Poland on fire

The recent were disturbingly abundant in terrifying events. Just a coincidence?

The series of spectacular fires in Poland commenced on Friday, 10 May, when a landfill in Siemianowice Śląskie came into flames. Burning illegal rubbish yards were the order of the day in warmer halves of recent years, so there should be nothing worrying, except for the fact the Polish government still cannot get to grips with criminal dump collection.

On Sunday, 12 May I woke up to see a text message warning of potentially hazardous fire from a shopping mall burning on the other end of Warsaw, some 25 kilometres away from me. I thought the scale of the blaze must have been scary, if the warnings reached inhibitants of quite distant areas. With hindsight, the air contamination turned out less harmful than anticipated, yet the largest roof-covered bazaar in Warsaw came into non-existence. Luckily, there were no fatalitities, but none of the anti-fire precautions has worked and the firemen claim it looked like the fire had been set in eight different spots using flammable materials.

On the same day, while driving to my girlfriend's flat, we spotted another billow of black smoke above Warsaw. Another, smaller rubbish dump yard was on fire, just incidentally.

On the next day (Monday, 13 May) before dawn ten buses (with conventional engines) got burnt down in a bus depot in Bytom. Before midday a roof of a high school in Grodzisk Mazowiecki went into flames during the school-leaving exams. Around the same time, an explosion destroyed training facilities of a firemen school in Poznań. No casualties, except for the third accident.

Was such pile-up of fires a coincidence? Statistically, it is entirely possible. Could it be a part of the hybrid war aimed as destabilising the West, as some politicians claim? Conceivably yes, but there is no proof. Should we worry more than before? Definitely not, the enemy wants to see us scared and we refuse to please our enemy.

Tuesday, 14 May was an uneventful day, or a rather a lull before the storm. Maybe except for the fact all personal data of Santander Bank Polska's staff leaked to hackers.

On Wednesday, 15 May the quite afternoon was interrupted by the news the quite recently elected Slovak prime minister got was shot by an assassin. He ... The very story reminds of the assassination of Gdansk's mayor over five years ago. Except for the major outcome, i.e. unlike Mr Adamowicz, Mr Fico is alive four days past the murder attempt, though far from being on the mend.

If Russia is to blame, they are disturbing our lives patiently, without spectacular attacks on critical infrastructure. Power plants, electricity grid, water treatment, traffic control - those remain either well-protected, or so far are beyond the interest of the empire of evil. Whatever the truth is, no reasons now to become complacent. The evil is patient and pursues its long-term goal, not risking premature moves likely to be foiled.

Wisła – the longest stay so far

A quick photo coverage of my foray to Wisła. I grabbed the opportunity of not having to pop in to the office during the theoretically slack period around Christmas and resided in the mountain resort for 10 days. One event I slightly regret as a zealous weather observer was missing out on experiencing the January heat record for Warsaw and the whole Poland (+18.9C on 1 January 2023). Where I was temperature in full sunshine barely climbed above +10C.

Higher into the mountains, remnants of snow lingered until the end of the 2022. During our trip to Trzy Kopce Wiślańskie on New Year’s Eve, we came across regular snow at 700 metres above sea level and such ice 100 metres higher. The dog was elated. We made it to the peak thanks to winter footwear we had worn.

On New Year’s Day we drove to Jaworzynka, a village close to a place where borders of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia converge. We hiked to the spot and to two other countries from the village, while other tourists had to carry their arses in their cars up to the venue. Twoje serce przypomina – piechotą zdrowiej. To the right – viaducts being a part of D3 motorway in Slovakia. I drove here in May 2018 not realising such valley was beneath the road.

A snap taken on the same day shows the undulating landscape of the Czech village Herczawa, which we later ambled through during our 11-kilometre hike. The weather was March-like and while we were ascending, two layers of clothing were absolutely sufficient.

The very tourist destination where the borders meet is in a state of reconstruc- tion. Instead of grass, mud is all around, presence of solar panels and wind turbines is notable. Sadly, cars in the background remind for many one mile is a far too long distance to cover on foot. Entry to such spots should be prohibited to visitors’ vehicles.

On 6 January we hiked to Stecówka. We cycled through part of that route in August, but this time we rambled up a shorter trail. To the right, a panorama from the viewing platform en route. In the fog one sees the confluence of Biała Wisełka and Czarna Wisełka. Where the two brooks join each other the river Wisła officially starts.

As we roamed downhill, we passed the winter residence of the president of Poland. Due to unfavourable skiing conditions (the weather resembled late autumn), Mr Duda was absent at that time.

As my girlfriend rightly claims, you should not stay in Wisła for too long, not to get accustomed to that place. After at most two weeks you should return to Warsaw to foster the longing for the place. For business (quite many tribulations at work) reasons I doubt I will visit the town in the coming weeks.

Eurotrip 2018 - part II

As I was looking for accommo-dation in Portoroz, to ensure the lodgings would be located near a beach. Quite easily I found one some one kilometre from the sea shore. Sadly (or not), I forgot to check the terrain shape. As it turned out, the Slovenian coast is featured with the highest cliffs by Adriatic sea and each walk to the beach or to the city centre involved a steep descent and then a steep ascent back. According to my estimations, the higher parts of Portoroz and nearby towns are close to 100 metres above sea level. The first climb was a nasty experience, however with each consecutive day we grew more and more seasoned and fitter!

Visiting the Adriatic seaside in the third decade of May has most advantages of low season. Though on Saturday and Sunday some locals and probably some visitors from central parts of Slovenia, popped over for a weekend rest, droves of sun-thirsty tourist were unseen. On Thursday the beach looked like that. The snap is somewhat misleading since we were not the only holidaymakers around. There were less than plenty but more than few tourists from Germany (judging by licence plates of cars, not only language audible) and Russia.

After a day of sunbathing and swimming in the sea (water temperature around 20C, similar to what one can enjoy in Polish lakes in July or August, so bearable, not yet comfortably warm) we marched towards Piran, the historic Italian town which in the wake of political decisions was adjoined to bygone Yugoslavia in 1954. The architecture reminds of Italian roots of this place. The town has its climate, especially near sunset (a pity we did not take an evening trip there), but when the heat reaches +30C sightseeing conditions are not at their best, yet we were in Mediterranean climate, it should not have been chilly actually. 

Each evening we took a bottle of local wine (less than 2 EUR per litre, an excellent beverage for my not refined taste) and sauntered to a promontory to observe the sun going down into the sea. Unfortunately, each day the western sky was kind of cloudy and clouds lingered above the horizon, so we missed the breathtaking sight, being out of luck just as in January we missed out on Northern Lights, but a week after we few back a massive aurora explosion was witnessed in Tromso. Yet sipping wine and staring at the smooth sea was a sheer bliss anyway.

Monday, 28 May 2018

After spending four full days in Portoroz, we headed back towards Poland. The first stop, recommended by a friend who had also travelled to Slovenia by car in 2016, was Bled lake, one of two picturesque lakes (the other is Bohinj) in the central, hilly part of the country. Out stopover there lasted just an hour, enough to catch the climate of the place and grow fond of it, yearning to come back for more one day.

On the same day we turned up to Maribor. The accommo-dation there, a three-star, just refurbished apartment one mile from the very city center set us back mere 42 EUR (cheapie!). Maribor is the second biggest city in Slovenia, yet it smacks of a bigger town and I must say one afternoon is absolutely sufficient to get about it. We roamed around town, but climbed up a hill called "pyramid" (due to its shape), from which we could lap up another city view from above. We pitched up atop more than one hour before sunset (not the most magical time of the day), yet gazing at such landscape compensates the strain ascent involves.

Tuesday, 29 May 2018

The last stop (actually the penultimate one, before spending two days in Bielsko-Biała again) was the capital of Slovakia, which was the let-down of the trip. My memories are negatively skewed as all cards were stacked against us. As we were driving in, a massive downpour hit the city, then it cleared up, but air humidity was far higher and temperature hit +30C - not a conducive temperature for sightseeing. Our hotel (Hotel Turist) turned out to not to have undergone a renovation since the split of Czechoslovakia (in Poland one would struggle hard to find hotels where time stopped before the collapse of communism), odour of cigarettes was in the air, breakfast was worse than indecent. Fortunately we just stayed one night there (but escaped on Wednesday before 8 a.m.) and the location was two miles from old town. I did not even bother to take out a camera too many times. Had I taken pictures of Bratislavia and stripped them off advertisements and modern cars, the photos would have been easily eligible for Michael's old-school photo challenge. Truth be told, I recommend visiting Bratislava to nobody.