We are driving a motorhome around north-eastern Europe for 6-months, and just left Berlin in Germany. Driving east from there, we zoomed seamlessly across the border into Poland with only one road-sign to say we had changed countries. Our route took us through pretty rural areas initially.
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| Spring scenery driving from Germany into Poland |
The scenery was lovely with vibrant spring colours. Then we passed through some of the Polish towns. A few were not very awe inspiring, with lots of graffiti, rough roads, and many untidy large-block housing estates.
We passed several fuel-stops and worked out the difference in fuel names and prices (e.g. diesel is ‘ON’), picked up some Polish currency (złoty), and soon arrived in Wrocław (pronounced vrohtswav]. After a long drive through Wrocław's bumpy streets, we eventually found a rustic and noisy campground. It was close to trams, so the next morning we caught one into the city.
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| The New Town Hall with the red-brick Old Town Hall behind, Wrocław, Poland |
Wrocław (known as Breslau until 1945), was a pleasant surprise. Our sightseeing focused on the Stare Miasto (old town) where we wandered for ages admiring its many grand buildings. We especially liked the beautiful Old Town Hall dating back to the 13th century, and the nearby New Town Hall built in the 1860’s.
While the Old Town Hall was once the seat of the city governors, now-days it houses a museum and hosts concerts. The building is fascinating with each of its façades being different, so we wandered around it for ages.
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| Marg in Market Square, Wrocław, Poland |
The Stare Miasto is also home to the attractive Market Square (Rynek), which is flanked by colourful medieval houses, and many other significant structures. We enjoyed spending time there.
Soon after, we found a restaurant and tried our first traditional Polish meal. Leigh had Bigos, a type of stew with beef and sauerkraut, and Marg had Gołąbki, a beef and rice filled cabbage roll. The meal was delicious and fortified us for more sightseeing.
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| Leigh in front of the pretty Zdrój fountain, Wrocław, Poland |
After lunch, we visited the Zdrój Fountain, St. Elisabeth's Church with its 91 m high tower, St. Mary Magdalene Church, the Main Station, the Palace, the National Museum, and more.
Wrocław is known as the ‘Polish Venice’ because of the large number of waterways and bridges. The main waterway is River Odra which has an island called Cathedral Island (Ostrów Tumski). We saw the 10th century Wrocław Cathedral there, several historic churches and monasteries, and the university.
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| Leigh beside the Odra River with Cathedral Island behind, and on Tumski Bridge, Wrocław, Poland |
Walking off Cathedral Island we found the Tumski Bridge which is covered with padlocks. It seems that couples inscribe their names and a date on a padlock, fasten it to the bridge, then throw the key into the river to symbolise their bond.
Later we visited the interesting circular Centennial Hall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and admired some of the surrounding parks. Overall, we felt Wrocław was quite lovely.
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| Driving onto Zwierzyniecki Bridge, Wrocław, Poland |
After a few days, the rain set in so we moved on. Driving out of Wrocław, we crossed the historic Zwierzyniecki Bridge that spans the Odra River. It was built around 1897 to replace an old wooden bridge. Now it is an attractive intricate steel structure flanked by sturdy sandstone columns.
Having a very wet drive in the heavy rain, we next headed to Częstochowa [chestakova] and found our way to the Jasna Góra [yasna goora] Monastery.
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| The Black Madonna of Jasna Góra Monastery, Poland |
Jasna Góra is one of the largest pilgrimage centres in the Christian world, and millions of people travel here annually to see the painting of Saint Mary of Częstochowa – a “Black Madonna”.
A Black Madonna is a painting of the Virgin Mary shown with dark skin. It is believed that most Black Madonna’s were painted to match the skin pigmentation of the indigenous population. The painting at Częstochowa is thought to have been painted by St Luke the Evangelist in the sixth or ninth century.
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| Marg at Częstochowa-Jasna Góra Monastery, Poland |
The 14th century Monastery itself is very impressive. It has many chapels, and each is beautifully decorated. It is the world’s largest Pauline monastery (Catholic Religious order of men).
After looking around the Monastery, we visited Częstochowa township. It is a large town of around 200,000 people that was established in the 11th century. It has an attractive town square and many colourful medieval buildings.
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| Town Hall in Częstochowa, Poland |
We particularly liked the unusual architecture of the pink 19th century town hall. Later, we returned to the camp which was right behind the Monastery, cautiously walking in the rain and through a lot of mud.
Unfortunately, the van of a French couple parked beside us became bogged in the mud, and they couldn’t drive out. After a lot of pushing and pulling, the campground owner with our help, eventually got them moving. Our Vanni was ok as we’d deliberately parked half on a pathway giving us a firm base for our wheels.
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| Olsztyn fortress on the Jura Krakowsko Częstochowska, Poland |
Farewelling Częstochowa, we headed east and saw the ruins of Olsztyn fortresses and some castles constructed on cliffs centuries ago. There is a string of them built along the Polish Jurassic Chain, a hilly landscape that consists of vast limestone formations, cliffs and caves dating back to Jurassic times.
Our drive took us through a small part of the chain and included the villages of Zloty Potok, and Lelów. It was a very interesting route. The area was home to humans around 12,000 years ago, but is now known for its biodiversity.
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| Wooden church of St Szczepan, Mnichów, Poland |
Our next stop was the village of Mnichów. While there, we saw the amazing Baroque style wooden church of Szczepan (St Stephen). The church was founded in 1754 by the archdeacon of Kraków and it was quite a surprise seeing such a big structure all built of wood.
Moving on, we headed toward Kielce city. The city centre was a nightmare of road construction and we decided we had never seen quite so many major road works in and around one town ever! Because of this, we got through the potholes, heavy machinery and bad parking asap; and just got out of there.
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| Marg at the Ethnographic Museum of Kielce, Poland |
Near Kielce, we stopped at an outdoor Ethnographic Museum. It was a replica village that had a range of Polish-style wooden houses dating from about the 1740’s onwards. We found it interesting to wander around, and it gave us a context for the many decorative wooden houses and churches we’d seen in Poland.
Leaving there, we drove the scenic route in order to miss further roadworks. But our GPS system took us on a road that expected us to travel across a river. Fortunately, we saw signs for a ferry.
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| Ferry on the Vistula River, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland |
At the end of the road, there was indeed a small car ferry sitting on the opposite side of the river. We stopped and a man ran onto the ferry and began to steer it over to us. We ended up having a very short, cheap and efficient ride over the Vistula River to a little village called Kazimierz Dolny.
Then, following the ferry-man’s directions, we found a quaint family-run campground for the night. Later, Vanni’s refrigerator started to fail and the campsite owner repaired the power connection for us. Nice guy, and it seemed to work ok.
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| Dusk in the main square of Kazimierz Dolny, Poland |
That evening, we walked 1 km along the river into Kazimierz Dolny. It is a charming village with lots of historic buildings and a lovely square full of cafes. We found a cosy local tavern and enjoyed a traditional Polish meal, and had a wonderful evening chatting to locals.
The next morning, we drove to Lublin, but you can read about that in the next blog.
This blog describes part of our 6-month motorhome trip around northern and eastern Europe, which began in Prague.