ManVanNoPlan Visits Vilnius, Etk, Warsaw & Mszczonow
ManVanNoPlan Visits Vilnius, Etk, Warsaw & Mszczonow
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Day 35 – Tuesday 8th of August
Zorgi to Vilnius (56.674670, 25.228181) (157 Miles)
After yesterday’s horrendous rain we were expecting more of the same today but it never materialised thankfully. We had a three hour drive ahead of us so we set off just after 9am and headed southwards to Bauska which we had passed through on our way north to Riga thirteen days ago. From there the road headed south east through the usual scenery of wheat fields and forests and although the road surface was good, the conditions were not, as a really strong wind was buffeting us side on all the way, which was not ideal.
As we approached Vilnius through the industrial estates and suburbs, the buildings looked more modern than the other two capital cities and the road system was good. What wasn’t so good was the attempt Google Maps made to pilot us to the campsite as twice I was given wrong lane information and had to make detours to get back on course.
We made it to the Vilnius City Camping at lunchtime and immediately got talking to a lady who was born in South Africa but had lived in many countries around the world, including a few years living in Loughborough, close to where we once lived in the East Midlands.
The camp site is actually a sectioned off part of a huge car park with the adequate facilities housed in converted metal containers. After lunch I had a sleep as I was knackered after the drive and The Navigator made use of the washing machine and an ironing board.
Some really odd outfits of all shapes, sizes and nationalities came in all afternoon and evening, but no Brits, which is surprising given Vilnius is a popular tourist destination. One of the strangest outfits was from France and was a fairly old motorhome towing a trailer with what looked like props for a street performing act. The couple were probably in their late twenties or early thirties with a young girl of four or five years old.
In the evening the father practised juggling and different exercises while the little girl captivated everyone by flying around the car park at great speed on in-line roller skates and then on a uni-cycle!
PS – more on the TV mast in the background later…
We had a relaxing afternoon / evening ready for our cycle into Vilnius in the morning.
“Vilnius is the capital and the largest city of Lithuania, with a population of almost 600,000 as of 2023. Vilnius is situated in southeastern Lithuania and is currently the second largest city in the Baltic States by population after Riga. It is also the only one of the Baltic States’ capital cities not on the Baltic coast.
Vilnius is known, among other things, for the architecture of its Old Town, one of the largest and best preserved old towns in northern, eastern, and central Europe, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 because of its Baroque architectural style making it largest Baroque city north of the Alps, and the farthest one to the east.
Before World War II and the Holocaust, Vilnius was one of the most important Jewish centres in Europe. Its Jewish influence has led to its nickname “the Jerusalem of Lithuania” and in fact Napoleon called it “the Jerusalem of the North” as he was passing through in 1812.”
Day 36 – Wednesday 9th of August
Vilnius – (0 Miles)
Day 1
The Plan – Cycle all of six kilometers into Vilnius and spend the day exploring its delights. Actually, I’ll call it Plan A.
It was a lovely day for it, bright and sunny, but rain was forecast for this afternoon. The bikes were extracted from the garage and off we set ending up at a dead end after about a kilometre, and after getting back on track, disaster struck when my right pedal snapped off.
There was no way I could cycle the remaining five kilometres and the return six so there was nothing else for it but to return to Bessie and stow the bikes away to be repaired at a future date.
Plan B – There is a bus stop about a ten minute walk from the campsite and once there, a No. 16 bus magically appeared and for the grand sum of €1 each, we were whisked into the centre of Vilnius. You would think from the bus / train station there would be signs directing you to the Old Town, but if there were we couldn’t see them, so we resorted to a previously tried and tested solution, ask a local!
An old dear (older than us that is) was approached and looked at us as if we were speaking Martian so we tried a young student type who you would think would understand the King’s English, but we drew a blank there as well. I resorted to Google Maps on my phone and headed off slightly downhill with no real confidence we were heading in the right direction.
The first building of any significance we stumbled upon was the city’s main market so we headed inside to check out the local delicacies, and some odd ones there were. As we had a mildly traumatic morning getting here, a cuppa was in order so we had an Americano and a black tea, which impressed me as it was the first time anyone had actually put the teabag into the cup before serving it, although in the end it was a meaningless gesture as he didn’t dunk it about so it was still really a cup of hot water with a listless teabag in it.
Two little fairy cakes and the two drinks came to € 4 which was great value, so suitably refreshed, we carried on. The market was a mix of the usual foodstuffs but had a sizeable number of clothing stalls but the designs were akin to something your mother would have bought from a catalogue back in the 1970s. To be fair though, Lithuania was still under Russian control until it became independent on the 11th of March 1990 so it is still a very young country, but it is catching up with modern European ways pretty fast.
At this point we had no idea what the city centre would look like, stark Soviet era buildings or glorious Medieval architecture with the odd ancient religious building thrown in for good measure. It turned out that the “odd religious building” would be a massive under forecast as it seemed that every where you turned there was an impressive church of various faiths, more than we’d ever seen in any other city until now. In fact the city map lists thirty significant religious buildings that can be visited!
The first one we ventured into was the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit and Monastery built in the late 18th century. Nothing much to look at on the outside but it was spectacular on the inside.
As is standard in Orthodox churches, there were no pews and the people we saw preying stood in front of an altar and pulled themselves forward after gripping a bar and kissing the painting.
Very close by was the Catholic Church of St Terresa, which was in the format we are used to with pews, but again, the decoration displayed outstanding craftmanship.
Further up this same street there was an even more important religious building, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Mother of Mercy, apparently one of the most significant religious, historical and cultural buildings in Lithuania. It was built above one of five defensive gates in the 16th century. There is a famous painting inside of the Virgin Mary from the early 17th century. Pope John Paul II in 1993 and Pope Francis in 2018 both preyed here but we could not go inside as there was a service on when we passed through the Gate of Dawn.
Once we passed through the gate we saw a sign pointing us in the direction of a ‘viewpoint’ so headed in that direction and came across a hill top castle which indeed had a great view over part of the city.
“The Vilnius Castle Complex is a group of cultural, and historic structures on the left bank of the Neris River, near its confluence with the Vilnia River. The buildings, which evolved between the 10th and 18th centuries, were one of Lithuania’s major defensive structures.”
The pathway leads you around it to reveal great views over Vilnius and its impressive buildings. As we looked down towards the river there was a great throng of people and vans with music playing so we headed down to see what was happening. It was mobbed and there were people queuing up at the many street food vans and stalls, so, as it was lunchtime by now, we decided to eat here.
We later found out we had stumbled upon the annual one day burger festival, a food that The Navigator is not a great fan of, but when in Rome…
I joined the queue for the most popular van where the choice on offer was a pulled pork burger or a pulled chicken burger, so we both opted for the latter. To be fair it was about as good a burger you will ever have and there was a local TV crew there to record the event, but by not approaching us for an interview, missed out on the scoop of two OAPs travelling all the way from Scotland for the annual Vilnius Burger Festival! The OAP reference is pertinent as we were the oldest people there by far, with everyone around us at least half our age.
We sat and took in the atmosphere for a while before noticing it was clouding over and rain might be on the way so we continued walking along the riverside until we saw a bridge with a signpost declaring that you were crossing into the Republic of Užupis.
“The self-proclaimed “Republic of Užupis” is Vilnius’s bohemian and artistic district and was created on the 1st of April 1997. It has its own anthem, constitution, president, bishop, two churches, the Bernadine Cemetery, seven bridges, and guardian, the Bronze Angel of Užupis. Užupis is one of Vilnius’s oldest districts and dates to the 16th century.”
It was a quirky area with lots of paintings and statues on display and we walked through it until we crossed over another bridge and back into Lithuania again. Just before we left the ‘Republic’ we saw a little round building painted in bright colours on the riverside with links to Tibet of all places, and found out it has been visited by his holiness the Dalai Lama, not once but twice!
The next area we came across was the the former Jewish Ghetto, established and operated by Nazi Germany during WWII.
“During the approximately two years of its existence starvation, disease, street executions, maltreatment, and deportations to concentration and extermination camps reduced the ghetto’s population from an estimated 40,000 to almost zero. Only several hundred people managed to survive, mostly by hiding in the forests surrounding the city, joining Soviet partisans, or sheltering with sympathetic locals.”
It is incredibly hard to comprehend that such atrocities were committed in these narrow, attractive streets in fairly recent times, historically.
We continued walking in the direction of the bus station through part of the Old Town, stopping for another reviving cuppa, three to be precise as my black tea was served in a teapot this time! We called it a day at this point as there was a few sporadic rain showers.
The centre of Vilnius is quite large, and although we saw quite a bit, there is still a lot to see tomorrow so we were heading to get on the No. 16 bus and back to Bessie.
Day 37 – Thursday 10th of August
Vilnius – (0 Miles)
Day 2
Phone – check.
Wallet – check.
Umbrella – check.
Sunglasses – would not be needed.
The forecast was not good with showery weather predicted all day so we headed into Vilnius fully prepared for whatever conditions we were about to encounter, except for one which I’ll describe later!
The bus into the centre of Vilnius is great value at € 1 flat fee no matter how many stops you are on for and maybe some bright spark back home should come and see how continental busses, trains and trams are packed while the high fares in the UK are no incentive to use public transport.
I had ringed the tourist map with the sights we wanted to see today and the first few were about as far from the bus station as you can get so we set off with the brollies pressed into service right away. We had visited a fair few religious buildings of various denominations but today there was going to be only one, Vilnius Cathedral.
“The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius is the main Catholic cathedral in Lithuania. It is situated in Vilnius Old Town, just off Cathedral Square. Dedicated to the Christian saints Stanislaus and Ladislaus, the church is the heart of Catholic spiritual life in Lithuania.”
A church has stood on this spot for many centuries but the one we see today dates from 1801 although it incorporates masonry dating back from the 13th to 15th centuries, and the oldest Lithuanian fresco, painted in the 14th century. The adjacent bell tower dates back to the middle of the 13th century: the defensive tower that stood here in the 16th century became a bell tower and got its current appearance at the beginning of the 19th century. The city’s oldest clock at the top of the tower chimes its bells to invite people to mass.
The Navigator reminded me that in Argyll there is also a bell tower that is separate from a church, and it’s in Inveraray! Give yourself a gold star if you knew that.
Next to the Cathedral is the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and was originally constructed in the 15th century for the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the future Kings of Poland. The original Palace evolved over the years and prospered during the 16th and mid-17th centuries. For four centuries the palace was the political, administrative and cultural centre of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was demolished in 1801. Work on a new palace started in 2002 on the site of the original building and it took 16 years to complete it in 2018. The palace was rebuilt in a Renaissance style.
Next to the Palace is Mount Gediminas, the first brick castle was completed in 1409 by Grand Duke Vytautas. The three-floor tower we see today was rebuilt in 1933.
Standing 48-metres tall, the hill is one of the highest points in Vilnius Old Town, making it a perfect spot to get a 360° view of the city. On one side you can see the red rooftops of the Old Town, and on the other the modern city with glass skyscrapers and the Neris River flowing. This is also your chance to see the Vilnius Cathedral from above. Thankfully there is a funicular round the back of the hill which is also just € 1 to ascend the steep hill.
The Scotsman in me thought we’d save € 2 by walking down the hill after taking in the sights, but maybe this wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had as the first half of the descent is on a steep wooden staircase which was murder on our knees and then halfway down the staircase gives way to the roughest ever cobblestones, which were murder on our feet!
You may have seen in the pictures I took over Vilnius that there was more blue in the sky than clouds now and consequently the temperature cranked up and it turned into a scorching hot afternoon.
Last night we watched a few YouTube videos just to check we weren’t missing anything worth seeing on our last day in the city. One of the videos showed a couple who were trying Lithuanian traditional dishes in Vilnius and one of the meals was billed as Lithuania’s national dish and caught our attention.
It was a good old walk to get to the restaurant and when we arrived it did not look the most promising venue but in we went. It was one of those restaurants that was themed and the place was full of old farm equipment adorning the walls. The recipe for the zeppelins says it takes at least sixty minutes to prepare them, but ours were served in about six minutes.
They were surprisingly delicious and we enjoyed them, but, although we were both starving, they beat us even though we had forgone our mid morning cuppas and cake. In hindsight one would have been enough, but we never imagined they would be that big or filling.
We went back to one of the main streets and had a seat in the sunshine to let the zeppelins digest a bit more and do a bit of people watching. There were probably a few more sights we could have seen but felt that our feet had suffered enough in walking over 30,000 steps over the last two days.
The bench we were sitting on was in the same street we had our afternoon tea / coffee in yesterday but The Navigator swore blind it wasn’t, but then again navigation is not her strongest attribute as was confirmed when we walked the fifty yards to the same place as yesterday…
When we were walking back towards the bus station we saw a young guy with a very expensive looking camera taking pictures of an ultra expensive Maybach car with the distinctive number plate, ‘TONY G’ and my curiosity was aroused and asked him who it belonged to and was told it was owned by Antanas Guoga, more commonly known as Tony G, a Lithuanian-Australian businessman, poker player, politician and philanthropist. Tony G’s net worth is reportedly above $36m USD, and though plenty of that comes from the poker table, it’s his businesses that really rake in the cash for him as the principal owner of major online poker sites.
As we walked on we passed him and his party sitting outside a very expensive hotel enjoying drinks in the afternoon sunshine. We walked on through the Old Town and headed for the bus.
We too enjoyed the afternoon sunshine sitting outside Bessie back at the campsite but I eventually had to go inside as it was too hot for me and I needed a siesta. The campsite was surprisingly quiet with not many new arrivals and just before we shut the blinds at ten o’clock we watched the TV tower light up red tonight as opposed to the blue of last night.
For locals, the Vilnius TV Tower is more than just a notable landmark, it’s also an important symbol of resistance. In 1991, during Lithuania’s fight for independence from the Soviet Union, crowds of unarmed Lithuanian civilians turned out to protect the TV tower from being taken over by Soviet troops. The ensuing events saw 14 civilians lose their lives and more than 700 were injured. Today, a memorial and exhibition is dedicated to them on the ground floor of the tower.
Day 38 – Friday 11th of August
Vilnius to Etk (53.815566, 22.354026 ) (179 Miles)
Today we leave Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Baltic States, and head back into Poland to continue touring there. We have enjoyed visiting all three Baltic States and especially their capital cities, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn which were all different, and all very much worth visiting. All three countries have gained their independence from Russia in very recent times as it was only on the 6th September 1991 that the Soviet Government finally recognised the independence of all three Baltic states. It was followed by complete withdrawal of Russian troops from all Baltic States and was achieved first in Lithuania on 31st August 1993, followed by Estonia and Latvia on 31 August 1994.
They are now all striving to catch up with modern European standards and we cannot really fault any aspect of our time here. Only today in one of the UK papers it is reported that travel giants TUI are forecasting more people will holiday in this region instead of the Med countries.
After servicing Bessie we set off from the site and before getting on the dual carriageway out of Vilnius I topped up with diesel at € 1.44 (£ 1.24) which is the cheapest we’ve seen in the Baltics. It didn’t take very long to leave the city and head along the motorway towards Kaunas in pretty dismal conditions as it was raining quite heavily.
After about an hour the rain stopped and the skies turned blue making the driving conditions much better. We saw the first deer of this Baltic part of this trip but were disappointed not to have seen an Elk in the flesh as opposed to the hundreds of road signs we’ve past warning us of their presence.
After skirting around Kaunus, we headed along the E67 motorway towards Poland, which is a different route from the one we came here on. This motorway was perfect to drive as it had a good surface and little traffic so we made good time. The last thirty miles or so before the border is still being constructed and the Lithuanians are throwing everything at it to get it completed as the amount of machinery and men working on it was incredible, no doubt funded by EU money.
Apart from farms, there are few towns or villages to be seen outside the bigger towns and cities so there is little getting in the way of them building a dead straight motorway.
When we reached the border, the transformation was instant. From the old road and a thirty mile construction site, we were now in Poland on a recently built pristine motorway. There were loads of trucks parked up on the Lithuanian side of the border at the old customs post buildings and as we crossed the border I saw a sign which indicated that in Poland there is a toll for vehicle over 3,500kg, which Bessie is…
This was a surprise to me as I hadn’t thought there were toll roads in Poland and I had missed the exit anyway to register for the toll so I carried on driving passing a disinterested looking Polish border guard. Within a mile or so into Poland we saw a massive accident on the other carriage way involving at least one truck which must have been fatal with the amount and size of debris lying about blocking the road into Lithuania.
Our destination was a large town called Etk and a lakeside campsite to break the journey. We had driven almost four hours and that was enough for today. Warsaw, Poland’s capital is where we are heading next, almost three hours further on and as I didn’t want to arrive there on a Friday or Saturday, we are stopping staying here for two nights.
There would have been no other reason to come off the motorway and stop here as there is not much online about it or YouTube videos to see, but our initial impression was very favourable. We stocked up on groceries for the weekend at a Netto and are still in awe at how cheap food is in Poland, although booze seems to be pretty expensive, apart from vodka and beer.
The woman at the campsite reception spoke good English, having lived in New York and Watford for short periods so we had a long chat to her before settling down for the afternoon. On a technical motorhome aside, the electrical connection here was different to any we have encountered before on our travels. Most campsites in Europe have the ‘normal’ three pin connection but on this trip we’ve come across a few with two pin connections but this usually isn’t a problem as we have a two pin converter to allow us to plug in. This site was slightly different as, although it was two pin, it also had a pin sticking out of the socket and our convertor didn’t have a hole for it to go into.
Our Polish neighbour tried to help, with no luck, so I went to see our new Polish bestie on reception who loaned us a converter to fit into our convertor to fit onto our three pin cable and all was well with the world again.
Inexpensive Birthday Gift Ideas…
Titles for the four nations also include, Best Wife, Best Son & Best Golfer
See the full range of titles HERE.
The site’s wi-fi signal did not reach where Bessie was parked and the Internet connection via my phone was pretty slow but I managed to work for the rest of the afternoon on Fyne Editions as there are loads of new titles on the way for the Christmas period. Later on we sat outside in the warmth and enjoyed a barbecue.
After tidying up we headed over to an area where a rock group from Warsaw were playing. I’m not a great lover of rock or heavy metal but these guys, called Rokker, were very good so we got two bottles of lager and sat on deck chairs on the sand and watched the sun go down behind the stage. When I bought the two bottles of lager the barman rang them up on the till and asked for ‘eighteen.’ I immediately thought £ 18 for two bottles of lager was outrageous, even though there was no entrance fee to listen to the band, but then I finally realised I was in Poland and it was eighteen Zloty which was only £ 3.60 in real money!!
Day 39 – Saturday 12th of August
Etk (0 Miles)
Etk was only ever meant to be a stopover to break the journey between Vilnius and our next major destination of Warsaw, the Polish capital. Surprisingly for a town in the middle of nowhere, the lakeside is the main focus for the locals and it is well laid out. We’ve seen before that inland towns and cities on rivers and lakes usually have an artificial sandy beach which the locals make use of for water sports and relaxing and Etk was no exception.
We had a lazy morning relaxing outside Bessie as it was another scorcher today. After lunch we set off to walk the short distance into the town centre to see the delights of Etk which did not take too long. The only area that was notable was a public park which was very well laid out and maintained, and it centred around a large statue of Pope John Paul II who came to preach in Etk in 1999.
From the park it is a short walk over a river bridge into the town passing another homage to the Pope, a large portrait painted on the gable end of a building. The town is nothing to write home about and the only shop we were enticed into was to buy two tubs of Flurry ice creams with The Navigator adding KitKat sprinkles and I had the M&M sprinkles, all for £ 2 each, a real bargain in such a hot day.
The main street didn’t detain us too long before we headed down to the lakeside to walk back in the direction of the campsite. This area alongside the lake was really lovely and was a stark contrast to the rather austere town centre. Lots of people were walking along the path and stopping at cafes for drinks and we sat on a bench thankful for the cool breeze coming off the lake.
Day 40 – Sunday 13th of August
Etk to Warsaw (52.213591, 21.101681 ) (143 Miles)
The routine now is that on a driving day we get on the road sharpish to get the driving over and done with in the morning to arrive and get set up at lunchtime then spend the afternoon relaxing ready to explore our new destination the next day.
It would take just under three hours to reach Warsaw on mostly motorway, although we did get diverted off a couple of times to get round some unfinished sections of the motorway and through one large town in particular, but this being Sunday, the traffic was light.
The campsite we were heading for was fairly easy to find but turned out to be closed permanently so I found another on the other side of the city and headed there. Camping Sum is in the southeast of Warsaw on the banks of the Vistula and has seen better days, but we didn’t have much choice so booked in. The old lady did not speak a single word of English but between them, The Navigator and her managed to sort out our three night stay with a lot of pointing and gesturing and we had to pay in cash as no credit cards are accepted.
That first afternoon was spent relaxing in the shade of Bessie and after lunch I made use of the strong 4G signal to update the fourth blog ready to post in the next day or so. We had an Italian van on one side of us and a Dutch van on the other with other more nationalities here as well, but still no Brits!
Since travelling to, or through, the Netherlands so often we have become very accustomed to eating satay in one form or another and tonight The Navigator rustled up a delicious meatballs, noodles and satay sauce meal that we enjoyed sitting outside in the warm evening.
“Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3.1 million residents, which makes Warsaw the 6th most-populous city in the European Union.
The city rose to prominence in the late 16th century, when Sigismund III decided to move the Polish capital and his royal court from Kraków. Warsaw served as the de facto capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, and subsequently as the seat of Napoleon’s Duchy of Warsaw. The 19th century and its Industrial Revolution brought a demographic boom which made it one of the largest and most densely populated cities in Europe. Known then for its elegant architecture and boulevards, Warsaw was bombed and besieged at the start of World War II in 1939. Much of the historic city was destroyed and its diverse population decimated by the Ghetto Uprising in 1943, the general Warsaw Uprising in 1944 and systematic razing.”
Day 41 – Monday 14th of August
Warsaw – (0 Miles)
Day 1
Today is the halfway point of this trip and it will be spent exploring Warsaw, if we can get on the correct busses that is! The old lady had told us to cross the dual carriageway and get a 146 or 147 bus and get off at the stadium where the Polish national football team play. Piece of cake that bit was.
Unfortunately our hostess did not tell us what bus to get on now to cross the river into the city centre but thankfully an equally bewildered looking French couple were in the same position as us so The Navigator conversed with him in fluent French to say we were in the same position. OK, maybe school girl French, but it did the trick as he found out it was a Z-9 bus we needed for five stops and voila, just like that a Z-9 appeared. The other nugget of information The Navigator extracted from the French man was that seniors travelled free on the busses here so we had a freebie into the city. Later I found out you had to be over seventy, but what difference does a year make!
We got off the bus near the the grand Palace of Culture and Science which was built in 1955 as a “gift of the Soviet people for the Poles” by Joseph Stalin. It is an imposing building but looks dated compared to the modern skyscrapers nearby.
From there we walked through a huge park and what was the Jewish Ghetto in WWII.
“On 2 October 1940, Ludwig Fischer, Governor of the Warsaw District in the occupied General Government of Poland, signed the order to officially create a Jewish district (ghetto) in Warsaw. It was to become the largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.
The results were truly horrific – between October 1940 and July 1942 around 92,000 Jewish residents of the ghetto died of starvation, diseases and cold which accounted for nearly 20% of the entire population. The dreadful conditions in the ghetto forced many Jews to escape. The German response was predictable.”
It is incredibly difficult to comprehend the evil atrocities that were committed here by the Germans less than eighty years ago as the area is now rebuild and nothing like it was back then.
It had taken almost half an hour to get to the Old Town Square after we got off the bus but the anticipation was worthwhile as the rebuilt buildings are stunning and the area was busy with tourists and locals alike.
A quote attributed to the 1st Century Roman culinary expert Apicius suggests: “The first bite is with the eyes”. To prove the point we found a restaurant that had a menu outside where every dish was accompanied with a picture and the photographs sold them so we sat at a table for two outside, but not for long as a handful of wasps started attacking the couple who were eating at the next table so we moved inside to the cool interior.
I had pork with a goulash sauce and gnocchi while The Navigator had a schnitzel, fries and a popular side dish in Poland, cucumber in mayonnaise and dill.
There was a Royal cathedral next door to the restaurant and we popped in to see if the interior was more impressive than the rather plain facade, and it was. We retraced our steps through the Castle Square and headed down the Royal Route.
The Royal Route in Warsaw begins at the Royal Castle in Castle Square and the guides say it can be walked in thirty minutes and maybe you can walk it in that time if you put your head down and yomp down the pedestrianised street. However, nearly every building is either a Royal Palace, a Presidential Palace, a church or other buildings of historical interest that you can’t just walk past without admiring the architecture and the following pictures are just some of the ones I took on our “thirty minute walk.”
We did go into one of the churches on the walk down the Royal Way as it contained a memorial to the great Polish composer, Frederic Chopin. When Chopin died in France in October 1849 at the early age of thirty-nine his famous deathbed wish was that his heart should be cut out from his body and sent to Poland where it now rests in the Holy Cross Church.
Day 42 – Tuesday 15th of August
Warsaw (0 Miles)
Day 2
Today is forecast to be even hotter than yesterday, if that’s possible! In the light of the forecast we are not going to be too ambitious and limit ourselves to seeing an area just beyond where we were yesterday, have lunch, then walk back along the riverside to the bus stop. Sounds like a plan but what we didn’t know in our innocence is that half the population of Poland had roughly the same plan!
“It’s too hot for a Scotsman.” Is that a saying or did I just make it up?
About half way up the Royal Way I noticed some white canopies near the tomb of the unknown soldier and a lot of people heading in that direction tion, so we followed then to see what was happening, a lot as it turned out and it radically changed the nature of our day.
What we didn’t know was that today was Armed Forces Day, known also as the Feast of the Polish Armed Forces which is a national holiday celebrated annually on the 15th of August in Poland, commemorating the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish–Soviet War.
The area around the statue of the unknown soldier was cordoned off and there were loads of police, military, and secret service all milling about. It was about 11.15am and I asked one of the secret service guys what was going on and he explained about the day and there was a ceremony here at noon so we decided to stay and see the event. It was blistering hot and we stood in the shade of a building before taking up our prime position at the crash barrier.
We had been entertained by the arrival of the dignitaries in their chauffeur driven limousines all in their dress Military uniforms and the secret service people trying to organise the chaos. The secret service were nearly all in ill fitting blue suits caused by their hidden weapons no doubt, and talked into their lapels or cuffs! We could see people on the roof of the Sofitel hotel watching the crowds through binoculars and then, later than planned, it all kicked off.
It had been obvious that with this level of security, that no less than the President would be in attendance and after performing a ceremony at another nearby statue he and his entourage walked towards us surrounded by a massive security cordon. To be honest it was hard to pick the President out among about fifty other people in dark suits, white shirts and dark ties surrounding him, but it was his tall blonde wife in a white two piece outfit who made it obvious who he was.
As I was in such a great position I decided to video the occasion and here it is for you to enjoy as well…
Once the ceremonial wreath was laid, bugles and drums played and that was it. Mrs Duda was whisked away in the back of a limousine and President Duda walked off down the street we had come up an hour earlier. The crowds dispersed quickly and as we walked back down to the Royal Way we thought our chances of getting lunch somewhere was fairly limited due to the massive crowds heading the same way we were.
Yesterday we had walked as far as the Royal Palace and nearby Cathedral but not as far as the Old Town Market Place and that had been our objective today so we headed on to there.
“Warsaw’s Old Town Market Place is the central and oldest part of the Old Town of Warsaw. The district was first damaged by the bombs of the German Luftwaffe during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. The ancient Market Place was rebuilt in the 1950s, after having been destroyed by the German Army after the suppression of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.”
The following pictures show how the square was in the late 19th century then what the Germans did to it in 1944 then two picture I took today.
When you see the picture of how it was at the turn of the 19th century, how it looked after the War and how it is today you have to admire the skills of the architects who were in charge of the reconstruction. In the centre of the square stands a statue of a mermaid, the symbol of this city, some 287 miles from the nearest sea on the Baltic coast!
We found a restaurant with a good menu at reasonable prices so we went inside to the cool interior out of the intense heat. I had a traditional Polish dish of fried potato with a goulash sauce accompanied by red cabbage and sauerkraut and The Navigator had cod which she enjoyed, her first fish in a while. The waiter offered us a digestiv with two strengths but thought the 70% one might be a tad too strong so plumped for the 30% one instead. When I asked for the bill he brought us another two with the compliments of the restaurant, this time a cherry brandy.
The thought of going back out into the afternoon heat was not an appealing prospect, but we were heading for a riverside stroll so maybe there would be a cooling breeze there. Wrong on so many counts!
First, the riverside was going to be the scene of a parade of Poland’s military might so the entire nation it seemed, had turned out to see the spectacle.
Second, with all these people present, and no shade, it seemed hotter than ever.
There was no way whatsoever that we would see anything, even with giant TV screens, so we continued walking back to the bus stop however we did find a place to stand near the Presidential Palace and could hear the bands marching past followed by the turrets of tanks followed by a fly past of helicopters and planes of the Polish Air Force and it all sounded impressive given we couldn’t see much that wasn’t flying past us.
We were now inland a bit from the river and walking down a street with loads of other people. We came across a Carrefour and joined the conga line of people also trying to buy cool drinks and we succeeded, which was a huge bonus given the temperature was in the mid 90s.
The busses back to the campsite were packed like sardine cans but we made it back just after 5pm and to our surprise saw a long line of tanks on flat bed trucks heading into the city which was confusing as they couldn’t have been the ones taking part in the procession earlier.
I had a total of five cups of tea to try and quench my thirst as The Navigator wouldn’t let me drink any of the Coke we had queued so long for earlier. On a medical note, apart from tired feet from all the walking we’ve been doing, a strange thing happened to me this morning when we were waiting for the wreath laying ceremony. I started to hear myself breathing and my voice was distorted and it was like this until later in the evening and my tea binge.
With two back-to-back capital cities seen within a week or so and a long drive we are in need of a rest before the next major city and so we are heading to a town not a million miles from here, forty to be precise, to have that much needed rest, for a day at least.
Day 43 – Wednesday 16th of August
Warsaw to Mszczonów (51.9785298, 20.5252196) (40 Miles)
Thankfully I didn’t have to ask for directions as Google Maps just needs a pin on the map and it takes you straight there. We were in no real rush today as the journey was only 40 miles on dual carriageway all the way.
We first saw the place we were going to on the YouTube video of a couple we follow and it stuck in my mind that if we were ever in central Poland near Warsaw then we had to visit it. The website describes it as follows – “Located only 40 km from Warsaw, Termy Mszczonów was built with the inhabitants of central Poland in mind. They are supplied with water at a temperature of 26 to 34C, extracted from a depth of over 1,600 m. The entire complex consists of 5 swimming pools: two year-round thermal pools, a recreational pool, a sports pool and a children’s pool. The offer also includes water slides, saunas, a salt cave, beach volleyball courts, a playground for children and many other attractions.”
The YouTube video must have been filmed in the depths of winter as no other cars or vans were in the car park when this other couple visited, but today it was bedlam. There are six parking spaces set aside for motorhomes with water and electricity points, the problem was cars were parked everywhere but thankfully there was one Polish campervan already there and he had parked so badly that there was just enough room for Bessie to fit into a space next to him, but I had to make a million cuts to get in the space.
Mission completed, we decided to have lunch and then go in and make use of the facilities. As I write up today’s activity later that night I am still not sure what happened today safe to say we had a fantastic time in the pool complex and that’s a non swimmer talking.
The woman on reception spoke not a word of English so gestures, pointing and speaking slowly on my part managed to get us through the barrier with a sort of watch strapped to our wrists. Then another woman guided us towards a cloakroom for want of a better description where our sandals were put in a carrier bag and a plastic number corresponding to the peg was given to us.
The changing room had lockers and your numbered watch was scanned to release the corresponding locker door. Once changed it was first into an indoor circular pool with was lovely and warm and this led through a plastic curtain to a connected outdoor pool which was considerably hotter where we spent most of the time but the sun was baking hot again today and my old bald head suffered without my cap on.
The Navigator managed a swim which she enjoyed, more so than her recent Baltic Sea effort!
We had only booked an hour as we had no idea that there was so much to do so we reluctantly came out. Once dried and dressed we handed in our ‘watches’ and were charged another £ 2.77 I think for returning the watches over the one hour we had paid for.
That brought the grand total for our pool entry and overnight parking with electricity and water to £ 10.36. Poland is simply amazing value and it astounds us that we have not seen another British van in Poland since we were in Gdansk a lifetime ago, well it seems that long anyway.
We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and I uploaded the latest blog post, the fourth of this trip which will go live tomorrow morning when our subscribers will get an email to announce its arrival.
At 9pm the complex closed and the car park emptied and we were joined by a young Lithuanian family who were stopping over on their way to Vienna. We are also heading south tomorrow but only as far as Krakow, allegedly Poland’s prettiest city which has the most annual tourists, beating Warsaw and Gdansk so we are looking forward to it, although not the three and a half hour drive in this tropical weather we are having. In the morning
The next blog will be our last one in Poland, which will be a pity as we have enjoyed every minute of this fantastic country.
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COMING SOON ON THE NEXT BLOG...
The next blog will be action packed as we visit Krakow and Wroclaw, two of the prettiest cities in Poland with two full days to explore both…
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