Poland isn’t far from Copenhagen but its certainly a different way of life. All the traditional images of Poland were there: horse and cart, grey Stalinist architecture (for example 5 story concrete tower blocks in the middle of the countryside), potato fields, ugly old ladies, potato fields etc. However there is a Poland with vibrant cities, great beer, beautifully restored buildings, amazing food at good prices etc. that is also there. If you’re looking for a ‘value’ trip then Poland would be on my list of destinations. Our trip was quick and we perhaps took in too many sites but here’s some of them:
- Cieplice, a delapidated spa town in the Sudeten foothills.
- The Sudeten mountains – easy access via chair lift.
- Unesco World Heritiage churches in Lower Silesia.
- Cheap accommodation in ancient castles.
- Potato fields and ugly concrete tower blocks jammed with satellite dishes.
- Cracow castles and cathedrals.
- ‘Schindler’ tourism around Cracow – seeing the factory, the Jewish ghetto and the old Jewish quarter, now filled with trendy bars and, dare one say it, trendy Poles.
- The horror of Auschwitz and other camps in the area – truly something everyone should see during their lives to be reminded how evil people can be.
- The Carpathian mountains from Zakopane – mountain biking and hiking in an up and coming ski town.
- 170m under ground in an old salt mine – huge under ground chapels complete with my new favourite sculputure – the salt pope.
Enought to say that the potato image will soon be long gone from Poland, if only they could stop driving the Fiat ‘potato’ cars.