I figured since it had been over a year since I was last in Poland that I needed to rectify this and book another trip there. I was looking to see where I could go that I hadn’t spent a lot of time at before and I came to the conclusion that Wroclaw would be the city for this trip. I was last here in 2019 when I went to Poznan – read about that here – and I got the train here and only spent about 8 hours in the city. It was enough time to do a walking tour and a couple of tram rides before heading back to the station to head back to Poznan.

I figured 8 hours was definitely not enough time to even see anything outside of the market square and old town.

I managed to find a really good price on flights and a fairly cheap hostel so I decided to just book it. The time came for me to go and I was apprehensive about going. I don’t even know why. I think it was partly due to having to stay at the airport overnight and not having much to do. The flight was at 07:05 and there really wasn’t any way I could do it other than stay at the airport overnight.

I had already packed and I finished work and decided to have a couple of hours sleep before heading for the train as I knew sleep at the airport would be pretty much non-existent. It turns out I was right!

I was sitting in the waiting room and a guy came in and he was looking for a plug to charge his phone. I had the only working one so I said he could use it and charge his phone. We had a chat about Spain and he left to head to London. Pretty soon after another guy came in and he was on the phone spilling the dirt on his family to someone. After he got off the phone, he started to bend my ear. How did I get so lucky? I think he chatted non-stop for about 90 minutes. I then decided since it was almost 02:00 that I would see if security was anywhere close to opening. Lucky for me, the opening time had changed from 03:00 to 02:00. Praise Gloria and all who sail in her.

At 02:00 there was already a queue for security. This is how I knew travelling was somewhat back to normal. It was nice to see.

I went through and it was surprising how many people still didn’t know how it worked. Get your liquids and electronics out people, make it easier for the rest of us.

I got through and went towards the departure lounge but the duty-free area didn’t open until 02:30. That was fine by me. I just found somewhere to sit and wait. Once I was through duty-free, I went and got my water bottle filled and sat and had some snacks I had brought before lying down to have a kip. My back was aching after an hour on the hard benches. The stuff I do to bring you all a report from where I have been! I hope you appreciate it!

BK opened up at about 04:30 and I got myself a fat burger and chilled for an hour before heading to where I knew there were more comfortable seats. I didn’t head in the direction I was going to go – I should have done. Oh well. What are a few more steps… right? …Right?

One of the good things about an early morning flight with Ryanair is that they generally aren’t full and this was the case on this one. I got a whole row to myself and it was nice. I just chilled and slept until we got to Wroclaw.

  • Today I got in way earlier than I usually do. I was unsure of what I was going to do. The hostels don’t usually let you check in until around 14:00-15:00. I got to the hostel here just after 11:00. They said I could leave my bags with them until it was time to check-in. That was going to make life so much easier and less cumbersome when it came to walking around.

    I got the bus from the airport and got off at the stop they suggested. It was in a nice part of the city. There was a small canal right next to the stop and it was inside a small park. It was really nice. The weather held out for me too which was nice of it. I took a nice slow stroll to the hostel all the while taking in the sights and sounds of the city. This was a major junction on the tramway and it was nice to hear the trams. I wish my city had trams. I’d never be off them!

    I got to the hostel and they were really nice and said the bed was ready. They took me to the room and I had a choice of about 5 to choose from. It felt so good to be able to check in early and just put my stuff down and sit for a few minutes before heading out to explore the city.

    The first thing I did after I left the hostel was to look for a Zabka. They do the best hot dogs. I won’t hear otherwise. They also do the Prince Polo XXL bars. They are flavoured chocolate-covered wafers. They are so good. I got myself a hot dog and some wafers and a nice big drink to carry around with me. The area I was in didn’t look too familiar from when I was here in 2019. I was hoping that it would start to look really familiar but it didn’t. There were some parts of it that did so I thought I knew where I was. I was certain I knew which way I was walking and that I knew where I was going and where I would end up. It turns out that I didn’t have any idea where I was and where I thought I was I wasn’t. No big deal though. I love exploring the places I am in and I just let my feet decide where I would go and where I would end up.

    I was right by the Oder River and I decided to just follow it and see where I would end up. I was on the road that goes around the old town and market square. I wanted to see that but I didn’t want to do everything in one day. As I was walking around I did see some of the dwarves that they have on the street. I did want to go on a dwarf hunt but, again, I didn’t want to do it all in one day so I decided I would leave that for Sunday.

    As I carried on walking, I saw a pedestrian bridge in the distance and decided I would just walk across that and see where it took me. The area looked kind of familiar. I walked across one of the bridges crossing the Oder and I stood there whilst trams also crossed. It was weird to feel the bridge vibrate as they did cross.

    I got to the pedestrian bridge and as I looked over I started to see some sights from when I was here last. It turns out I did walk in that general direction last time but just on the other side of the river. My brain wasn’t actually messed up this time. One of the things that was suggested last time I was here was to walk across the Tumski Bridge. I went to do that but it was closed whilst they were renovating it.

    I didn’t walk across it this time. I just headed along the tram lines to see how close I could get to the trams. You can get really close to them. It was cool. I was starting to feel tired at this point so I decided to head for the tram and head back to the hostel to get a little bit of sleep. I had a couple of hours of sleep and I felt so refreshed afterwards. Once I went back out, I decided I would head to the end of the street and across the road to the square by the concert hall. As I was walking and taking pictures, I got stopped by some missionaries. They were surprised at how much I knew about the church. I then told them that I was an inactive member and we were chatting about the church in Poland. They told me there were only 60 missionaries in the entire country. I didn’t realise how few there were. That being said, it is hugely Catholic so it’s not really any surprise that there aren’t many missionaries or members.

    I parted ways with them and carried on with my sightseeing journey. I then headed back towards the hostel and carried on walking past it to see where it would take me. It took me down past the canal and to the Jana Pawla II tram stop area and I just headed back towards the hostel again and carried on past it to see what was around. I jumped on the tram to go and get some food and then decided to walk in the direction of the market square and around it to see where it would take me. I got back to the streets around the hostel and then went and sat and just watched the trams for about half an hour before heading back to the hostel and heading to bed.

    Total steps: 19,506

    Total miles: 9.47

    Below are some pics from today

Today was an early start to head to the airport and head back home. I left the hostel around 08:00 and went to the bus stop to head to the airport. The bus was absolutely packed so it was pretty much standing room the whole way.

I was one of the last off the bus and asked this couple if they needed help. They said they didn’t. I could hear a Geordie accent but asked them anyway and told them I was from Gateshead and they thought we were on the same flight. I had to tell them we weren’t and I gave them suggestions on where else to go in Poland.

The flight home was a noisy one – there were so many kids on. I just put my headphones on and tried to sleep. I was in an aisle seat so it was a little difficult. It was ok though, the flight was under 2 hours.

I got to Stansted and had 2 hours to wait for the train. I just sat on the platform and thoroughly enjoyed the cold weather. Whilst it was only 19 in Poland, the sun made it feel warmer. I am definitely built for the cold.

I got home and just had enough time to unpack before I started work.

Poland, yet again, never failed to impress. I am now on my next mission to go somewhere else in Poland I haven’t been. I want to go to Bydgoszcz (again, only had 8 hours here from my Poznan trip). I also want to go to Lodz. Keep your fingers, toes, hands, arms and eyes crossed that I find cheap flights.

Total steps: 83,217

Total miles: 40.89

You can view all of my Wroclaw pics here

You can view all of my Katowice/Chorzow pics here