A tour of Poland

Having entered Poland with my Fiat Tipo from the Lysá Poľana border crossing with Slovakia, I made my first stop at Zakopane, a winter-sports resort in the High Tatras. Here everything is geared to tourists: horse-drawn carriages, souvenir stalls, the majestic mountains that surround it and a famous ski-jump. Continuing in the High Tatras to see a typical wooden church and the rock formation of the Three Crowns, then, after stopping to eat a good trout by the Dunajec gorge, I stopped to sleep in a guesthouse in Wieliczka. The next day, by local transport, to Kraków, a stupendous city steeped in historic memories with excellent monuments and legends. There is Florianska Street, a fine Cathedral with two dissimilar towers, the Rynek with its market arcades, the Town Hall Tower, the university colleges, the Wawel Castle Church.

There is also the Jewish Quarter with the memory of the Shoah and of Oskar Schindler's list. I had recently seen the film Schindler's List and so I wanted to go to the industrial district of Zabłocie too, to see the protagonist's factory. Back to Wieliczka to sleep, and the next day a visit to its salt mines. To visit them you go down in a lift and then walk along narrow passages propped up by beams. In the bowels of the earth the miners over the centuries have carved bas-reliefs and salt sculptures, and have even built a great Church out of this material. Back on the surface I leave the mining town for Nowa Huta, a modern suburb of Kraków where there is a futuristic church commissioned by Pope John Paul II when he was Archbishop here.

After a small accident that damaged the side of my Tipo at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska I arrive at Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II, which preserves his family home, then at Oświęcim, where I sleep. The following morning, a visit to the sadly famous Nazi extermination camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. It is a sad emotion to see the lists of deportees, their cramped rooms, the mountains of personal effects, the execution wall, the block of experiments on human beings, the gas chambers. At Birkenau there is still the railway line where the trains loaded with deportees arrived, and the guard tower. Passing through Tychy, in the evening I reach Olkusz, where I find hospitality in the presbytery thanks to two young priests I met by chance.

Before sleeping I take a drive in their Fiat Polsky, in practice our Fiat 126, going among other places to Pustynia Błędowska, the rural area where Nazi troops trained during the occupation of Poland. The following day, transfer to Częstochowa, home of the famous Sanctuary of the Black Madonna, patron of the country. Everywhere the deep religiosity of the Poles is palpable: on Sundays the towns and villages empty because everyone goes to Mass; even on working days the churches are assiduously attended, and people whose clothing you would never associate with a practising Catholic also go to services. But here religion is something more; for years it was the bulwark against the communist regime and has always been an element of identity for this people.

This interesting religious phenomenon, which I have not found anywhere else in Europe, is naturally heightened at Częstochowa, where the faithful are always very numerous, the services crowded and the singing moves visitors to this spiritual capital of Poland. I leave the Holy City behind and reach Wrocław, much better known by its old name of Breslau, which has fine architecture in its historic centre, with the Gothic facade of the Town Hall and some fine churches standing out. In the evening, a long journey north with a stop at Gniezno for an overnight stay in a dilapidated hotel, probably publicly owned. If private hotels are decent and sometimes even nice, the state ones are badly kept, dirty and damp, even though they often occupy historic buildings. The transfer north, made on a Saturday evening, showed me another aspect of this country: alcoholism.

Passing through the built-up areas I had to dodge numerous drunks of all ages staggering along the streets. The following morning, after a short stop in the centre of Gniezno, I went to Strzelno, where the church was so crowded for the Sunday celebration that a good number of the faithful were forced to stand in the surrounding square to listen to the Mass through the outdoor loudspeakers, confirming this people's great religiosity. I nevertheless managed to peek inside this Baroque church. In the afternoon I visited Toruń, its churches and the Planetarium, which offers a show about the Universe. Of the city, though, what I liked most was the view enjoyed along the Vistula, a river we often come across in Poland. In the evening, an overnight stay at Łeba on the Baltic.

The next day, a visit to this little town's fishing harbour and departure in a small electric vehicle towards the Słowiński National Park, where the Polish Sahara is found, a small desert of shifting dunes facing the sea and swept by the wind. Back in Łeba I continue to Gdańsk and its historic centre. After the overnight stay I visit Malbork Castle, a fine brick construction once the seat of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, with interesting interiors and an amber museum. In the evening, an overnight stay at Kętrzyn in a hotel deep in the forest. In this town I realise that the further east I travel, the more I discover a poor Poland with neglected public structures. Kętrzyn, moreover, is a dark town with uneven pavements. The next day I cross the wild landscape of Masuria with its lakes set amid the green of meadows and forests.

Here too is Hitler's "Wolf's Lair", which I visit, wandering among the mighty bunkers where the German dictator even survived an assassination attempt by his own men. I then head decisively for Warsaw, finding accommodation in the outskirts in a nice motel. The following day I reach the city centre by public transport and visit among other things the Castle, the Barbican, a Royal Residence and a Park. Many of the things I see, and the Castle in particular, are the result of heavy restoration after the bombing of the Second World War. After sleeping in the same motel as the previous day, I set off south with short stops in the shopping centres of Radom and Rzeszów, then sleep near Krosno. The following day I leave Poland for the Dukla Pass that separates it from Slovakia. The pass is strewn with Soviet war relics recalling one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War.

After this tour I passed through Poland both going to and returning from a trip to the Baltic States. On that occasion I stayed overnight at Bartoszyce, trying the next day to cross the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, but I was turned back. I tried again at the Gołdap border post, with the same result. Returning from the Baltics I passed once more through the Dukla Pass. Poland as a whole is an interesting country and Kraków a beautiful city. You should visit the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau at least once in your life.