Poland Overall
So why venture into Poland, especially with what is happening on its borders with Ukraine, where a war has been raging with Russia for now 3 years and 9 months at time of writing this. Belarus, who have been highly supportive of Russia is also on the border with Poland who have a profound mistrust of Russia due to Polish history.
Rob’s family history has a relationship with the western part of Poland and its border with Germany back in the days of the Prussians, and she has been keen to visit Poland for sometime, so here we were!
Poland has had an interesting history spanning over a thousand years and even ceased to exist as a sovereign state for 123 years in 1773 due to Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioning it 3 times.
Poland regained sovereignty after WWI in 1918 and the second Polish Republic lasted until November 1939 when it was invaded by Nazi Germany & Russia.
During WWII, its estimated that ~17% of citizens were killed by the invaders or ~ 6 million of the entire population. Many were Polish Jews killed in the extermination camps like Auschwitz. The Poles tried to defend themselves fiercely and this also led to 90-95% of certain cities, especially the 3 we visited being destroyed.
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| In Poland they honour their people who resisted invasion |
So why the history lesson? It goes to the nature of the Poles themselves, our observation that most were quite matter of fact and stoic in public, with not much laughing happening, except for the teens. As we visited the cities, there were numerous examples of previous wars or resistance, and other memorials where small, enclosed lamps which had burnt out tea candles in them… a common sight.
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| Another memorial to Polish resistance |
Being here at this time in history with the war in Ukraine still happening, Ukraine on its border along with Belarus and items like drones paying visits into Polish airspace, or people trying to sabotage Polish trains, the Polish government is very on edge about its self protection.
So where did we visit and how?
We flew into Poland from London and started our visit in Warsaw, the capital and from there we used the trains to also visit, both Wroclaw in the south west and Gdansk in the north, before returning to Warsaw for an overnight stop, before moving further afield.
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| We used trains to travel throughout Poland visiting Warsaw, Wroclaw and Gdansk |
Language was never a real issue during our time in Poland, with most people speaking some amount of English and most, very good English.
In each city we visited, remember, at least 90% of them were destroyed as retaliation to the resistance put up by the Poles due to the Nazi German invasion in 1939.
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| Buildings like this had to be rebuilt after WWII |
We had visited Krakow in Poland before in 2012, when temperatures were below -10C and enjoyed our visit then, including going down into the famous salt mines and being shocked by what we saw and learned at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the estimates are that >1,000,000 of primarily Jews were killed there.
This is a story that repeats itself everywhere we visited in Poland… unfortunately.
Warsaw
Warsaw has all the appearance of a very well spread out, vibrant modern city, with large shopping malls, when first arriving, and we stayed within the city centre’s precinct, close to the central rail station, buses and trams.
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| Culture Centre building in centre of Warsaw lit up at night |
It has very wide streets for its 1.8M population out of 38M for Poland as a whole, and their public transport system was top notch.
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| Welcome to Warsaw as they prepared for Christmas |
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| The Christmas tree had just been erected as part of getting their markets ready |
We used an app to pre-buy our time based tickets eg. 20 mins or say 75 mins. After boarding the tram or train, we opened the same app called Meneva Taksi, found the QR code on the wall of the tram say and activated the ticket for the trip from within the app.
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| We used the trams a few times to take us out of the city |
Warsaw does have an ‘old town’ area where there is a Palace, old buildings and walls, which there are photos of below of but please keep in mind, the vast majority of everything in Warsaw especially, has had to be rebuilt after the war.
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| More Christmas decorations in the 'old' area of Warsaw |
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| Strolling through sections of the 'old' town |
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| The original Barbican was built in 1540 as a red brick bastion and gate to defend the city - destroyed in WWII |
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| Walking towards the Barbican to exit the gate |
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| Walked down along the river but sun baking not an option at -3C |
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| Ornate insides one of the churches which also were rebuilt |
We keep harping on the destruction during the war, because what we saw of everything in essence having been rebuilt to what it used to look like, is simply remarkable and highlights Polish pride, character and determination.
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| Food hall in Warsaw we tried out for lunch |
Outside of the centre of Warsaw by tram and then a bit of a walk is Wilanów Palace, built for King John III Sobieski, in the Baroque from 1677 which we visited. This building survived largely intact it is believed due to its distance from the city itself and the advancing Russians.
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| The outside of Wilanow Palace as we approached |
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| The Palace was certainly very bright yellow with a setting sun |
80% of the valuable contents inside the palace was looted by the Germans, but most of it was recovered after the war thankfully and was certainly very impressive, as were the gardens despite the cold weather.
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| Very ornate heater in the Palace |
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| Highly decorated ceiling in one of the many Palace hallways |
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| One of the recovered items |
In August 1944, when the Germans started their retreat with the Russians approaching, the Polish resistance rose up to fight. The Russians stopped their advance to allow the Germans to defeat the locals and then on the orders of Hitler, destroy the city. The Russians entered after the Germans were retreating to start their takeover of Poland again and its resistance severely weakened.
We were determined to try various polish traditional foods and did so by visiting a home style small restaurant nearby. Pierogis in Poland are a staple food and are dumplings of a variety of filings, meat, potatoes with cheese and spinach with cream cheese to name a few. We also tried a hunters stew which doesn’t look real flash but was delicious.
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| Pierogis of all sorts are a staple in Poland and delicious |
Wroclaw
Wroclaw is Poland’s 3rd largest city with a population of ~675,000 and had a distinctly more intimate older style feel to it, with tram tracks everywhere which are free to our +65 yr old vintages, and narrower streets.
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| Even though trams were free, we walked in Wroclaw |
We were staying in an old style apartment which never managed to go above 18 C inside temperature and was a good way of getting used to the -4 C at times temperatures outside.
We walked everywhere throughout Wroclaw because its a good walking city if you’re up to it. There are some really nice large open squares with old looking buildings around them of various colours and ornate facades. They looked very similar to what we saw in Brugge, Belgium or Amsterdam.
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| The buildings are very colourful with ornate facades |
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| Highly decorative fronts to buildings |
The city was very obviously gearing up for the Christmas season and markets.
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| The main central structure is just for the Christmas markets |
One of Wroclaw’s very famous attractions are the 800+ brass or bronze dwarfs or gnomes found throughout the city, which started in 2005 with Papa Gnome, the largest and standing on a human finger. The rest are about 30 cm and are again a symbol of Polish resistance via the Orange Alternative, a Polish anti communist movement.
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| So this is Papa gnome and the first in Wroclaw standing on a finger |
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| These gnomes are very small... |
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| ...and easily missed |
We had also observed , Poland has many, many churches of all sorts and in Wroclaw there is Cathedral Island which we walked around, reaching by the old metal bridges. There is only one cathedral on the island and 4-5 other churches.
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| Walking over one of the bridges to reach Cathedral Island |
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| Walking around on the island |
One destination which is apparently constantly sold out, was the Panorama Raceawicka, a round looking building housing a 120 metre long x 15 metre high, painting created in 1893. It depicts the 1794 battle of Raclawice by Polish troops and farmers against Russia as part of the Kocsiuszko uprising.
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| This is the circular building the painting is presented in |
It is so beautifully created and has a 3D type of affect with real dirt, bushes, rocks and bits of timber, blended down perfectly to the paintings base.
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| Small section of the graphic art and note real dirt and timber at the base of the painting |
Visiting near the end of November with temperatures dropping below 0 C meant the Christmas Market season was starting up and luckily for us, the Wroclaw markets kicked off whilst we were there.
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| Just a section of the multiple Christmas markets in Wroclaw |
Now this is a time when the Poles seemed to have visible fun by enjoying various types of food, buying Christmas style items from the stalls or certainly and enthusiastically, drinking the mulled wine with the cold temperatures. We enjoyed it also.
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| Lots of light and colour everywhere |
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| Markets in the main square |
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| Nice tree with a ride happening around it |
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| Some really good street lighting |
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a port city and also a nice walking city, yep… lots of churches and some major history.
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| Our walking activities throughout Gdansk |
Re a little history, let’s start with WWII actually starting in Gdańsk when a German battleship fired on a Polish military garrison on 1st Sept 1939 and the Germans also attacked a post office, which fought back for 15 hours. All the post office staff involved were later executed.
Again the Jews were subjected to terrible things with the creation of the Stutthof Concentration Camp located near Gdańsk, and the first concentration camp established by the Nazis outside German borders. By the end of the war, only a handful of Jews remained
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| Gdansk railways station after arriving from Wroclaw |
The city has what they call the ‘Long Lane’ which has at one end the Golden Gate and at the other, the Green Gate. They are not really gates but arches with structures on top of them.
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| Looking down the 'Long Lane' to one of the gates |
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| The Green Gate in Gdansk |
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| The Golden Gate in Gdansk |
There are a variety of reconstructed and highly decorated tenements along either side of the Long Lane, the Gdańsk Town Hall with its tower, Neptunes Fountain and the beautiful building of Artus Court behind the fountain, where dignitaries and the occasional King would visit and merchants used it as a guild hall.
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| Gdansk Town Hall in the Long Lane |
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| Tenement buildings like this throughout Gdansk |
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| Neptunes Fountain in front of Artus Court |
Mariacka Street is hidden away and is really an old laneway, with beautiful houses either side and their individual staircases leading to the street. It is also famous for the small stalls in front of some houses selling jewellery and souvenirs made of amber which Poland is famous for.
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| The narrow Mariacka St with amber stalls and ornate staircases |
After walking the Long Lane we reached the Motlawa River where we strolled along the riverside promenade, again with an abundance of beautiful buildings to look at.
Floating in the river was a replica of a 1700s Polish Galleon, that takes tourists on cruises along the river and further on from this is a dominant, odd structure called ‘The Crane’, dating back to the 15th century and used as both a form of gate to the city and as a port crane to handle loads onto/off ships. it remains the oldest building of its type in Europe.
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| The replica Polish galleon on the Motlawa River |
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| The 'Crane' with light snow falling |
Like the rest of Poland there are plenty of churches to see, but 2 we visited stood out, St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Bridget’s Church.
St Mary’s is often called the ‘Crown of Gdańsk’ and is considered one of the largest brick temples in Europe. It is very tall inside and was being renovated internally when we visited, but it still had an impact. It can hold 25,000 people at one time and retains many medieval artefacts and one in particular grabbed our attention, a large ornate astronomical clock made in 1467.
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| St. Mary's Cathedral is big and very tall |
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| The impressive astronomical clock inside St. Mary's Cathedral |
St.Bridget’s church was first built in the late 14th century but was almost entirely destroyed during WWII but reconstructed in 1973. We paid to visit this relatively small church to help them pay for the restoration of the ‘Amber Alter’, a religious symbol and regarded as an artistic masterpiece. It’s the worlds only amber alter.
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| In the distance inside St. Bridget's church is the amber alter |
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| The amber alter... all 6,500 kgs of it in St. Bridget's church |
It depicts the tree of life, and contains 6,500kg of polished prehistoric tree resin (amber) and the angels wings has a lighter coloured amber called white amber.
Also in the church was found a what was a previously hidden crypt containing 500 skulls of the Sisters of St. Bridget, who served the church over time and were stored there.
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| Some of the skulls found in a very old hidden crypt in St. Bridget's church |
A final piece of history is to remind us of the time of the rise of the Solidarity Movement during 1980, when there was a shipyard strike challenging the communist regime of the time.
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| Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers in Gdansk as part of the Solidarity Movement |
Independent unions did not exist and a man who later became the President of Poland, Lech Walesa, after being locked out of the shipyard, climbed a wall to take leadership of the strike. Part of the brick wall he climbed is part of the memorial displays.
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| The concrete wall is part of Berlin Wall and the brick wall is part of what Lech Walesa climbed over |
Ultimately this strike and Lech’s leadership lead to a few things:
- the capitulation and finally the fall of the communist regime as the people of Poland rose up against them.
- the formation of an independent union called Solidarity
- the ripples then waves of this mood and action to other communist States, ultimately leading to the Berlin Wall coming down and other countries gaining their independence. A section of the stark Berlin wall is also on display.
- Lech Walesa became President of an independent Poland
Naturally we were in Christmas market season fully now so naturally we had to visit them to enjoy more warming mulled wine and to enjoy the overall energy colour and experience.
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| The decorations were small and less of them |
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| The markets overall were more intimate |
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| Even 'he' paid a visit! |
Gdańsk is both a beautiful and very interesting city to visit.
So in summary, Poland is a very proud and independent, no nonsense country we have learnt, who have been attacked and subjugated by numerous external countries over time and in particular, Germany, but more importantly… Russia.
Their current military built up to defend themselves shows they do not intend for this to happen again and we learnt a lot and admired both their cities and resilience during our visit.
CLICK HERE if you want to see more photos of Poland
Our journey continues!
