Why We Fell for Wrocław: Our Journey to Poland’s City of Gnomes
We added Wrocław to our list of cities to visit because of YouTube. A number of young creators called this third largest city their favorite place in Poland. Plus it looked like a nice stop to break up our train journey from Poznan to Krakow, so we booked a couple of nights there.
Our first Polish Train Journey
When we travel by train in Continental Europe, we tend to book first class when it’s available. It’s usually not that much more expensive and is always nicer, and sometimes it’s the only way to book an assigned seat. The Polish trains were already pretty cheap and first class made hardly any difference in the cost. We arrived at the Poznan station early, the same place we had arrived on our Flixbus, and made our way to the platform for our train to Wrocław.
We have taken trains all over Europe, in France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany – and we have gotten pretty spoiled that the signage and announcements are usually repeated in English, at least for the trains between major cities. In Poznan everything was announced in Polish and all the signs were in Polish, and as we were learning, Polish was pretty hard to understand and pronounce. It got easier later in the trip on the more touristy Krakow-Warsaw-Gdansk line but this first trip was challenging. Thank goodness for train numbers and the PKP Intercity app (in English).
It didn’t help that we were mispronouncing Wrocław in English (it’s pronounced VROTS-wahf and we were saying ROW-claw). Mark still can’t pronounce it.
When our train arrived we got in the first class car and started looking for our cushy seats. It turned out that our first class seats were in a separate cabin with a sliding door, three seats on each side with luggage storage up above our heads. It was tight quarters and I was worried I was going to smack my seatmate with my bag but we managed. A few stops later a young woman came in with a couple of huge bags and we were amazed she was able to store them. Fortunately it was a relatively short journey.
Upon arriving in Wrocław we took an Uber to our hotel. The Ubers both in Berlin and Poland were mostly taxis – you ordered them on the same Uber app but a taxi showed up. It must be Uber’s agreement with these cities. I guess we could have also just gotten in a taxi at the station, but it still felt a lot easier to order the Uber for both us and the driver, since we found very few drivers who spoke English.
We stayed at the Bridge Wrocław MGallery, a five star hotel in Wrocław’s Ostrow Tumski or Cathedral Island. The hotel is situated just across the main part of the city on the bank of the Oder River, and the historic cathedral is about a five minute walk out the front door of the hotel. It was a super modern, hip and elegant hotel, and was packed with business travelers staying for a couple of different conventions while we were there. It even had a rooftop spa! It was by far the nicest room we had on our trip.
Food (and history) tour
After we checked in we headed down to the Market Square area for a food tour with Delicious Poland. We met our guide, Vlada, in the old town, in a nice square though a bit rougher than the one we just saw in Poznan, with plenty of graffiti in the side streets.
It was just the two of us with Vlada and we had a great time, not only tasting the food, but learning more about him and the history of the area. He is a transplant from Serbia but his love of the local food was evident and we enthusiastically joined in.
We had traditional foods like potato pancakes and pierogi of course, but also went to some really unique places that didn’t feel at all touristy. My favorite place was the old bar called Przedwojenna or “Pre-War” in English that was full of kitchy knick-knacks and enthusiastic vodka drinkers. We had some delicious vodka shots and Vlada ordered some Beef Tartare for us to try. I was not expecting to see Beef Tartare in Poland, especially in a bar, but it was delicious and paired really well with the vodka.
The Pre-War bar is called that because the city was totally different before the war. Like much of Poland, Wrocław shifted between different state control over the centuries. It has its roots in the very beginnings of the Polish state dating to the late 900s, starting on Ostrow Tumski. But then control shifted between Bohemia, Hungary, and the Hapsburgs, before becoming part of Prussia then the German empire, when it was called Breslau.
Breslau became part of Germany after World War I and when the Nazis assumed power the Gestapo targeted both Jewish and Polish residents. Polish organizations and the language were banned, and many leaders were expelled or sent to concentration camps. The city was spared from fighting for much of the war but was one of the last German cities to fall towards the end and much of the city was destroyed.
During our food tour we also visited a traditional pączkarnia (doughnut shop) to try one of the famous local donuts. Mine was rose flavored, fresh and absolutely delicious. Vlada told us that Cukiernia Łomżanka was another proud pre-war shop and one of the more popular in the city.
We ended our food tour at Szynkarnia, a much more modern spot, a micro-brewery that also features high-quality meats and cheeses. We had a lovely charcuterie board, some delicious local beers and had a great chat with the young staff.
Wrocław Gnomes
During our food tour we saw the first of our Wroclaw Gnomes. The bronze gnomes started appearing in Wrocław about 20 years ago and have their roots in the anti-communist Orange Alternative movement in the 1980s. When the regime painted over anti-communist graffiti in the city, the members of the movement started painting gnomes on the painted-over graffiti in response.
The first Papa gnome (or dwarf) arrived as a commemorative statue to the movement in 2001, followed by five more in 2005, and now the little statues run into the hundreds. They often represent whatever shop or district is nearby – we had a sleeping gnome outside our hotel.
It was fun spotting the gnomes as we walked around Wrocław for a couple of days. Later in our trip I even saw one near the Baltic Sea on the beach in Sopot.
Exploring Wrocław in the rain
The next day it started pouring rain which continued after we left and turned into some pretty severe flooding in the area that eventually made the world news. We were fortunate that our train left the next day since apparently the train tracks were flooded just a couple of days later.
We donned our raincoats and borrowed some nice umbrellas from the hotel and went exploring anyway. Right outside our doorstep was the cathedral area and we walked around and went inside the historic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, a gothic brick cathedral that dates back to the 13th century.
It was a quiet day so there weren’t many others inside, but there was a handy kiosk where you could donate to the renovation of the cathedral. I often light candles and drop a few coins when I visit churches, but this was the first time I saw a place to use your credit card.
After we wandered the cobblestone streets of the island, we crossed back into the main part of Wrocław and visited the Hala Targowa (Market Hall). This place had a few tourists but it mostly felt like locals browsing and shopping for produce, meats and flowers.
In the front of the hall we ate at our first Milk Bar. A milk bar is not a chain but instead a traditional Polish restaurant that serves cheap and hearty meals. This one had lots of different kinds of pierogi, soups, pork, cabbage and other meals and a steady clientele eating at the simple tables. Once we figured out how to order we got a huge plate of potato and onion pierogi to share and enjoyed it while watching the shoppers come and go.
Panorama of the Battle of Racławice
After visiting the market hall we were looking for other things to do inside and found the museum hosting this famous Polish painting. It’s a huge painting, 15 x 114 meters – or about 50 feet high and 374 feet wide. Artists Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak collaborated on the project, and with many other artists, originally painted it between 1893 and May 1894, to commemorate the famous battle of Raclawice on April 4, 1794.
The battle was an important date in Polish history, an insurgence led by a Polish general against the Russian army before Poland was partitioned and absorbed by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1795. When it was originally created in Lwow (now Ukraine), it was installed in its own building for the Great National Exhibition and attracted lots of visitors.
During World War II the painting was dismantled and hidden but survived, and it came to Wrocław afterward. After much consternation, the communist government agreed to build a proper home for the painting, funded with donations from Polish citizens. It opened on June 14, 1985.
We really didn’t know what to expect when we went into the museum. We thought it was an art gallery of some sort, so we were surprised that we had to buy tickets for showings that were held about every half hour. The place was packed, not with tourists but mostly with Polish school kids visiting on field trips. We chatted with some teenagers who were down from Warsaw for the day. We bought our tickets and waited inside until our time came up and entered the dark rotunda.
Once you’re inside, you listen to a narration of the history of the painting and the battle itself on a portable audio guide in your chosen language. It was timed perfectly for a leisurely stroll around the painting, which is beautifully installed and lit inside the dark room. It was an incredibly unique experience that had me wishing there were more panorama paintings I could visit in the future.
Italian Food in Poland
After our visit to the panorama, we headed back to our hotel to change for dinner. The staff at the hotel recommended an Italian restaurant nearby, Oliwa i Ogień, and made us a reservation there. We ate a little early but by the time we left it was crowded with young professionals. We had an amazing meal, my pesto pasta with burrata and pistachios was one of the better Italian dishes I’ve had – in Poland!
Afterward we walked back over the bridge to the Cathedral Island and wound our way through the old cobblestone streets, lit by lamplight. A perfect way to end our quick trip to Wrocław.
The next day we headed back to the train station to head for our next stop, Krakow.