My brother-in-law’s birthday is 5 January. This year, I decided to pay him and my sister a surprise visit, so most of this week’s photos are from the 3 days I spent in Wroclaw (where my sister lives) and one night in Poznan from where I flew home the following morning.
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I flew to Wroclaw on Sunday morning, arriving just in time for lunch. I called my sister from the taxi from Wroclaw airport to their apartment. Only at that point did my brother-in-law learn that I was coming. I was welcomed in the usual Polish manner:
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I got up early on Monday morning and went for a wintry walk along the Odra river. The temperature had been below freezing for several days, and ice was beginning to form:
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Wroclaw’s technical university advertises a new programme in AI:
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Near my sister’s apartment building. The translation is “since you are reading illegal grafitti, maybe you could also read a real book”:
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In the afternoon, I went for a walk in the central square Rynek, suitably adorned for the season:
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I love looking at the old guild houses on Rynek. Most were heavily damaged during the final months of the war:
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Posing in the Christmas market:
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The view from my sister’s balcony, full moon over the Ronald Reagan Circle:
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Tuesday was Three Kings’ Day, a public holiday in Poland. There was hardly any traffic, most shops were closed, and even the wind was calm. I walked along the river. The Grunwaldzki campus of the university is located on the banks of the Odra:
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I walked to Wroclaw’s main cathedral. I do not remember ever visiting it, since every time I have walked by there was a service going on, and visiting during services is not allowed. But this time I happened upon a 1/2 hour break between masses, so I could go inside:
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Poland is Europe’s most devout Catholic country, and there were a lot of people around the cathedral in silent prayer:
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After lunch, my sister, brother-in-law and I made some selfies, propping the camera up on a chair:
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Later in the afternoon, I took a taxi to Wroclaw’s main train station; I was going to take a train to the city of Poznan, about 150 km to the north, from where I had a flight home the following morning:
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Traveller gnome outside the station:
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While waiting for my train, I looked around the area a bit. Opposite the station is a neon sign that I remember from my childhood many years ago. It says “Good evening in Wroclaw”:
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The main hall of the station. It was built in the 19th century when Wroclaw was the German city Breslau, obviously much renovated and extended over the years:
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The station was busy on this day, since many people were travelling home after the holidays:
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I arrived in Poznan around 6 p.m. By then it was dark (sunset in Poland is between 4 and 4:30 p.m. in early January). I walked from the train station to my hotel, located on one of the main streets of the city, called Saint Martin Street. I then walked towards the centre, a distance of a bit more than 1 km and a pleasant walk in the cold and crisp air, with a temperature around -10C:
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I like Polish neon signs, like this one at a bar called “kitty”:
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I arrived in the old centre–as in every Polish city, the central square is called Rynek. From there, walking on Ignacy Paderewski Street, I saw the Christmas market on Plac Wolnosci (Freedom Square):
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Entrance to the Christmas market. The sign says “Poznan’s Betlehem”:
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The two goats are a symbol of Poznan, referring to a medieval legend, so they also featured in the Christmas market:
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The decorations on Freedom Square were really impressive:
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On the side of the square is the impressive Raczynski Public Library, built almost 200 years ago, heavily damaged during the war, restored afterwards:
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“Holiday Pyramid”:
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The grilled meats looked tempting, but I was going to have dinner later at a proper restaurant:
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Spanish cultural influence–a churros stand in Poznan:
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At the far end of the Freedom Square is a theatre called “The Theatre of the Eigth Day”:
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I walked to Rynek to look for a place to have dinner. On the right is Poznan City Hall:
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The decorations and the guildhouses were beautiful:
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Back on Ignacy Padarewski Street, I returned to the Christmas market after dinner:
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My last picture from Poznan is this young woman with a dog similar to our Mochi:
Afterwards, I walked back to my hotel, and the following morning I flew home to Alicante.
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Back in Alicante, it was back to work and the morning walks on the beach:
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On Friday, I had my monthly lunch with lovely Eri, in a restaurant in the centre called Thai Corner:
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As usual, the weekend started with a beach walk on Saturday morning:
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Later in the morning, I cycled to Verdegás and greeted the cats:
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A couple of km later, I came across some other two-wheelers:
And that was the end of a nice week. A full gallery of my visit to Wroclaw is here.