaw was pleasing to the senses. The beautiful buildings, the river, the old town centre, the market hall. I made my way around in the afternoon taking it all in before sliding onto a stool in a bar that looked like the place to be. It turned out it was and before long I was talking to a young Albanian guy who had married a Polish girl and moved to Poland. They met in Albania when she was holidaying with her family and the rest is history as they say. It’s always nice to meet someone who has a story. It’s interesting because many Polish move west for better paying jobs, but in his case, moving north to Poland is a significant step up economically from Albania. It wasn’t long before I heard the oh so familiar sound of English accents. One group of guys were on a buck’s weekend (although sadly, the wedding wasn’t to be, but having booked months in advance the ex-potential groom and his mates still decided to go). The other group was a social rugby club there to play a Polish team. By about 3am they’d convinced me to play scrum half the next day (despite my protestations about risk and a motorcycle etc). Fortunately, common sense prevailed when I awoke the next day with a mild hangover. Furthermore, I didn’t even know where the game was being played so I was able to escape my commitments and ride off into the sunset never to be seen again by those jovial chaps. (I’m pretty sure they would have been suffering on the field because they didn’t look like heading home when I eventually left the premises that morning.)
My second destination was Krakow. Immediately I was impressed. It is a very beautiful city. It was even spared from bombing by the Germans in World War II and so the glorious buildings from yesteryear stand proudly and beautifully. The main square in the centre of town is extraordinary (even though I’ve seen so many). I was fortunate to have Ania and Piotr as my AirBnB hosts and I couldn’t have asked for better. They immediately felt like old friends. A young married couple, in their thirties, we had a lot in common from business pursuits to philosophy to travel and it wasn’t uncommon for us to be talking at night after midnight! I felt bad for keeping them up, but for the first time in my life I was the one doing the least talking. Ania and Piotr insisted I stay with them longer in Cracow and refused to let me pay. And so it was I felt right at home in Cracow from the moment I arrived.
I took in two walking tours of the city. One focused on the city history and the other on the Jewish influence in years gone by. Whilst on the tour I met Cathy from the US whose parents are Polish. She had been back a few times to visit family and her language skills were exceptional. We had a lunch together and I was recommended the Russian dumplings (Pierogi) by Cathy (which would become a favourite of mine). She and I then met a Polish couple who had been living in Australia for 40 years! Although the conversation only lasted as long as our bus ride it was still a delight. They were off to have dinner with friends (who they hadn’t seen for years) whom they’d literally run into on the street earlier that day! It’s a small world.
One thing that really struck me about Poland is how Catholic it is. I mean really Catholic. I’m pretty sure it beats Italy. There are so many churches and not only that – people actually in them! At all times of day. There seem to be bells ringing constantly, Masses at all times and people just stopping by to pray. Even walking past a church people will pause and do the sign of the cross. On Sunday I saw people entering churches in very formal attire – men always wearing suits, women beautiful dresses. If it were Australia, you’d think they were going to a wedding, but not the case in Poland. This is their normal Sunday church attire.
Speaking of Catholicism, Pope John Paul II’s statue is everywhere. One guide informed us it was in the order of 80,000 statues across the entire country! Unbelievable. I guess historically, his election to the papacy was monumental for Poles: a Soviet country at the time, the first Polish pope ever and the first non-Italian for quite some time. They are very proud to call him one of their own and it’s easy to see why. And if you forget, you’ll soon be reminded when you pass by yet another statue, plaque or painting of him.
One fascinating tour near Cracow was the Salt Mine. I’ve never seen anything like it (despite working in underground mining in the past). The descent via timber stairs down hundreds of metres into a tour that merely touched on 1% of the mine was astounding. What’s more is the sheer volume of salt sculptures underground and, wait for it, churches! It is unbelievable. Workers carved out of the salt whole enormous Basilicas, statues, crosses, the list goes one. Interestingly, water is a major hazard as it dilutes/erodes the salt thereby undermining the structural integrity of the caves. Similar to flame in a coal mine although I dare say a much slower outcome. My return Uber ride saw me greeted by the lovely Agnieszka, a friendly, smiling and lively local. She made such an impression I invited her for a drink and we ended up having a great catch up the next day. Turns out she’s a tango dancer and travels around the world to dance and even the local Polish tango scene is both “happening” and quite talented. Like I always say: everyone has a story.
During my time in Cracow I took a ride down to Zakopane a very beautiful mountain resort town which has skiing in the winter and hiking etc in the summer. It was very busy with tourists and no doubt would be quite popular amongst Poles especially considering it is a mere two hours from the Cracow.
One thing I really loved about Cracow is that it has the lovely park that wraps entirely around the city centre. It’s like a thin donut and I loved how much it was used by tourists and locals alike. It really broke up the constant concrete and was easily accessible given it is literally all the way round.
Conscious of time, I mapped out a route to the Baltics taking in a couple of beautiful stops on the way. An overnight in Kazimierz Dolny and then Gawrych-Ruda got me to the north close to the Baltics, my next destination. The former nestled in amongst hills on the river, the latter next a glorious lake. I even managed some winding back roads in between. Even with nine days in Poland, I didn’t really scratch the surface. With time permitting, I think I would like to visited the acclaimed Poznan, the capital Warsaw and the port city Gdansk. The weather most certainly was kind to me as were the people (with what I would regard as stunningly beautiful women, just had to say) and I can imagine it would be easy to spend awhile there… although not in the winter I’ve been told! Apparently, a lot of people in Cracow don’t have gas heating and so wood fires burn and the pollution can be quite horrendous. Nevertheless, I’m quite sure this could never diminish the delights of Poland.
