Dwti Draig

We were sad to leave Gdansk but left feeling we had really got to know this lovely city (and its cocktails!) We headed off to one last Polish city before leaving Poland. Poznan ended up being one of those OMG cities! How can a city I’ve barely heard of be so beautiful? Why isn’t everyone flocking there? How many more hidden gems are there like this, and how do I get to them all? So many questions! We only had time for a brief evening stroll around Poznan, but the buildings in the Old Town are amazing! It actually has the biggest market square in Poland at 141m square, dating from 1253. The 16th century Town Hall is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. Every day at noon two famous mechanical goats appear on the clock and butt horns 12 times. We didn’t get to see it, but think we’ll definitely be back to watch them. The merchants houses next door are also gorgeous, I wish we had been able to see them in the light. The market square was very busy as they were getting ready for the Christmas market, and were putting an ice skating rink down. 

The campsite we had chosen in Poznan was right next to Poland’s biggest spa. How very fortunate! After struggling with the language, we walked over and paid 16E each for 3 hours in the swimming and sauna areas. The place was huge! The changing rooms were excellent and the little screen on the wall to operate the lockers was in English too. We went in the swimming pools, which were vast. There were two outdoor pools, plus indoor pools, jacuzzis, a lazy river, water fountains etc. It was only when we went to go into the sauna area that things started to go a bit Pete Tong! I confidently scanned my wristband at the barrier and walked through, only to have an attendant run after us to tell us that swim wear was not allowed. What?? We had to go back to our locker to get our towels and into the sauna world changing rooms to get out of our gear. I was feeling a bit trepidatious at this time, to say the least. I wrapped my towel firmly around myself (luckily it was a big one) and ventured out, to see my first naked man, who was not my husband! I know us British are very prudish when it comes to nudity in public places, but the Poles are definitely not. Let me  just say I saw more naked men in 2 hours than I ever have in my life before. I was one of about 5 women in there, all the rest were men. Very uninhibited men! I was able to keep my towel around me in all the dry saunas, and opted out of the many steam rooms where towels were not allowed. I didn’t fancy wandering in naked, not being able to see where I was going or sitting in all the steam, and having to feel my way around! Feeling my way would not have been good in this situation! I also opted out of walking naked into the cold plunge pool, when I opened the door to it to see two men sat opposite the entrance watching everyone coming in. I did eventually go in, when Lyn assured me it was empty, and went in, only to find an old man in the opposite corner. The whole situation was very very different. The saunas themselves were fabulous, with over 14 of them; everything from an infra red sauna to outside panorama saunas, to juniper saunas etc. If only we could have left our swimsuits on I would have loved it. They also had a sauna ceremony every hour, with someone taking a session, which tends to include things such as sound from singing bowls, gongs etc to sage branches being waved around. I opted out as it was very busy with 40 people lined up to go in, and I didn’t fancy sitting in the boiling heat pressed up to 40 naked strangers.  I’ll be better prepared next time. And slimmer! You will be very glad to know there are no photos from this part!

I had very mistaken ideas about Poland! When the kids were in primary school they had to do a project on Poland. I wrote it off as a “boring” place. How wrong was I? It seems full of incredible cities with beautiful buildings, and a really interesting history. We will definitely be back to visit Warsaw, Wroklaw and Krakov. One thing that could put me off returning though is how complicated driving on Polish roads is! They have a very stressful system of tolls, and as we were driving a vehcle of over 3.5 tonnes, we knew we’d have to pay them. It was almost impossible to work out what stretches of what roads were chargeable, and how to pay. We took a ticket at one toll booth, then downloaded an app which we thought would debit us, but the barrier would not open up for us to go through at the other end! Lyn had to reverse out of the narrow toll entrance, back out into traffic and into a manned toll booth, where we had to pay. As we had downloaded the app after we had taken the ticket the app didn’t know where we had got on! Then we downloaded another app as we thought we needed it for another road, but got to another toll booth and had to pay by card again as this part of the road was not covered by the Etoll app. Apparently a different part of the road we had not driven on is covered by this app. So confusing! We even visited a customer service centre to sort out this confusing national Etoll app, only to be informed the sytems were down so we could not register, but we might still be fined if we did not have it! Poland is so lovely though we will definitely come back, maybe a bit better prepared!

We drove out of Poland and back into Germany. We had been worried about possible delays as Germany has now introduced “hard borders” to try to quell illegal immigration. The traffic was definitely slower as it was all funnelled into one lane past border control, but only one bus was stopped and pulled over, and luckily we drove straight through.

We found an amazing park up in Potsdam, where we ended up staying for 5 nights. We were right next to the beautiful Sanssouci Palace, which was the Summer House of the Prussian King, Frederick the Great. Sanssouci means “without worry” and it was his place for relaxation and artistic enjoyment. It is set within a vast 700 acre park, featuring vineyards, ornamental fountains, hundreds of statues and fountains. We spent two days there simply walking around and enjoying the grounds, covering around 7 miles each time. The buildings include the palace, a New Palace, an Oranagerie, a palace for his wife Charlotte and a Chinese house. We didn’t pay to go in, we were happy wandering around the amazing grounds. It was all set out with such precision, and the autumn trees were a sight to see. We just had to hug our favourites!

Our main reason for staying in Potsdam was for easy access to Berlin. Lyn had visited Berlin before with work and loved it, but this was to be my first time. The transportation system here, like so much of Europe, is excellent, and shows how lacking the UK is. We paid around £9 each for a 24 hour ticket that took us on a tram from the park up (92), to the main station in Potsdam then on a regional train to Berlin (S7), then all the metros, trains and buses in Berlina as well as all modes of transport in Potsdam. We couldn’t fault it. Signs and announcements were in English as well as German, and the stations were safe, clean and well organised. The trains were fast and some were double storied. All the information on the trains is so clear, telling you on screens in the trains what connections by bus, metros and trains are avaiable at each station. The main station is Berlin was like something out of a futuristic sci fi film, all glass domes, steel and glass round elevators, and multiple levels.

We spent two days in Berlin, starting off with the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, joining the crowds in the centre of the road to take photos. There was an excellent open air free exhibition nearby, which told the story of the wall. There are gift shops nearby where you can buy all sorts of wall gear, including fragments of the wall for 10E each!

There was a piece of the wall near Checkpoint Charlie, but we went to the Eastside Gallery to see the longest section of the wall which has been transformed into a globally recognized open air art gallery featuring murals and street art. It spans 1.3km (0.8 miles) making it the longest open air gallery in the world. The murals were painted by 118 artists from 21 countries. It features the iconic “Fraternal Kiss” by Dmitri Vrubel depicting a kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker. This was by far the most popular part, with crowds trying to get their “Instagram selfie” next to it. 

We loved this part of Berlin and walked the length in its entirety. It stands as a symbol of political expression, freedom and unity, commemorating the peaceful resolution of the Cold War. 

After visiting busy Alexanderplatz which Lyn was desperate to see after it being mentioned in so many of his spy novels, we went over to see the Brandenburg Gate, which was all lit up. This was inspired by the Acropolis in Athens and was originally a symbol of peace which later became associated with political power under Napolean and the Nazis. It became a symbol of division during the Cold War and was celebrated as a symbol of unity after the fall of the wall in 1989. It is right next to another of Berlin’s iconic landmarks, the Reichstag  (Bundestag). This was built between 1884-and 1894 as the seat of the German parliament and was heavily destroyed in WW2. It was restored and reopened in 1999 and is famous for its huge glass dome. 

This area also houses the Holocaust Memorial (The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe), which is a powerful tribute to the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It covers an area of 4.7 acres and consists of 2,711 concrete slabs, (stelae) of varying heights arranged in a grid pattern. They all have a uniform width and length but vary in height from 0.2m to 4.7m. I didn’t like it and felt very uncomfortable there, especially as we were there in the dark, and not all the stelae are lit. It is almost like a symmetrical maze, and means that as we were walking, other people taking a different route through would suddenly pop out of the shadows like sudden ghosts. I found it disorientating and disconcerting, which is maybe the desired effect to symbolize loss and isolation. 

I really enjoyed Berlin, and would definitely love to go back in the future. I feel as if we’ve only just scratched the very surface of what it has to offer. It also has so many lovely coffee shops, cafes and restaurants, including a big stollen shop that we ended up going back to  twice.