piękny polska

For the Mr.'s birthday, we took a road trip to his homeland as I call it. It was my first time to this country and his first time to explore work-free. Everyone kept saying, "you'll love it" but I didn't understand until I went. It was beautiful (piękny!) Poland, your fresh pierogies, handpainted pottery, and surprisingly delicious vodka got me. I loved it!

We started our road trip off by filling up the van with gas and all our cold weather gear. We were heading to Zakopane, a town just across the Slovakian border. I had briefly heard of this town before Chris planned the trip as a spot some of the Hungarians we know go for skiing. I didn't know how popular it was until I arrived, and I was so surprised!

It is a large town that supports mountain sports in the Tatras Mountains. Snow sports, mountain climbing, you name it! It was freckled with warm wooden chalet style buildings and illuminated by the main street with plenty of shopping and restaurants. Fresh pierogies and hot mulled wine were being sold out of push carts, life kept bustling about the town amid the snow covered ground. It was like Park City, Utah or Whistler, Canada. When the snow and cold comes, so do the people! I was just in awe of this little unknown gem of a town.

I know I tend to write a novel, so I will try to shorten my stories up a bit and let the photos fill in the talking. I think I am going to try something new and mention "things you wouldn't know" at the end of my posts from now on too! My top tips/ I wish I had known/ etc.

We ate polish pierogies and pivo (beer) and explored the town before we headed to the top of the Tatras Mountains! Unlike Mt. Rainier, this time we were not climbing up. We took the Kasprowy Wierch cable cars up and were welcomed by a magical view. The grey, overcast, cloudy winter suddenly turned a bright crisp blue. We were above the clouds! Plenty of space for lots of pretty pics up here!

As the sun was going down we left Zakopane for our next Polish city to explore: Krakow! When we arrived all the holiday lights were keeping the city cheerfully lit. We ate at a hip upstairs restaurant serving beers and burgers and explored the Christmas market. Of course we had a cup of mulled wine or two, to stay warm you know? We had limited time in the city, so we took ourselves on a little night tour and saw beautiful stained glass windows and the local castle, nbd.

Our souvenirs were to be pieces of hand painted Polish pottery, so we were on the hunt for that while we were exploring. Oh! And it was Chris' birthday eve, so we found a small vodka shop and treated ourselves to a tasting of some delicious vodka. Na zdrowie! We were just enjoying ourselves being lost in a new city and finding new things.

We drew up a small itinerary for ourselves the next day. We visited Schindler's Factory, then toured the Jewish area for lunch (where we received a digestif vodka that tasted as sweet as honey,) found a shop covered floor to ceiling in blue and white handpainted pottery of all types (aka authentic souvenir heaven for me,) and by the time we lost feeling in our noses from the cold we were eating dinner outside in the square. In a covered, heat-lamp filled little clear igloo of a room of course, so we could warm up to celebrate! Happy birthday Chris!

The next morning we were off to our next and last Polish stop- but first we visited the salt mines along the way! Wieliczka Salt Mines is a UNESCO World Culture and Natural Heritage site and Poland's #1 attraction. Up until 1996 was the mine an active site, and it had been for over 700 years! The route we took goes as deep as 135m underground, but the mine itself is about double that. It was very interesting and informative, and definitely surprising. I took a few gasps as we entered some of the rooms. Gorgeous, exquisitely made solely of salt, and multi-functional, the rooms in the mines were just extraordinary. There is a venue room for operas, theaters or concerts, and even a fully functional large cafeteria-style restaurant underground. I just couldn't quite stop from saying, "Really?! I can't believe it!"

Before heading out of the mine, we may or may not have licked the wall- just to be sure! We can happily say indeed, the entire system is made of salt, ha! We were wrapping up the afternoon by continuing to our last and final Polish city- Wroclaw. Again, I had heard of it but not much other than "you'll love it," and did we ever! Again, another surprise city full of charm and some secrets, this was actually our favorite. I'm pretty sure I say that to every other city I visit, but you can't deny what a lovely surprise the quirky gnomes and beautifully colored buildings are!

For two days, we enjoyed hunting gnomes and seeing the polish sights. We also went to a game museum and saw the "largest indoor train track" and a small reptile zoo. The train track museum had a mini version of the city- even complete with miniature versions of gnomes hiding around! We also went through lots of cute little side stops that fortunately kept us inside and away from the brisk cold weather. 

Now that I've been to Poland (another check off the country list for me, yay!) Here's some of the tips and info bits I can tell you. I'll call them...

thatgirl's Three Things:

1. Polish vodka is flavored and tastes nowhere near what you think. Try caramel! Mmm, dessert!

2. The dwarves of Wroclaw are actually a peaceful symbol of rebellion versus the Soviet oppression in the 1980s. They started as graffiti and slowly made their way into cheeky existence to mock the communist rules. The dwarves gave the Polish people a reason to laugh at the Soviets and not be afraid. Read more from BBC's article here!

3. The currency, the Polish Zloty, is relatively inexpensive to the USD. At the time of this writing it is about 1/4 of one dollar. We were surprised that most everything was such a good price! Unfortunately, the handpainted pottery was not as affordable as we hoped (about $10-18 per coffee mug- and I wanted everything I saw of course, so it could add up quickly!) but it is all so beautiful and a genuine souvenir they are worth it!

We'll definitely try to go back to Poland before our time overseas is up... which is coming up too quickly! I'm sure I'll write about that later. The country was entirely a huge surprise to me, aside from the fact Chris planned the trip and I didn't know where we were going until we got there. I was surprised to be filled with such warm welcomes, beautiful scenery, rich history, and belly-filling gastronomy. Dziękuję, Polski. We will be back!