Monthly Archives: June 2007

More mountaineering

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We picked up my train ticket for Prague after a half-hour battle of wills with the lady at the counter who couldn’t find the same ticket we’d been informed about the day before. Finally, ticket in wallet, we ran for the bus to Karpacz Gorny (Upper Karpacz).

Our first port of call was Wang, a Norwegian church brought over to Poland many years ago. It was originally built without a single nail or screw, though as age has taken its toll, some cleverly-disguised ones have been put in place to hold things together. The craftsmanship of the decorations is astounding, and it’s hard to believe that some parts of it are 700 years old.

From there, we caught two single-seater chair lifts up Czarna Kopa (Black Peak) and walked to Sniezka (Snow White), a peak of 1602m. The walk up isn’t easy, being mainly crushed rock so footing is a little dodgy. With the added benefit of strong winds, it was all a little hairy! The mountain marks the border between Poland and the Czech Republic. On the way up, square markers are placed with “C” on one side and “P” on the other – so I have technically been to the Czech republic already!

At the top we had some lovely Polish soup and Polish sausage while two hueg fluffy dogs watched on and tried to beg food. I also used the priciest toilets in Poland so far – 2 Zl for a wee. You get used to paying for the loo in this country, but the prices do vary.

Also at the peak are a weather station, a small chapel and a Czech post office. I didn’t want to send my postcards yet, but I did stamp my passport!

We descended from the peak in a slightly quicker time and walked to Bialy Jar then Strzecha Akademicka. We also saw a post-glacial lake called Maly Staw (“small pond”) overlooking which some distance back was Samotnia (“lonely shelter”). Finally, we made our way through woods and past waterfalls back to Karpacz.

I could go on at length about the beautiful forests, the stunning waterfalls, the views, the birds, the berries we picked, the wonderful sense of solitude… but I won’t. There is only so much you can say about places like this, and Poland has more than its fair share – certainly more than I ever expected to see.

Tucked up in a snug pub, we sat in a converted sled and drank more Polish beer before catching the last bus back to Gosia’s and being fed more traditional grub by her granny.

I checked the pedometer that Sheilah had sent me and I reckon we did around nine miles walking. Bear in mind that a fair portion of this was up and down some steep inclines and I think we did OK!

[Sorry for the brevity of the post, but as I type this I see that the time for me to catch a train is getting ever closer! Gosia seems worried that I didn’t enjoy myself and this couldn’t be further from the truth]

More Polish meanderings

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Today we got a car, which made things easier. After spending some time at the railway station to check out which ticket I needed to get to Prague, we had a quick walk around the shops and onto an industrial estate.

This might sound a strange to do on holiday, but on this estate are the Polish offices of Soft Solutions – Gosia and my old employers. There is still a chap there who knows us both and to say he was shocked to see me there is an understatement! Hey, Artur!

We just made it in time for Gosia’s dentist’s appointment and tried to visit her church but mass was just starting so we couldn’t wander around. Always tomorrow.

Up at a shopping mall, I was introduced to Mrs Gosia – Gosia’s mum. We snacked on ice cream and then Mrs Gosia drove us into the country for a rather delicious meal in one of Gosia’s favourite restaurants – Chata Za Wsia (“cottage outside village”). She’d had her university graduation meal here (stuffed piglet – which has to be ordered five days in advance) but we settled on Hungarian pancake (“Placki po wegiersku”). The closest thing I can think of is lasagna, although the pancakes don’t normally have cheese on top as this one did. Filling, but not so filling that it didn’t warrant a desert afterwards.

Nearby was a small military vehicle display, I think owned by the man who was collecting the small entry fee. These were all Russian technology and mainly field command vehicles, RADAR carriers and one helicopter. All of them can be climbed onto and into, and even have the witing blueprints and technical manuals inside. OK, I can’t read them but they looked cool. As I thanked the man on the way out, He gave me a sharp, deep bow from the waist and a huge smile – obviously a man who likes to show off his toys!

I (rudely, I’m sorry) snoozed in the car as Gosia’s mum drove us for almost ninety minutes out to Krzeszow Monastery in a town I didn’t catch the name of. The area around the building has several other structures, including a church and a crypt. There is a small entry fee which covers them all and it seemed that Gosia and I were the only ones there. The church has been restored – in fact is currently being restored – and the before/after images no display of the paintwork is stunning. The original images were, in places, almost unrecogniseable but are now as bright as if they’d just been painted for the first time.

The mausoleum of the last Piast royal princes & princesses was closed, which is a shame as Gosia says it’s nice and creepy but we did get to climb the main tower which isn’t normally allowed. The view from the top is pretty spectacular and gives a lovely overview of a typical Polish village.

Mrs Gosia then drove us for another long distance to see some of Gosia’s friends in Karpacz. More typical Polish hospitality resulted as we were fed delicious cakes, tea and (non-Polish) beer. I was also let loose on the internet for ages as Gosia caught up on gossip.

Then a taxi back to Chez Gosia, more granny-supplied nibbles and bed once more. I could get to like it here.

I bet I spell these all wrong

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Another abbreviated post and it’s all Gosia’s fault for managing to squeeze so much into my short visit to the west of Poland! And my fault for not understanding Polish so I have to skip over so much rich details.

We slept a little later than intended (I’ve noticed that’s getting to be a theme on this blog) before catching the bus to Szklarska Poreba for a wander in the hills. During winter, this is popular skiing territory as can be gathered from the shop signs and availability year-round of ski lifts.

Sadly, the weather sucked. Gosia had picked this week to head home as it’s usually such a nice time of year but Poland (and Europe as a whole) was getting the tail end of the torrential rains being thrown down on the UK. Between heavy downpours the sun was lovely and hot, but just not out and about often enough.

We decided between us to go for a shorter walk than planned, so got the chairlift halfway up the hillside instead of to the top. Rain and fast winds would not have been pleasant to deal with. This hill is called Szrenica (“frosted” or “frost covered”) and it is the second-highest peak after Sniezka. We took a break for a hearty lunch of chocolate bars, crisps and soft drinks (yum) and began our hike down.

Around halfway, we paid a few Zloty to stand at the base of a waterfall called Kamienczyk and get all wet again after having just dried off. Hard hats were provided as part of the entry fee – though this didn’t save a woman and her child a 34 years ago when a huge rock worked loose and crushed them as they viewed the heavy falls. After this accident, the waterfall was closed to the public for almost 20 years. I steered clear of the rock faces and took my chances with the heavy spray.

We walked through the forest to the bottom of the hill and said “hello” to some working horses before returning to the town. Gosia did some jewellery shopping and we enjoyed more Polish beer before catching the bus back to base.

Granny Gosia fed us a traditional Polish dinner (delicious) before we struggled zombie-like into our respective chambers.

Dzien dobry, Polska!

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I staggered to the airport bus stop as the time drew near 4am and hopped into the express which would wing me to the distant Frankfurt-Hahn. Worth noting if you get a budget flight to/from Frankfurt – check the actual airport. Frankfurt Airport itself is barely 15 minutes from the city centre. Not that it made much difference to me. I was asleep within three minutes of buying my ticket and didn’t open my eyes again until we pulled into the airport parking lot.

Unlike on the bus, I could barely sleep a wink on the plane. No real reason, I just couldn’t nod off. We landed early, and I made my way through the immigration at Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotswahf) and onto the number 406 bus, getting off at the main train station and waiting for my guide and hostess, Gosia. Gosia and I worked together at Matrix / Soft Solutions for a couple of years and I’d not seen her since some time before I left the UK. It didn’t take her long to appear and it was great to see another friend again after so long. This European jaunt is turning out to be full of reunions!

Gosia loves Wroclaw and it shows. We spent a good day walking around, from 10am until after 9pm. Basically, dig out the Lonely Planet, look up Wroclaw and we did everything. And then some.

The church off the main square (though we couldn’t get up the tower), the two small buildings in front, beer in one of the oldest bars in Wroclaw, ice cream in a lovely little restaurant, KFC in a mall (yay!), the beautiful town hall, the university buildings with their stunning painted walls, street statues, the museum (which wasn’t that great to be honest), the Panorama (which was), cheap internet (this is where the Berlin idea bit the dust)… Wroclaw’s got a lot, particularly if you like churches. There are some fantastic buildings, and some near bridges.

I apologise to Gosia for rushing this post and not giving all the proper names of places. I’m just so far behind on posts right now I’ll need to return to this one when I have more time and beef it up! Even better if I can get to somewhere where I can easily insert Polish characters for that authentic “I know what I’m talking about” feel. Even though my attempts at speaking the language sound like a lisping man trying to speak with a mouthful of water.

I will rattle on a bit about the Panorama of Raclawicka. This is a huge circular painting created in 1894, showing details of a battle which took place 100 years earlier. The building in which is is housed was erected in the 1970s (if memory serves) and really showcases this 114m x 15m artwork well. “Real” objects lean up and “into” the painting, some so indistinguishably (there’s a new word for you) as to look like they just ooze from the canvas. It gives the whole thing an amazing sense of depth.

Entry isn’t cheap at 20 Zloty (around UK3.50 – expensive by Polish standards) but includes a mandatory guided tour and entry to the museum over the road as well. No photos or video allowed at all. Shame, as it really is something special – but if it encourages more visitors then that’s fine by me.

By the time we had one last beer in a street cafe, it was getting cold and dark. We just squeezed onto the last bus to Jelenia Gora for the 90 minute ride to Gosia’s home town. And indeed the very house she grew up in!

It was definitely dark by the time we got there, but her granny was still up to welcome us home. You couldn’t meet a more stereotypical grandmother – shorter than either of us, hair drawn back with clips and a lovely granny smile. I felt welcome the second I walked through the door. Of course, we were fed and watered before bed. A whole room to myself – luxury!

Zooming round Frankfurt

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I stayed in the hostel and loafed a bit until lunchtime partly as I was knackered and partly as the weather, frnakly, sucked. Harsh winds and periodic downpours made the outside world a very unexciting prospect.

Still, this was no bad thing as I ploughed through the book I was reading and tinkered on the PSP for a while. The people in the hostel wre all chatty and I got nattering to a small group. Lunchtime rolled around I and suddenly realised how hungry I was so I went on aa KFC-seeking mission.

I failed. I should have Googled before I went searching as there is definitely at least one, but after an hour or so I still hadn’t located it. In desparation (my stomach was growling and my eyesight wobbling with hunger) I settled on Burger King. Unusually, they accept US Dollars as well as Euros, and I found this is the case in Berlin as well. Only BK – nowhere else.

Unfortunately, I didn’t do the postcard thing for which I apologise as it’s the first country I’ve been to where I’ve not mailed cards to the chosen few back home. The thing is, I was planning on going to Poland then bouncing back into Berlin. A few days later, though, I found that the transport on the day I wanted to go to Berlin was chocka, so I had to knock that on the head. I will be in Germany again as part of The Walk so I’ll sort them then. And the KFC.

Back at the hostel, I’d signed up for a free walking tour and our guide stepped us out into the slightly warmer outdoors for a ninety minute stroll. It was pleasant enough (excepting the occasional downpour), but Frankfurt’s not the most touristy of cities. We saw a couple of cathedrals, some beautiful old buildings and some reconstructed wooden ones on the town square. I lost count of the times our guide told us of buildings which weren’t there any more as they were bombed in the war. I didn’t know whether to apologise or tell him it was their fault for invading Poland.

Sadly, it’s true that a lot of Frankfurt’s older structures – in particular the wooden ones – perished during WWII. A sad fact is that if one wooden building catches ablaze, then the entire terraced street will follow.

A handful remain and they truly are lovely. The old city square was left three times its old size until around the 1970s as the council decided to leave the flattened land “open” as a reminder of what happens when war breaks out. Finally, they decided that the lesson had been learned (we hope) and funded the rebuilding of a set of “replica” houses in the same spot as the originals had stood. The slight problem was that modern-day architects thought they were cleverer than the original builders and cut a few corners, making their reproductions more “efficient”.

Needless to say, one of them ended up being braced, partially collapsing and then being demolished and rebuilt according to the original several-hundred-year-old specifications. They’re still standing now, though I doubt the architect in question has quite washed the egg off his face yet.

Most of the features of modern-day Frankfurt are tall bank buildings. It’s the economic centre of Germany and in pursuit of this, they demolished several beautiful building-fronts to make way for glass towers. Fortunately, this practise seems to have stopped with newer buildings making use of those fronts, or being far enough away as to not require their pummelling.

On the walk, I got talking to a couple of American guys (Yuri and Slaytan – what a pair of names!). We arranged to go for dinner in a German pub a small walk away and indulged in wonderful German cooking. I had a pork chop with veg and fried potatoes. Great stuff. And good beer as well.

Beer seemed a good idea, so we sat in the hostel when we got back and worked our way through all the beers the bar sold. Then went round the corner to a bottle shop and tried a few more. By now we had a small crowd, and decided to giggle at the red light district (even a couple of women joined us).

Well, the beer’s expensive in those bars. And the entertainment’s rubbish – I’d rather watch telly. It didn’t stop us walking around until almost 3am, though. Thanks to Alex and Slaytan for keeping me company so I didn’t fall asleep and miss my airport bus!