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Poland

August - September 2021
A 16-day adventure by skip's retirement travel Read more
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  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 8

    Torun gothic churches

    September 3, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Torun has 3 medieval gothic churches. There are many others in town, but these are the most significant. You will note thay while the buildings were built on the gothic style, most of the interior decor is Baroque. It also seems like much of the decor doesn't fit the space. Much of the Baroque furnishings were brought from other churches. After reformation, this region became protestant. So the iconoclasts destroyed the decor. What is here is from churches damaged and not repaired.
    The 1st 3 pictures are of St Mary's church in the old town. This was built by the Franciscans. Notice the 3rd picture where frescos have been exposed. These were recently found during renovation work when paint was removed. This is an excellent example of the work of iconoclasts covering ornate decor.
    The 4th and 5th pictures are in St John's church. This was built as a city church, not by a specific order. I find it interesting that the church is dedicated to 2 Johns: both the Baptist and the Evangelist.
    The last church is St. James that was built by the Dominicans. There is only 1 picture as this church wasn't open.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 9

    Poznan

    September 4, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Poznan is the 5th largest city in Poland and the site of the oldest diocese in Poland. Poznan was a fortified city between 2 rivers.
    In the 10th century, the local ruler was baptized which was followed by the start of the 1st cathedral in Poland. And the city outgrew its walls
    What's known now as the old city was built as a new walled city to accommodate the growing population.
    Poznan was heavily damaged during world war 2. So most of the pictures show reconstructions. The 1st picture looks at a portion of the market square, said to be one of the largest in Poland. The 2nd is of a statute of goats. It is said that a couple of goats escaped and ran up into the top of the city hall where they started butting each other on a balcony. It was enjoyed so much it became part of the city. There's even a glockenspiel that remembers this that I didn't get to see.
    The 3rd picture is in the nave of the cathedral and what is claimed to be the most beautiful baroque church in Poland. The 4th picture is the very recent reconstruction of the castle.
    The 5th picture is of typical narrow medieval houses built this way as taxes were a function of the width of the house. Most had shops on the ground floor and accomodations above.
    The last picture is of Freedom Square. In 1918 when Poland was reestablished as its own country after 123 years of partition, Poznan was left as part of Prussia. Paderewski gave a speech here that prompted an uprising that resulted in this region joining Poland.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 10

    Cathedral Island, Wroclaw

    September 5, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    This is one of the 20 islands of this city: this one entirely owned by the church. There are 6 churches here, including one built on top of another (really). It seems a Duke and a bishop were at odds over who was in charge. Finally, the duke moved across the river with the authority to build a church to his family's patron saint: Bartholomew. During excavation, they found a root shaped like a crucifix, Jesus included. So the bishop insisted that the new church be called Holy Cross, but it was already promised to St. Bart. In the end, St. Bart's was built, and Holy Cross was put on top.
    The 1st picture is of the cathedral from the side, and the 2nd is in the nave. The 3rd is that double church.
    The 4th is some 13th century artwork: one sculpture and one bas relief. The 5th is a seminary that is still active, and the last was a medieval orphanage.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 10

    Wroclaw

    September 5, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    I have been refraining from pronunciation posts, but this one is a good idea example of Polish. As best as I can transliterate this, it is "Vdrawtswav". The dr indicates a rolled R. I'm still struggling with pronunciation here
    Wroclaw is a large city in central Poland described as having 5 rivers, 20 islands and about 120 bridges. It has a very complex history that's way too much for this post.
    The 1st picture is a look from one of the many bridges across the junction of 2 of the rivers.
    The 2nd picture is of a main building of Wroclaw University. This was founded in the 13th century as a Jesuit academy. The 4rd picture is in the old jail. The courtyard is now a pub. So I chose not to take a picture of that. The faculty of archaeology has offices here. The 4th picture is of medieval butchers street. The statues in the foreground remember the many animals who gave their lives for these businesses. The 5th picture is simply a side street in the old town.
    The last picture is fun. Wroclaw has a thing for gnomes. They're everywhere. This one is at the old jail. The story is that this guy shaved his beard against the gnome code. His punishment was to sit chained here until his beard grew down to the sidewalk. To give an idea of the fun: right across the street is another gnome sitting on a scooter as a pizza delivery guy, flat box and all.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 10

    Market Square, Wroclav

    September 5, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    This is the 2nd largest market square in Poland after Krakow (see another post to come). Wroclaw was about 70% destroyed in world war 2. So most of this is restoration.
    The old town hall was in the center and is in the 1st picture. This is a 1 handed clock. One hand tells the time. There is another hand, but this one be points out the season. If you look closely, there are 4 symbols in the corners. These are said to be Egyptians symbols for the seasons. That other hand is pointing to late summer. After a trial, sentences were declared from one of those windows. If there was punishment, it was exacted right there, up to death by beheading. If not death, sentences were carried out at the pillory in the 2nd photo.
    The 3rd and 4th pictures are a couple views of the market square. Note the white building in the background of #4 with the 5-stepped gable. This was owned by wealthy Dutch merchant as indicated by a 5 story attic. The attic is where goods were stored and a huge attic indicated wealth.
    The last picture from the market square in Wroclaw is a nod to my friends at Aidan's. We sang these very words many Sunday evenings.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 10

    Svidnice

    September 5, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The Peace Church at Svidnice is an extraordinary place. This was built as part of the Treaty of Westphalia that ended the 30 Years War between Protestants and Catholics of Europe. The Catholic Hapsburg monarch was required to allow 3 Protestant churches to be built. He agreed but put some heavy requirements on them, such as it could not look like a church; it couldn't use materials that would last; no towers, etc.
    The 1st picture is of the outside made to look like a large barn. Inside is baroque in the extreme. The 2nd picture is of the nave, showing the main altar and some of the decoration. The 3rd picture shows more of the decoration of the space including the private gallery of the main donor family in the center. The 4th picture is of a section of ceiling, and the 5th is the baptismal font. The last is the bell tower (through the trees) built about 50 meters away from the main building, beating the no towers on the church rule.
    Everything you see is made of wood or straw or mud, not even nails were allowed. Yet they were able to be creative with paint to make a lot of things look like stone.
    Please take a minute to Google the Peace Church. It's history is extraordinary. Even the Dalai Lama prayed here.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 11

    Auschwitz

    September 6, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I have and have not been looking forward to today's visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau (see another post). After visiting Dachau, I sensed this would be hard. It was. In fact, it was more than I ever realized. Over 1,000,000 killed. Mostly Jews. I recognize the harshness of phrasing it this way. Please hear it as an attempt to convey the harshness and brutality of the so called "final solution."
    Auschwitz was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps. What I had thought was Auschwitz was referred to as Auschwitz 1. This site is an abandoned Polish military base that was converted to a concentration camp. Death came later.
    The 1st picture is of some of the barracks. The 2nd is a kitchen building. The 3rd is barrack 11, the prison building. Notice that the windows are boarded so that prisoners could not see into the yard. At the far end in the shadows is a wall for firing squads.
    This is not to say there weren't any horrors here. The 4th picture is of some of the twins Mengele experimented on. The last 2 pictures are the 1st extermination chamber: gas room and crematory furnaces. This was built in an ammunition bunker that had been emptied before the Polish army abandoned this base. It couldn't be used as it was too close to the camp and screams could be heard. This became the design basis for all that came after.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 11

    Birkenau

    September 6, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    A huge camp only 3 km from Auschwitz (see another post). I am blown away by the size of this place and the industrial scale of the horror. Some of these pictures may look familiar from documentaries, movies, books, etc.
    The 1st picture looks up the railroad tracks to the gate into Birkenau. If you recall pictures of the doctor at the sorting point sending new arrivals one way or another, the 2nd picture is taken at the point where the doctor stood doing the sorting. It looks back toward the point where the trains entered. The 3rd picture is one if the boxcars used to transport people to the camp.
    The 4th picture attempts to give a sense of the scale of the place looking out over foundations of barracks, and this is barely a quarter of the site. The 5th picture is in one of the barracks where up to 700 were assigned for as long as they could work.
    The 6th picture is the end of the line. This is gas chamber #2. It was blown up by the German army just before the Soviet army liberated the camp. There were many of these, each one could kill 2,000 people at a time.
    To give even more sense of the scale of the horror, there were up to 100,000 housed in the barracks who were sent on work details every day. Add to that the fact the only maybe 20% of the arrivals were selected to work. The rest were sent directly to the gas chambers: elderly, children, disabled, sick, etc. Our tour guide admitted that he gets emotional facing this and talking about it every day.
    I hope this conveys the message that it cannot be allowed to happen again. While Jews took the brunt of it, they weren't alone. Add the Roma, communists, gays, anti-Nazi types and anyone that would disagree with the powers that be. I do not wish to minimize the burden carried by the Jewish community even now. But I do want to try to convey the way I felt here.
    I know I can never fully understand or feel what the Shoah means to those most directly affected by it. I cannot walk in your shoes. But I can and will walk with you. I pray that's what I'm doing here, at least as one step on the way.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 11

    Wadowice

    September 6, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    This is a very brief visit to the hometown of Pope John Paul II. In some ways, this visit was a bit of a tonic after Auschwitz and Birkenau.
    The 1st picture looks across the main square of Wadowice. The church is obvious. This is his home church, where he was baptized, confirmed, etc. The yellowish building to the right of the church is where the young Karol Wojtyla was born and lived up through high school. He and his father rented 2 rooms here.
    The 2nd picture is inside the church.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelPoland
    Day 12

    Zakopane

    September 7, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    If Sopot is the summer capital of Poland, (see another post), then Zakopane is the winter capital. This city lies at the foot of the Tatras Mountains in Southern Poland. It also a center for Goral or mountain culture (see another post).
    The 1st picture overlooks the city with the Tatras Mountains in the background. The 2 green stripes that seem to be heading up the far side of the valley are ski jumps. There are regular competitions here in season. The 2nd picture is of the ridge line called "sleeping knight mountain" from its shape.
    Zakopane is also know for it's interesting mountain architecture and woodwork. Pictures 3 & 4 are examples. One is a house and the other is a small chapel. If you blow up the picture of the chapel, you'll be better able to see a bit of the local craftsmen's handiwork.
    In a similar vein, the 5th picture is of a small cemetery with many unusual and artistic monuments, many in wood. Some are the creations of the artists buried here.
    The last is simply a look at the main pedestrian street in Zakopane. Imagine any active tourist town, and you'll get pretty close, international chains and all.    Read more

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