Poland
Browsing posts in Poland
Down and (not really) Dirty
A quick trip down a coal mine We visited our friends in Gliwice. They took us to visit the Guido Mine and Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze. The Guido mine was set up in 1855 by Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830-1916) to provide coal for the Donnersmarck mills. Maximum production was in 1885 […]
Krakow under the Regimes
I took a free walking tour entitled Krakow under the Regimes with Krakow Explorers. I learnt a lot. Krakow was declared an open city and was occupied on September 6, 1939, just 5 days after Poland was invaded. It survived the war relatively unscathed. This building was the German Headquarters during the occupation […]
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Palmiry
Palmiry is a Polish national memorial. It is a shocking testimony to crimes committed by the Nazis on Polish territory during the second world war. On December 7, 1939 in the Kampinos Forest, near the Palmiry village, Germans started in secrecy a series of mass murders. In 21 executions over 1700 Poles were executed. They […]
Helicopter ride in Warsaw
Today Anna and I took a ride in a helicopter over the Vistula at Warsaw. Yesterday we took a train to Warsaw. Krakow was shrouded in smog and was a good place to leave. As we traveled north the air cleared and the sun glowed across the meadows. It all looked very promising but the […]
Arlamow
Today we are driving to Arlamow through the snow. Piotr and Grace collected us from Villa Carpatia in the small Citroen; the big one having been sold. We headed off south through the snow. My first observation was a dad pushing his son on a sled along the road. Wow. Everything is white. The roofs […]
Krasiczyn
Today we went to Krasiczyn to visit a castle/palace. Piotr told us that there was nothing there. We managed to persuade the GPS to accept the street address but not the number and we headed off. We travelled along lovely back roads for about 20 minutes and then came out onto a main road […]
Villa Carpatia
Today we head to Zolynia for several weeks in a health spa. We were met at Rzeszow by Anna’s cousin Piotr Who took us to lunch in his café in Kolbuszowa. Our last decent feed for a fortnight. Thank goodness it was a great one. A bowl of chicken soup followed by a huge serve […]
All Saints Day
Today was All Saints Day. It is a major public holiday in Poland. Most people go to the cemetery and almost everything is closed. We started by walking through the local cemetery, Rakowicka. It is quite old and has some very historic graves including Jan Matejko, a famous painter. There was also […]
The 2016 trip starts
We left Canberra on a dull Friday morning on a Murray’s coach for Mascot. The trip was uneventful until it came time collect our luggage. Anna’s carry on was not there. A bag of similar shape and colour was there but this was not hers. I searched the bus’ hold with no luck. The driver […]