Poland 2007

Poland was a few years in the making… or rather, convincing my husband to give Poland a try took a looong time.  We are not adventurous travellers, but for me that means: I am not interesting in white water rafting, mountain climbing or sky diving on vacation. I’m an indoor plumbing kind of girl and I like the creature comforts of home even on vacation.

For my husband, it means sticking to Western Europe.

So, finally, in 2007, I don’t know how I did it – but I sold him on the idea and we took a week-long Cosmos bus tour of Poland. (pictures)

I have to say that this was typical of a bus tour where you just zoom through everything so fast that none of it really has a chance to sink in, and therefore you don’t really remember any of it properly. Too bad.

Thank God for pictures!!! That helps me put the scrambled pieces of memories back together in my mind.

So what do I remember? Well:

• Unlike other bus tours, for the most part the people in this group were not first time travels. I think first-time-to-Europe travellers go to Italy, not Poland… and it made for an extra organized group since everyone had the Coach Tour drill down already.
• Most of the travellers on the tour had a Polish background and were interested in seeing “the land of their parents”
• I was not blown away by the food. I LOVE pierogies, but that’s about it!
• The Vodka seems extra strong!
• We whipped through the cities so fast, that the 4 main squares of Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw are totally interchangeable in my memory.
• The mosquitos were bad! (this is the trip that made me add Bug Spray to my list of pharmacy items)
• We were not assaulted with JPII things everywhere we turned. I would have though that since he has just recently died and since they are so proud of him, we’d have seen his image everywhere!!  but no, it was not over the top at all. Just the “normal” amount.

A few things that do stand out in my memory, where I don’t need to rely on pictures to help me remember:

• Auschwitz. How can you not be moved?
• The Wieliczka Salt Mines
• Getting the shit scared out of me!!!
• St Mary’s in Krakow. GORGEOUS no pictures allowed- so don’t tell on me! we snuck one anyway. It’s just beautiful!!!  Jaw dropingly so…

Would I go back? I would go back to Krakow and spend more time there – a day or two tops. Just enough time to top–up what I’ve seen already.

We did that with Warsaw, we added an extra day onto the trip at the end and spend it on our own, sightseeing at our own pace. It was so worth it. Get a hint of what to see on the tour, then go back and explore it in detail on your own.

I want to take my time in Krakow and walk around, explore the churches (like the one bellow we didn’t visit) visit the main squares properly, not running behind a guide and then stopping for long lazy loungy lunch.  Perfect!