Poland and the Czech Republic - ongoing report!

Day 1: eTap hotel and getting ready to leave.
Well, usual last minute arrangements taking place, mainly revolving around which towel to take. Beyond that all is ready for the off, I am taking two bags, a 65lL karimor rucksack that is comfortable (always the priority) and a small day bag that can carry the essentials ( water....'vodka'). My daybag is virtually empty right now, but will soon fill up. My technological assortment for this trip is a phone ( atleast 5 years old) which has a value equal to it's credit. Also I have an old camera, it's digital, but he close up quality is low and it's mediocre at other distances, useful for not worrying to much about as it only cost £50 Inc the memory card. Finally my IPod touch - good for skype, email and the Internet. A perfect setup - cheap and functional, or at least that is the idea. As fir where I am going - Poland and the Czech Republic!! With a one month interrail pass for each and a spare month and a half it means I can travel round and see the sights whilst relaxing along the way.

Time to go!! 

Interestingly, my first stop is at the eTap hotel by Birmingham airport, at only £19 for the night, I cant complain - especially as there are clean towels and linen which is nice, it's a snug room; though it is larger than some more expensive ones that I have stayed in ( * cough*holiday inn*cough*) . All in all a nice enough place, thin Walls though, one of them even tried to attack me earlier....

The only major dilemma is whether to take a pair of Astros abroad to trog around in, comfortable enough, but by God do they smell... They never did quite recover from a trip to an Irish bog.

On that note, it's six hours until i need to be up for my flight which leaves for Gdansk at 6:50am so it's  time to get some sleep.

Day 2 morning: early, a quarter to six, currently sitting in departures, it took a good  2 hours to get to sleep, didn't help the mattress was like a rock on top of a wooden board.

Apart from that, my bag is in large luggage, ( uho ) guess my bag is getting a one way trip to alacante then. It only weighed 10.1kg which is nice, i am now perfecting the traveller look of a backpack on my back and a rucksack on my front. Also the flight looks to be around two third polish, one third British, and VERY full, ah well, guess I will have to queue up early. In other news, birmingham international is different... Now you have to walk through the duty free shop to get to departures, though a pret sandwich at 5am is always nice. Though I am to early for the daily telegraph, which means no free water! So I had to buy a bottle, spent about £5 this morning, though it's worth it not to be feeling dead for the next 16 hours.

Hopefully I should be in Gdansk around 11am. With my bag.

Day 2: afternoon

I managed to get from the airport to the city centre without a hitch ( or speaking a word of Polish ). Finally found my hostel, was a minor problem as it isn't actually on the tourist map. Nevertheless, it has memory foam mattresses! need I say more?

Decided to hire a bike for the day - which only cost £6. it really is good value out here. I ended up cycling 10km down a convoluted route and reached the beach having set out to go to the wisloujscie fortress. Unfortunately  I turned to early and ended up  a ferry  to Nowy Port. Then I ended up on a beach.... Oops. Minor annoyance as when I was on the ferry I could see the fortress floating past... I bought an ice cream, hot dog and drink for 14 PLN ( around £3.50) on the beach.

Maybe history can wait till tomorrow...

 I then had a nice veggie meal that was mega cheap from the Bioway Bar, it consisted of what looked like carrot/mushroom soup, two rolls that had the consistency of heavy scones and some raisin ice cream plus a strawberry juice that was proper juice - with the strawberries left in the glass. All that for 13PLN (£3 approx). I now intend to catch up on sleep for a while.

Day 3:
I started the day with a visit to the indoor market, where i topped up on water then meandered towards the centre of town, having forgot my map I was just walking to see what I could find, I first saw the golden gate and then the museum of Amber practically next door, or more aptly the museum of jewellery and torture as i found out when it wen round. It was a mix of jewellery and fossils in Amber and then a trip through 15th and 16th century torture techniques half way through. Odd... Also it was absolutely boiling inside, plus i accidentally bought sparkling water earlier in the day, gahhh!!! I then visited a supermarket, the commercial shops in Gdansk are interesting in that they are often located in clusters inside old renovated buildings, as with the indoor markets. Plus, on a slightly different note, it would seem that even supermarkets do not carry much change, I got an astonished look when paying for 7 PLN of goods with a 50 PLN note.

At this point I had to have a break from the sun - and ended up spending two hours in the maritime museum, eventually losing interest at 1928 (with the exhibition charting trade from the 14th century). From here it was on to a church where tourists were discouraged - so obviously the place was packed with snap happy tourists. ( it was called something like Nicholas church, I'm not too sure). After a stop at subway for a drink it was time to meander back to the hostel and consider places to get a meal.

At this point I decided, based upon my previous positive experience with the vegetarian food in Gdansk to proactively hunt down the other vegetarian joint. At 1.5 km away it was a gamble ( having already walked around 15+ km today it was more a painful slog), yet I can honestly say that the meal I had there was worth it and brilliant. As I arrived only about a quarter of an hour before closing there was only an option of three dishes, I chose a Mexican dish that I hadn't heard of before - even though they had an English translation of what it was, I guess that is more a sign of my lack of Mexican dining experience than anything else. Needless to say, as this is poland, the massive pile of food plus a drink only cost 15PLN (under £4). Can't argue with that. I have spent under £30 today including my bed for the night, one sit down meal and visits to two museums amongst other things.

Upon returning to the hostel in find that I have the room to myself for the night ( I guess that even though Gdansk is bustling with visitors it is still a week or two before prime tourist time). Hopefully tomorrow I will manage to get to Malbork Castle as the weather is supposed to be raining... Plus I still need to find a milk bar!

Day 4: Malbork and more veggie food. (plus "I don't speak Polish", the story of the drunken pole)

Ok so the starting aim was to make it to Malbork Castle for about 11am, unfortunately ( or fortunately in reality) I woke up around nine and ended up having an extended breakfast that included a long conversation with two other travellers, at the end of which we all walked to the train station and went our separate ways, at which point it was around 12pm, and starting to rain for the first time since I arrived in Poland.

For anyone who has not used the polish train system before - it's complicated. I only got the hang of it because I had it explained to me, before the parting of ways. I Then found myself with a 25 minute wait for the train. This was to be the first time that I used my interrail pass - mainly as I needed an extra day travel to use up all my days.

At this point I would like to quickly mention that Polish train stations really are quite forlorn affairs, cold war era-esque I would say.

Now onto the aforementioned story. Having half an hour to wait for a train can be good, bad, or some indescribable point in-between. This was one of the latter. Having found myself a nice seat on a bench I  then found myself having a wonderful conversation with an old Polish fellow. Only one problem, I don't speak polish and he didn't speak English. This resulted in him talking rapidly to me, and realising that I could not understand, he merely repeated himself over and over. This was much to the amusement of the surrounding passengers, of whom a number spoke English, but didn't want to put me out of my misery to soon. I found out the the first ten minutes were spent asking where I had bought my interrail pass. Once we got beyond this point, he decided to get his phone out, ring a number and proceed to pass the phone to me! Well, I'm sure you can imagine the conversation. After this debacle he proceeded to show me an old police identification card. After a while a lady informed me that he had been telling me about his son who worked in customs in England, and that is who I had been talking to on the phone, I was also informed that he seemed to be drunk. I never had a clue. Finally (15 minutes late) the train arrived.

Malbork can be described in one word. Disappointing. Imagine the archetypal British brick building, scale it up, add some circular towers and fancy metalwork and there you have it - Malbork castle. All you need to do now is add some new brickwork to replace the old stuff and you are sorted. May be better off at Warwick Castle instead. Plus Malbork Castle entrance cost 39PLN!! On the plus side I bought a milkshake at Mcdonalds on the way back to the station!

Got back to Gdansk at around half five. Back to Greenway for another meal ( can't have to much of a good thing ). Back the hostel for six. Looks like I have the room to myself again. Apparently there is a outdoor street festival thing today, looks like that is my evening sorted.

1 more day left in Gdansk, then onwards to Torun for a few days,  on that note, this thread is now up to date!

Good report. I plan to follow you through your journey. thanks for sharing.

Good report. I plan to follow you through your journey. thanks for sharing.

I'll shortly be taking some Polish trains and wondered about the difference between first and second class. Someone advised my travel companion to always buy first class tickets. We'll be taking journeys between three and five hours. What are your thoughts on this. We're on a budget but not so strict that we couldn't pay a bit more for first class.

I'm glad to hear your thoughts on Malbork. I was semi regretting not getting to that area of Poland but I don't think I can go into one more European castle.

Day 5 - relaxing and getting ready to leave

I decided to visit the road to freedom exhibition this morning, the most interesting place so far, if you are into cold-war era history then I recommend it. Certainly scared some people when I knocked down the countries that freed themselves from communism ( hard to explain)

Rest of the day is spent meandering around Gdansk which really is a beautiful city. Rough on the edges maybe, but perhaps they might knock some of the old buildings down in time for Euro 2012.

Back to bioway for a mid afternoon lunch. Carrot soup again, with a strawberry drink. Then a proper strawberry milkshake and a muffin. excess at it's best, but somehow the two veggie places in gdansk just get it spot on. At under £4 for the above meal, it's worth a visit if you are ever in gdansk.

I should add that the evening is spent more looking at things to do in Torun than anything in Gdansk, simply because there isn't a lot left to do in Gdansk after three days sightseeing. Oh and interestingly, murphy's is actually cheaper in Poland than in Ireland! £3.50 vs just under £3.

Day 6: arriving in torun plus am I there yet?

This day consisted mostly of catching a very early train to Torun and then sleeping for much of the afternoon.

The train ride was as usual, disorganised, I really don't get the lack of signposts. Twice I almost got off at the wrong stop. Once it was only asking a conductor that stopped me. As for the condition of second class, there is a substantial difference between the Gdansk-Malbork train and the Gdansk- Torun train in that the Lublin train ( that stopped at Malbork) was mostly standing only with a few seats, whilst the Torun train ( that went to the capital) was individual compartments. The toilets were unusable in second class on the torun train, and not because they were locked! Whilst there were none on the Malbork train that i could see. Based on this I would say that first class probably isn't worth it on a train with compartments, unless you need the toilet, and if the train is mildly empty. However, I can imagine it would not be so nice on a full train! 

Certainly on the local trains, I'm not sure where first class is, but sure would be nice to sit down and have access to a toilet if you are spending a few hours on it.

Also, when you reach Torun, the station is south on any map you get, so you should find yourself heading north to the old town, if you walk it, it's a fair distance, and the bridge you cross seems endless. But it's a fairly nice walk.

I actually found time to visit the church where corpernicus was baptised in torun, climbed the tower having paid the compulsory "donation", and got a good view out over Torun.

Rest of the afternoon spent sleeping, then beer, pizza and ice cream with some Swedes.

Very nice report! You'll certainly have a number of people following you as you travel through Poland and the Czech Republic.

If it's not too much to add - could you also post the name of the places you stay in and give a short critique - clean/not, easy to find/not, friendly/not, etc?

Some of us will be reading your report, but also gathering information for our own trips. Your input will be invaluable.

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more!

Enjoying your report. We visited these countries last year and had a fabulous trip.

Easytraveler - sure. They will all be hostels as I am travellIng cheap. however most have private rooms as well. The first place that I stayed in was the Old Town Hostel in Gdansk (I pretty much covered the eTap in day 1).

It's location was good

Sorry, that got cut off half way:

Location was good, once you got there. From the train station a bit of a Distance, 6 stops on a tram. 10 min walk from centre once you arrive. Right on the edge of ' nice Gdansk ', wouldn't go a street further unless you have to.

Reception is 24 hour, at night they even have a guy sleeping on the sofa in case someone arrives. They are helpful and have cheap bike hire (25 PLN per day). Also various guide books you can borrow.

Rooms are large, wooden bunks, clean toilets though they should change linens (towels) more often.

The kitchen is well equip, they have a fridge, microwave, hob, freezer. Milk in Poland doesn't taste nice, but that isn't the hostels fault.

People chat around the kitchen a fair bit, so it is easy to meet people. 

Security is mixed, the hostel is secure but the lockers can only fit a day bag. In my current hostel, I am sitting on the locker its that large and solid.

Overall good price, but i would like to try the ' happy seven ' which is located next to the Hilton and has a bar downstairs!

( if you are wondering why I am in the hostel at 5, It's because I needed a break from the sun for a few minutes very hot right now)

Alex: thanks so much for the detailed input!

Hostels are perfectly fine places to stay and one usually has a lot more interesting interactions with other travelers than in a standard impersonal hotel. Certainly beats staying in a private room and having to converse with oneself or with the TV.

Thanks again! Will be tracking your adventures online.

Another follower here - and looking forward to spending the next few weeks with you!

Glad people are enjoying reading if there are ever bits you want to hear about/ think I should see then just say. I realise I am concise in describing some areas, that is just to make the report less of an effort to read.

Day 7: wash my clothes! And planetarium.

I decided that it would be a good day to wash some clothes, especially as I now have no clean clothes (I brought exactly 7 sets). So I checked google maps and set off - it was 2.6 km away. Needless to say I got there and found that not only was it not open but also that it wasn't even a launderette. Certainly a waste of a long walk.

This is a good point to mention some general rules of travelling that I had been letting slip. Firstly, always carry water! I decided I wouldn't need it, half way to the non existent launderette and I had to stop at a petrol station for a silly expense. Secondly, Poland is a hot country, but the wind diminishes the heat you feel, so don't forget the sun lotion, it took half an hour for my forehead to begin to (re)burn. Thirdly, remember the sugar, I realised I hadn't had any sugar in the past 24 hours, except ice cream if that counts, and had to pop into Tesco for a banana and some raspberries. Those are my tips for the day

Back to greenway for soup, i feel justified in eating here again, simply because the soup and drinks are so good. Plus it goes towards my five a day! I will have to find another haunt soon, still need to visit a milk bar.

A visit to tourist information told me there was a launderette, but it wasn't open on a Sunday, needless to say, it could only be located in one place. Namely where I had walked to earlier in the day. 2.6km away. Well, at least now I know the way.

After lunch I headed to the planetarium for the two o'clock programme, with a thought towards spending a few hours here. At 14PLN a programme (40 min) it wasn't too expensive. Ended up just watching one programme, enjoyed it and would say that it is worth a visit, though the English is a little loud, otherwise I would have ended up sleeping!

After this I visited the leaning tower (well... It's title is questionable, and it isn't spectacular in any way). Worth a two minute gander though.

I'm coming to realise that though  Poland is not perhaps a prime international tourist location, many Poles take holidays in Poland and thereby all main areas seem to be thronged (maybe not a word...) I guess this can only get worse in Warsaw and Krakow.

Evening saw me wandering around Torun, it has only a small old town, so the tourist areas are compact. Easy to reach but not great for wandering. I kept having to turn around as I reached modern house blocks.

When in Torun I suggest that you visit the gingerbread shop, it is near the town hall ( in the square ). I bought some 'Torunskie Pierniki' and have to will myself not to demolish them all now ( sugar coated, soft scrumptious gingerbread biscuits).

Evening meal was takeaway pizza on the river bank. They have a nice area Around the boats where there is a grass bank around a 5 min walk from the town hall.

Day 8: getting ready to leave and no rest for me.

Start the day at 9am with no clean clothes and a 5.5 km walk ahead. I guess the first issue was easily solved, as I am travelling no one will mind me wearing the same clothes twice.. Nothing for it but to walk the morning away. I can't deny it was a bit boring, this time Tesco's had disappeared, I looked for it, but alas, it had gone ( I got fruit here yesterday ). 

Lunch at the 'cat with the tin hat', at least I think that's it's name, normal fast food... Chicken breast that had probably not seen daylight for a few days plus some pretty nasty cucumber in a herb sauce. Should have opted for a soup....

Afternoon spent with a book on the banks of the river Vistula, back in the 20's degree wise. Also... The gingerbread is gone, I ate it... All.

In the evening I picked up a copy of the weekly guardian for around £2.20. Nice to see the rest of the world hasn't stopped yet. Accosted by another drunk pole ( I say accosted, I just talked gibberish for 30 seconds and he went away ) I wonder whether they are attracted to me...

Time to pack now!

Thoughts on Torun, well good for a weekend break, just not at the weekend, there's not  a lot to do, apart from the planetarium, and town hall museum/tower. It's nice to just chill with a book for a few hours. At the weekend it seems all the young party animals emerge with the girls dressed up and the place becomes hectic. During the week it seems much quieter.

Interesting report. I'll be looking forward to your material on the Czech Republic. We'll be there in mid August, possibly bump into you. Intend to go to Brno, Mikulov, Valtice, Moravsky Krumlov, Cesky Krumlov and Karlovy Vary and surrounds.

Hi Alex,

just found your thread - glad i did. Very interesting reading about Gdansk. do they do trips to the politically important sites like the dock yards?

I suspect that you will find Krakow, at least the centre, very expensive by contrast to Gdansk. it's full of tourists of all nations and seems popular with the stag night set. we found the salt mines very interesting, but didn't go to Auschwitz. the jewish quarter and the ghetto were fascinating too, and got us away from the hurley burley of the centre.

we did take a trip out to Nova Huta to see the church where John Paul ll was bishop [it's designed like a sail or a boat] and there was a market on the way which was very cheap - i think that our lunch bill came to about £2.50 for both of us. I think that they were the first tourists they'd seen for some time, if ever, but they were friendly enough and we got by with sign-language - a bit like you.

looking forward to more!

JulieVikmanis -- Hope you're going to Moravsky Krumlov to see Mucha's Slavonic Epic. It is certainly worth the trip, altho not much else there.

JulieVikmanis & Alex,
If you are interested, you can click on my name to read my trip report from August 2009, when we visited Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Karlovy Vary, Telc & Kutna Hora.

Alex, what is your planned itinerary for Czech Republic? I've been to both CR & Poland & am enjoying your report. Only had time to visit Krakow in Poland. Sights to see are: main square, cloth hall, St. Mary's Church, Wawel Castle & Cathedral, Wieliczka Salt mines, Auschwitz & Kazimierz.
Happy traveling!

On Gdansk:
Annhig
For things relating to the shipyard strikes and demonstrations, I recommend that you start at the roads to freedom exhibition. It is possible to spend a good 3/4 hours here if you use the computers and watch the various videos which I found fascinating. The exhibition places a (slightly biased) emphasis on gdansk, but is still factually informative. There are also two videos to watch on large screens plus loads of materials that you can read. From here (5 min north if the station, the exhibition is underground, follow the lines on the road) you can head north another 2 minutes to reach the monument to the fallen shipyard workers. This will have probably taken half a day or so so far.

As for the shipyards themselves,  I don't think that there is much on the shipyards themselves, except notable points, and a bar/club inside the yard number 2 (IIRC). You may be best enquiring with an English speaking guide, as obviously there wasn't time to see everything whilst I was there (though had further monuments to Walesa and the likes have been mentioned I likely would have made a beeline towards them). There seemed to be a lot of things on Amber, and there was a lot to see (not do at times).

On the Czech:
julievikmanis
I may well end up in many places you intend to visit! Certainly Cesky Krumlov, and maybe Brno, I intend to day trip a fair bit as well ( should be able to afford it having already underspent by around £80-£100 on what I had budgeted for.) I have towns/cities as an itinerary but no fixed plans or each day.

Kwoo:
I will get (make) time to read that report in the next few days, thanks for the post! (I tend only to have the Internet when I post, and write stuff over lunch/dinner when I am not connected). I will definitely visit Wawel, Auschwitz and the Salt mines, guess I will have to survive the tourist hoards. At the moment no plans in the Czech except locations to sleep (Olomouc, Plzen, Cesky Krumlov and Prague). 

Angel Hostel: a review.
Located on the same square as the town hall, this fourth floor hostel is pretty clean, quiet(ish) however lacks a full time check in and certain amenities (Washing Machine!!)

Upon arriving at the hostel you must first go into the cafe on the ground floor (cat with the tin hat), the lady here will buzz you into the hostel and call ahead ( so someone is there when you arrive). You will be met by the babushka (best way to describe her really, though it's meant in a nice way..). Who will try and find you in her notebook. Slightly back in the day feel.

The rooms have been designed ( I believe ) by her son, expect.... Well expect the unexpected, I guess tue style would be described as slightly gothic (just a little). And the beds are inventively placed (ie two in each room are above the door from what I could tell), the rest are bunks or singles, metal frames with random wooden bits. I could see that mine had previously been welded back together.

The beds are comfortable, and overall things are relatively clean. Though I did wonder a little about the brown segment all over the floors of the showers, I believe it was because they were not draining properly. There were 2 toilets and 3 showers, never had any queues when I was there.

 Due to the age of the place, things creak, doors, beds, floorboards. Can be a little irritating at times. The light fixtures by the beds are accidents waiting to happen, indeed accidents did happen, mainly involving my head, on a number of occasions.

As for amenities, you have free tea and coffee, some random old magazines and also Internet access. BUT there were three main gripes for me, lack of any real reception, no common area and no washing machine (I suppose you can add fridge, hob, microwave and guidebooks to that list as well).

If I stayed in Torun again, to be honest my first choice would be to look elsewhere ( the Orange Hostel seems to be the only other choice), the location was good, the owners kind when I saw them ( twice ), but it just lacked in hostel stuff. Maybe better for young families whos kids aren't old enough to sleep in their own room yet - as one family of about 6 stayed the night in the room next to ours. Shame they don't get rid of the twin room in favour of a common area.

Out of five, I would give it 3, mainly for location.

Day 9: leaving Torun arriving in Warsaw.

Up early at 9am (I know awful isn't it). Got my deposit back (50 PLN for a key!). And walked the 2 km to the station, as usual it is sunny, a little wind and only a few clouds in the sky. 

Apparently the train leaves from platform 1 at 10:17, though you would never know that if you didn't ask. Maybe they make things so badly signposted so they get their money's worth from the people at the billet office. Ended up on the wrong platform for 10 minutes, apparently platform 1 is not the one nearest the entrance, but is the furthest away..

I have also noticed that when you get on he train, the rule seems to be that you grab a compartment and close the door and blinds no matter how many people are in there. Plus sit/lie across as many seats as possible. I glanced in first class, and it would seem that the same happens (to be honest the only difference seemed to be that you could get a seat in first class, cant say I wouldn't have liked that, 3 hours standing can be a little painful and I am only 90 minutes in!!) plus I would swear that people just get on these trains to use to toilets, there is a constant stream of people flowing past to use them, makes it nigh on impossible to use the aisle seats!

Standing next to someone who has a (very) nice camera, I think that one would be quite a nice investment for any future trips, especially if they can do clever things (ie a shot every second continually) to be honest, my camera skills are lacking... Severely. Especially on my £30 camera, but then, I don't have to worry about it.

Arrived in Warsaw, at the wrong station for my map. So from here I had to first stress a little and then catch a bus ( only found this out thanks to a kindly guard). The hostel looks pretty good, though more on that after I have stayed a few nights.

A late lunch at a small cafe - breaking the bank by spending 29PLN on lunch. A risotto and some ice tea. It is more expensive here, certainly at places you can sit down to eat. Though the risotto is worth it, seafood. It also has some things i don't usually see in seafood - tentacles with the suckers on poking up throughout. 

On Warsaw, to be honest I haven't seen anywhere that was built before 1950 yet (to be expected). But it seems no restoration attempts have been made around the hostel - just apartment blocks.

Day 10 (double figures!):
Morning:
Breakfast today was a few handfuls of supermarket purchased cheerios, vitamin filled and cheap (you can guess which one of these two points made me buy them).

Quite scary to think that I am already 10 days in, so today i decided to follow a tourist trail in Warsaw. In the book it is titled 'route no1 the Royal Route'. Means walking a fair bit, as of now (1pm) I have seen various things including: King Zygmunt III Column, the Presidential Palace and the house without corners ( always a good fun to take photos of the guards outside state buildings such as the Presidential Palace. Looks like I have finally found some architecture worth looking at. Yet most of it has still been built after 1950 (for obvious reasons). Hopefully I will get to the Museum of the Polish Army this afternoon.

Afternoon:
Museum of the Polish Army is FREE on a wednesday, saved 22 PLN there, and got an audioguide (recommended or things will just be objects rather than historical artifacts). Good museum, especially of you feel like a soy on the benches outside while admiring the decrepit tanks and missiles.

Walked south a fair bit but the guide after Park Lazienkowski expects you to walk 4pm further to the poster museum (which I will visit, but may use public transport for).

Still want to see the Poster Museum and Uprising Museum. Lucky I put them off as not half an hour after getting back to the hostel it started to rain. Hard. Not like England where it's just light rain, but first the lightning and thunder, then a massive downpour lasting two hours. It felt like I was in a bomb shelter when the thunder sounded(?), things vibrated everywhere.

Fortunately another guy at the hostel had a good recommendation for somewhere to eat, a Sri Lankan place that is like a cafe but family run and very friendly. Name was Samagi, had a meal consisting of three curries and rice for 20 PLN. Good value plus we got free Masala Chai, something that I have never had before but was very good as an after. Also got a sales pitch for Sri Lanka whilst I was there (looks like a nice country).

Day 11: Warsaw Uprising and Palac Wilanowski.

Having woke late after staying up until 2:30am yesterday (talking at the hostel, not drinking ) I made a beeline for the Warsaw uprising museum, I have to say that though the museum is a good attraction with an abundance of films and articles, it was thoroughly ruined by the sheer volume of snap happy, tour guide led people with no genuine interest in the exhibits. This was a real shame for me. I much preferred the Roads to Freedom exhibition in Gdansk as it gave me time and space to think. In Warsaw many corridors were blocked by tour groups,  people were getting onto exhibits for their photo opportunities and were paying little attention to the sacrifices of the people of Warsaw. This makes me reconsider my plans to visit Auschwitz in a few weeks, having spoken to a number of people they recommend a less tourist  popular camp near Lublin.

Around three o'clock I decided to head to the Poster Museum that is in the far south of Warsaw, near Palac Wilanowski. Of course after a half hour bus ride I found that I had just missed last admissions, so found myself wandering around the palace gardens. I would recommend the gardens, I am not a garden person, yet sat in the sun for three quarters of an hour reading quite happily in rather serene surroundings (with only one tour group there, it is a little out if the way, the get to the palace/gardens catch the 180 bus south to the end of it's line then you are 100m away). Though I did not go inside the palace, as i am not a palace person, if it is as impressive as the exterior it will be well worth a visit. Had to leave the gardens prematurely due to a quickly encroaching cloud formation (blanket of grey).

Ham sandwiches for tea

thanks for taking us with you, alex.

i have heard not very good things about Warsaw - do you think that it's worth the trip?

Alex, I am enjoying reading about Warsaw & would like to go there some day. I do recommend seeing Auschwitz; it is not like the museum you described; people are not having their photos taken. People are somber and serious & reflective. Auschwitz is very depressing, of course, but I think it's important for people to go there. I know that some people think it is sanitized (not sure why people say that) but at any rate, that does not take away from the horrors of the camp. We went with a very knowledgeable & serious tour guide; there were 3 in my group & 3 or 4 other travellers with us. Everyone was respectful & behaved appropriately.

Those reports on the hostels are wonderfully detailed. Thanks so much!

I usually choose an apartment or a B&B, but occasionally will stay in a good hostel, especially if it's just an overnight. Saves me from having to do a ton of research on B&Bs when staying for just one night.

Hostel living isn't for everyone, but I enjoy most the convenience (24-hour front desk, quick check-in, close to transportation) and the socializing. Not everyone who stays in a hostel is a poor dormouse or a drunken backpacker. Many are just saving their money to make it stretch further so they can travel longer or to use the money for something they consider more worthwhile. The shared conversations, experiences and, sometimes, the shared travels are wonderful and impossible to duplicate.

Keep up the good work! Still traveling with you - riding on your backpack (have you noticed it's gotten heavier since you started posting on Fodors? )

Day 12: poster museum, random museum and Harry potter.

Made it to the poster museum, kind of disappointing, lots of cool 
photos but no real explanations. Wandered around for half an hour or so. Then left in search of more interesting things.

I somehow found a museum in the north of warsaw that was empty except from me. it focused on the solidarity movement and WW1, a time that isn't referenced much elsewhere. It only cost 7 PLN to get in. I still don't know it's name, but it is near the architectural museum ( I think). interestingly the posters here were more interesting than those in the poster museum. Plus it cost less to get in!!

After this I headed back to the hostel and ended up going to watch Harry Potter with two americans. The best 3D bit in the movie was the cinema introduction. Also fairly expensive at 32 PLN a ticket!!

Day 13: (23rd July)

My last full day in Warsaw.. I have seen pretty much everything that I wanted to.

I bought a day ticket for buses, trams and the metro for two quid (9 PLN) and then attempted to reach greenway, 4.5pm away. Needless to say by the time I got anywhere near it was 2pm, and I couldn't find it. So lunch was had at karoca, in a shopping mall. I had potatoes, carrot and some meat that had the constituency of liver. Whatever it was it was nice at first.. Then after five minutes my stomach realised what was happening and tried to repel the invaders, fortunately it failed, or it would not have been pretty. It still isn't happy with me, and it's four o'clock now. Might have to skip food for a while.

Ended up back at the hostel and slept for  four hours. Lack of sleep plus an abundance of liver did not help.

Decided to eat a macdonalds at like 9pm (safe food!!) and that was about it for the night.

Kwoo:
Enjoyed reading the report! Some very useful stuff for me to use when I am in Prague. (didnt know they had a castle). I will refer to your report in later posts no doubt (it's a few weeks away yet).

Annhig:
I would definitely say that warsaw is worth visiting. It has some very good museums (and some not so good). There is always the Chopin museum or Marie Curie museum if people are interested. There are also reasonable shopping oppurtunities. I would say 3/4 days is perfect for sightseeing. Maybe 5 if you go to the corpernicus museum

(got cut off again!)

Or the science museum. There are lots of pretty buildings, it's just a shame that they are only 60 years old at most!!

Kwoo ( again) : i guess I will have to make a decision about that in krakow, which is ok, I am in Lublin for three days from tomorrow. I know there is a camp near there that I can visit.

Easytraveller:
Your reasons for hostel staying are sound, and they pretty much mimic my own reasons for staying in hostels. I will write a Review for the oki doki hostel where I am now on the way to lublin, my short advice on it would be that it is great though there are a few drunken backpackers around, I can see three I'm here, but they seem to be comatose

Oki Doki hostel, a review.

This is possibly my favourite hostel, it definitely rivals the Five Elements in Frankfurt. The first thing that you will notice about this place is that it is painted orange, bright orange. It has a mermaid statue on the wall, and no matter what time you arrive the reception will be open plus there will be at least one drunk person in the common area (ok so maybe the last bit is a minor hyperbole). Still, the staff are always friendly, and you can buy a variety of necessities such as toothpaste, shavers and soap from reception. Talking about buying things they also have an impressive souvenir collection along plus a bar that is open until midnight (7-8pm is happy hour, two pints of beer for 7PLN, about 78p a pint). So you don't actually need to go out too much, and as the nightlife in Warsaw is questionable it's probably for the best. Though I should add there is a supermarket, McDonalds, bars and clubs all within five minutes walk. The location is pretty ideal for sightseeing as well.

As for the rooms, I was in the 'football' room, which had famous footballer lockers (pictures on the lockers) and a football themed paint job. Other rooms had different themes such as the photography room. The lockers could fit my backpack and day bag plus food and drink. The bed didn't creak and was comfortable. Except from a lack of central heating (or cooling, which was felt on the first night)  the room was fine. Mix of bunks and single beds, some twin rooms as well. Ours had a sink and mirror as well.

The toilets and showers must have been cleaned hourly as they were pretty spotless throughout my stay. The kitchen had a microwave, hob, fridge, freezer, cutlery and plates. Couldn't fault it, breakfast wasn't included and was 16 PLN, I can't comment on it as was working my way through a 500gram bag of cheerios. From what I heard it wasn't worth it, but might be worth a try.

Also free wifi throughout the hostel, free tea and coffee, and three computers (use early or not at all ) hostel was secure and all rooms had keys, nothing really bad about this place except when someone decides to have a hour long coughing fit in the middle of the night.

Day 14: Leaving Warsaw (24th July) and arriving in Lublin.

I want to start this entry off with a complaint, against what I always felt to be British logic. That is to say, that you should place the least able and most unhelpful person in a position where you must interact with them, and prevent those that could help you from being able to.

To explain, at Warsaw Centralna (the main train station in Warsaw), they have an information kiosk with three young multilingual helpful staff, however you aren't allowed to ask them about the trains, for this you must ask elsewhere. Needless to say this kiosk was empty of people needing help, yet when you go to where they expect you to enquire about the trains, there is only one lady serving, who speaks only one language and has a massive queue. There I was thinking that efficiency was only blatantly ignored in England.

I didn't actually know which train to catch, it was only after a trip to KFC for their free Internet that told me the train left from II/1, after waiting around on platform one for a while I realised that I needed to be on platform two and that the 1 was merely track number.... Got on the Train and found a seat, but don't you hate it when you are in the seem carriage as someone who hasn't showered in about a month... Then insists on keeping the window closed!!

Anyway, I had a nice egg and chicken sandwich for lunch. That's about the only positive thing so far today.

I arrived in Lublin around half three, all that I will say is, dont visit Lublin unless you have to. It really is a dump (from what I have seen).

As I left the train station I could see prostitutes touting on the corner of the street, I tossed a tomato into the bin, only to see an old guy rummaging around 30 seconds later and gleefully retrieving it. It started to bucket down, the buses are infrequent, there are drunk people wandering around shouting and the place is a tip. Plus I saw two eight (they looked) year olds playing with a makeshift blade claw (wooden grip with two knives protruding). I wasn't even surprised when my Portuguese roommate told me that i was staying on the street with the most crime in Lublin.

I found the hostel.. just, I will review it later, but the major nono is instantly it's lack of lockers, plus a single toilet and shower between everyone?!?!?! Got some fast food for dinner, least it was cheap. Apparently I am a kilometre from the old town, I'll check that out tomorrow, when it is light... Hopefully I will find a launderette in the morning and can visit somewhere in the afternoon.

so you'll be staying in Lublin for how long?

@Annhig
Provisionally for four nights (madness) I may have to shave a few off that.. Shall see how the next day or two goes.

mmm - you aren't hoping to get a a commission from the Lublin tourist Board are you?

I am enjoying your report, Alex! Your way with words makes me chuckle! thanks so much for taking time to tell your story!

@ Irishface
Thanks

@ Annhig
Apparently Lublin is a candidate for European city of culture 2016, says it all really.

Day 15: wrong day of the week to be in Lublin...

So, my first full day here, time to explore. I left the hostel around 10am and immediately headed for the old town, supposedly a 'little krakow', to be honest, though I havent visited krakow yet I would have to agree that it is a 'little krakow' just without the 'row'. 

The old town is a single street that leads away from the castle, on either side there are buildings that are neither impressive nor that old. There are, I must admit, four or five nice buildings, around the grand hotel. Though that is it, even the shops with their canopy's look bedraggled. Yesterday they were not open and today they may as well not have.... There aren't throngs of tourists here, in fact, I haven't seen any coaches today (there was one at the castle yesterday). Apart from a small park, and numerous churches (having seen the ones in Gdansk, these were unspectacular) there wasn't really much to see on the main strip. The attractions seemed to have scaffolding around.

Much in keeping with the not a lot to do theme, my original aim was to find a launderette. Apparently it is only open Friday and Saturday in July and august. That was the only one in Lublin as well.

Back to the castle, closed on a Monday.. Tried to get a bus to Majdanek, got off at the wrong stop and hastily retreated back to the centre of town.

Got a pizza around 5pm and decided it was getting dark so I had better get back into the hostel (the situation reminds me of 'i am legend'). Also has anyone watched the wire...

Started thundering again... Seems to be a recurring theme here!

I really think that you will find Krakow more enjoyable, alex.

I'm off to Warsaw this Thursday, Alex, on a cycling trip, and will also be hosteling it. I'm reading your trip report with great interest. Incidentally, I'm sure that you already know this but the forecast calls for thunderstorms for pretty much the rest of the week.

I am enjoying your report, Alex and look forward to following you along on the rest of your trip!

Hi, Alex,

Enjoying your quiet sense of humor and your glimpses into history.

It appears that the part of Germany ceded over to Poland has fared even worse than East Germany! So sad in a way - what Communism destroys.

Oops, sorry, thought you were in Lubin instead of in Lublin. Different parts of Poland!

Redstater:
Warsaw is a good city to cycle in (I don't know about the surrounding area but I didn't see many hills). The weather in generally fine in the morning and early afternoon then takes a turn at around six. But it only tends to last for half an hour or so. Kind of odd really.

Enjoy your trip

Day 16:

Up around half nine this morning, breakfast was two slices of jam on bread. Decided to head to Majdanek today then see about the castle later.

I (obviously) got on the wrong tram first then had to backtrack. Ended up on the 156 tram which stops outside the museum/camp.

I don't really want to write a massive amount about the camp, except to say that I would recommend visiting it, the barracks filled with shoes and the the furnace room were especially moving, though all the exhibits and buildings are significant and thought provoking.

There was only one coach when I arrived - an Israeli tour group. The entire site was well signposted and I didn't find myself considering a guide as the buildings generally had a short english description inside. Some exhibit materials were also in English (newspaper clippings) as were the main headings.

I left Majdanek around half one and headed back into town.

For lunch i decided that I may as well splash out a little - meat filled dough balls, (pierogi!!) chips and banana juice (well, I was bored of having a snack at lunch and fast food in the evening). It came to 33PLN and I left 7PLN as a tip, which is over 20%, but service only took around 10 minutes and the waitresses are probably underpaid... So 40PLN or just under 9 quid. Not bad for a place on that is on Lublin's main strip (well part of it).

I have decided that there is a little hope left for Lublin, the area immediately surrounding the town hall is quite pleasant and is worth a 10 minute wander. It's a shame that 'nice lublin' seems to extend for 1 km down one road... I reckon that Lublin can be seen in a day trip. Especially whilst all the churches are undergoing renovation.

I decided not to visit the castle this afternoon but instead to wait until tomorrow, else I will run out of things to do. I would have left Lublin tomorrow, except my phone doesn't work here... It just beeps continuously when you place a call. (I think I fail at putting in the local calling code).

Day 17:

Started the day with a wander through the old town on an empty stomach as the hostel's one loaf of bread at breakfast had been eaten! Ended up finding a supermarket that sold bread/pizza things with bacon and cheese on. Ate two of them and realised that I wouldn't be needing lunch.... I have developed an affinity for Nestea over the past few weeks, it is cheap and refreshing. Also this drink called Kubus, a multiflavoured carrot juice.

Anyway, I ended up wandering back through the Market (it was Market day, no I lie, it is always Market day ) They really do sell everything, from bras and pants to a whole dead chicken. Unfortunately no washing machines. I last washed my clothes on day 8... So that means I am on my 10th set, even though I only have 7.. Fortunately I bought four extra pairs of socks for 12PLN. Going to Lodz tomorrow, hopefully they have a laundrette there.

On the accommodation front, I actually booked somewhere else for tonight, only to wander back to my current hostel around midday and be told that I had to change rooms... To a twin...... So I am staying another night, and cancelled the new booking (there was no deposit).

Headed to the last attraction this afternoon, the castle, to be honest it is more an art gallery with a (very) nice chapel in it. I quite liked it which is rare for me and art gallery's. Unfortunately I left me camera in my bag at the bag place at the entrance (I'm sure there's a proper name for this, I just can't remember it). The chapel has some very impressive (restored) Byzantine murals, and is nicely air conditioned (sorry, but it is in the twenty's here and the cold air was a relief).

The museum itself has four bits, a folk art bit (it was all a bit barmy), a modern impressionist, CAD bit (ok, so this bit was, as far as I am concerned, not really art). Then two good bits, a military bit with machine guns and the usual array of exhibits that aren't original. The second bit was a polish portrait and scene area (with a few landscapes thrown in randomly). The most impressive painting by far was 'the union of Lublin, Jan Matejko'. But then i guess that they have stood it in the middle of the exhibit room for a reason I guess...

I was only in the castle for around an hour and a half, mainly as I was getting dehydrated.

Had a kebab for dinner and watched a movie on someones laptop. Also packed ready for my five hour train ride to lodz in the morning.

Really enjoying reading of your travels Alex.
You're a stoic, with a great attitude to enjoy and make the best of whatever your travel path leads you to. Good on you.
There are lots of less anxious places soon coming up on your itinerary. But I'm enjoying reading everything to date, and can remember being in similar situations as you 7 years ago in lesser known parts of Croatia. I made the most of it too, and its all part of the adventure, I say.

Stay safe and keep up the interesting reports. Hope you find that laundrette soon.

M

yes, Alex, I'm still following you with interest.

good luck in Lodz.

@ mathieu
Thanks for your kind words and I also see things as another part of the adventure, though doubt that I would quite qualify as being a stoic!

@Annhig
Thanks

Day 18, leaving Lublin arriving in Lodz.

Getting to Lodz actually required a three hour backtrack to Warsaw. From there it was another two hours. To be honest I should have spent another night in Warsaw and daytripped Lublin. Certainly my next few journeys are all fairly long. Though after Lodz comes Krakow, which from many of your descriptions sounds like it will be fun (also meeting up with parents!!)

Ended up paying 15PLN for a taxi to the station so I could get the 9:55am to Warsaw, it was worth it so I didn't have to wait for two hours for the next train. To be honest the PKP website has been exceptionally handy in sorting trains out, I had a rough plan before I left of what trains I would get. However, have had to change train times thrice.

On the first train to Warsaw the ticket checker started talking to me in polish, asking for something, probably my passport. In a lazy mood, I just said 'English' and she gave up. 

On another note, what is the difference between Chen-quour and prosher??(both spelt totally phonetically). Prosher seems to be used for both please and thank you, whilst Chen-quour seems only to be used for thank you... On a language front, I still only know yes and no, and the two above, languages never were my strong point.... (evidence of that is my C in GCSE German).

Once back in Warsaw, I managed to get on the wrong train, fortunately it stopped at Warsaw Centralna so I could get a connection from there. I will echo an earlier post I made and say that Poland doesn't do signposts... It has a departure board but no platform numbers. Once again it was a combination of KFcC's Internet and a live departure board (very 21st century!) that helped me get the right train. So I was still able to arrive in Lodz for 4pm.

Lodz has one major road (over 5 km!!) and loads of other long straight roads. Lots of (real!) old buildings and a fair few museums.

First major result, a washing machine in the hostel!! Immediately dumped all my clothes in and set it off - though it only has a spin dryer... I guess I will have wet clothes for a few days yet.

By now it was about nine, so I grabbed a kebab for sustenance (food places seem to close around nine around here, apparently the poles are early eaters.) and went back to the hostel for some sleep (travelling is the most tiring thing).

Day 19:

Started out the day with cheerios then headed to a supermarket for some fruit and also bought some Kubos ( carrot juice). Obviously the person who said it was a 15 minute walk was being a little liberal with his time measurements, about 45 minutes after setting off I saw, in all it's glory, Tesco's. Some things never change!

Stopped at a greenway for some food (I don't actually know what I ate... A lasagne layered thing but with solid rather than melted cheese). Also had a smoothie.

I then decided that I may as well walk to the end of this 'long' street, 5 km here I come. Needless to say, I never made it. I must have walked for about an hour before reaching a large Market (not a shopping centre), with a small park opposite. By now I was almost delirious and drank most of my 1.5litre bottle of water. I decided to mooch around the stalls (meat, veg or clothes.. Kind of hard to mooch around two of the aforementioned). After this it was about 2pm!! Then I walked back to the hostel. Needless to say, I was peckish again and had some noodles from 'Noodle w pudle', actually a rather large portion.

After crashing at the hostel for a few hours (fulfilling social obligations and the likes, plus checking on my now damp washing). I headed out to pierogarnia for pierogi. This place is at 69 ul. Piotrkowska, in the courtyard, to the left (opposite Ganesh), for anyone who may want to eat cheap pierogi. The building itself looks more like a family house with chalk arrows on the floor and drawings on the walls. The telltale sign of it selling pierogi is the small menu outside. There were both meat and vegetarian types available and I chose meat. Now the type of meat I had is debatable as I think that I was offered duck. However, just talking to someone who has lived here for six months, he says that it is more likely that it was the standard pork filling and that what was actually said was 'tak' (yes). Whichever it was, it was filling and good (plus cost only 14PLN).

On the food front, today has been an absolute feast. Consisting of four real meals (cheerios, greenway, noodles and pierogi), I am now absolutely stuffed and as the weather is a little cold have no intent of walking around, so decide to watch some Tv whilst the food goes down. Adding it up today I spent 76 PLN on food, about double what I usually would.

Tomorrow I hope to visit the massive shopping complex (which is supposed to be so much more ).

Oh, and I much prefer lodz compared to Lublin, Poland has redeemed itself!

Lublin hostel: a review, stayed four nights, three in a six bed dorm, one in a twin.

Ok, this could be quite a long review, but I am going to try and portray the hostel as fairly as possible.

Location - ok so the hostel is 1Km from the old town and attractions such as the castle. However, the hostel itself is in an exceptionally run down area. I was told that the street it is on has the most crime of any in Lublin. With an abundance of cheap booze shops and intoxicated men wandering around, I had to make sure I wasn't out too late for fear of being mugged. You will constantly hear sirens from police cars / ambulances during the early night. I spent four nights here and on the last one I even had the honour of hearing a car break in being played out (window smashing, car alarm going off, shouting, police siren). Who needs Police, Camera, Action! When you have all that outside your window. Watching the first half hour of 'shooter', I think I heard more sirens outside than in the film.

The rooms - simple facilities, well not even simple if I am honest. In a hostel room, I expect a few things, obviously a bed (theirs are small and have thin, camping like children's mattresses, wooden bunks). Then for security, a locker and a door lock, neither of which this hostel had. There were no lockers, and one key for each room so you could not lock the door to your room unless your group had booked the entire room. Rooms were literally just beds in the dorms and beds with a cabinet in the twin rooms.

Hostel itself - the hostel had some major problems, such as the fact that there was only one toilet and one shower between everyone who was staying. Now when the hostel was empty this was fine. However, when full, as on my last night, it was a queue for everything, especially the shower. Obviously there are some hygiene issues around that as well.... The hostels facilities consisted of a common area with a fridge, microwave, sofas, old computer and a black and white tv. To be honest, the only useful thing was the wifi. No towels provided or available, nothing purchasable at reception (they don't really have a reception, just a girl who sits on the sofas in the common room).

The receptionists, well I am kind of mixed about this. They were nice and helpful when I was there, yet when I was checking in the girl waited until her YouTube video finished before acknowledging me. On a security note, it was entirely possible for someone to wander in off the street without being noticed.

Breakfast - seemed to be a loaf of bread or some rolls distributed on a first come first serve basis. Ie you get up by half eight or you don't get anything (unless you wanted meat pate), also had jam and honey.

So, for me, a solo traveller, this hostel gets one star out of five, It simply isn't fit for purpose - the only caveat to this is if you are in a group which books a room out and therefore can lock their room (and belongings away). Though even then, you had better shotgun the toilet!

Hi, Alex,

Still enjoying your trip report! It's the way many of us travel or would like to travel, just park ourselves in an unknown city and explore away, not being too influenced by guidebooks or other writeups and free to form our own impressions.

BTW, did you ever mention the name of that hostel that you gave one star to? Certainly a hostel to be avoided, if at all possible! Were there no other hostels in Lublin or is this hostel a reflection of the overall conditions in Lublin?

@ easytraveler

Hostel tanie noclegi is it's name, though it's English name is actually 'hostel Lublin'. Or at least it's website is at hostellublin.pl.

It isn't so much a lack of accommodation, as a lack of online accommodation. You can find other accommodation, it's just not bookable on the internet. It takes a bit of a search to find places but it can be done. Though apart from a hostel behind the university I think other accommodation is all non dorms.

Day 20 (another milestone):

Yesterdays entry was, unfortunately, incomplete. I actually went out at half ten to see Green Lantern. Which meant I walked to manufaktura. As the film finished gone midnight and i didn't get back to the hostel until oneish, this morning I didn't leave the hostel until 12pm.

So first stop - manufaktura. I aimed to go to the three museums here. However, I was unable to find any of them in an hour and a half on walking round. My only success was buying a new camera case. Also they are setting up a stage in front of the shopping centre (free concert coming up?!?!).

I found the museum of the factory (finally!). It is on the second floor by the cinema and climbing wall. I had to go up the fire escape to reach it. It's a small museum charting key figures and organisations in the history of the factory as it used to be (textiles). Things like looms and areas on the brass band. Not very large but ok for half an hour.

After this I decided to get a mid afternoon snack. At this point I should mention that I had a KFC 'grander Texas' burger for lunch. So I wanted a pizza slice on a baguette, quite large but manageable as it was around half two. Unfortunately the language gap intervened and resulted in me ordering two. Now, I have to say, it must have looked like greed at it's best with me balancing these two large bits of pizza in my hands whilst attempting to eat them without wearing them. After this was accomplished, full would be an understatement as to how I felt.

The rest of the day was kind of a mix between walking around the shopping centre and recovering at the hostel. Also had a light night kebab. So I had a large burger, two pizza baguettes and a kebab today, must be that healthy streak coming in.

Day 21 (31st July):

Rain!! For the first time during the day. Minor nuisance as I wanted to walk to the prison - it's name is distinctly polish, with an abundance of consonants and a lack of vowels. I think it began with an 'R'.. 

Anyway, I decided to get a tram, but as it is a sunday, no places were open that sold tickets, and as someone at the hostel had been telling me of his 70 PLN fine when caught with no ticket earlier in the day, I decided to get off after one stop (driver didn't want to sell me a ticket).

So getting to the prison (now a museum I should mention) failed. Which was annoying, and as it closes at 3 on Sunday's I couldn't go later in the day.

I hid from the rain in manufaktura for a while, when it abated a little then walked back to the hostel. After browsing some local shops and stocking up on essentials, I it ready to walk back to Manufaktura for the evening 'open air concert'. Apparently it featured some popular polish groups.

It was still damp and the umbrellas were out in force. All I can say is that I heard the first act, so decided to go inside and listen to some Spanish music on a mini stage in the mall. Then I heard the second act and decided to go and wary Transformers. I just don't think Polish as language really works with anything except sombre/classical music. Certainly the pop music being played was of questionable quality, and the singing was comparable to the Xfactor auditions.

Of course in the cinema the projector broke and that caused an hour long delay whilst they readied another screening room. Film had better 3D effects than Harry Potter..

Day 21: (new month!)

Apologies for the ongoing spelling and grammatical errors, my iPod seems to think that auto-correct is an excuse to change the meaning of everything that I type..

Anyway, today was a marathon trek across Poland from Lodz to Krakow, this actually involved revisiting Warsaw (again!) before heading south to Krakow. I managed to miss the earlier trains (that may have got me to Krakow just after lunch), due to bad directions to the train station (I'm sure go right doesn't entail three right turns usually..). Anyway I reached the station around 11, the fastest route according to Deutche Bahn was to take a train to Warsaw and then on to Krakow. So the train to Warsaw was relatively easy, except that the platform the train was on had two trains, both traveling to Warsaw. I guessed that the one I wanted would be the run down one, a correct assumption for once.

Arrived in Warsaw at around 2pm, with a half hour wait until the connection. There was actually an IR train that would have arrived in Krakow at half five that I could have caught. However, as usual the people at the ticket office only spoke Polish. (I even tried asking if they spoke German I was that desperate to get the train!). So with no reservation, I could not get the train, and I had to settle for the slower train.

I have now learnt two lessons about Polish trains. Firstly, internationals seem to congregate in the restaurant carriage, simply because Polish people are so obtuse about sitting arrangements (six seats.. two people), as I have mentioned in earlier posts. Secondly, Polish train food is actually pretty decent, with Bruschetta,Kebabs and Pierogi on the menu at three pound a time (also many other things like salads). So at least I didn't go hungry.

Anyway, I arrived in Krakow at half seven, and made my way to the hostel for eight O'Clock. Then made my way to a 24 hour Polish Food place where I had yet more Pierogi.

At this point I was in dire need for sleep and decided against looking round any longer.

As you can see... apparently it was day 21, it was really day 22... 1st of August and all that.

So Day 23, 2nd Aug

Loads to see today which is always nice.

Started off the day with a visit to Wawel Cathedral and its accompanying museum. I recommend the audio guide which makes the total visit around two hours (well, when you skip some of the museum part anyway). The story of the past leaders of Poland is told in part here, as with many of the intricacies of faith and reign. Plus you can climb the bell tower for a panaramic view off two sides. Plus can make a wish on the bell at the top. Cathedral itself is immaculately sculpted and maintained, as would be expected. I am leaving the castle itself for later in the week.

For lunch I went to a milk bar near where I am staying. At 4PLN for a plate of Pierogi I cant complain (under a pound, but more pierogi as I dont understand any other names of foods.. though I have now tried Pork, Duck, Potato, Veg and Blueberry flavors). This place isn't so much a have your own table place as a find a spare seat and ask if you can sit (no real way the person can say no..).

Then went to the Church in the main square of the town (st Marys Basylika), it cost 6 PLN to enter, and if you wanted to take photos you had to pay an extra 5PLN. Three guys were going around telling people they didn't have permission to take photos (if they were without the sticker and with a camera) and forcing them to fork out the 5PLN. A bit idiotic as far as I am concerned, especially as it is a church (and this was a designated tourist area within the church which you had to pay to get into in the first place, a bit different if it was all one area and then you could identify tourists by their cameras and charge them). If you decide not to pay, just visit http://www.mariacki.com/galerie.php and see all the pictures that you could have taken (hence me saving myself 5PLN).

Now I walked up to and along the old city walls to the north. There was a TV filming going on nearby so I couldn't get into the west side of the park. Though did find time to stock up on water and a creamy strawberry milk drink in a nearby supermarket.

After this I visited the National Museum, a few different galleries here. Of which two were the usual rubbish (I'm sorry, but a picture of someone hunting or smoking is not art, nor was the contemporary exhibition which was the usual mismatch of bent objects and meaningless paintings). The exhibition on the Polish army with armour that you could wear, plus the Spanish exhibition were both quite good. Spent a few hours overall here. Entry was 18PLN for all exhibitions. After this I visited the museum cafe and had a very nice Brownie (chocolate and toffee sauce), plus a strawberry smoothie. Both reasonably priced the total was under four pounds.

By now I was still fairly hungry and grabbed a burger and an ice cream on the way back to the main square (around 6PM). In the mains square there were the usual tourist acts. I.e, they have horse drawn carriages (bound to be a rip off), restaurants (which wont be as good as those in the side streets)and street performers which were pretty standard (except two guys who balanced on a staff using an outstretched hand, no idea how they do that).

After wandering around here for a while it was around eight, so I headed back to the hostel for a few minutes, dropped my bag off and went in search of Kielbasa, for this I headed towards somewhere quite famous. A blue van that is parked halfway up ul. Grzegorzecka. Mentioned in many tourist guides and also in the 'Krakow Post' (it had a half page spread article in the one I read), it serves Kielbasa for 8PLN, you will share the small freestanding table with other travelers, regulars and drunk people (well, thats what I found anyway). Even better there are three 24H stores in proximity here. Anyway, I headed back to the hostel fairly knackered having walked a fair distance today.

Hopefully I will get to Schindler's Factory tomorrow, and also the nearby Krakow under Nazi occupation museum. Plus, somewhere around Krakow is the Krakow against Terror museum, which I hope to track down.

Hi, Alex,

don't miss the ghetto museum in the old chemist's shop on the edge of the ghetto. it's remarkable for the story it tells, [of the only gentile that the nazis allowed to remain, and the wonderful work that he and his assistants did] and for the sculpture in the square outside, comprising copper chairs at all different angles to represent to furniture that fell from the carts as the refugees entered the ghetto. all very striking and moving.

Still reading and enjoying your story. Once again, thanks for sharing!

My grandmother was born in Poland & immigrated to the U.S. I grew up eating pierogi, so I'm envious of you. We did have delicious pierogi when we were in Krakow, too. have you tried golompki (stuffed cabbage) yet? or beet soup or cabbage soup? Hope you liked your kielbasa.

Thanks for the comments:

@annhig
I managed to make it (day 25). Though was told a slightly different reason for the chairs!

@Irishface
Thanks for reading

@Kwoo
Pierogi is always nice, though I must admit that the boiled ones filled with potato are not so much to my taste. The best must be fried ones filled with meat (as standard it seems pork). I have just added golompki to my list of things to find. I have had various soups, though admittedly, i much prefer my soups to be warm! (half the time they are cold ) Dont think I have yet had cabbage soup, I seem to have a preconception of a lack of taste from cabbage...

Day 24:

I believe that I have just passed the half way point of my travels. Kind of nice really, but scary to think that I will have to return to normality in a month. Woke up late today (well, early for me) at around 10. First stop was the Schindler Museum/Factory, a 2km walk in the sun.

I found the place relatively easily with the aid of the omnipotent google maps app on my iPod. A pleasant walk, which took me across the river. It's actually located by the museum of contemporary art (decided to avoid that one!). I have been told that the museum only opened around a year ago and therefore is very modern inside (lots of video clips and audio). Also a 35 minute cinema clip (literally inside a small cinema). The exhibits were very detailed and truly told a story of Schindler's actions during the war. One part that definitely stuck out was the description of how he fired a number of Jews from the factory in order to save them from being rounded up by the SS. Worth a visit if you are ever able to. Entry is only 15 PLN. You could spend anywhere from an hour to maybe two and a half here if you wanted to see/watch everything.

At this point I tried to reach the Museum of the Pharmacy Under the Eagle. However, even when in the square with the empty chairs I could not find it! With no map and no internet, I gave up and grabbed a Pizza. After which I was tired enough to head back to the hostel for a while.

The afternoon... well, I did a good job of sleeping for about four hours. Then grabbed a beer and also another Kielbasa (same van!) at around 1am. The crowd really is tourist/drunk/regular. Though I am not sure of the sense in queuing for 30 minutes for a sausage!

Day 25:

This time, I was not to be defeated. I headed back to the same square with the chairs and success! I found the Pharmacy Under the Eagle Museum, situated right on the corner of the street and looking ominously closed. But that was only because the doors seemed to be kept closed (odd seeing as it was a museum). Anyway, I made my way in and paid the 6 PLN (if I remember correctly). I decided (perhaps mistakenly) not to get an audio-guide. The museum is actually very interesting as it is a more personal story than other places I Have visited which have been more general in their descriptions, with a letter from a person in 1993, sent from the USA, which thanked the Pharmacist for saving their life and enclosed $250 for the drugs which he provided being something that ( for whatever reason) stood out.

Next stop was a small cafe just across the road from the Museum. This cafe can be seen on the left hand side as you cross over the bridge towards the Jewish Ghetto area of the city. Here I had soup, schnitzel and a Kompot (juice mix). All for 20 PLN including the tip I thought that it was very reasonable.

Back to the hostel, this time to wash clothes. The best bit was that it was free, the second best bit was the the person working at the hostel agreed to put my clothes into the dryer for me whilst I went back up to the castle area.

So, me and another Brit climbed up the tower and that was about it. It provides a fairly panoramic view of the city. Perhaps more so on the lower levels where the windows are larger. It only costs 4 PLN to go up and is not as strenuous (nor as high) as many other towers which I have ascended (here I refer to the Copernicus tower that was in Torun). Anyway, we decided not to pay for any other things in the castle because they were all separate fees - and the armory had already sold out its allocation of tickets (after around 2pm, expect tickets to be fully sold out for the most popular exhibits (royal apartments when I was there, also armory/treasury on one day.)

Following this, it was half three and hot, time for a few beers and a talk about the usual random time passers (beer is cheaper before 4pm, 8 PLN vs 6 PLN, where we were per pint).

From here it was back to the hostel for the free evening meal, and another kielbasa (I will have to stop automatically heading towards that blue van at every opportunity).

Alex - please do not miss the salt mine - I loved it.

Day 26: (5. Aug)

Absolutely manic day, mainly due to the fact that my parents are heading out to Krakow for the weekend to meet up with me.

Up at around nine, I headed first of all to the castle where I got tickets to the armory/treasury for 2pm. This hopefully saved any chance of there being no tickets left. After this I went back to the hostel to charge my (now totally dead) phone up. Left it for an hour and sorted out some of my expanding mess.

Left the hostel again at around eleven, I should mention that it is between 24 and 26 degrees here now. I walked down to the river (the Vistula I presume..) and sat on the banks whilst waiting for my parents to arrive (a 'we will arrive in twenty minutes' easily becomes an hour..). Anyway, they eventually turn up around half 12. So, time for lunch.

This lunch gets its own paragraph, as it was one darn good lunch. We had it at a place that is visible from the north side of the castle. It is slightly into the park and is in the shade. The waitresses wear what I suppose are German/Polish style dress and they have a few massive beer kegs. Anyway, first off, time for some beers which were served in proper beer glasses (ie the big wide ones). Plsner and Tyskie were drunk (Tyskie perhaps more local than Plsner) and provided apt refreshment. The service was perfect. Slow, but not slow in a bad way, but in a 'we're on the continent, life has slowed down' way. The food arrived in a fine amount of time and was very impressive. Between us we had, chicken breast topped with cheese and tomato (and enough side stuff to feed a few people), a toasted sandwich of some form (perhaps not so impressive), and a Lamb thing that had bacon around it. No idea what it was, but was assured that it was great. Having the chicken had the disadvantage of being absolutely stuffed before even finishing my plate of food. I would definitely recommend this place for lunch, and will endeavor to find out its name in the next few days and will likely eat there again. The total cost of the meal was 82 PLN and including tip came to 90 PLN. For a good quality meal that isn't in a posh restaurant and will actually fill a gap this is perfect.

After lunch we headed to the armory and treasury. Some impressive engravings on the valuable items there. However, at 18 PLN, I would recommend the Chapel/Cathedral that is in the castle grounds with a audio guide as a much more time consuming and worth while thing to visit for another 1 PLN (see my post from day 23).

Now onwards to the main square of the old town and due to my parents wanting to a take a tour taxi (around the two Jewish quarters). We spent an hour (and 150 PLN) seeing some of the synagogues and Jewish sights. Actually quite useful as a lot of the Jewish quarters can be seen quickly unless you want to go into any of the places as they are today. There is a lot of history, but perhaps not so much content. Pleasant ride, bit bumpy.

After this, a break for coffee, then a break for beer. Then, finally at around half six, time for an early(ish) meal. This time near the 24HR polish food place I visited on my first day here. The meal may not have been so spectacular (though was by no means bad!!!). However, the puddings were exquisitely presented and very filling. Apparently an apple pie/crumble doesn't really have a small. Or at least I wonder what would arrive if you ever ordered a large pudding. I had a rather nice honey based desert. Again, I missed the name of the place, though think that I have a photo of my desert where they printed their name into the flour.

At around half eight we headed back to sleep/recoup with a view towards visiting the salt mines tomorrow. Time has gone quick here, only two full days left in Krakow.

Day 27: (Sat 6th Aug)

Up early and left for the salt mines. The weather was hot, in the 20's and expected to rise to a maximum of 28 degrees. Arrived at around 11am and it looked like the first proper tourist destination with multination queues and hundreds of people wandering around. Plus a state visit (probably diplomatic visit) by someone from China who had his own security detail.

Entry to the mines is with a guide and cost approx. 40 PLN per person. The English groups are every half hour during the day, and ours was so large they split it into two groups of 30. The guides obviously knew what they were talking about and gave detailed explanations (which half the time I only half paid attention to whilst snapping away on my camera during the stops). The mines are quite spectacular and are definitely worth a visit. You can even go to the toilet 100 metres underground (not often you can do that, though I wonder where it all goes...), have a meal, or stop in the cafe. At the end of the tour you are given rough instructions on how to leave, which is probably not the best thing given that some people dont have the greatest sense of direction, we left with a group of Poles, who, after a few tunnels and stops later it became apparent were in fact not heading to the lift to the surface but were going to the Rehabilitation Museum. We were directed back up to a small area where thankfully there were lifts, not quite the size that was expected, maybe room enough for 4 people. Of course this being Poland there were 8 people squeezed in.

We left the mines and got lunch at a place towards the bottom of the hill that leads up to the mines, kielbasa all round. Cheap at around 60 PLN including two beers. We decided to make our way further south to Zakopane. However, half an hour later, and a few traffic jams sat in, we hit a monster. Caused presumably by a crash up ahead we gave up and returned to Krakow. Where I revisited the Schindler Museum (parents hadn't been). As before, a good museum.

We tried to go back to the restaurant from yesterday lunch time. However it was full outside, and too hot inside. Went to the Hard Rock Cafe for drinks, but to be honest, service was slow, and it was expensive considering the places nearby. Ended up at a Georgian restaurant on one of the side streets. With starters that were pretty filling (like a thick based pizza) and a pork main with wedges, it wasn't very Polish. But it was grub (OK food, but for the cost very good).

Beer in the evening in the square, then onwards to the hostel for sleep. Travelling round all day is tiring (I don't like cars now anymore than I did in England).

Alex, thanks, so much fun. We'll follow your steps in October, no Lublin, though. Just Warsaw and Krakow.

Day 28: (Sun 7th Aug)

I got up early at half eight and headed to the flea market to the North East of the old town. I have never been to a flea market before, but can honestly say it was one of the oddest places. A mix of clothes, bikes, antiques and old rubbish. Space obviously came at a premium with stalls hanging their goods off the full bins. Nothing really purchasable, but an interesting visit.

Another attempt to visit Zakopane - some advice, get a sat nav and take all the shortcuts or be stuck in traffic jams for like two hours. Not a quick journey at the weekend, not sure during the week though. (during the to-ing and thro-ing from Zakopane, we came across three seperate crashes.

Anyway, Zakopane, worth a visit, though perhaps book yourself into a hotel there for two nights as you cant really see so much during a single day where you can only spend a few hours there. The sights are spectacular and you can grab a beer looking out over the mountains for only 8 PLN (only half a litre, as standard here). Lunch was had before ascending the mountain on the cable train, cant remember what it was though...

The market in Zakopane itself is quite an experience, the winter jackets there are spectacular (though the cost is quite high at 400-1000 PLN, though can probably be bargained).

After a few hours here we left to return to Krakow mid afternoon. Back to 'Pod Wawelem' the restaurant from the first lunchtime. Sitting inside here, it was hot, but we had 1L beers (mega heavy in their glasses) and huge meals. Great food again, though a little disorganised service (though they did have the whole serving staff come out and sing happy birthday in Polish to the guy on the table next to us). The meal here was around 170PLN (ie under 40 quid). Cant really fault the prices here at all.

Back to the centre and again a few beers whilst watching the world go by. Also had a tropicana cocktail which was nice (and strong).

@Treesa
You will definitely enjoy Krakow, no matter what you like to do when travelling. How long are you spending in each city? (as I would recommend more time in Krakow than Warsaw, I didnt see everything in a whole week there! (will try and write my final day and a half there up soon..)

hi Alex,

glad you are enjoying Krakow and finally got to see the pharmacy. what was the "other" story you heard about the chairs?

where are you going next?

@Annhig
We were told on our little tour (if I heard correctly) that the chairs represented the Jewish people who had been displaced. Empty to represent the empty Jewish houses.

I am currently in Wroclaw, relaxing. A nice town, which hopefully I can find time to write about (the last days in Krakow were too hectic for blogging much so the report is a little behind my current location.

On to Olomouc next.

Alex, thanks for replying. We're spending 4 days in Krakow as well as in Warsaw. No change is possible since we're staying in apartments and there are four of us, each one with a different agenda and different expectations. We shall see. In the meantime I'm shamelessly stealing ideas from your trip.

Tressa - definitely try to see the pharmacy under the eagle discussed above, and the salt mines. and we found the jewish district very interesting too. the castle didn't wow us much but there's lots to see in 4 days in Krakow.

Great updates! I'm heading to Krakow in the fall so it's good to read other people's experiences.

In case you haven't already seen it, you should look up In Your Pocket guides; it's free and full of info (what to see, bars, restaurants, etc). http://www.inyourpocket.com/
(I do not work for them but am finding their guides helpful with planning)

Oh and there's also this: http://www.spottedbylocals.com/

Big update

Day 29: Monday 8th August

Started the day by visiting the castle for souvenirs. I wanted to pick up a decorated box, one with a textured map of old Europe on. This cost 55PLN which I thought was a fair price. The castle itself was mostly closed, only three exhibits open, and only the dragon exhibit and tower had tickets left.

After, we headed towards the centre of the altstadt and, due to diminished funds my parents decided to exchange £50 into PLN. For this they got 227 Zloty, the equivalent of a 4.54 exchange rate. This compared to 4.04 at the post office. The 4.54 was at a random Kantor without shopping around (or asking how much they would get!!)

From here we went into the stalls in the centre. After oggling the (rather expensive) Amber, we settled on a chess set and smaller box. The chess set weighed around 2kg, but as I am not carrying it I didn't worry too much.

I let my parents go into St. Mary's Basilica. Having already been in once I didn't feel a second visit was necessary. Outside (and before they went in) people had gathered around the area where you enter. After wondering why for a minute why everyone was filming the roof we saw the Bugler appear in an upper window of the tower. He played and everyone below clapped and cheered (!!??). I believe that the bugler is there on the hour every hour. 

By the time we wandered away from the Basilica it was about a quarter past one. I was supposed to catch the half twelve train, then the half two train, heading to Wroclaw. For a leaving lunch we ended up back at Pod Wawelem. I guess that my Dad wanted one of their more spectacular dishes. So our third visit in four days, almost regulars. I pointed out that my parents should have stayed in the hotel there, as they stayed a 15 minute walk away across the river. 

Anyway, for food, the three dishes ordered were a lamb sausage with bacon wrapped around, a ham and cheese toastie (without the toast and with breaded..) and finally my dad ordered a pork and chicken kebab. Advertised as a meal for one, it's description is a little ambitious. Easily enough food for two, it's wooden platter covered half the table. A huge kebab, with wedges, sauerkraut and sauces plus rice and an apple that is on fire. I have a picture somewhere, as does a woman from the table opposite who asked to take one (it really was that spectacular). At 30PLN, it wasn't an expensive dish either. Spent about 131PLN, though 36 was on 3 Lemon Vodka shots (disgusting I might add, though that is personal preference).

Anyway, by now it was quarter to 3, having missed my half 2 train, I now needed to get the half 3. Bid farewell to my parents and having seen that it was drizzling, I lobbed my anorak on and my waterproof cover over my bag. People probably wondered what I was doing given that it was only drizzling/spitting with rain. Needless to say, halfway through my 20 minute walk it began throwing it down. Made my train with two minutes to spare, grabbed a seat and sat down.

The journey was five hours from Krakow to Wroclaw and around four hours in someone got on at the other end of the train and, like in Britain, started blasting music out of their phone. Now in England you just put up with it for fear of getting stabbed. Not in Poland. A guy (7 foot tall at least) asked her to switch it off and when she didn't, five minutes later simply got up and gave her and the phone a good smack. After which the boyfriend (think stereotypical small chav) turned up and started mouthing off (but was never going to do anything simply as the other guy was so tall), finally the conductor turned up to prevent the guy from getting off, and as I left the train at Wroclaw the police turned up.

Anyway, I reached Wroclaw at around 8:30 and was instantly lost. The whole station is undergoing renovation and I exited at the back of the station. Thereby losing any sense of direction. I wandered around for an hour, contemplated finding a taxi but eventually four the ticket office and a place selling Zapiekanki. After this pizza like snack I again wandered out the station and after a few minutes and by some miracle came across a group of Australian/Malaysian/Japanese guys (and women) on a post wedding holiday. Turns out that they were lost as well, but had iPhones to aid them. I asked if I could tag along (to the altstadt) and half an hour later was much closer to my hostel.

Again I became lost just streets away from my hostel. I ambled in the general direction and looked lost, so much so that a drunk pole came up and attempted to help. Having lost all hope I accepted him guiding me around whilst he asked various taxi drivers. After a while we reached the hostel, about 50m from where I had originally been standing a quarter of an hour earlier. I offered to buy the guy a beer for his efforts but he refused. Two hours from station to hostel.....

Day 30: Tuesday 9th August

Got up fairly early, didn't help that you can hear the road as loud as if you are standing on it in the dorm room (and one window refuses to close). No real plans whilst here so I just wander. Went to the church with the bridge from which you can have a panoramic view in two directions. Legend has it that two women who refused to marry and instead chose to enjoy life were cursed to forever sweep clean the bridge. Anyway, after a massive walk up... I walked down again, not much more to say. Worth a trek if you are up to it.

After this I went to the post office and bought an envelope using good old sign language. Back to the hostel and with some help (got the guy at reception to translate a request for a stamp for me) sent some postcards off.

Had a pizza for lunch, 16 Zloty Inc. a coke. Again wandered, browsed Empik, bought some more water from the supermarket and then back to the hostel to catch up on the riots.

Glad to relax for a day after krakow and travelling, tired and need more sleep though.

In the evening I bought some ice tea (Nestea), tomatoes, rolls, tuna and smoked salmon (cost £4.50) and devoured the lot then slept.

Day 31: Wednesday 10th Aug

Another unproductive day, I don't really know what I accomplished today, just bought a paper, read it and ate ice cream/walked round the square.

I should point out that Wroclaw is another contender for the European City of Culture 2016 but, unlike Lublin, I would say that it's centre may actually warrant the title. A nice central square, churches, old architecture and what looks like a castle being renovated.

Changed 200 spare PLN to Czech Kronor, 1100 plus 10.90 Zloty back. So I was within 5 CZk of the real value. Down to my last 26 PLN, I bought a map and some paper for 22.50 and spent 2.50 on water and was down to my last Zloty. Headed back to the hostel to sleep.

Day 32: Thursday 11th Europe

Up early and walked to the station, half hour walk if you know the way. Along the way I was asked for polish money for beer by someone. I handed over my final Zloty in small denomination coins quite happily.

Made it to the 9:54 train to Kolozko which begins my journey to Olomouc. Old school system at Kolozko, no LED boards here, in fact nothing that seemed to require power at all. But they had a paper timetable up with departure time and vitally platform for each train. I made the 20 minute connection in five minutes as the train was already there. Next stop the Czech. 

Supposed to get off at Ulici nad Uland (something like that anyway). End up getting off at the wrong station, a little shack in the middle of nowhere. 4 km walk to try and catch the connection as the next train isn't for an hour. Got to Ulici... But it was Ulici miesto (again roughly), wrong station! A quick call to my parents gets me a google map direction of 1KM along the river to the correct station. Instead of getting to 14:40 to Olomouc I ended up on the 16:40 and arrived at 15:57.

Walked the 35 minutes to the hostel then relaxed and talked a bit to people, went out for a tomato soup, risotto and a beer (total cost 250CZK Inc tip).

Tired from travelling, time for sleep.

Music hostel lodz: a review

This hostel is located on the main street of lodz and is surrounded by restaurants plus is near to the station.

Reception is good, loads of maps around, friendly staff and a secure building (key for building, room and can use lockers).

The dorms are pretty compact, not tiny but not roomy either, could do with a few more plug points as well. Beds were wooden and creaked a fair bit when people climbed up. Linens provided, but no towels.

Common area is good, sofas, kitchen area with a free breakfast in the mornings and standard stuff like microwave/hob/toaster plus a big TV and of course a big radio/hi fi thing. Wifi as well.

Things were clean and the facilities were good (very modern look), two showers and two toilets, plus free use of a washing machine.

Pretty much all you want in a hostel and for a good price.

Travellers Inn hostel krakow: a review

This place is a more relaxed hostel, expect heavy drinking, loud nights and a good time. Pretty good location as well.

The reception is 24h and you must be buzzed into the hostel when you want to enter. No locks on room doors, but huge lockers which make up for it. The main door is soundproofed and the road is quiet (cul-de-sac).

Facilities are good, free laundry (with a dryer), two showers and two toilets which have paper towels (nice to have these when hands are wet). Two computers available, wifi, huge bean bags, a sofa, hi fi, board games to name just some things. Oh and free breakfast in the mornings! (plus dinner on a Thursday).

Cleanliness is ok, could do with washing the floors a bit and fixing one of the showers, plus on my last morning the water was out (entire street) but the hostel weren't expecting it for another four hours...

The dorms were fine, large and with wooden beds. Little creaky. However, they have not yet changed the doors in the building from residential ones, ie one dorm has two glass window doors that lead to the common area off it. They can't be opened but spill sound through them. Makes it very loud for people inside, similar, though less concerning fact for the other dorms.

Almost everything was good here, except the failure to hostelise the residence by changing tue soundproofing of doors, for that reason it is 4/5.

Boogie hostel, Wroclaw: a review

This hostel is on the third floor of a building that is 400m from the central historical square plus has a pub downstairs.

The reception seemed to be 24h, but not 100% on that. Receptionists were exceptionally helpful, especially with translations. Rooms were locked and each bed had its own locker, plus no deposit was required.

Facilities were good, loads of space given over to a separate kitchen and lounge area and a separate reception as well. Loads of sofas, and tv channels on the big tv in the lounge. One computer and free wifi through most of the hostel (it didn't seem to reach my room....). Free breakfast as well, cereal and bread with jams or honey.

Dorm rooms were OK, few minor issues, such as the noise level, a window wouldn't close and the room overlooked the main road, this meant we heard everything going on very loudly throughout the night. Also the beds creaked a lot! Any movement was loud, and the beds were metal bunks.

Cleanliness was mixed, the toilets were clean but the floors needed a scrub. I saw 4 toilets and a minimum of 3 showers. Kitchen was clean, some cutlery and plates not so much. 

Hostel caters for families in their private rooms as well, so atmosphere is less party orientated than most places. Lots of people seem to stop off fora night or two. Not a massive amount to see in the town itself.

Major downsides here are the creaky beds and loud dorms. Though that's not too bad for the price and may not be true for all rooms. 4/5.

Wow Alex, your adventures continue, I see !
I commend you once again for your hardiness and good spirit - good on you mate. I'm still enjoying the adventure through your experiences but think you are a lot more daring and patient than many who will be reading this detailed travelogue.

You mentioned pictures - any chance that you may post some now or when you get back home ? It would be great to see some of the scenic places you've described, as well as the restaurants and food you've eaten, and of course, the infamous hostels !

Travel well and stay safe,

M

So this is a continuing review as you travel? Lots of details for sure. I wonder you can take the time for Fodors. But you are indeed seeing Poland. Glad you got to Zakopane for a day as it is a lovely trip and place. And Krakow is a wonderful old city. Hopefully you will get to the Jewish quarter Kazimierz. Artistic Cafe in hotel Alef is where Spielberg relaxed during the film of of "Schindler's List." In fact, Schindler was here too. I am wondering if his former factory nearby is now open to tourists. But I do hope you get to Auschwitz-Berkenau as I believe everyone should go if in Krakow. Let humanity forever remember!

Bill in Boston

I am wondering if his former factory nearby is now open to tourists.

It re-opened last year as part of Krakow Historical Museum with exhibition of Krakow under the Nazis. It's very well presented with English explanations, lots of fascinating (and some disturbing) photos and artefacts. Well worth a couple of hours it takes to go around. It provided for us a good introduction to our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On site there is also a brand-new contemporary art museum (separate entry charge).
http://www.mhk.pl/oddzialy/fabryka_schindlera

@ Mathieu
Thanks for the reply, I do have pictures (like 800), though cant upload them until I return home.

@ Ozarksbill
I did not (unfortunately) have time to visit Auschwitz before moving on. Maybe this will have to be returned to at a future date.

@Alec
Also it is open pretty late (until 20:00 most days) so you can do other things early in the day and this museum in the afternoon when other things are closing.

Day 33: Friday 12th August

Woke up around ten after I had slept well for about ten hours. Made a quick trip to the supermarket for breakfast and lunch, bought water, two croissants, two cheese topped rolls and a large pizza slice. I should point out that a 1.5L bottle of water was only 4.90 CZK, or about 18 pence. Evian eat your heart out. Ate the croissants and added the rest to my backpack.

Back at the hostel I hired out a trekking bike (and helmet - as I always try to when cycling abroad) for 200 CZK for the day.  No real aim except to head towards the lake (was ready for the off at 11am) which was 5 km away. My sense of direction prevailed and I spent an hour trying to navigate my way out of the city, eventually found the route, about 100m from my hostel. I think my sense of direction has been steadily eroding recently.

Anyway, the 5 km to the lake went by pretty quick, the cycle routes here are awesome. A mix of Tarmac, dirt and boggy bits. Serious speeds can be reached over the 1 km straights you hit. I ended up having a snack at the lake (the rolls), before cycling another 5 km to a small town with a restaurant where I had the spiciest spaghetti ever. I wondered what the woman was gesturing about when I ordered, with here fingers waving over her mouth, as neither of us spoke each others language it was a little hard. Two beers and the meal cost 110 CZK, I left 150 as it really wasn't much money for what I ate.

I cycled on, down route 51 to Litovel. Due to my awful sense of direction I took diversions at least 3 times both on the way there and back. Instead of a 21 km ride each way, it turned into more like 30, especially when my hour lost in Olomouc was considered.

I actually got to Litovel and only stayed for about half an hour for a very chemical tasting strawberry ice thing. Not a lot going on there today. But tomorrow they have a beer festival (too tired to cycle there again, and predictions of rain tomorrow). On the way back had a beer (3rd of the day....).

Cycled back at a good speed, only got overtaken by about 5 OAP's (nothing against them but I am supposed to be young and *cough* full of energy *cough*). Only saw one dead snake on the way back. Got back to the hostel muddy and very tired, showered and ended up going for a meal with three guys from the hostel (from the US, Italy and Zambia). Drunk yet another beer and had a large meal of pork, fries, mushrooms and  salad. All for 140 CZk (including a small tip), no idea where it was that we ate though... Food here seems very reasonable, like Poland really.

Only saw one dead snake on the way back. >>

A great line, alex. I must save it up for a trip report of my own.

keep it coming!

Alex - where are you?

I remember lots of cyclers in the Czech Republic - lots of fairly flat roads in the southern part. And the food is good, plentiful portions, and inexpensive. The landscape was lovely.

Hi, Alex!

Been away for a few days and it's such a treat coming back to your leisurely and detailed account of your travels!

Thanks for the specific reviews of the hostels. They should be invaluable. When travelling alone in Europe, I sometimes like to stay in hostels - for the camaraderie.

Of course, the best combination is camaraderie and a 1L of beer in hand!

Please keep it coming! So very enjoyable!

Currently in Prague, but only until Saturday when I head home!
Will write up the rest of my report then (though for Prague I have done a suprising amount of drinking and sleeping!)

Good for you !
Prague Pilsner is very good.