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No, I have not left again on a world trip. But my website about the world trip is still alive. And because I have been on a three week holiday at the west & central side of Poland, I thought "Why not make an episode of my holiday with some good pictures?" Because maybe after having read the story and having seen the pictures, you will think "Hey, why not going to Poland?" Especially when we realize that from October 2014 it is going to be possible to fly from the city of Groningen to the city of Gdansk.
So here it is: My weblog about my holidays at the West & Central side of Poland:. Gdansk, Torun, Poznan, Table Mountains Area and Wroclaw. I hope you will enjoy the weblog. :-)
Gdansk
I started my holidays with a good rockblues bang, because the night before leaving I attended the John Spencer Blues Explosion concert at music venue Vera in Groningen. The next day I had to get up early to catch the train to Schiphol Airport. My first stop and destination: the beautiful restored, clean and tidy city of Gdansk. A few hours later I was at Midtown Hostel in Gdansk: a medium sized, very clean hostel with good, friendly staff and close by old city center.
Sunshine, good weather and a beautiful city welcomed me. During WO II the city of Gdansk has been damaged heavily, but luckily many buildings have been restored. During the Dutch Golden Age a lot of trade was going on between Poland and The Netherlands. Gdansk was the most import Polish port. The Dutch connection in many buildings is still visible. Dutch architects have created some typical 'Dutch looking' building in Gdansk, especially at Dluga street in city center.
The Uphagen House, the old City Hall, the cathedral: those are buildings where you won't hurry yourself: they are all beautiful. The old City hall has the famous 'red room' with its splendid ceiling. It's a ceiling that invited me to lay on the floor for a while. I gave me an excellent look and the opportunity to take the pictures of the ceiling. No worries, I am not the first person to lay down on the floor to have this kind a look at the ceiling. A Dutch TV Host and his Polish guide have done the same while making a 13-episode documentary about the Dutch Golden Age. J
Last year I already have visited the Solidarnosc Museum, Westerplatte Area (Where the first shots of WO II have been fired) and the the Vistulamouth Fortress (Dutch architect!). So you can understand: Gdansk is a great place to visit.
One hour by train to the south of Gdansk is Malborg Castle. It's probably the superior castle in Europe. It has been created by the Teutonic Knights a few centuries ago. During WO II it was heavily damaged, but after many years it has been excellent renovated. The audio guided tour takes at least three hours, but there is no dull moment, even considering it has been my second visit within 1,5 years.
Torun
During the last few years I became more and more curious in the old city of Torun. The late greatest Copernicus (the man who stopped the sun turning and started the earth turning….) was born in this city. Torun is located to the south-east of Gdansk with a two hours bus ride by Polski-bus company. For long distance travelling in Poland this bus company has become one of the best. The company travels only between bigger cities and doesn't stop at small towns or villages. Polski Bus use high modern tour busses for the comfort.
My reason for 'high interested' in Torun was simple: the whole old city center has been places on UNESCO world heritage list. I thought "Probably with a reason".
Now I have seen the city center with my own eyes and I can confirm for 100%: "Yes indeed." What a marvelous city center. It's the one that takes you back in time. It has been very well preserved since the Middle Ages. Walking around just makes you smile. Walking around during the evening and the night makes you smile. Walking around on the same streets after a few days still makes you smile. The streets are very clean, tidy and car unfriendly.
I stayed at hotel Gromada, a decent 3 star hotel within city center and not far away from Rynek. Rynek is a Polish word for the historical central marketplace with its old city hall.
I was also able to do some daytrips. One was going on a bicycle to Barbarka Forrest and the village of Zamek Bierzglowski. The word 'zamek' means 'castle', so you can figure out yourself what I was about the see. The second daytrip was going to visit the castle at the small city of Golub-Dobrzyn. The city itself is also kind of interesting. It used to be a border city between Germany and Russia before WO I (The Great War). It still shows the different styles of building, especially of the pre WO II communism period. The latter definitely not being beautiful.
Poznan
This student city turned out to be a very pleasant surprise, because I didn't expect the city center to be so beautiful. First I spend some time with my Couch Surfing family host at the national Park to the North of Poznan. Together we did a part of the 'Piast-route'. The Piast family was the first royal of Poland.
Second I stayed a few nights at CS Host Anna in the south of Poznan. She is an excellent host. Together we went on a few hours bicycle trip through a wonderful green/yellow/golden landscape by grain fields to the big palace at Rogalin and the small castle at Kornik, only to find that Rogalin Palace is closed due to restoration.
About restoration in Poland: every year Poland improves. The government and especially in the last few years the European Union have funded many project in cities, town, villages, roads and national parks. Consequences are visible: many places are getting better and more beautiful. I also noticed that more places are tidy. It looks like the people are proud of the places where they live and they are putting more effort (with success) to keep the streets clean.
The second day Anna and I hiked in Wielkopolki National (forest) Park. This was a good hike with lots of talking, fresh air, great forest and a little surprise in the form of a small castle on an island in Goreckie Lake. To start we took the train to the village of Mosina. We ended our hike in the village of Pusczcykowo to catch the train back to Poznan.
The last day I took the time to explore the beautiful city center. One of the highlights was the original middle-ages ceiling at the former City Hall (now a museum). Also a ceiling that asked me to lay down at the ground to have a better look. Anna and I finished my visit in Poznan with a visit at Park Cytadela. This is a city park that should also host a theatre-and-arts-and-music-festival like Noorderzonfestival in my hometown. Because the pond in Park Cytadela is superior to the pond in Noorderplantsoen! J
Gory Stolowe National Park / Kudowa Zdroj
From Poznan I travelled to the border with Czech Republik. I've stayed in the health-resort village Kudowa Zdroj to visit Goy Stolowe National Park (Table Mountains National Park). The first hike took me to Szczeliniec Wielki mountain at 979 meters. It was a little bit cloudy, so I didn't have the best view. But it made the hike in the forest and the park a little bit mysterious. The second day I've visited this mountain again. The plan was to tour on a bicycle in the area around Szczeliniec Wielki, but of course my tall body was slightly too tall for the bicycle. Plus the bicycle didn't had the best gears. So halfway I changed my plans and visit the top again and this time I had a cloudless view and a better look at the impressive rocks. I finished my tour with a 14 km downhill by bicycle.
The second hike took me to Bledny Skaly. These are rock formations comparable with the pancake rocks in New Zeeland. Only the experience I had at Bledny Skaly is better than the experience I have had at the pancake rocks. At Bledny Skaly a tour through a natural labyrinth has been created so I was able to walk on top, under and between the rocks. Excellent and highly impressive!
Kudowa Zdroj itself is a nice place for families and for eldery people, but for a single traveler there isn't so much to do during the night. The town has plenty of restaurants, but lacks a pub. Therefor I decided to leave the village one day earlier than planned. I travelled to my last stop.
Wroclaw
It's also a student city like Poznan. And just like the cities I have visited before: The city center clean, tidy and beautiful restored. The city center contains a lot of beautiful buildings and streets. Highly impressive were the 360 degrees painting ' Raclawiece Panorama' and the University building. I like the main University building (Academy building) in my hometown of Groningen, but it can't match the beauty of Wroclaw University building. Especially the Music Hall and the Aula Leopoldina are two rooms that will make you walk around in silence.
So together with the good weather, good food like Pierogi and Red Beet soup, plenty of good 0,5 liter of beer, you can imagine I have had a very good holiday! I hope you enjoyed my story and the pictures!
Lots of love,
Koos
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