Sunday, February 22, 2009

Travels in the East






Three days in the east of Poland brought me a lot of interesting pleasures. In total I visited four places - Zamosc, Lublin, Nalecow and Kazimerz Dolny, and finally fulfilled an obsession I had had for about three years since I first read about Zamosc.
For the second time in my life, I got to sleep in a football stadium but this time, the sports hall was fully functional and I got to observe the young talent in Zamosc (no perversion intended). The city is a charming place and the people are very hospitable. Despite this, it was enough to spend one day there and admire the aesthetic beauty of the main square.
Following this, I went by minibus to Lublin. Reading a book by one of Poland's and at the moment also my celebrated authors, Ryszard Kapuscinski, was a good idea on the road and was an inspiration despite the poor snowy conditions.
Lublin's old town is a strange place and why so many buildings are neglected is a mystery to me. At least they are renovating some of them. If you suffer from claustrophobia, I wouldn't recommend this city as some of its narrow streets threaten to squeeze you into oblivion and conceal the fact that you or the street ever existed.
Nalecow gave me a chance to drink some foul smelling water and Kazimierz is a charming small town surrounded by nature alongside the Wisla. All in all a good trip and a nice venture into a part of Poland where I didn't hear anyone speaking English despite seeing menus and other information in my native tongue.