Athens
We arrived in Athens around 7am and were immediately taken on a bus tour of the major local sites prior to being dropped off at our hotel. The big one was seeing the site of the original modern Olympic games in 1896. The stadium was not quite Homebush. As we continued on past the House […]
Crete
Our trip to Greece began on Crete. We arrived at Heraklion airport from Warsaw and were nearly killed before we even got our bags. We rode an escalator but when we got to the top the floor was full. People kept coming up the escalator. I could see a huge disaster about to happen and […]
Lodz
I have had a fascination about Lodz since I watched an Andrzej Wajda movie. I also have a school friend whose parent came from Lodz. So when the opportunity came to visit I could not let it pass. Lodz was a successful textile city from the 19th century. Wealthy mill owners built opulent palaces but […]
Torun
Torun, the birthplace of Nicolas Copernicus, is a gem. The old town is contained within well preserved red brick city walls. Thankfully World War II mostly passed by and left the mediaeval quarter almost unaffected. We were fortunate to book a hotel within the old town about 2 minutes from the Rynek. We planned to […]
Gdansk
After we left Sofra we headed by train to Gdansk. Our hotel was an ex-commo jobbie adjacent to Solidarity Square where Lech Walesa famously climbed the shipyard fence. The hotel was more or less set in an industrial site and looked pretty unpromising from outside. It was called Gryf which, with a little license in […]
Mielno and Slupsk
Mielno This is the village were Sofra is located. It is slotted in on a spit between the Baltic Sea and Lake Jamno. The next village along is Lazy. Sounds like my sort of place. Mielno exists as a tourist destination and health retreat. The spit between the lake and sea would be less than […]
Sofra
We have been resident in a Health Spa on the Polish Baltic coast at Mielno for a week. We are having the 1,000 calorie or 4,200 Kilo Joule diet supported by exercise programs and “treatments”. It is clearly working as we have both lost weight and girth. Our clothes are not nearly so close fitting. […]
Szczecin
Today, Friday, June 21, we arrived in Szczecin in the north western extremity of Poland. We left Krakow last night and spent just under 12 hours on a very comfortable sleeper train. Anna and I had individual compartments which made for a relaxed trip. Yesterday in Krakow was very hot and humid and the train […]
Fabryki Oskara Schindlera
Welcome back to my blog. Over the next 3 months I will be adding travel articles that I think will be of general interest. This entry relates to a permanent exhibition entitled Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945 which is housed in Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory. My first impression as we neared the factory was “Wow, […]
Floriade 2011
Since 1988 Canberra has hosted a major flower show known as Floriade. It runs for the months of September and October. Commonwealth Park on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin is used to provide hundreds of hectares of garden space. The beds are principally bulbs such as tulips and daffodils but they are also jollied […]