Poland and Czechia - Mediaeval cities on the way south

 Torun was the first of the Polish cities with very old city centres, and known as the birthplace of Copernicus - the man who first suggested that the Earth moved around the sun, and paid a heavy price for his heresy.

The site was on the other side of the river, so it was a simple matter of walking across it, and straight into the main square - except that the bridge turned out to be about two kilometres long, and we walked it there and back twice.

There was a large main square lined with beautiful building facades and restaurants, and a central cathedral. This was was to be repeated in all of the cities we visited. Yes, they were all clean, tidy and very safe.









The next stop was Poznan, where we stayed overnight in a carpark, with no problems at all, and an easy short walk into the main square. Again some beautiful facades and civic buildings.

Our visit must have coincided with the days all the schools went on day trips, because they were everywhere underfoot. All well behaved though, just millions of them...


 





Thursday was different. Instead of heading for the next city, we diverted towards the German border to look at a couple of sights that I had seen on The Grand Tour a few years ago.

The Statue of Christ The King was built by subscription by the local townspeople, and up until recently was the tallest in the world. Of course, it came with it's own pilgrimage hotel. And yes, there is a (locked) door at the back of the statue, causing a ribald joke from Richard Hammond. The noise coming from behind the door suggested that the statue disguised a water tower.






An hour or so down the road was Stalag Luft 3, the actual site of the Great Escape, as depicted in the films The Great Escape and The Wooden Horse. This was a bit of a disappointment.

The main museum was fine, and had a recreation of one of the accommodation sheds, and a copy of a sentry tower, but the actual site of the camp was about 2 Km away, and the memorial 2Km in another direction. Little remains of the camp, just some building foundations, but they had marked out the route of Harry. There were three tunnels built simultaneously, called Tom, Dick and Harry, of which Harry was the longest and best known. We stayed the night in the museum carpark with some other vans, and also walked into the local town.


The next city was Wroclaw, quite a big bustling place, The campsite was at the Olympic Stadium, which was unusual as Poland has never hosted the Olympics. It's now a big sprawling sports area, but the actual stadium has an American Football pitch on it.

Access to the city centre was by tram - very simple and cheap, and from right outside the site.












Today we move on to Krakow, the last city we'll visit in Poland.

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