Our stay in luxury ended this morning. We woke up a bit early and headed down to our breakfast buffet before leaving for the train station to head back to François. After the hustle and bustle of Poland, Lithuania feels very quiet. As we were walking down one of the main roads in the capital we were once again struck by how little traffic there was. The train station was also pretty laid back, we had our tickets including a 70% discount for one of us for being over 70 and still had time to explore the station for 30 minutes before departing.
Our train was much more modern than the Soviet era train we took to Vilnius.
One of the services at our campground was a lift to and from the local train station. We sent Trena a message on WhatsApp and she told us that Laura would pick us up. It turns out Laura is Trena’s niece who recently returned to Lithuania after living in Scotland for 14 years. She moved to Scotland right after graduating from university, but she told us that despite the people in Scotland being really nice, she just did not feel like it was home. She said that she was surprised we chose Lithuania as a tourist destination as while it was home it was not that interesting in her opinion. When I told her that all of our friends who have visited here loved it, she told us she had goose bumps and that we had made her day.
Back at the appropriately named Harmony campground.
Laura told us that Trena was at church, and then was going to vote in an election so we would have the place to ourselves for a while. We did not mind as this place is really quiet, peaceful, and luxurious. The two dogs came and gave us the once over, before sitting down and asking to be petted. We settled in for a quiet afternoon listening to the cuckoo birds. I even took advantage of the television in the log cabin to watch some German soccer. Later in the day we were joined by a Swiss camper so we now have some neighbors to share the beauty with.
Part of the grounds of one our favorite campgrounds in all of our years of travel.
I can tell when Ton really likes a city, and she likes Vilnius. After yesterday she spent some more time reading about the city and this morning she handed me a long list of additional places she wanted to go to today. As the day went on I had to watch her as she was really absorbed in taking pictures and if I didn’t keep an eye on her I would lose her. Finally during the course of the day we walked over 6 miles and she never said a word about the distance. Today was a good day for her and for me.
I have a hard time getting Ton to pose for pictures. This statue is of Leonard Cohen who she is a big fan of and traces his roots to Vilnius. In this case she asked me to take a picture of her.
The first place on our list was St. Annes Church. Vilnius has 28 major churches in the old town, but St. Annes is considered the most beautiful. Napoleon was supposed to have said while invading Lithuania in 1812 he would like to take this church back to France with him. Instead he used it as an ammunition depot and prison causing significant destruction to the interior.
St. Annes Church, Napoleons favorite church outside of France.
The interior is interesting as it has two chapels, the small one faces the street, and the main chapel is entered from a courtyard. They are both pretty. All of the woodwork that made up the altar, nave, and confessionals were taken out by the communists, and the wall of the church were painted over. Fortunately, most of the woodwork was still in Lithuania after they gained their independence so the church has been pretty well restored. They are currently working on restoring the paintings on the walls.
All of the wood work and religious painting were removed during communist rule. They have been recovered and restored in the last 20 years.
The next stop on the list was the Gate of Dawn. This is the surviving city gates from the walls that used to surround the old town. It is famous for a statue of Mary which is now enclosed in glass. On our walk there Ton was taking many pictures and she remarked to me that it is nearly impossible to take a picture in Vilnius without having a church in it. She told me that it reminded of her hometown with Buddhist temples replacing the churches. Another plus for Vilnius.
One of the 28 Churches in Vilnius. This one is Orthodox.
As we were crisscrossing the town we came across a section of street with hundreds of small pieces of art attached to the walls along the street. This street is called Literati Street, and the section covered in art was done in the late 1990’s by over 100 Lithuanian artists, to honor over 100 Lithuanian writers. The art is inspired by the writing of the authors.
A wall on Literati Street covered with art inspired by Lithuanian Literature.
Ton wanted to return to the Uzupio Republic for some more pictures after we visited the Gate of Dawn. When I looked at the map I realized that the Republic was only a couple of hundred yards from St. Annes Church where we had started the day, but was nearly a mile from where we were. Fortunately Google picked a different route going back and she was so absorbed taking pictures that she didn’t notice we were back tracking.
Ton wanted a picture of this “Fresh Water” Mermaid from the Uzupio Republic. We had walked by it several times in the rain yesterday without noticing it.
We found some new areas to explore in the Republic, but after covering a few miles we decided to take a break. We picked a restaurant near the river. I ordered an excellent Lithuanian Dark Beer, and Ton had cold beet root soup which is a national staple of Lithuania. I was skeptical as I like neither cold soups or beets, but when it came I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. I also confessed that we were almost back to St. Annes and pointed it out to her.
The view from our restaurant with street art and a church, two of the things Vilnius is famous for.
Our last stop was near the market from yesterday to look at one of the huge street art pieces that Vilnius is proud of. When I put the address in we didn’t realize it was across from the market we had lunch in yesterday until we arrived. We hadn’t noticed it yesterday because of the rain, and it is 3 stories tall.
We missed this yesterday because of the rain.
We headed back to the hotel for a break. While I was resting Ton picked out another Lithuanian restaurant for us to try. She particularly wanted to get a potato dumpling dish that is called Zeppelin by the Lithuanians, because it looks like a Zeppelin. When we received the menu the listing for the Zeppelin said large portion, and they were not kidding. One Zeppelin, and a potato pancake had us both stuffed for the night.
More street art from Vilnius.
We had a great day wandering inefficiently thru Vilnius.
We wondered if anyone has ever been able to use this chair.
We received a notice that if we did not use the points on one of my hotel accounts soon we would lose them so we are in Vilnius in a nice comfortable hotel. The other reason we are here is the weather continues to be poor. Today it rained most of the day, and the low overnight is supposed to be around 30. So we left François at the campground with the heat set at the lowest setting in case it freezes and headed into Vilnius.
One of the 28 churches in Vilnius. The rain and clouds were with us until the evening.
After a short ride on an old train from the day when Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union we arrived at our modern hotel. It was before noon so we dropped our bags at the hotel and headed into town for a late breakfast/early lunch. The rain was coming down steadily and the temperatures are in the 50’s so the few people on the streets were just as bundled up and miserable looking as us. When we turned the corner we saw what looked like the town market hall so we headed into there to see if we could find some food.
The town market hall, built in 1906.
Ton happily explored the market looking at all of the vegetable stalls, and admiring the various pickled vegetables on offer as this is a specialty in Lithuania. We found an interesting restaurant that offered traditional Lithuanian food and Thai food together. We asked the owner about this unusual combination and she replied that Thai food is easy and I like it. We opted for her traditional Lithuanian food and we enjoyed it.
The border control for the Uzupio Republic is a tourist store.
Our next stop was the Uzupio Republic. It is a section of town across the river from the old town that as a joke on one April fools day declared itself an independent republic from the rest of Lithuania complete with a constitution, and currency that can only be used on April 1st to buy beer. The constitution includes a clause that says “Cats don’t have to like their owners, but they do have to be useful.”
The bridge into the Uzupio Republic.
Ton likes quirky stories like this so we spent about an hour in the Republic including a stop for a coffee and a shared piece of cake that looked like a strawberry tort, but was something else completely.
The Glass Quarter which was part of the Jewish neighborhood in old Vilnius.
We headed back to claim our room and take a break from the rain. After a couple of hours we headed out for a beer and a dinner. The rain had stopped and the sun came out. Without the rain the walk was fun, and more people were out and about and didn’t look miserable. We found a nice brewery that was packed with locals, we split a dinner which was plenty for the both of us. By now the sky was blue and we took an evening stroll, stopping for one more beer in the Glass Quarter before returning to the hotel at the very late hour (for us) of 9pm.
The Market Square at about 8:30 at night, right now sunset is around 9:30 pm.
We always intended this trip to be a combination of Poland and the three Baltic States. In Warsaw we had to make a decision whether to head west and finish Poland, or head north to the Baltic States. Once again we are starting to feel a little time pressure. While we don’t regret the extra week we spent in the Krakow area it has put a little strain on our plans. In the end we decided to head north to the Baltic States as we think we can hit the places we want to visit in western Poland on our way back to Amsterdam.
Harmony Camping. One of the best campgrounds we have ever seen in 12 years of RVing.
The drive north from Elk was uneventful on a nice brand new freeway in Poland. When we hit the Lithuanian border the freeway ended and the road became rougher. The last 100 kilometers were on back roads in Lithuania. We haven’t been on back roads much this trip, and we realized that you see a much different view of a country from back roads than you do from freeways or autobahns. The villages here looked very quiet, and the roads were very lightly traveled. It became clear that the roads between villages were funded differently than the roads in villages and towns. Between towns the roads were well paved and generally pretty new, once you passed into a town or village the pavement was much older, heavily patched, and a little narrower.
The owner of the campground opened this cabin to us, and built a fire to make us welcome.
The camping infrastructure in Lithuania is sparse. There are no campgrounds in Vilnius. I picked out a place about 40 kilometers from Vilnius based on the reviews. What a find! When we pulled in we were the only customers on an incredibly well manicured place with a beautiful log cabin. I got out and tracked down the owner who was busy with a grass trimmer. She welcomed us with a mixture of Lithuanian and Dutch with an occasional English word thrown in, but she did a good job of making herself understood. She is probably in her 70’s and recently widowed, she speaks Dutch because her husband was Dutch and founded the campground. She showed us around, opened up the beautiful cabin with a kitchen, dining room and sitting area and told us to make ourselves welcome. She then built a fire in the wood stove to make sure we were comfortable. We were wowed by the welcome and the service. We really wish we had a common language so we could express how incredibly impressed we are with this place and her help. What a great introduction to Lithuania.
We had a 250 kilometer drive today as we are moving north towards Lithuania. It was a little too far to make in one day, so we selected Elk as our stopover for the night. Looking at Elk on the map I envisioned a medium sized lake side community of about 10,000 people.
Copernicus with stones in the background modeling the solar system.
After a quick and smooth exit from Warsaw including a stop to give François a much needed wash we made great time on a brand new freeway heading north to Lithuania. The heavy truck traffic that has been ever present in Poland petered out a little north of Warsaw and it was pretty much smooth sailing. When we exited for Elk we were surprised to find ourselves in a busy commercial area. It turns out Elk is a good sized town of over 70,000 people. But the good news was that because of that they had a large and well stocked Lidl which we spent some time in.
The waterfront walkway has wood carvings of every Polish king back to 900 ad.
Our last surprise was when we pulled into the municipal campground it looked full. But we luckily got the last spot in the place. After settling in we took a walk along the lake front which is one of the main draws of Elk. They had a well developed waterfront and there was a very nice municipal park. The highlight was a line of wood carved statues of every king of Poland in history. We enjoyed our brief Polish history lesson as we ambled along the waterfront.
Yesterday we were a little underwhelmed by Warsaw, possibly because Ton was under the weather and without her list of places to see I am a little lost. We cut our losses and headed back early. As I said yesterday, Ton rested for the evening, and this morning she felt a lot better so we headed back into town.
The artificial palm tree in Charles de Gaulle roundabout is now a whimsical icon for the city. The ugly building in the background is the former headquarters of the Communist Party of Poland.
We got off the tram at Charles de Gaulle roundabout and the first thing we came across is a giant artificial palm tree. It was erected in 2002 to honor the Jewish population of Warsaw. One of the streets that feeds into the roundabout is Jerusalem street which led to the old Jewish Quarter. The artist had visited Jerusalem and was impressed with the number of palm trees in the city. This inspired her to erect the artificial tree as a temporary street art exhibit. It split the community with many people liking it and many hating it. But the people who liked it won the rest of the city over by showing up one January weekend for a beach party in the center of the roundabout complete with bathing suits and beer.
The Copernicus Statue near the University of Warsaw. The Nazi’s stole the statue and shipped it back to Germany during WWII.
We decided to stroll down Nowy Swiat (New World)street, which is the main street leading to the old town. At the beginning of the street is the building that used to be the communist party headquarters in Poland. After the fall of the communist government the Poles showed their disdain for communism and sense of humor by converting it to the first stock exchange in the new capitalist Poland. It is now an office building but it still hosts one of the major banks in Poland.
The altar of the Church of the Holy Cross.
Our first stop was at the Church of the Holy Cross. It is a nice Catholic Church with a pretty interior. At one time the composer Chopin was the organist at the church. Chopin is another national icon of Poland. The main reason we visited the church is because Chopin’s heart is buried in the church.
The monument in the church that honors Chopin and shows where is heart is buried.
Unlike yesterday we began to appreciate Warsaw as we strolled down the street. The University of Warsaw is located just off the street and the students were out in force giving a positive energy to the crowd on the street. There were a lot of elementary and middle school groups on their end of the year school trips that also brought a good energy. The sun came out as we walked and Ton felt a lot better than yesterday. So we enjoyed ourselves.
We enjoyed the energy on Nowy Swiat Street.
As we were leaving the market square we saw a sign for a tea shop which offered over 120 types of tea. It said it was located in the basement, and it looked interesting to me, (though I was hoping they also offered coffee). We headed in on the spur of the moment and it was a great experience.
Our tea and a really atmospheric place to drink it.
We both ended up ordering teas (no coffee), and they were carefully prepared and meticulously served. We didn’t realize when we ordered them that we were ordering pots of tea, because the price made us think we were ordering cups of tea. We ended up sipping on our tea for about an hour as our pots seemed bottomless, but the tea was delicious.
The mermaid of Warsaw.
The coat of arms of Warsaw features a mermaid armed with a shield and sword. Apparently, no one really knows why. So the locals have made up a legend for the mermaid. The mermaid is a fresh water mermaid (Polish has different words for fresh water and salt water mermaids.) She swam up the Vistula and when she got to the old town she liked the place. But she didn’t like the fishing nets so she began to create currents and waves in the water to free the fish. When the fishermen went to capture her she charmed them with a song so they left her alone. But a rich merchant decided to capture her and put her on display. The fishermen of the city rescued her, and since then she has taken up arms to protect Warsaw.
The market square in Warsaw was completely rebuilt after WWII when it was destroyed.
Yesterday we had walked by a restaurant that we wanted to try. Ton has been looking for cabbage rolls since we arrived in Poland, but apparently they are not as popular with Poles as they are with Polish-Americans as we have not found a lot of restaurants that feature them. This restaurant had them on the menu so we headed over for lunch today. I ordered the Schnitzel that was the daily special for about $12. But when Ton ordered her cabbage rolls they said they were out, so she settled for Goulash. My Schnitzel arrived and it was the biggest pork cutlet I had ever seen. Tons Goulash was also immense. In addition we had a big bowl of sauerkraut and two giant dill pickles given to us as appetizers. We didn’t come close to finishing our meals, and ended up skipping supper.
My giant pork Schnitzel.
Sometimes first impressions are wrong. Today Warsaw won us over and we really enjoyed ourselves. We are both glad we gave it a second chance.
Another photo of the Barbacan and city walls with mostly sunny skies. The sign for our restaurant with the giant portions is in the upper left corner.
We slept in a bit as it would only take about 45 minutes by bus and tram to get into the old town. We were not sure what to expect as Warsaw is a largely rebuilt city. It had the misfortune in WWII to have been one of the cities that received the most damage during the war, it was essentially leveled. Warsaw was subject to three different attacks by the Germans. When they invaded in 1939 the Poles retreated into Warsaw and then held the Germans off for about 30 days, the Germans did considerable damage then. In 1943 the remaining Jews in the Ghetto in Warsaw rebelled and decided to fight rather than go off to the concentration camps to be liquidated. The Germans leveled the Ghetto. In 1944, the Polish Home Army (resistance), rebelled when the Red Army of the Soviet Union was only about 20 kilometers from liberating Warsaw. The Home Army was mostly Nationalist, and anti-communist, so the Red Army cynically stopped and allowed the Germans to destroy the Home Army and the Nationalists who made it up. This pretty much completed the destruction of Warsaw.
One of the many plaques you see commemorating Polish resistance fighters. This one shows the location where 30 Poles from the resistance where executed by the Germans during the Warsaw uprising in 1944.
The center of the city is nice, but lacks the character of the older cities that did not undergo the destruction that Warsaw did. The Poles are very religious compared to other countries in Europe, but many of the churches that were central to the culture of Warsaw were not rebuilt by the communists until many years after the war if at all.
This church was rebuilt in the 70’s. Only two of Warsaw’s original churches survived WWII relatively intact.
We stopped in a coffee shop that had an interesting take on the history of Warsaw. The street the coffee shop is on was the center of the cafe culture of Warsaw before WWII. After the war this particular shop was allowed to continue by the communists as a coffee shop, but as coffee was considered a luxury item, there were significant constraints on how it could be brewed. It was interesting reading as I waited in line for my excellent coffee today.
This was an interesting statue in front of the remnants of the old city walls. It depicts a young girl in a helmet and carrying a sub-machine gun. This statue is to commemorate the younger children a lot of them boy and girl scouts who acted as messengers for the Polish Home Army during WWII.
The main square has the recently rebuilt Royal Palace. The original palace was completely destroyed during the last battle of Warsaw in 1944. Initially the post-war communist government refused to allow it to be rebuilt, as obviously a Royal Palace was not in keeping with a communist government. The government finally bowed to popular opinion in the late 70’s and the reconstruction began mostly funded by Poles living outside the country, though local Poles did contribute.
The Royal Palace is the building on the right, it was rebuilt beginning in the 1970’s.
We had a relatively short day as Ton is struggling with her allergies and the pollen is out. When we got back we saw our new neighbors who had British plates. Their dog was quite friendly and leaped inside François to check things out. They were quite embarrassed, but we thought it was funny. It turns out they are an Australian/Lithuanian couple who live in London, along with the Australians mom who is a Maori from New Zealand originally. They were quite charming and I had a nice talk with them while Ton fought off her allergies in François.
This cool clock with the signs of the zodiac above each number was on a building in the old town of Warsaw.
After spending the longest time we have ever spent in one campground it was time to move on. Tomak and his family at Kluczwoda Camping made us feel more than welcome while we were there and we highly recommend it as a place to base for a visit to Krakow.
After a little adventure getting out of Krakow because Greta again insisted on routing us on the unfinished S31 thru town. By the time we got Google involved we spent about 20 minutes wandering thru skinny suburban Krakow roads, until we found route 7 heading towards Warsaw. The rest of the trip was a breeze on a brand new freeway, and we arrived at Wok Camping on the edge of Warsaw, which is another nice campground.
Ton began to prepare our evening meal, and I decided to head down to the Vistula River as it was nearby to see what I would see. It was a short walk and I arrived at a very crowded beach on the river. It was about 80 degrees today, and a large crowd was enjoying the last day of the holiday week, and unfortunately the last good day for a while. We thought we were done with the heater, but the highs are going to drop back into the 50’s and the lows into the 30’s for a few days.
Downtown Warsaw in the background, this small ferry was shuttling people to an island in the middle of the river.
Having accomplished my goal of finding the river and the bus stop for tomorrows ride into the city center, I headed back to François. The rest of the afternoon consisted of a nap and a bit of movie watching.
Today we prepared to get on the road again. After 12 nights in the campground in Gacki we are going to hit the road again. The campground emptied out early today with many of the Polish families heading home after their week off. We returned the Corolla in the morning and took an Uber back to the campground. We spent the rest fo the day taking care of chores.
My new shaved head.
Ton decided my hair was getting too fuzzy. I thought she was going to clean up my neck, so I handed her the clippers without a guard on. The next thing I new I had the shortest haircut I have had since Officers Candidate School. Ton says she likes it.
We planned a short trip into the foothills of the Tatra Mountains for today. Our time in Krakow is coming to an end. This is our longest period in one place in our time traveling in Europe. Because of that we have been able to visit some smaller places that we definitely would have missed on our normal travels, and Lanckorona is one of those places.
The church in Lanckorona.
Lanckorona is famous for having 4o traditional wooden homes from the 19th century. The home were all built in about 1869 after a large fire had wiped out the village. It is a small hilltop community overlooking a valley with views of the peaks of the Tatras Mountains.
Lanckorona is also known as the city of Angels. So a lot of the tourist shops sold different types of angels.
It was a nice drive up into the mountains, and the main roads were flowing smoothly without the truck traffic that had been clogging them up all week. On the other hand the parking lots for the town were quite full, and we were lucky to get the next to the last one in the lot next to the town hall.
When we got to the market square the first stall we saw was selling these delicious goodies. Grilled smoked cheese wrapped in bacon with a homemade raspberry preserve. After only 5 minutes I liked Lanckorona.
Today is Constitution Day in Poland and it is a bigger holiday than Labor Day so all of the stores are closed. Tomak from the campground explained that Labor Day is a holiday associated with communism so it is not as popular here as in other countries in Europe, he said that the only reason it is still a holiday is that Poland joined the EU on May 1. When we arrived the local high school band was just wrapping up a concert in the square to celebrate Constitution Day.
A Madonna and child painting from the local church.
After a quick turn around the market square to check out the stalls offering stuff for Constitution Day we headed up to the church. Ton directed me to read the history board about the church while she headed to the front door. I heard the organ in the church playing so I assumed there was a Mass going on, so I wandered around the grounds of the church trying to find Ton. I finally stuck my head into the door of the church after a few minutes only to find Ton standing there by herself. She told me that the organist had been practicing when she went in so she got to enjoy the organ by herself.
A more modern Madonna and Baby Jesus from the same church.
While I was circling the church I had seen a steady stream of people going up the hill on a well developed walking path. After we left the church I told Ton we should go see where everyone is going. She looked skeptically at the rather steep trail and wanted to know what is up there. I took a look at google maps and it was an old castle. Ton reluctantly went along with my idea. After a short but very steep climb we came to the ruins of an old fort from the 1600’s that had been destroyed during an invasion of Poland by the Swedes in the late 1700’s.
Part of the fort.
The climb was a pretty good one and in the end the grounds to the castle/fort were closed while a new bridge and walkway were being constructed. So we took one picture to prove we had made the climb and then headed back down to town.
Part of the crowds heading up the hill to the Fort/Castle.
After our climb we decided to reward ourselves with a beer. We saw what looked like a small cafe and went in. What wasn’t obvious from the road is that the cafe had an immense garden eating area behind it. It was one of the nicest cafes we have seen on this trip. We got a table in the garden and I went back inside to get the beers, when I got to the head of the line I got a yogurt with a Mango Puree on the spur of the moment.
One of the wooden houses fronting the market square.
We took some time savoring our beers and yogurt while doing some really good people watching. When we were finishing the yogurt Ton suggested I go get us another desert which I did, this time a cheese cake. We continued with our people watching for a while, and then headed back to the Corolla for a pleasant drive back to the campground and an early evening chilling in François.
Today was not a day for tourism. Last night just as I finished up the blog we got an alarm on the control panel of François. The fault said that our gray water (waste water) tank was full. I knew that was not true, but went out and verified that it was the opposite of full, basically dry. A quick google check showed there was a Knaus dealer in town. I sent a text to see if it would be possible to get in, not expecting an answer, remember the country is on vacation this week. Surprisingly someone texted me right back and we were able to get an appointment for this morning. During the night the alarm went off several more times, for a problem that is not a problem. But it is very good at disturbing your sleep.
We were off bright and early and were met by an English speaking person who turned out to be the person I was texting with. He said he was going on vacation this morning, but would explain the problem before he left. We were then led to a very nice waiting room and told to wait. 2 hours later the technician came and got us and pantomimed that the gray tank was very dirty and that caused the sensor to fault. The explanation was very unclear, but friendly. They did their best, but I didn’t really understand what they had done to fix the problem. But in the end he showed that the readout for the gray tank said 0%, not 100%. They then handed me two bottles of gray water tank cleaner, and I think told me to use them the next time we fill the gray tank. After settling the not unsubstantial bill we were on our way.
After lunch in the campground, we decided that today was going to be a chore day. Our first stop was Leroy Merlin which is the French version of Home Depot. It is also very popular in other parts of Europe. We picked up a few things for François there, and then walked over to the mall which was adjacent. The mall was like all malls over the world, but had a great deal of American products, like Levis, Wrangler, Nike, Columbia, basically every major American clothing brand.
Our very full campground.
When we arrived here one week ago we were the only customers for two nights. The place is now jammed with tents, trailers, and RV’s crammed in every nook and cranny. We spent the rest of the day watching people carefully maneuver their vehicles into position in the campground. Tomak and his mother are certainly earning their pay this week.
By the way as I was typing this the alarm went off again. So another trip to the Knaus dealer is in our future.
Today is Labor Day in Poland (and most of the world). 5 days ago we were the only guests in the campground, today it is jammed with mostly Polish families enjoying the week of holidays. The owner Tomak looked pretty hectic today, he told me he was playing Tetris with campers. European campgrounds are much less regimented than US ones. Delineated spaces are the exception rather than the rule, so when times are quiet you have a lot of room, and when times are busy, there is always room for one more if you are creative.
The entrance gate to the old town in Krakow.
For the first time in our week in Krakow we drove somewhere without running into at least one traffic jam, so we were downtown in a hurry. We got to our go to parking lot near the old town, and there was only one space left. I managed to squeeze into the spot with Tons help from outside the car.
Polish flags were everywhere, due to there being three holidays in three days, today is Labor Day, tomorrow is Flag Day, and Friday is Constitution Day.
Tomak had advised us to go to the underground museum at the Cloth Building in the Market Square. In 2005 and 2006 there had been a major archaeological dig in front of and under part of the Cloth Building. Since people have a tendency to build on top of the existing stuff, quite often over centuries the current “ground level” can be 15 or 20 feet higher than the true one. This museum shows the different levels of construction under what you currently see at the Market Square.
A photo from 2005 showing the dig in Market Square. The underground museum walks you thru the old sites you see in the foreground.
It was interesting to see the evolution of the city from underground. The museum does a good job of explaining what drove the new construction as well as explaining the difference in construction techniques and materials over time. There is also extensive displays of artifacts found during the dig as this area has been a center of activity for over 800 years there was a lot to find in the dirt.
A section of the old surface of the market square.
After the museum we headed over to a Brewery near the old town that I had been looking forward to since we arrived. The beer turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, but once again we really enjoyed the food. Ton had borscht and baked duck, and I had goulash in horseradish sauce. So far we have been really enjoying Polish food.
Tons baked duck with potatoes and baked peaches, she really enjoyed it.
Our last stop for the day was Jagiellonian University. It is the first university in Poland and has been in operation since 1364. It is also one of the oldest universities in the world still in operation. Nicolas Copernicus studied here and is the most famous graduate.
A statue to Copernicus placed during the 500th anniversary of the University.
We made one more pass thru the square to do some people watching before heading back to the campground.
Known by the locals as “The Head” it is officially named Eros Bendato. The placement here was controversial, but it is now a big tourist attraction and meeting place.
After several days of bustling around Krakow we headed off to the small village of Zalipie. Zalipie is a village of about 60 or 70 homes 100 kilometers east of Krakow.
One of the homes in Zalapie decorated in flowers.
Around 1900 some of the women in the village began to paint flowers on smudges on the outside of their homes caused by wood smoke. They used a paint made of powdered dye and milk.
The interior of one of the homes in Zalapie.
This art spread from home to home in the village. The artists were mostly the women of the village. The flowers are not based on real flowers, but the imagination of the artist.
A painting on an exterior wall of one of the homes.
We joined a tour of several of the homes in the heart of the village. As we were parking for the tour we met up with a Polish/Dutch family who now lived in Switzerland. I heard the mom asking someone if it was ok to park where we were in Polish, after I heard her speaking English with her daughter. I asked her to translate the answer for me and she laughed and said yes it was ok. They were a very interesting family of polyglots. Mom was Polish, Dad was Dutch, the kids were going to school in Zurich which is a German speaking town, the daughter who was about 10 and spoke English with almost a perfect American accent to both parents. The son seemed to speak to his Dad in Dutch and his mother in English. Grandma was along for the trip and only spoke Polish, but was having a great time looking at the houses as it reminded her of her childhood.
One of the houses on the tour.
The tour gave us access to the interior of three homes that were very beautifully painted. They also gave us an idea of a typical country home from the early 1900’s in Poland.
An older home in the village that was not part of the tour.
We visited the cultural center for the town. They are trying very hard to preserve the tradition in the village. A lot of the women who were doing the painting have passed away over the last 20 years. They are trying to develop a new generation of people to continue painting the homes.
One of the homes with a straw roof.
Our last stop for the day was the local church. It was also well decorated with a flower theme.
A chapel in the local church decorated by the local artists of Zalipie.
We probably would not have found this village if we had not been forced to slow down in Krakow. So today we were glad we had to slow up.
The most important tourist attraction near Krakow is Auschwitz. Ton and I discussed whether to visit the camp prior to coming to Krakow. Initially we had decided to pass on it as we were not that keen on seeing a monument to mans cruelty. But when we extended our time here we decided we should go. All tours to Auschwitz must be guided, and unfortunately there is not one tour in English available this week. We suspect that all of the tour operations in Krakow buy up the English spots in advance, so the only way you can go is by joining one of their tours from Krakow. So despite our new intentions we are going to miss Auschwitz.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine.
The other important historical attraction near Krakow is the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Salt has been produced in the area since paleolithic times. The springs around Wieliczka have always been salty, and salt was produced by diverting ground water into pits, letting the water evaporate, and harvesting the salt that remained.
In its day this stuff was as valuable as gold.
In the 1300’s a Hungarian princess named Princess Kinga was promised in marriage to a local Polish prince. When she was asked what she wanted for her wedding present she asked for the salt mining rights around Wieliczka. She hired 13 miners, and told them to start digging and one of the largest salt deposits in Europe was discovered.
Salt mining has taken place here since the 1300’s.
The mine was in continuous operation from the 1300’s until 1996. At that time there was severe flooding in the working mine, and the cost to rebuild was not justified by the going rate for salt.
The salt in the mine took many forms, but most of it was black and used for meat curing, and industrial purposes.
The mine is immense. The mine goes down 1073 feet and has over 187 miles of vertical and horizontal passages.
Part of the 187 miles of shafts in the mine.
The mines have been a tourist attraction for centuries. Noted dignitaries have been brought to see the mine back to the 1700’s. It has been run as a commercial tourism site back to the late 1800’s. One of the stories on the tour talked about a canal boat tour that took place in one of the brine tunnels in the early 1900’s. It was canceled after one of the boats full of German soldiers in WWI capsized with many of the “tourists” drowning.
One of the several lakes on the tour.
Waliczka was one of the sites on the very first list of UNESCO world heritage sites in 1978. The list of UNESCO sites has grown quite a bit since then, so they are proud to be among the first.
This chandelier is made of salt crystals. The crystals are 99% pure salt.
The tour is really extensive, taking over 3 hours, including an optional museum tour (we somehow ended up in a Polish museum tour, but enjoyed ourselves none the less) . We went over 400 feet under ground climbing down over 800 stairs, and walking 1.5 miles. Fortunately, you get to take an elevator up at the end.
Part of the church on the tour.
In the late 1800’s 2 miners and a local artist asked to convert one of the large rooms into a Catholic Church. They worked on this project on their own time without compensation for 20 years. The church is very impressive with a life of Jesus carved in salt around the exterior walls of the church.
A carved salt reproduction of Michelangelo’s last supper.
There is also a huge hall that can be rented for weddings or corporate events. These days tourism is what is keeping the mine alive and they are very creative about embracing tourists.
The church as you enter it from a grand staircase.
While the experience was very structured, we enjoyed how they presented the history of the mine. They did a good job of mixing descriptions of very practical things, like how do you get the salt to the surface, and how that changed over the centuries. They also focused on the importance of the mine in the history of Poland, and used it to tell the story of Poland nationalism. Almost all of the national heroes of Poland are given a mention during the tour even if they only visited it once.
John Paul II visited the mine three times, twice as a school kid (he grew up nearby) and once as the Cardinal of Krakow before he was elected Pope.
Wieliczka is another beautiful world heritage site worth visiting.
One way to transport salt. Once the horses were lowered into the mine they never left.
Today we headed up into the Tatra Mountains near Krakow. The Tatras are part of the larger Carpathian Mountains and are located in Slovakia, and Poland. They are the tallest mountains in the Carpathians with two peaks over 8000 feet.
Every day leaving the campground we have gone past this canola field, Ton loves Canola fields and asked me to stop so she could get a good picture of this one.
The drive up to Zakopane was mostly on a brand new freeway that starts in the suburbs of Krakow, and ends about 40 kilometers from Zakopane. From there the rest of the trip is on a good two lane road, but Zakopane is one of the most popular tourist attractions for Poles in Poland. As a result the traffic was bumper to bumper for the last 40 kilometers.
A pretty mountain village on the road up to the Tatras.
Zakopane was fairly bustling when we parked up. It is centered on two things, a large pedestrian walkway thru the center of town which is lined with restaurants and tourist shops, and ski resorts on the surrounding hills. The Tatras were still snow covered, but the ski resorts were bare of snow, so everyone was focused on the promenade thru town. We joined them for a stroll.
Oscypek Cheese.
One of the first shops we saw had an interesting cheese on display. Oscypek Cheese is only made in the Tatra Mountains in Poland. It is an old cheese first produced in the 1300’s, and had almost faded into obscurity for being old fashioned. But lately it has come back in style. The cheese is made primarily of sheep milk, that only can be collected between April and October when the sheep are eating mountain meadow grass. The sheep milk is turned into cottage cheese, that is then boiled and compressed into blocks of cheese that are molded in decorative shapes. The cheese is then placed in brine one of two days, before being smoked for 14 days. We are told it is best eaten fried with jam. We will be testing our cheese and will give you a report later.
Our lunch for two. We are not having dinner tonight.
As we were strolling up the promenade Ton was having a great time going from one traditional Polish restaurant to another, and investigating the menu, and gauging the price/value ratio. After checking out several restaurants and debating their merits (mostly with herself as they all looked good to me) we settled on one that specialized in grilled meats Tatra style. The meal for two was huge, but we managed to almost finish it.
The grill at our restaurant. The potatoes wrapped in foil were delicious.
Prior to its current incarnation as a posh resort town Zakopane had a much more rough reputation. The locals were called Highlanders and like many mountain people they were known for being difficult to govern and distrustful of outsiders. They made their living raising sheep, lumber jacking, and occasionally smuggling people or things over the border to Slovakia.
One of the few old buildings from the non-posh days of Zakopane.
After our meal we needed another promenade thru town to walk off some of the meat we had consumed. We were tempted to visit a couple of breweries we passed, but were too full to enjoy the beer. We did stumble into the town market which was full of local goods, and non-local goods that the locals thought they could sell to the tourists. Ton enjoyed looking thru many of the stalls, and finally settled on a couple of book bags to take home with us.
Part of the market area. Zakopane is a tourist area, but the tourists are mostly Poles, it is not on the foreign tourist route yet. That means the prices were pretty good.
The drive back down the mountain was busy. So far the area around Krakow has impressed me with the volume of traffic. Even on Sunday as soon as we hit the suburbs of Krakow we were in stop and go traffic for about 10 kilometers.
The wooden door on the church. The church is new, but the door reflects the heritage of the region.
Our primary plan for the day was to go shopping. So we were off to Lidl first, but Tomak the manager of the campground told us there was a brewery on the way to Lidl, so we stopped off there first.
It was a very nice and large facility with a small hop yard in front. We were excited but when we went in we discovered their tasting room was closed permanently. They were selling beer in plastic bottles, so we bought three to bring back to François.
Our next stop was Lidl. We had forgotten it was Saturday, and the Lidl was crazy. It was our first shopping for food in Poland so Ton enjoyed exploring the local food options.
When we returned to the campground we decided to go to downtown Krakow and do some more exploring and find a place for lunch. But just as we were about to leave it started raining. It ended up raining for the next two hours, so we put our trip to Krakow on hold. Ton cooked us a nice meal instead.
The beers from the brewery came in 1 liter plastic bottles. Our French neighbor and me found them to be quite satisfactory.
Our neighbors in the campground are French and we struck up a conversation with them when the rain let up. It was a bit difficult as their English was limited and our French is less than limited. But google translate allowed us to cut thru the lack of a common language. We ended up spending a very nice afternoon sitting around chatting and sharing beer, vodka, and snacks with them. These kind of encounters are part of the fun of traveling in a RV. Despite not having a common language we had a great time getting to know a couple from Dunkirk in France, hopefully they also enjoyed meeting us.
When we decided to extend our time around Krakow, it allowed us to look at places we would not have been able to see on our original itinerary. One of those was Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa.
The side entrance to Jasna Gora lined with flags from around the world.
Jasna Gora is a monastery dedicated to Mary. It is most famous for a painting of Mary holding Jesus that is called the Black Madonna. This painting is supposed to cure people of illnesses and it has become a pilgrimage site for believers.
The Black Madonna is considered one of Polands national treasures.
It was about 150 kilometers one way to Czestochowa, so we were on our way around 10 am. Our Corolla feels like a luxury car after our previous rentals of a Fiat Panda, and a Lancia Ypsilon we had in Italy. It also makes a difference cruising at 120 kph (I couldn’t quite bring myself to go the 140 kph speed limit which is 87 mph) vs 95kph we usually drive François.
The monastery and the basilica are quite extensive, and the walls surrounding it are quite thick as it also served as a fortification.
We were not quite sure what to expect, so we were both quite surprised at the size of the place when we drove up. The tower of the basilica is one of the tallest in Poland, and the entire complex is surrounded by thick walls as it also served as a fort. The fort was strong enough to withstand a siege by the Swedes in the 1640’s.
The alter with the Black Madonna is in a side chapel off the main basilic.
The chapel with the Black Madonna is not in the main basilica but in its own church attached to the basilica. The walls around the chapel are covered with religious icons and plaques in honor of Polish military units including many from WWII. One wall is covered in crutches and other medical devices that people left after being cured by the Madonna.
This wall was covered with discarded crutches after a visit to the Madonna.
One of the plaques was dedicated to Solidarity which was the organization of workers starting in Gdansk which helped to bring down the Polish Communist Government in the 1980’s. The leader of Solidarity Lech Walesa received the Nobel Peace Prize for his actions in freeing the Polish People. He was an avid Catholic and the Peace Prize is on display at Jasna Gora.
The memorial to Solidarity in the chapel.
Jasna Gora is a pilgrimage site with people walking to the monastery from all over Poland. The last 1.5 kilometers thru town have a dedicated perfectly straight path that allows the pilgrims to view the monastery as they complete their pilgrimage. It is quite impressive.
The final part of the pilgrimage is done on this beautiful tree lined walk thru the center of Czestochowa.
This is the third pilgrimage site we have visited, and while we knew less about it than the others it made quite an impression. The other two sites (Fatima in Portugal, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain) where surrounded by more commercialism, while there were some restaurants and a couple of souvenir stores the over feel was not focused on tourism, but religion . Jasna Gora felt a little more spiritual than those sites did.
Tons favorite station of the cross.
On these trips I learn little things about Ton that I didn’t know even after 43 years. I always knew that Ton was fascinated with the stations of the cross in catholic churches. While she never converted, she did attend a catholic boarding school for many years and went to mass every week. Jasna Gora had the stations of the cross in large statues that you took in by walking the walls of the fort. Today I learned that she really likes the 6th station, which is known as Veronica wiping the face of Jesus.
This stain glassed window is dedicated to Pope John Paul II, the Polish Pope.
We really enjoyed Jasna Gora. It was beautiful and powerful, yet simple.
We spent most of last night debating what to do for the next 8 days. It turns out most of Poland has next week off, and all of the places we were planning to stay next week are booked. After a lot of discussion we came up with three options. 1. Stay around here and explore Krakow and the Malopolska region in depth. 2. Drop down towards Vienna, where the Austrians only have Wednesday off, so things are a little less hectic. 3. Spend three days exploring Krakow, and then drive straight thru to the Baltic States, where they also only have Wednesday off. Explore the Baltic states and then return and finish Poland.
The Market Hall and Clock Tower on the main square in Krakow.
Ton got out a piece of paper in the end and wrote down the day by day plan for each option, and we decided to stay in the area. It turns out rental cars are ridiculously cheap this week, we can rent a nice car for about $13/day so moving around will be easy. We love the campground we are in, the facilities are first rate, and the owners are bending over backwards to help us, and the price is very good. Also, there is quite a bit to see in this region, and Krakow is reported to be a city that merits multiple days to see.
The horses and the carriages are really beautiful here.
With our plans decided we started our day by heading over to the airport to get our cheap rental car. The first place we went tried to rip us off by demanding we buy full insurance coverage from them because we could not produce an international drivers license. The insurance they insisted on was 3 times the cost of the car rental. They really had this act down, first refusing to rent the car, then as I was about to walk out, the guy said let me see what I can do to help you. That’s when he hit me with the I can rent you the car if you buy our outrageous insurance. We walked out, went down to another rental agency and 20 minutes later we were on the road in a nice Corolla. It ended up costing us $20 dollars more for 8 days than the original place. The international drivers license never came up.
Ton liked the artwork on this street car.
We decided to head into Krakow and run a little reconnaissance on the old town. Krakow is the second largest city in Poland, and the most visited by tourists so the downtown was pretty busy. Its near the end of the school year so there were lots of students on field trips in the old town.
Part of the old city walls. Only fragments remain of the walls.
Our quick pass thru town showed why it is a big tourist attraction. Unlike most cities in Poland Krakow was not fought over in WWII, or subjected to any bombing, so the medieval and 18th century buildings have survived intact. It was the ancient capital of Poland before Warsaw, so it has always been an important city, resulting in a lot of interesting buildings. Also, it has one of the few intact Jewish quarters in Central Europe.
Part of the old Jewish quarter.
After walking quite a bit we were a bit hungry so we headed down to a smaller market where there were a bunch of small food stalls. There were several kebab stands, and a couple of small pastry stands, but we were there for a Polish specialty called Zapiekanki. This is a recent food development going back to the 1970’s. At that time the communist government decided to allow a limited number of private food stands to operate, from this loosening of control came the Zapiekanki. It is a half of a baguette covered in cheese, ketchup, and other toppings. During the communist era the toppings were basic, today they can be quite exotic. The one we choose was called the Diablo, and included hot sauce, jalapenos, mushrooms, and Arab sauce. It was delicious and pretty spicy.
Holding the Diablo Zapiekanki that Ton and I split.
By now it was pushing 4 o’clock so we launched ourselves into stop and go rush hour traffic. Greta Garmin led us down a major road heading north out of town. The traffic was moving at a crawl but we were going with the flow. Then Greta told us to turn left onto a road that looks like it will be completed in about 2027. I had bad words for Greta, but she insisted that the construction site was the way and would not pick another route. We finally had to put her in timeout and break out google maps to get to the campground.
The inside of the Market Hall in the main square.
After having the campground to ourselves for two nights we now have neighbors from France. When, the wife saw our plates she was very happy and hit me with a blast of French only to be disappointed when I told her in very bad French I was American and couldn’t speak French.
The blue sign is advertising a milk bar. This is another legacy that has survived from the communist era. Despite the name it does not serve milk, but a kind of buffet serving hearty traditional foods at a good price.
The weather forecast called for rain all day, so we had intentionally decided that we would hang out in François with no plans except for a late lunch at the small cafe attached to the campground. We had arranged for a typical Polish meal with the mother of the owner of the campground.
The cafe at the campsite. Today we were the only customers, but were served a delicious meal.
We enjoyed a nice relaxing day waiting for the rain that was forecast to last all day to begin. While it was still pretty cold, the rain didn’t actually begin until 5 pm after our dinner. The place is very quiet and the only noise beside the occasional car are the birds chirping and the stream babbling away.
Part of the grounds of the agritourist site.
At 3 we went to the cafe for a 5 course traditional Polish meal. The cook/mother explained each dish to us. Ton really loved the soup and the carrot salad. We also tried some local wines which were better than we expected as we are pretty far north and Poland is not known for its wine.
The view from the restaurant. It is like a movie set.
When we were paying the mom told us that she has been working hard on her English, but she really had a hard time understanding the English of people from India. We thought that was a strange comment as this part of Poland does not look like a hot bed for Indian tourism. She than told us that two years ago a Bollywood film was partly filmed here, and that they had up to 150 people on site during the filming. Because of that Bollywood connection they are getting quite a few Indian guests. We were not surprised that someone picked this place to make a movie as it is that beautiful, we were just surprised that the film was an Indian one.
What a nice place to spend a rainy day.
We also learned that the logistics of our trip are going to get a little bit complicated at the beginning of May. It turns out than in addition to May 1, which is labor day, that May 3 is Constitution day in Poland. Because they fall on Wednesday and Friday this year we were warned at dinner that a lot of people are using vacation days to take a 9 day holiday. We are probably going to have to plan on booking our places in campgrounds during that period, instead of just showing up like normal.
Tonight we are in a beautiful Agritourist site near Krakow. The site is in the very small village of Gacki. Gacki is full of very wealthy looking homes in a valley surrounded by granite cliffs. We choose Gacki because we knew there would not be much sight seeing today as we had a four hour drive to Krakow. Tomorrow it is supposed to continue with the cold and rain all day, so we decided we would wait out the weather. The weather is supposed to improve Thursday with sun and highs near 70! So we decided to find somewhere we could relax the next two days rather than fight mother nature.
The babbling brook 20 yards from the door of François.
We arrived about 2pm. The owner of the campground invited us to arrange a meal with his mother at the cafe so we walked up there. She showed us around the cafe and told us the story of her great grandfather who left his wife and 5 children in a small village in Poland to go to the United States for a few years to earn some money. He returned one time with a bunch of gifts and then headed back to the US never to return again. It is rumored that he had another family in the US. She ended the story by saying I assume he is buried somewhere in America, but we don’t know where. We arranged for lunch tomorrow and she promised to make us some famous Polish dishes.
Part of the grounds of the agritourist site which includes a small campground, and some rooms to rent.
Now we are happily settled in, listening to the birds sing, the wind blow in the trees, and the brook babbling by. Life is good and on top of the beautiful nature we have strong WiFi which means tonight will be movie night.
