Wroclaw Poland

After an amazing quiet night in the city of Gorlitz,Germany, we crossed the border into Poland and drove via the motorway 169km to Wrocław, the country’s 3rd largest city.

Founded in the 10thC it has been under various rulers.. a Duke from Bohemia, a Duchy of Silesian, Czech (1335), the Habsburg Empire (1700’s). Three quarters of the city was left in ruins at the end of WWII. 

We picked a couple of P4N parking spots and hit the jackpot just in front of the museum. We paid zt52/€12/$20 from 10am until 8pm as we didn’t know how long we would be. 

We set off with a plan from our Eyewitness Travel book and a new app Smartguide that also offers site information in audio format. We walked along the Odra River. 

Then crossed the Sand Bridge onto the small Cathedral Island where there was St Mary’s church.  

Tumski Bridge is popular for love locks and took us to the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross.

Not far from here was the city’s cathedral, St John the Baptist, one of the oldest and largest in Poland.

We then doubled back to the old quarter. We visited the Market Hall (1908). There are over 190 shops over 2 floors. It was built using an innovative concept of reinforced concrete. 

We admired the garden and courtyard of the Ossolineum, where we found some information boards of the city’s public transport. 

Next we came across the University, established in 1702. We paid zt16 pp to visit 2 of its well known and beautifully painted assembly halls. 

The university’s security guard has a very unique booth.

Just next door was the university church (1700’) which was also very decorated.

There were many beautiful buildings surrounding the market square as well as restaurants. 

We picked one and enjoyed a satisfying lunch of pork schnitzel and spinach dumplings washed Soren with the local brew. 

In the centre of the square is the beautiful Town Hall.

Wrocław’s newest tourist attraction are the gnomes/dwarfs that began in 2005 with Papa Dwarf standing on a thumb, which honours the Orange Alternative (polish anti-communist underground movement). We were told that there is now over 1000 gnomes throughout the city! It was fun to spot them. Find some at the end of the post.

Adjacent to the square was the church of St. Elizabeth, one of the towns largest churches with an amazing organ that has been recently painstakingly reconstructed.

We ventured over the ring road to the Opera building, one of the biggest and most important of Poland. 

We made our way back to Bluey and decided to drive further north on towards Gdańsk. 194km/2.5hrs/6pm later we arrived in the outskirts of Poznan. We chose a stop in P4N which proved successful, near Lake Malta. 

A total of 363km phew…

A few Wroclaw dwarfs