Wrocław, Poznań, Łódź, Poland

You must go on adventures to find out where you truly belong.

Sue Fitzmaurice

February 7th-8th: Wrocław:

Important things to know about Wrocław:

• It is not said the way it is spelled at all
• 90% of Old Town was destroyed in WWII
• 70% of the whole city was ruined after WWII
• During WWII, it was a German city named Breslau, therefore things are written in Polish, then German, then English
• It was renamed Wrocław in 1945 after Poland’s borders moved
• It is known as the Venice of the North, the Meeting Place, and City of 100 Bridges
• It is a city of islands connected by bridges
• There are over 600 dwarves in the city
• It is has the 2nd largest square in the Poland, 178m by 213m
• It’s the 4th largest city in Poland
• It is absolutely gorgeous

During our full day in Wrocław, Sydney, Savanna, David and I went on a walking tour. We saw Old Town, the city square, churches, courtyards, and dwarves. After the walking tour, we explored more of the city square and Cathedral Island which holds 6+ churches. We checked out the University of Wrocław and touched the dwarf outside of the university for good luck on tests. We also saw the Royal Palace which is now the city museum. We attempted to climb to the top of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist but the elevators weren’t working. For dessert that night, I tried chocolate pierogies and they were to die for. That evening, Sydney and I met up with Bree, Mae and Bella to check out the night life and we danced all night long.

The 600+ famous dwarves of Wrocław stem from the Polish anti-communist movement called the Orange Alternative. The Russian word for red, which refers to communism, and the Polish word for dwarf sounds very similar and that’s why the symbol is a dwarf. It first started as a piece of graffiti and now it has turned into hundreds of bronze dwarves all around the city. I saw a dwarf in “prison” at the city prison, one studying at the university, one with a beer in his hand outside the oldest bar/restaurant, one dressed as the Statue of Liberty and many more. They are so easy to spot and the number of these guys increase each year.

The next day, I dragged Sydney, Savanna and David to the top of St. Elizabeth’s Church for a beautiful panoramic view of the city. It was only 300 steps to the top…228 steps less than St. Paul’s Cathedral! After our climb, the 4 of us headed to the bus station to catch our bus to Poznań!

EDIT (15.02.2020): St. Elizabeth’s Church was originally a Catholic church. But legend has it that a card game between a Catholic and Protestant man changed everything. The Catholic man lost the card game and St. Elizabeth’s Church became a Protestant church. One day, part of the spire of the church fell over and the only a black cat was killed. The Catholics called it was karma and the Protestants called it a sign since only a black cat (which were thought to be evil) died.

We are lucky we made it to Poznań…we almost missed our bus. I think that’s our staple move.

February 8th-9th: Poznań:

Sydney, Savanna, David and I arrived in Poznań, dropped our bags off at the Airbnb, and rushed to the city center for a walking tour of the Hidden Gems of Poznań. We saw the Imperial Castle, a theatre, the main University, courtyards, and a monument dedicated to the “Polish cryptologists and their coworkers that broke the enigma ciphers” that contributed to the end of WWII. After our walking tour, we had dinner and headed back to the Airbnb.

The Imperial Castle is a really cool because it is the youngest castle in Europe. First it was a provincial residence of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The castle was also the residence of the Polish president and part of the University of Poznań. During WWII, Hitler built an office for himself inside in case he ever visited Poznań, but here is no proof that he ever did. Now, it is a museum.

The next day, we started the morning off with a St. Martins croissant! St. Martin’s croissants can only be found in Poznań and sold by certified businesses. Then we had a walking tour of Poznań where I touched a statue of goat poop for good luck. I really hope it works. At the end of the tour, I touched a goat’s horn and made a wish. Hopefully it works too. During the tour we saw the city center, the Parish Church of St. Stanislaus, two goats butt heads at noon, a park, a courtyard, and the royal castle.

Some fun facts about Poznań:

• The Church of St. Stanislaus is very interesting because it looks very expensive inside, but it’s fake. The builders of the church didn’t have enough money for real marble so they found an alternative that looks like real marble.
• Many other aspects of the church are not made out of the material it looks like. Another example is that there is not real gold decoration in the church but instead, gold paint.
• 80% of Old Town was destroyed in WWII. Poznań was part of Prussia and then became part of Germany. Like Wrocław, things were written in Polish, then German, then English.
• Everyday at noon, two wooden goats come out of a hole in the town hall and butt heads with each other 12 times.

After, we visited the museum in the royal castle of Poznań and took an elevator to the top to get a beautiful view of the city. We ended the day early since we had to catch a 6am bus to Łódź.

February 10th-11th: Łódź:

David left for Krakow Sunday since he had class so it was just Sydney, Savanna and I that traveled to Łódź. We woke up at 4am to make sure we were able to get to the bus on time and we almost missed it…again.

Once in Łódź (which is not said anything like it is spelled), we stopped at the Church of the Holy Spirit and then went to Manufaktura to shop. Łódź used to be the textile manufacturing capital of Poland. Now, museums are where the factories used to be. Unfortunately, most museums are closed on Mondays so we didn’t get to visit any. Instead, we walked around the city until we had seen all that there was to see, which sadly was not much.

I was hoping to do a walking tour in Łódź but Walkative only runs tours in the spring and summer and a private tour was way too expensive. I am hoping to visit again in the spring to go on a street art tour because Łódź was filled with beautiful paintings and murals. And while I got to look at the art, I would love to learn about the artists and why they painted the murals they did.

OVERALL:

I liked Wrocław the most, Poznań second and Łódź third. Wrocław had the most hopping city center and the best nightlife. Poznań had the most beautiful city square because of the colorful buildings. Łódź had beautiful street art. My favorite thing over the weekend was climbing to the top of buildings to get the best view of each city. My least favorite thing was catching a 6am bus.

I’m so glad I got to spend my only 5-day weekend exploring more of Poland. You can probably catch me back in Wrocław soon!