Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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Ryś |
The new suit is bought, plane tickets for next months booked it means that the New Year 2010 can come. However, the old followers of my blogs know, that there cannot be any step into new 365 days without new resolutions. Let's not verify the last years' promises.. why to spoil such a nice time? ;) But I swear, this time they are more reliable.I can cheat and say, that I am going to be a good man, but then I couldn't call myself "Ryś", hence I want to apologise in advance everyone who thinks that life with me can be easy. But let's move to resolutions...
- Numero uno: Science - I am really going to do my best to finish writing my master thesis till the end of March. So far the progress is a real slog, but I am going to speed up and write few pages per day.
- Zweitens: Languages - 2010 is gonna be the year of studying Spanish, yes I know, I already said like this about the passing year but Espanol will be needed already in February, hence no more excuses. The bonus is my running lessons of Russian language - why this one? Last trip to the Netherlands and the job interviews proved, that Russian can be my bargaining card. And to show, that I treat my language resolutions very serious, I have to proudly say, that my German got really better.
- Po trzecie: Travelling - Finally I am going to leave the Old Continent. I am not pretty sure where will I go exactly, but 2 things are reliable - it's gonna be in October/November and I will go to the southern hemisphere. Seriously, I am planning with Pawel to celebrate our graduation and go for a few weeks hiking trip in some of the latin countries. Of course I will carry on my "trips around...", but more about this in the next posts :)
- Finally: I am going to make order with all the "Polish issues" and consistently fulfill my duties. And... I am gonna try to not to waste my free time ;) >>Edited: I will do my best to go to sleep before midnight at least once per week <<
Wish me good luck and... remind me these resolutions from time to time ;)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
This post is dedicated to Becia Svehlova, who can't fall asleep last nights, because one question is bothering her... What the hell, the dwarfs have to do with Wroclaw?
The answer is pretty simple - since the begining they lived, live and will live here. They showed first time in public, in eightees of 20th century. The first one - called by people "Papa Dwarf" has writen an anti-regime sentence on one of the city walls. The only thing which we know about him is that he was wearing orange bonnet and began the Orange Revolution in Wroclaw, which with its happenings and events took few bricks from the Soviet wall.
Although nowadays Wroclaw is not endangered by any regime, the dwarfs are still present on the streets and what's more, with every month their number increases. Dwarfs are everywhere - not only in the city centre, but also in the most unexpected places. They even have their own, official website - www.krasnale.pl - where you can get a map and start looking for them. The dwarfs became a symbol of the city and consequently the aim for many thieves - mostly from the other cities and British islands. But be careful! Dwarfs are playing tricks, so better respect them and leave in peace.
With drawfs is connected the second subject of the post - Dzień Życzliwości - the Day of Kindliness - no, it's not a joke, such a day really does exist and is celebrated not only in Wroclaw. You could notice, that underneeth I set a form - it's called the Kindliness generator - where you can post a kindliness report of someone. Unfortunatelly it is in Polish, but Uncle Google will help You. I hope that now, everytime, when you will meet some traveler giving people small drawfs statues, you won't call the emergency, but recognise him as a man from Wroclaw and invite him or her to pub. Don't worry, there will be no denying, eventually we are citizens of the most kind city ;)
Links:
- Events
- Dwarfs
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Polish Radio EURO published the video highlights of the broadcast in which I had honour to participate. It was a great pleasure for me to join Justyna Majchrzak in the studio and to be her guest. I really encourage you all - not only the Polish listeners - to listen to PR EURO, where also foreigners can find from time to time few words in their mother-language :)
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Sunday, November 1, 2009
I have been invited to participate in the radio programme- BIS-Up, broadcasted by Polish Radio EURO on 6th of November. The broadcast starts at 2p.m., however I will be on air since 3.
Polish Radio EURO broadcasts nationwide on short waves, but the foreign listeners can listen to that also online.
The current programme can be seen at http://polskieradioeuro.pl/MeetingPoint/MeetingPoint.aspx
I am very surprised with the invitation, because I am not that sure what they want me to talk about, however I promise to not to ashame my friends ;)
If anyone is looking for greetings on air - post your wish in comments ;)
Over 30 Celsius degrees temperature, 100 % of moistness, almost zero visibility and permanent feeling, that something big is hanging over my head. Where have I recently been? Some equatorial jungle or maybe some sand-mud storm in Asia? None of them. This time my journey had very scientific overtone and was connected to my studies.
Many ask, what I am actually studying and when they hear - "geoengineering", they either try to nod with misunderstanding or congratulate me, assuring, that there will be always need of surveyors in geodesy. Actually the second try is more less accurate, because geoengineers or rather geotechnical engineers have to cooperate quite well with surveyors, however it is still far away from the right job, which I would be able to do after studies.
Geotechnicians are simply responsible for the field studies of rocks and soils, their movements and stability. Every time when you drive your car on motorways, in the tunnels or above the cliff, you can drive calmly unless it was checked by wrong person. However sometimes geotechnicians have to go underground, to the mines and caverns to find out and eventually solve the static problems, which can be hazardous for miners. So do we from time to time with various groups at university.
Last time – thanks to the invitation of the Hard Coal Mine "Piast" – we have gone down to one of the most interesting mines in Poland. You can ask, what can be interesting in that? For majority of people mine is associated with “Triple D” – dirt, dust and darkness. But to be fair, that is just a drop in the ocean of things, occurrences and effects appearing in miners’ working environment.
I must confess, that miners are probably the strongest people, I have ever met. Not only with their physical strength - all the time they have to carry heavy “escaping equipment”, which in case of danger should provide oxygen and save their lives – adding to that high temperatures, moisture and fumes coming from diesel machines – makes the environment very hard and tough. Puny wouldn’t manage to stay there 8 hours to say nothing of working and operating heavy machines. We were just walking about 6 kilometres in the mine for 3 hours and really some of us had enough of this. You have to know, that galleries, leading to the so-called “long wall” are one of the most unpleasant places where man can be. Only all the time changing airflows, moisture, uneven floor, deep ponds and darkness could be difficult for somebody but it gives just a foretaste of what is to come.
Usually in such conditions, man becomes tired and muddle-headed, but they can’t take the liberty of doing that. All the time they must pay very high attention to everything what they do and what happens around them. Small mistake or minute without thinking can end up tragically.
Miners show no fear underground, work hard and confident, but when you meet them after shift in some pub, few beers can sometimes stir up and release their emotions. Every morning when they meet in the elevator, which with speed of 6 m/s takes them underground, you can hear around very characteristic “Szczęść Boże” (God, give us luck). Miners are conscious, that every time when go down, they can die, but 99% of success is in their hands. They have to rely on their workmates, take responsibility not only for their own movements, but also for the others. There is no competition, who will work faster or more efficient, because the most important is safety. Therefore you can feel very strong bond between colleagues from shift, they have big respect to each other and they know that in case of any fatality their families won’t stay alone. And although for people who go there for the very first time, the enormous number of vulgarisms can disheartening – really sometimes the rain of swears and curses can bring you to the knees – miners are good friends, just in some unique way.
Friday, October 2, 2009
It’s hard to describe travel in retrospect, the view, narration is usually very generalized, poorer with many missing details. However I still owe you the travel report from Crimea and after all I am going to fulfill this duty.
Now when I think – Crimea – I see shrimps, Tatar markets and points-places on the map which I haven’t seen. We decided to go to Ukraine in the end of the season – when on one hand prizes are much lower and the cities and towns are not that crowded as in July, but on the other hand the weather is still excellent and you can easily find cheap accommodation. We left Wroclaw in group of 8 people just for 10 days. Well, yes double mistake – the group was too big what caused delays in every day’s plans while the time we could spend on Ukraine was really too short. But let’s put things in order…
Coming to Crimea
We have picked one of the cheapest, but at the same time quite tiring way. Traditionally we crossed the border on foot and came to Lviv by bus. Though the actual journey was just going to begin. For next 25 hours our the only mean of transport was going to be 20-wagons long train. For some, just travelling by this monster could be an adventure, but really with every passing hour I felt more intense fatigue. Fortunately Ukrain
ian big wigs decided that all the long-distance trains have to offer passengers sleeping places, what we providently noticed. By the way every time when planning to use Ukrainian railway – book the tickets in advance. You may need very big luck if you will get ticket on the day of the departure. There are three kinds of tickets – Lux (the most expensive – compartment with 2 beds); Kupe (also closeable compartment but with 4 beds) and the last one, the cheapest and the most popular – Platzkarta – open wagon with beds all along. The price difference between kupe and platzkarta is not that significant for travelers from West, so if you prefer comfortable conditions – don’t hesitate to pick this one, however going with platzkarta guarantees some adventure – caused at least by your co-passengers.
The train is crossing thousands on kilometres, hence on every bigger station, stop takes 10-30 minutes, while you can purchase some food and drinks from “babushkas” – ladies selling their homemade dumplings, pancakes and fruits. However, as Andrej – one of my train-friends – warned, you should be careful with buying caviar, which quality thrills even Ukrainians.
One-way train trip from Lviv to Simferopol costs about 17 Euros (200 Ukrainian Hrywnias), you can find and book them at this website: http://www.e-kvytok.com.ua/wps/portal
Train tickets are also offered by various middlemen, however their commission very often is 2-3 times higher than actual price of the ticket. We did such a mistake and let someone to earn for nice weekend.
Alternatively, you can fly to Kiev and from there to Simferopol – such a connection is held by WizzAir!, but then you have to mind the luggage limits.
People and Language
Before I managed to lift all my luggage at the station, I could hear very characteristic for Simferopol sentence… “Taxi, marshrouta, 5 dolarow” – that was just a beginning of a big trade, which was waiting for us when left platforms. Hundreds of drivers, hunting for tourists were deaf for our refusals. Apparently you can’t politely refuse, only flat “Niet” let us calmly go to trolley. You can always make use of that transport, but to not to overpay you have to negotiate in Russian, what put us on the lost position. Eventually we paid 8 UAH=$ 1 and after 80 minutes came to Alushta. Here comes a time to explain one thing – for all of us it was the first visit on the Peninsula. With regard to the short time, which we were going to spend there, after few discusses, the decision to visit just the western part of Crimea and to get accommodation in Alushta was made-up. That was caused by influence of my friends who used to visit that part of Ukraine and always easily found place to sleep. And actually that was the only advantage of the resort. After 5 minutes of listening and “discussing” with over shouting each other people, my pick went to Vladimir, who offered us quite good conditions for 5 dollars per person daily. He came across as making the deal of his life, but honestly speaking we didn’t get down neither. As we landed up in our new home, Vladimir took us for a short trip around the town. It seems that few Russian sentence which I managed to stammer, let him feel that I know the language quite well, therefore more and more intense, he was showing me and explaining things which we could do in Alushta. I was trying to jot down the most frequent words and find their meaning out, but eventually I had to rely on my intuition and just nod while our guide was saying millions words per minute.
There is almost no chance to have a really good trim on Crimea without knowledge of Russian or Ukrainian language. Honestly, I am not able to take them apart. As Pole, somehow I could guess the meaning of some words, however without knowledge of their alphabet and few basic sentences, which I learned last year on Rhodes, I wouldn’t be able to get answers for the most important things. During this short period I learned Russian at least triple more than I knew so far, but I must confess, that at least half of my sentences were invented as mix of Czech, Polish and Russian. Fortunately Ukrainians, who we met, were tolerant enough to not to laugh at my tries.
Alushta and Yalta
I put these two cities together, because of their similarity. Yalta as the bigger one, stays for one of the biggest harbours at Peninsula, has more interesting history and seems to be more attractive. However both – Yalta and Alushta are just the resorts, which apart from a good accommodation background, developed transportation and various restaurants and bars, does not have any advantages. Really, first association which comes to my mind when I think about them is a view of ugly, post-communistic blocks-of-flats districts and concrete beaches.
However these towns are the most often chosen by Russian visitors. Perhaps it happens because of sentiment to the places, which 20 years ago were absolutely glamorous in Eastern Block of Europe, but the other reason can be very silly. For mid-rich Russians, Crimea and especially Yalta, are the places where they can show off “their superiority” over poorer Ukrainians. Notwithstanding almost every trip which we took, was in fact starting in Yalta. The bus station –Awtowagzal – had connections to probably all the cities and towns on Crimea. By the way, every time when you travel by public means of transport, people around will be trying to reduce you to silence. And to be clear – we were having just normal conversations without raising voice, no... if you want to travel by buses, you have to shut up. However, the extremely loud radios played by the drivers don’t disturb anyone. Drivers calling us “Rybjata”, were trying to encourage us to participate in one of many excursions. But with guidebooks in hands we were trying to figure this place out on our own...
Alupka, Swallow’s Nest, Livadia and Utes
Towns, villages where the last Imperator of Russia – Tsar Nikolai II and prince Worontsow – set down the most beautiful palaces in this part of Peninsula. The most impressive is to take a boat trip from Alupka to Yalta and get out on the following stops.
Worontsow’s palace – is a pearl of an architecture in small town – Alupka. When you look at this from the land’s side, you can’t resist an impression, that you have already seen somewhere that building. It is very similar to the castles which you can find in the UK, and the similarity comes out of the British architect, who designed both – castle and beautiful gardens in the middle of 19th century. However, when You go around the palace and look at this from the marine’s point of view, the style changes absolutely. Orient elements and a beautiful terrace proves that Crimea was under influence of various cultures and nations.
Going further, you can see so-called “Swallow’s Nest “ – a tiny decorative castle, hanging on the top of Aurora cliff. The castle itself hosts nowadays a restaurant and to be honest, is not worth to get off the boat.
Palace of Livadia – the biggest attraction of the southern-west shore of Peninsula. The favourite summer place of Imperator Nikolai II, is more famous because of the Conference, which in 1945 significantly contributed to finish the 2nd World War. Exactly there, Josef Stalin convinced Churchill and Roosvelt to give my country under the “Soviet Care”, hence I have very subjective relation to that place. Anyhow, the palace is really worth seeing. In over hundred rooms are presented not only the facts of the Conference, but also personal things of the last Imperator of Russia and very interesting exhibition of pictures taken in the beginning of 20th century. Definitely number one among the castles in that region.
Utes – small village on the way from Alushta to Yalta, famous for the castle, which nowadays is hosting a sanatorium. Not worth visiting.
Aj-Petri
When you look at Worontsow’s palace in Alupka, the absolute supplement of landscape is done by one of the highest mountains in the region – Aj-Petri. There are two basic ways to get there – and both makes interesting impressions. First of them is to travel by an old, post-soviet funicular railway, which with every meter crossed up, seem to shake harder and let you feel that perhaps its one of the eternal rides of the wagon. But the wagons are going like this for 30 years and everything seems, that they won’t stop working for the next 30 years. The other way is to take a bus, which with speed of rally cars are covering kilometres of curvy roads, which structure was similar to Swiss cheese. Every time, when the driver was speeding up, I felt my stomach coming up to my throat. You have to be either drank or sick with ADHD to enjoy such a journey.
Just by the top of the mountain hundreds of Tatar’s tents covered all the area.
-“Wines, meat, hats, ovine jackets, water pipes, everything for you, mister!”
-“Where are you from? Oh Poland! I was in Cracow! Beautiful city, beautiful women! Do you have wife? Wait a second, I will bring something special! Just 5 dollars! Very cheap, you won’t find that anywhere! “
-“Are you hungry? Come with me! We have the best food here! Wine! Try this Wine! Wine for real man!...”
Eventually we managed to get to the entrance where started the climbing path and got to the top. Majestic view! Standing at the height of 1200 meters you can command a view hundreds of kilometres covered by Black Sea. The line on the horizon was invisible... sea seemed to turn to the sky, while sky was diving into the sea. One of the ends of the continent. Somewhere there, over hundreds of miles was already the Turkish shore, Asia. Below us, the forests were spread out. Forests, which were imperceptible from the buses, now were dominating on the Peninsula. Going to the top of Aj-Petri showed me, how many things I have to see, and how very few I have already visited. But I was conscious, that it’s impossible to be done this time.
Sevastopol
All-day trip done to Sevastopol was one of the last ones, done with whole group. Soon I and my brother were going to Odessa and then just two to Poland. But about this with the next point.
Entering Sevastopol, I had an impression that I am entering completely different part of Crimea. Red stars visible almost at every square, thousands of marines and cadets on the streets and in bars and finally luxurious cars with Russian numberplates disillusioned me about this who was who in that city. Sevastopol was probably the most “ordered” city from all which we have seen on Crimea. The town-planning wasn’t that chaotic as in Yalta or Alushta, but still I could easily notice various styles in the town. What is really worth visiting, places around the bay – cementary of boats and submarines, but also an oceanarium and museums are just by the shore. Very important, but impossible for us to visit place, is located out of the city – Chersonesos Tauricia – an ancient town, with ruins of Greek buildings still doesn’t let me fall asleep calmly. :)
Odessa
Odessa was an obligatory point on my route’s map. Not only because of the beauty and fame of the city, but also because of visiting my egec-groupmate, ex-flatmate Aleksei. We spent together 9 months on studies and for all this time he didn’t let us to not know how beautiful and great Odessa is. We were looking at his stories light-hearted, but the life verified stories. In my opinion, Odessa is the most beautiful Ukrainian city. I haven’t been to Kiev yet, but capital is always a capital... and has bad influences.
Odessa seems to be... not Ukrainian. It is a very cosmopolite city, with great influences of various cultures, however strongly bonded to Ukrainian heritage. Sometimes You can have an impression, that you are in one of the Western metropolises. Aleksei, who was an excellent guide, showed us almost all the most important places in the city, including famous Potiomkins stairs, Mosques and Orthodox churches, Opera house, Passages, parks, uff hard to describe everything. Let it be a proof of Odessa’s glamour, that almost half of all the pictures, I’ve taken during Crimean trip, was done in that city. And one of interesting things is, that in Odessa, on the 9th day of my trip, finally I found a sand-beach.
Crimea charmed and disappointed me. Thousands of kilometres, thousands of people, smiles and pouts, majestic and ugly views. That all stands for Crimea which I have seen. Crimea smells with Tatarian spices and tastes with sweet red wine, but also stays for wild, unknown Eastern part, which just calls me to come.
Friday, August 28, 2009
You can ask - why Sweden? Before departure the answer was just one. We found very cheap flights to Stockholm. But actually there was always something encouraging to come. The reason has blond hair, cute appearance and big, beautiful... eyes ;) Yes Swedish girls are magnetic and probably that's why Sweden attracted two young boys made from iron(y), who later we call Rys and Filip.
Wyświetl większą mapę
Finding place to sleep in Stockholm would be very easy, but it doesn't work with us. Unluckily some minor band, called Coldplay decided to perform on that weekend in Swedish capital and all the hostels were pre-booked with 4 weeks notice. That's why we decided to find Hostel in Uppsala. Yes, there was an option to sleep under some bridge, but that was already taken by Coldplay fans. But let me grab things together.
Stockholm
You need 1-2 days to see everything important in that city. All the most important objects are located on the islands, but one really impressed us and I think both of us can sign under this statement. The most worth seen place in Stockholm is Vasamuseet. I am almost sure that for Swedes that is kind of gift from the sky, or rather in this case from the sea. What am I talking about? Actually about the old, wooden proof of Swedish rubbish engineering. In 1961, Swedes salvaged the biggest warship in the history of Vasa dynasty, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. Chapeau bas! for Swedes for reconstructing and care of that warship, which can impress everyone indeed. But shame on them that they didn't succeed in 17th century, I am almost sure that then they would succeed in war with Poland and today you would be reading the Sigbjörn's routes.
The best way of sight-seeing is to take one of the cruise boats and go for a daily trip. Don't be surprised if suddenly you will discover that you have seen everything. Instead of complaining simply get off on one of the islands and really chill out. With piece of good weather Stockholm's panorama is really adorable.
Oh, you are not a "resting-type" of traveler? Nothing lost! Swedes neither, almost near the every significant monument you can rent a bike and bless the one who decided to create the net of bike routes. By the way, there are also several jogging paths,which in Swedish form(s) are very attractive. At a pinch you can go for Swedish approach and wait for gifts from the nature.
Uppsala
Some say, that there was the oldest University in Sweden. I won't argue about that, nevertheless the first view which comes when I think - Uppsala, are thousands of bicycles parked just by the train station. Actually hard to generalise, perhaps part of them was left by workers commuting by train to the capital, some left by students... every bike finds its place not only in legal place, as my friend said - last spring few of them were gotten out from the river. We have chosen Uppsala for a place to sleep and actually that word - sleeping - really can express how the life looks in that town. And although we came to Sweden in the mid of August and students should be coming back to campus, the streets were empty. Anyhow we had a chance to taste the Swedish way of education. For 4 years now, my old friend from Wroclaw lives in Uppsala and gains next grades at local university and eventually he will become a rector, I believe. "A" took us for short trip in Uppsala, showing the town from the local point of view and what's the most important he gave us few very useful tips about life in this country. For example about the Systembolaget - Swedish approach of limiting alcohol purchases by underaged. And since we are about alcohol, there is something, I have to show you...
Lulea (North Pole Circle approach)
Now comes the time to explain why I've chosen such a title. My trip-mate, had the only one dream to realise in Sweden. And no, nothing with these sexy blondes. He made clear statement - unless we eat steaks from reindeer meat, we wouldn't leave Sweden. No deers in Uppsala, neither free-running in Stockholm, we could just try to attack the North Pole Circle. The Night train with company of Hungarians brought us to the most northern town of Sweden - Lulea.
The appetite was even bigger, because Lulea was the first place, where I was willing to go for ERASMUS. God bless the day when I got to know about the EGEC. Lulea doesn't exist in the end of summer indeed. Even the inhabitants hide in their nests and don't go out before 12. To be honest we had big hopes related to this place. But none of them turned to reality. Neither boat cruise among the islands, nor hunting on mooses and reindeers can be classified as accomplished. But at least, thanks to really kind, friendly and very helpful people we found the way to Gammelstad, an old village which stands for one of few Swedish World Heritage UNESCO monuments.
Was it worth to cross all the country? Yes, for great experience to not to do this again... at least not in that season. However Filip can count trip to successful ones, only because in the city centre he found the love of his life... Even though she was so drank, that in next two hours she couldn't remember that meeting, my mate can feel satisfied :)
To be clear, I am very glad that we made this trip to Sweden. Stockholm, but also the countryside and smaller towns charmed me by their beauty and openness. People living there were very friendly. Sweden turns out to be exactly how I imagined that before. I agree this point of view can be a bit curved by weather, which was just great for all the stay. Might be that staying there longer, living there I would look at all the country and people in other colours. But it won't happen, Bahamas are waiting! ;)
TACK SJÄLV! Filip, Adam, Sweden, Swedes and Reindeers! :)
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Monday, July 20, 2009
Going around Poland, in 3 days is an extraordinary, fabulous, astonishing piece of... crap. Yes, yes I admit that. If you have 3-days weekend and you want to spend it off, don't follow my route this time. I mean it is extremely boring. And if some of you would think "didn't I say that?", my answer is: "you don't have a bloody idea what does it mean boring". You have to try it on your own to get to know that it is one of the most boring countries I've ever been. And although some people at my house, which apparently are called my family, say that I am spreading defetism, I won't change my mind. Going around Poland in 3 days is useless.
For those who are not familliar with geography of Europe I must explain something about the country where I was born. It covers area more less simillar to Spain and is extremely... flat. Whoa! And what about famous "Polish Alps"? I didn't see any. The train to Zakopane crosses 140 km in 4 hours! It means that I would have to spend whole day to go there, eat their stinky cheese and come back to Cracow, because further on South is just the Slovan country of KIA.
This trip was supposed to take place to show you the real, unknown face of Poland. But I have to be honest - if You want to travel around Poland - ok, go. But if you would like to have fun at the same time, then just go to certain places. That is why I created a list of activities to do. And if You want to:
Have fun...
Go to Wroclaw!
Have more fun...
Go to Wroclaw!
Have a great time...
Go to WROCLAW!
All right there are some other places worth to see in Poland and if You really have nothing to do on summer, just go around them.
Cracow
The perfect city for the morning activities. Wherever you go, the coffee and cracknels (called Obwarzanki) taste the same. What's interesting, Cracow, which for ages has been counted as the biggest city of intellectuals in this part of Europe is the most posh city at the same time. And it appears in quite odd way. The snobbery stands for... being from Cracow. And if you are wearing loosefitting cardigan or sweater, glasses in thick frames, carry books or suitcase infraaxillary and edgily look for cigarettes then defenitely, at least your great-great grandmother had to have romance with some soldier from that city.
However Cracow seems to be great place to live and apart from Wroclaw and Trojmiasto (which I will go further), that is the only one city where you can really party till the break of day and safely go back home. But to not pay the price of being too Cracovian, be careful with showing your likeness to the local football clubs - it's easy to get "injured" if You show off the "colours" of a wrong team.
Lublin
Next on my route was Lublin. But to get there I had to take bus and range the most boring region of whole country. Honestly, I know just one so unattractive place in Europe. They call it Lithuania. You are crossing hundreds of kilometeres and see just fields or forrests... unbelievable sight! Lublin itself is very neglected therby colourful. Entering the Old Town You can quickly notice big heritage and the international influences which keep going also today. Surprisingly, I found the town quite charming. But it was not enough to keep me there for longer. Hence Lublin is not worth going there, unless you are a farmer, admiring the scenery of corn-fields.
Warsaw
Some say, that Warsaw is tolerable only by night, because then you can hardly see its ugliness. Tolerable is too big word actually, anyhow at least by night it is not that much eyecatching. I met in Warsaw with Cajbel, who became my guide in this "most-western Asian city". I am sorry , but I won't surprise you, in my words you will not find anything new. The capital is literaly bumpkinly. There is no style and it seems, that people who come there (still it is hard to find real Warsaw-man) do everything just for show. The night life is concentrated around few clubs, which bring nothing new to the city's atmoshpere. And what is the worst, there is no hope for Warsaw, what makes the capital, unwated but compulsory stop during journeys across Poland.
Some say, that Warsaw is tolerable only by night, because then you can hardly see its ugliness. Tolerable is too big word actually, anyhow at least by night it is not that much eyecatching. I met in Warsaw with Cajbel, who became my guide in this "most-western Asian city". I am sorry , but I won't surprise you, in my words you will not find anything new. The capital is literaly bumpkinly. There is no style and it seems, that people who come there (still it is hard to find real Warsaw-man) do everything just for show. The night life is concentrated around few clubs, which bring nothing new to the city's atmoshpere. And what is the worst, there is no hope for Warsaw, what makes the capital, unwated but compulsory stop during journeys across Poland.
Toruń
The city well known as the place of life of Nicolas Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik), yes yes... he was Pole. And like this I could finish the description of that town. I went there because I thought I would get some inspiration, as the famous astronomist got, but nothing. The Earth will be still going around Sun and nothing seems to be changed in this matter. At least I didn't discover anything yet. However Torun - rich with very "German" Old Town is famous with one more hero. The controversial priest, who has built there his own media centre - radio, press, tv with mobile network ending (so far) - can be proud with 4 mln audience. What is not that noticable on the streets.
Trójmiasto (Tri-city)
Gdańsk
There are 3 cities in Poland, where I could live. Wroclaw, Cracow and Gdansk. And it is not only because they are beautiful, you just feel that in these cities, you will feel like at home. And they all are living cities, although with Gdansk things look a bit different. Crowds of tourists, millions of ambers and dozens of artists performing on the streets. That is the Old Town. Streets coming from the harbour to the main Street "Dlugi Targ" seem to look as hundreds years ago. And as few centuries in the past, they are very international. I think, the proportions of foreign and domestic tourists are equal. But what does it mean domestic in the city which for some time has been a separate republic? Gdansk is very special. Not by accident, in this city communism has been - the first time in Europe - overthrown and also before - here started the 2nd World War. Germans knew very well, where to hit, to knock Poland cold. But coming back to kem, wrong is the person, who thinks, that as in Wroclaw or Cracow, Gdansk has its nightlife. Pubs are open till late, but at 9-10 pm all the party life moves to Sopot. 
Sopot
The favourite town of Adolf Hitler, efervesces in Summer. All the hotels, apartments and private rooms are booked with 3 months of notice. Not only because of the beautiful beach and monumental mole (where by the way everyone is flirting with newly met "summer loves", and whereabout many people have began their prenatal lives), but mainly by reason of 3 big festivals taking place in the Forest Opera. In the past there was just one - international pop music festival. Nowadays all the big tv-networks decided to have their very own and very one of kind festivals. And as result every year, the same artists performs the same songs in front of the same audience, three times during summer and as you can conclude, it must be very exceptional experience. There is however very one and very special event taking place in Tricity on Summer. It's called Heineken Open'er Festival and by many people from all the world it is higher rated than Glastonbury.
To not to bore with praises to Tri-city just one last notice. In that region lives minority of Kaszubians. It's widely spread among Pomeranian Voivodeship and interestingly, quite popular. To Kaszubian origins claim among the others - Polish Prime Minister - Donald Tusk, or Nobel-prize winning German - Gunter Grass.
Szczecin
Unfortunatelly I came to Szczecin one week after the Tall Ship Races event. City changes then unrecognizable. But everyday's Szczecin, although a harbour, seems to be very quiet and polite. Again I must use this term - the city is very "German". I got to know Szczecin from academic point of view. Surprisingly many intellectuals from wide range of science settled there down and perhaps that is the main reason, why Szczecin is hosting the best high school in whole country. To not to get bored with noisy city, I reccomend to go for a cruise to the most Northern-West town in Poland - Swinoujscie where apart from the beach, you can see the dead U-boots basin.
Sleeps in the night. Nothing to tell. During the day festivals, concerts, etc. But time was running, hence I couldn't enjoy.
But to not to throw down your arms, there is a solution for a summer trip in Poland. Just get to Cracow, take the soonest bus to Zakopane, enjoy the majestic sight of Polish mountains and crowds on the routes. Next, when you get bored with sheep's cheese (thank's God there is the E.U., which told shephards the proper way of doing that, while for ages their fore fathers were apparently producing Oscypki badly...) take the "cinema train" to Sopot, watch for the upteenth time Juno and go to the seaside, where Polish youth won't let you fall asleep easily.
Mazury
The other solution can be Mazurian Lake region - this time I skipped it on purpose, because honestly crossing that region I wouldn't be able to hurry. You can not just pass by Mazury. This is one of the very few regions in Europe, where you can chill out. I am going to write about Mazury an individual article, so be patient.
The other solution can be Mazurian Lake region - this time I skipped it on purpose, because honestly crossing that region I wouldn't be able to hurry. You can not just pass by Mazury. This is one of the very few regions in Europe, where you can chill out. I am going to write about Mazury an individual article, so be patient.
An in the very end one more notice - in Poland there are really working mobile sweat boxes! They call them public transport and let you feel massive discomfort when it's summer. And to be clear. It's not a complain, it's an observation.
Labels:
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Bartek Ryś,
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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Dear readers!The ticket is bought, the rough routes choosen, just packing and booking hostels left. Suddenly appeared a problem, because there was a ground slide on the rail track which apparently I was going to take, so small changes had to be introduced. And if we are about changes, then Torun - the Copernicus city has been eliminated, because of lack of convinient connection. Actually it's still not sure which way I will take on first night - East or Northern-West. Just follow the blog and everything will clear up ;)
UPDATE! 2009-07-10, 20:31
It is decided, at 1:40am I am leaving to Cracow, where train should arrive about 7am. From Cracow around 12 I am leaving to Lublin and after couple of hours to Warsaw, where I am going to meet with "C.". Next in the morning - either Bialystok or straight to Torun- yes, yes that's still an option. Everything depends on our night-life in the capital of that country between Western Bug river and Odra river.
to be continued...
Monday, July 6, 2009
The last several hours left to close voting for the New 7 Wonders of the World and New 7 Wonders of Nature. To vote you have to visit www.new7wonders.com and pick your favourite places from the presented list. Such an opportunity comes once in life, don't waste it! :)You can vote in 7 categories, such as:
- Lanscapes, Ice formations
- Islands
- Mountains, Volcanoes
- Caves, Rock formations, Valleys
- Forests, National Parks, Nature Reserves
- Lakes, Rivers, Waterfalls
- Seascapes
The ranking up-to-date is available to follow in here:
Ranking © www.new7wonders.com
P.S.
The servers are currently overloaded, hence your patience will be checked ;)
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Wroclaw is a living city - who was here, can just confirm that. Rynek's townhouses are pulsating for 24 hours a day with beats from the parties. But what happens in Wroclaw, when comes the day of the city? That's what you have to undergo on your own! And such opportunity has just appeared. Since 17th June untill 28th the city will be living with double force. And the culminating point of whole holiday will come on 24th June, the day of Wroclaw!
The exhibitions, open doors, the Night of Theatres, St John's night, Viva Wroclaw! - these are just few events of dozens which this year are waiting for those, who will celebrate the Festival with us! The detailed schedule of the events is available here: wroclaw.pl
WrocLoveFest
Ojos de Brujo, Psio Crew, Natural Dread Killaz, Micromusic and Oszibarack - they all are going to perform on the Wroc Love Fest which will take place on 27th June 2009, on the Slodowa Island. Find out more at: wrockfest.pl/
Fountain
The newest child of Wroclaw is gonna to charm you with new special shows, prepared just for the Wroclaw Festival. A pinch of that you can watch on youtube.
In addition I have a duty to announce that on 1st June started broadcasting the new radio - radio Wroclove. All the auditions are practiced in English, hence all the more you should check it out! radiowroclove.com
LET'S MEET IN WROCLOVE!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
As I promised in the last post, I am going to follow by Sir Phileas Fogg and Michael Palin and go around... no, not around the World this time. I am going to travel around - and this should be surprising for majority of readers - around Poland. That's nothing special actually, unless we know, that after the example of those two great travellers, I am going to complete my journey in 3 days and nights.
Actually it's the first part of project which I am going to realize in the following 2 years and travel around Poland, Baltic States, Scandinavia, Moravia, Hungary and Romania and in the end Balkans. But that will come with time and money ;)
Where? Evidently you do not share this honour to live in Poland, hence all the more I am going to show the main cities of Poland to you and illustrate the articles with the most typical for Poles, but not that obvious and perceptile attitudes of all cities/regions.
When I am going to leave? Good question. Apparently just after the exam session, what's gonna to be... on my birthday! The other condition is determined by Polish Railways, whether the summer traveler ticket booklet is going to be offered.
By the way, there is the other rule, that I didn't mention so far - I am pledging to not to use other means of transport, than: train, coach, ferry, bicycle and hitch-hike.
Participators: anyone who is not afraid of adventure.
Route: as presented underneath - with circles are marked cities, which I am going to visit, with full circles - these, where I am going to roost. Of course the journey will be verified by life, anyhow I am going to travel around my country in 3 days, join me! :)
There is an idea to realize one trip this summer... Mysterious, but realiable... inspired by "Around the world in 80 days with Michael Palin". Well not that scale...and budget but also interesting. For those who listen to Radio EURO in the morning it's not a surprise anymore. Ups! I said too much already...
Details soon! :)
Friday, June 5, 2009
Before I post the article about Lviv, I just wanted to share with you the last news. We have the new fountain in Wroclaw (probably the biggest in Europe now) - yesterday there wast the opening ceremony - I got to know about this accidentaly, as half of the city inhabitants... we were there over 300 000! The fountain is located just near the Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia) and the shows are on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10 pm. Underneath I embed video from yesterday's show. ENJOY!
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