Poland - Across the centre

Driving on to the Zwierzyniecki Bridge, Wrocław, Poland

We left Berlin, Germany in our motorhome Vanni, and zoomed seamlessly across the border into Poland with only one sign to say we were there. 

After figuring out the difference in fuel names and prices (e.g. diesel is ‘ON’), and picking up some Polish currency (złoty), we arrived in Wrocław (pronounced vrohtswav] via the Zwierzyniecki Bridge.

The small towns and villages we passed through en-route were not very awe inspiring, with lots of graffiti everywhere and rough roads.

After a long drive through Wrocław's bumpy streets, we eventually found a rustic and noisy campground.

Marg in Market Square, Wrocław, Poland

The camp turned out to be close to trams so the next morning, we caught one into the city. Our sightseeing focused on the Stare Miasto (old town), where we saw the attractive Market Square (Rynek), flanked by the beautiful Gothic Old Town-Hall, the New Town Hall, St. Elisabeth's Church with its 91 m high tower, and many attractive medieval houses.

Then we found Wroclaw’s River Odra. It has an island known as Cathedral Island (Ostrów Tumski), which is the oldest part of the city.

We saw the 10th century Wrocław Cathedral there, several old churches and monasteries, the university and many other attractive buildings and monuments.

Leigh on Tumski Bridge (Lover’s Bridge), Wrocław, Poland

Walking off Cathedral Island we found the Tumski Bridge which is covered with padlocks. It seems that couples inscribe their names and a date on a padlock, fasten it to the bridge, then throw the key into the river to symbolise their bond.

Wrocław is rather lovely, with an attractive green-belt around the old city called the Old City Promenade, and over 30 major parks and forests.

We visited many places, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Centennial Hall, and several museums. Interestingly, up until 1945, Wrocław was known as Breslau.

After a few days, the rain set in so we moved on, having a very wet drive as we headed for Częstochowa [chestakova].

The Black Madonna of Jasna Góra Monastery, Poland

Once in Częstochowa we found our way to the Jasna Góra [yasna goora] Monastery in the rain. Jasna Góra is one of the largest pilgrimage centres in the Christian world, and millions of people travel here annually to see the painting of Saint Mary of Częstochowa – a “Black Madonna”.

A Black Madonna is a painting of the Virgin Mary in which she is depicted with dark skin.

It is believed that most Black Madonna’s were painted to match the skin pigmentation of the indigenous population, and there were many painted in Europe in the medieval period.

The painting at Częstochowa is thought to have been painted by St Luke the Evangelist – now that’s old!!

Marg outside Częstochowa-Jasna Góra Monastery, Poland

The 14th century Monastery itself is very impressive. It has many chapels, and each is beautifully decorated.

After looking around the Monastery and Częstochowa township, we returned to the camp. It was right behind the Monastery, and while older, was clean and the people very friendly. It was also incredibly quiet.

Later, we found that a French couple parked near us were bogged after the heavy rain. We, and the campground owner eventually got them moving off the boggy grass to higher ground. Our Vanni was ok as we’d deliberately parked half on a pathway giving us a firm base, and we were quite snug in the nasty weather.

Olsztyn fortress on the Jura Krakowsko Częstochowska, Poland

Farewelling Częstochowa, we headed towards Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska, a chain of Jurassic limestone formations, cliffs and caves. Along the route, we saw the ruins of Olsztyn fortresses and some castles built on the cliffs centuries ago. There is a string of them built along the Jurassic chain.

Our drive took us through a small part of the chain and included the pretty town of Olsztyn, and the villages of Zloty Potok, and Lelów. It was a very interesting route.

This area was home to early humans around 12,000 years ago, and now has an amazing biodiversity of plants, birds, insects and animals that live in the cliffs and nearby forest.

Our next stop was the village of Mnichów.

Wooden church of St Szczepan, Kielce, Poland

While there, we saw the amazing Baroque style wooden church of Szczepan (St Stephen). The church was founded in 1754 by the archdeacon of Kraków and it was quite a surprise seeing such a big structure all built of wood.

Moving on, we headed toward Kielce.

Kielce city was a nightmare of road construction and we decided we had never seen quite so many major road works in and around one town ever!

Because of this, we got through the potholes, heavy machinery and bad parking asap; and just got out of there.

But Just outside Kielce, we spotted an outdoor Ethnographic Museum that looked interesting.

Marg at the Ethnographic Museum of Kielce, Poland

It consisted of a range of Polish style wooden houses dating from about the 1740’s onwards. It was informative to wander around there, as it provided us with a context for the many decorative wooden houses and churches we'd see in Poland so far.

Leaving there, we decided to drive the scenic route in order to miss further roadworks.

But our GPS system, A-rival brand, took us on a road that expected us to travel across a river. Fortunately, we saw signs for a ferry and when we got to the bottom of a steep and bumpy incline, there was indeed a small car ferry sitting on the opposite side of the river.

Ferry on the Vistula River, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland

We had no sooner stopped when a chappie ran out of his hut and onto the ferry and proceeded to steer it over to us. We ended up having a very short, cheap and efficient ride over the Vistula River to a little village called Kazimierz Dolny.

The ferry man said there was a camping ground close by so we followed his directions to this little village, where we found a small family run camp ground.

While we were here, Vanni’s fridge started to play up and the campsite owner, kindly helping, worked on our power cord thinking that this was the problem. It seemed to work.

Dusk in of Kazimierz Dolny, Poland

That evening, we walked 1 km along the river into the Kazimierz Dolny village and wandered around, finding that it is a very small village that exudes Renaissance charm. There are lots of historic buildings and a lovely wide square full of cafes.

It is built along the Vistula River on one side with low wooded hills on the other.

We soon found a lovely local tavern and ended up having a traditional Polish meal and a wonderful evening, then walked back to the campground at around 9:00 pm.

The next morning, we drove to Lublin.

Leigh outside the Lublin Gate, Poland

Once in Lublin, we found the old town surrounded by an impressive fortified wall and gates, and looked forward to seeing inside it.

But we had another A-rival moment getting to Lublin. We ended up on very minor roads that should have been a short route to Lublin, but we were stopped because of a low tunnel. No matter how we looked at it, we could not drive our big motorhome Vanni, through the small tunnel.

So we retraced our route, driving around 30 minutes back to the main road before driving on to Lublin.

But it was worth it as Lublin is lovely. We walked the interesting cobbled street, seeing most of its famous sights such as the old town, Market Square, the Holy Trinity Chapel and Castle Tower, the huge neo-Gothic castle, and several churches.

The blue wooden church at Narew, Poland

Leaving there, we drove through some interesting towns and villages. A vivid blue wooden church in Narew village particularly caught our attention.

We attempted to pronounce the names of these towns but struggled with the Polish language. We can usually understand a Latin-root language when written and sometimes when spoken, but Polish stumped us.

Here are some of the easier examples: policja (police); auto serwice (car service). Here's a few harder daily examples: uwaga (caution); koniec (end, e.g. end of bends in the road); wypadki (accidents, e.g. accident spot). We are still working on it!

Leigh in Białowieża Forest (UNESCO), Poland

Heading north-east, we drove through lovely scenery to reach the Białowieża [byahwovyehzah] Forest which is on the border of Poland and Belarus. Białowieża Forest is the last primeval forest in Europe and part of an immense forest that once stretched across the European Plain.

It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and you can only enter the Forest with a licensed guide.

The village of Białowieża is on the edge of the forest. Our camp ground there was small and very peaceful with only the sounds of birds, frogs and an occasional car.

It was a lovely place to relax, in what our Austrian neighbour said, was one of the most remote parts of Europe.

Marg in in Białowieża Forest ready for birdspotting

We had arranged a morning walk of the forest and met our guide Arek, at 4.30 am. We set off into the forest along with four Englishmen who were all bird or fauna enthusiasts.

Arek was incredibly knowledgeable about the birds, trees, plants and animals in the forest, and we thoroughly enjoyed our three-hour forest-walk.

We saw and heard a new (for us) range of birds, and spotted some little voles, squirrels and frogs. It was fantastic. The only down side was the huge mosquito swarms. Thank goodness for an effective insect repellent as they absolutely love eating Marg (though something keeps them away from Leigh!).

Bison in in Białowieża Forest, Poland

The next day, we cycled through the edge of the forest to the local Bison Breeding Centre. European Bison are the continent's heaviest land animal and they have been saved from extinction through the Centre. In 1952 their first bison were released into the wild, and their number has continued to grow.

Although we got up one morning at 3 am to try to spot them in the wild, they proved elusive; hence our visit to the Centre to see them.

They are majestic and absolutely massive - we felt privileged seeing them even though they weren’t in the wild.

Leigh outside Branicki Palace, Białystok, Poland

After a lovely peaceful break in the forest we headed north stopping in Białystok [biaveeshtok]. The main attraction there is Branickis' Palace.

The Palace was a home of the wealthy and influential noble family of Branicki. They used to own the whole city of Bialystok.

We found parking fairly easily and walked around the Palace and its gardens. On our walk, we also spotted a couple of lovely fountains, churches (including the cathedral) and lovely parks.

We also walked around the old town square and its many cafes, had a delicious ice cream, then moved on. We thought that Białystok was very lovely.

His whole region is very green and, known as the Green Lungs of Poland.

Storks nesting in Tykocin, Poland

Leaving Białystok, we headed to the small villages of Tykocin and Kiermusy, which are known as ‘stork villages’. The storks, after migrating from southern Africa, build their nests in Poland. The nests are the most amazing structures of twigs and sticks built on the top of power poles and chimneys or on specially built stands – the locals make them nesting stands as it’s believed that a stork nest brings luck, and protects the house against fires or against being struck by lightning.

After seeing the storks, we were going to spend the night in Augustów [augustoov], but the camping ground was closed so we decided to look for a place to stay further north.

Old town of Suwałki, Poland

Thirty minutes later, we were driving through Suwałki. It seemed a biggish town, and apparently is an important regional commercial centre. We had a quick look around and found the main street, a lovely green park that served as its central square, and lots of austere Soviet style apartments.

Then we spotted a camping sign and found our way to a cosy little family run campsite and stayed the night.

We had a nice chat to a couple who had been travelling in their 4-wheel drive motorhome for 8 years! He was South African and she was an Aussie.

The next morning, we said goodbye to our travelling friends, and to Poland until later in the trip, then drove off to cross the border into Lithuania.

This blog describes part of our 6-month motorhome trip around northern and eastern Europe, which began in Prague.