Circling through Poland - with a bit of Germany thrown in.

[tgh]

Are you going anywhere near Zyrardow ?

 

[OZDUCK]

The river

Are you going anywhere near Zyrardow ?

Nowhere near I am sorry.

 

[OZDUCK]

The River Watra runs through Poznan. The city makes some use of the riverbank but not as much as I expected. Perhaps there is a flooding problem?



I guess this press photo I just found answers that question! Any buildings would be destroyed on a regular basis.






A excellent path system









Counting the number of passing bikes on a daily and yearly basis



A very nice pedestrian and bike bridge









Poznan Cathedral. The approaching storm put us off from walking there



The Poznan University of Technology is on the right

 

[OZDUCK]

Some local food

Firstly pierogi





Around A$6



We went to this place twice as the food was so nice and pretty big serves



Grandma's Helens Cutlet - roughly diced pork A$19



Beetroot dumplings A$17



Sweet potato dumplings with chicken A$17



A potato and carrot lovers dream. Pork tenderloin with chanterelles A$20



They see to be keen on 'botanical' soft drinks in Poland. I think the one on the right is Elderberry



Pineapple - I think

 

[OZDUCK]

There was a fascinating piece of industrial architectural history near the river.

The old gasworks nicknamed the Kotłownia "Katedra” (Boiler Cathedral). Built in the late 19th Century and very 'German looking' - not surprising of course. It is a place that seems ripe for rehabilitation but I would guess that there a lot of 'nasties' like asbestos, phenols and coal tar all through it.









Some marvellous ornamental brickwork








There is a much loved local legend about two goats

Story of the Poznan Goats

The Story Behind the Poznan Goats If you have spent anytime in Poznan, you know that the town is crazy about goats! As you walk through the market sq...

keytopoland.com

They feature on the clock on the Town Hall. A crowd gathers to watch them.-(Perhaps not quite the size of the crown in at Marienplatz in Munich) - "These mechanical billy goats make their appearance daily at noon with a cute display of butting heads 12 times to mark the mid-day hour"





The goats turn up very often

Complete with another landing plane

 

[OZDUCK]

Finishing off Poznan

I almost wanted to have an electrical storm to see if it gives off an 'aura'.





Bluey is definitely a world wide phenomena these days



The Town Hall houses a small local history museum on the ground floor and in the cellars









Naturally including the goats



We ran across streets named in honour of Kosciuski(o) in every city.



The Imperial Castle in Poznań. Built in 1910 for Kaiser Wilhelm 2. Now a cultural centre.



Nice mural adjoining Frederick Chopin Park



Park Rules



The park



Poznan is a lovely city with a good tram network and is easily accessible by train. We saw very little of the newer parts of Poznan but what we did see indicated that it would be a very nice place to live. As an aside Trams, buses, metro etc in the major cities of Poland are free for all people over 70 including foreigners. You need to carry photo ID with proof of age - we had our passports - but were never checked.

Poznan Rail Station. It is attached to a very modern large shopping centre. This photo was basically taken from the tram stop.

 

[OZDUCK]

Our stay in Poznan was broken up over two visits. We spent two nights there before the Sketchers Conference our friend was attending started. While she was busy with the conference went made a quick visit to Szczecin for three nights before returning to Poznan for one night to re-join her before we all headed off to Gdansk.

Szczecin is the 7th largest city in Poland with a population of just under 400,000. Like Poland it has been ruled by a number of different countries - Poland, Saxony, The Holy Roman Empire, Sweden and from 1728 to WW2 Prussia/Germany. It was known as Stettin during the 'German' years. As was common with most of the cities we visited it was badly damaged during WW2 - "Allied air raids in 1944 and heavy fighting between the German and Soviet armies destroyed 65% of Stettin's buildings and almost all of the city centre, the seaport, and local industries."

Szczecin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

For those who are unsure of its location



Photos from our train trips to/from Szczecin. It cost 173 Zlotys A$72 for the return trip in 2nd Class for two. The trip was round 1 hour 45 each way.

As I said before 2nd Class is perfectly ok.



I am 6'3" in old money and the legroom was fine. The only problem I had was that the seat was a little low so my knees got a bit sore. But I found the seats all over Poland in restaurants, hotels etc all to be a little low.





We mostly travelled during the school holidays and this was the quietest train we ran across.




The luggage racks in 2nd class. On some trains they did fill up and I had to jerk and lift the suitcases onto the overhead racks.



The maximum speeds of these Intercity trains was around 160 km/h mostly due to to track limitations.. Poland is rapidly improving is railway infrastructure and you pass by lots of rail works.








The outskirts of Poznan



Plenty of Solar and Wind Power around



This is about as exciting as the countryside views get. We passed over endless km's of flat farming land - that looked very fertile. A small hill was something exciting to see.

 

[OZDUCK]

Approaching Szczecin.

There are lots of satellite cities - sort of worker dormitory suburbs - dotted around the city. I assume many of them date back to the days when the then Lenin Shipyards in Szczecin directly employed around 4,500 workers. This area is about 10 minutes by rail outside town.







Szczecin in the distance




Crossing the West Oder River



This is an old Postal Exchange that we will have a closer look at later on.

Many of the older buildings in Szczecin have a 'Germanic' look due to the centuries of it being a Prussian/German city. Before WW2 the ethnic Polish population was only around 2,000 out of 382,000. After WW2 it became Polish and the remaining German population was forcibly deported. Apparently these days there is apparently basically no local ethnic German community.



The Central Railway Station. It is about 3 trams stops or a 15 minute walk from the centre of town





As is normal in much of Europe you can walk straight out of the station onto tram or bus. This is an old style tram - much of the rolling stock is much newer with low level entry.

 

[OZDUCK]

We had a very nice apartment right in the centre of town. It was in a building that was only a few years old. We paid $390 for 3 nights.










The view from the window





Parts of the waterfront have been nicely developed with a long boardwalk cafe's, memorials etc.





Stylized plan of the Dąbie Lake just a little downstream



"Umbriaga was the beloved cat of a sailing community in the 1950s but disappeared while on a trip on the Oder River." We heard the full tale of his adventures when we took a cruise. One of the islands nearby is unofficially named after him. According to legend he deserted ship on the island and could be seen for years but never captured again



Note Terra Umbriaga



There were a number of plaques commemorating voyages by local identities and vessels







Display of Navigation Equipment Models



On the other side of the river was a large amusement park and a large Marine Science Centre designed to look line a ships hull.



A sailing barge with a leeboard (a plank frame fixed to the side of a flat-bottomed boat and let down into the water to reduce drifting to the leeward side)



A collection of expensive looking apartments with a nautical flavour were being built upstream.

 

[OZDUCK]

As taught in all the best Urban Planning centres around the world if there is a chance of an attractive waterfront you must immediately build a huge concrete monstrosity there.





A tram line runs along here and I assume there must be subsidence problem as it had the most warped tracks I had seen on an operating tram line. The next day we took a tram to a fairly rundown area and that track was also very warped.

Further along is Chrobry Embankment (Haken's Terrace)

Bolesław I the Brave Embankment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The twin towered building is the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office. Built in 1911 in "North German Renaissance style" it is only a slightly grandiose structure for a municipal administration office.

West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office

The main designer of the building was the Berlin architect Paul Kieschke, but after his death in 1905, the building was completed by Paul Lehmgrübner. Construction began in 1906, and the whole...

rowery.wzp.pl

At the base of the embankment is the Chrobry Embankment Fountain





Szczecin branch of the National Museum







It really is a very pleasant spot