Góry Świętokrzyskie for a weekend

Spent the last weekend away, yet not far away from Warsaw in Góry Świętokrzyskie, a hilly area closest to Warsaw, which does not deserved be named mountains. Ventured there with almost the same circle of friends, all current or former volunteers in Szlachetna Paczka with whom I took a trip to Sardinia three years ago.

The quite short time spent in a group of seven people reminded me I had got used to travelling on my own or in a couple. Or maybe it just highlighted divergencies between my friends and me (where the six of them are quite similar to one another). Travelling with my girlfriends, optionally also with their friends seems a whole lot easier.

With my friends for a long time I have noticed two major moot points. Firstly - sleeping habits. I am the only early bird in this group, while others prefer to sit up late (which I don't mind, but get up early next morning anyway). Secondly - eating. I am the one who eats to live, not the other way round and do not take delight in dining. Besides, I eat a large breakfast and a proper lunch and then take up little until going to sleep. They in turn all adore tasty food and a dinner is their main meal over the day. I like their company, but each time I am surrounded by them for more than a few hours, I repeat to myself I am not marrying them, hence my frustrations are useless.

Now a few snaps from the trip. On Saturday we climbed a short trail to Święty Krzyż church. Had I travelled on my own, I would have reached the peak by 10:00 a.m. With my friends we got there in full heat at 1:00 p.m.

The church has a viewing tower (entrance charge: PLN 10), which lets visitors behold splendid panoramas of nearby hilly landscapes. I am fond of looking at the world from above, hence joyfully forked out a tenner to take delight in it.

On Sunday we scrambled up Łysica, the highest hill around, mere 612 metres above sea level. We marched up just past a rainfall, so the ascent, though short, was a bit of nasty. Predictably, droves of tourists on rocks on top.

Later on we drove to Zagnańsk to pass by apparently the oldest tree in Poland, oak Bartek, whose age is estimated at between 700 and 1,000 years. The very tree needs to be fenced off and solidly propped up to retain its monumental nature 

The area is abundant in several tourist attractions and we could have seen more of them, had it not been an overly lazy weekend ;-)

A weekend in Kraków

A shame to admit prior to the last weekend I had never ventured to Kraków for purposes other than in business. I did not make it to the memorable (who of the attendees remembers it today?) blogosphere meeting in 2010, then for years there was no other reason to visit it, so keeping company to my girlfriend who ran the Kraków marathon last Sunday was sufficient to spend nearly the entire Saturday and Sunday in the former capital of Poland.

For years I have always had some sort of dislike for Kraków. Firstly because of the stereotypical conviction the city’s inhabitants are toffee-nosed and hold their heads up high, secondly on account of difficulties in finding a common tongue with workmates from Kraków several times during my career, thirdly driven by slow-flow and churchy nature of the city.

Unsurprisingly, we got there by the brand-new car, the journey duration was comparable to the fastest intercity train, but and here shame on the Polish railways, the petrol cost (with economic driving Octavia consumes mere 5 litres per 100 kilometres) was over 50% cheaper than train tickets. But I must admit driving around the city centre (only to reach our apartment and get out of it) was a big nuisance – thumbs up to the authorities of Kraków for their efforts to discourage private vehicle usage in the city centre.

Over two days I walked around 45 kilometres sightseeing the city and two days were still not enough. To the right – the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, being a blend of old and refurbished architecture. The market square of the district could have done without vehicles.

On Saturday afternoon we strolled down the boulevards along Vistula. River banks are full of greenery and are a superb hangout in the warmer half of the year. Spring in overdrive (those were the last two days of near-summer weather) lifted spirits!.

In the evening we roamed to Cmentarz Rakowicki to visit a grave of her friend who passed away in August 2023. The historic cemetery located in the city centre (which is a rarity) is worth visiting, if even you have no explicit purpose as we did have.

The main market square on Sunday morning was partly choke full of runners, but on the other end empty. Absence of crowds adds to the place’s charm. The morning was abnormally warm for mid-April, temperature at 9:00 a.m. was already above +15C.

To reaffirm my church-oriented associations, I need to pop by ulica Franciszkań- ska and snap the edifice of the Cracow bishop’s office (in Polish: kuria biskupia). You should know who appeared in the window above the door several times…

Not much later I scrambled to the Wawel hill, also do discover the courtyard of the Wawel castle is open to visitors free of charge. I have finally somewhat made up for my lack of familiarity with Poland’s former capital.

Down the Wawel hill, I came across a cross commemora- ting the Katyń massacre which until 1990 had not functioned in the public discourse. Recently laid wreath remind the anniversary of the genocide has just passed.

Around noon on Sunday I reached Zakrzówek on south-western edge of Kraków. The green areas have been redeveloped in recent years and now the city can definitely boast about them. I climbed a quite steep rocky mound to find myself on a natural terrace with a picturesque view on the city’s panorama.

Not far from the viewing point is the Croatia-like Zakrzówek pond with man-made beaches and nature-sculpted rocks, a spot jam-packed in summer months (the city had to place limits on number of visitors), was moderately crowded on a spring Sunday.

After the short trip neither have I grown fond of Kraków nor has the klimat of the city enchanted me, but once another opportunity arises, I will strive to explore it better.

Next post on 12 May (off to Wisła for the long May weekend and the days ahead of it).

London, weekend

Back from my first-ever (surprised) foray to an English-speaking country. I flew there for 3 days during the past weekend, to visit my girlfriend’s friends and… make the most of the presence there sight-seeing wise.

The plane tickets (British Airways) were the most expensive out of all I have purchased in my lifetime. A return ticket without checked luggage set me back almost PLN 900 (had we not been forced to conform to our hosts’ availability, I could have saved some PLN 200, let’s face it, flying has to be expensive, to discourage some people from frequent air travels or to make people pay for their carbon footprint.

As mentioned, we did not have to pay for the accommodation directly, however at the expense of enduring my girlfriend’s friends’ numerous attempts to kill us with kindness and withstanding the central heating turned on when temperature outside was +20C.

We got around the city mostly on foot, as short-distance public transport rides are a bit of pricey (although the GBP 2.70 per single ride within Zone 1 did not seem a fortune). We also experienced the longest queuing in our lifetimes – almost two hours of wait to behold the jewels exhibition in the Tower of London.

The weather was more than fine, given we popped in to the UK’s capital. Not a single raindrop has fallen during our stay, and most of the time skies were clear. Temperature topped close to +20C on each day. To the right – a view from the Tower Bridge walkway on Thames and Canary Wharf in the distance.

The Mall between the Trafalgar Square and the Buckingham Palace resemble Parisian Champs-Elysees, except for they are shorter and… closed for traffic, a big upside of the venue. When it comes to traffic, its density in the central London zone, with entry conditioned upon paying a GBP 15 congestion charge has taken me aback.

A wall past the boulevard opposite to the Houses of Parliament commemorates the UK citizen whose life have been taken away by COVID-19, a symbolic spot Poland still lacks. The death toll of 226,196 is quite up-to-date, since the last update on Covid Worldometer gives the figure of 225,324 as of 23 March 2023.

The Trafalgar Square was the noisiest venue in the entire city, with droves of protesters screaming out what they hold out for through megaphones. We got away from there possibly quickly. Due to time scarcity, we also did not pay a visit to the National Gallery visible in the distance.

The swathes of green areas open to everyone are one of few upsides of the central London. The Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens through which I strolled on Sunday morning are a beautiful area central Warsaw sadly lacks (although Pole Mokotowskie and Park Skaryszewski are splendid anyway).

The Shard, completed in 2012, to my surprise is exactly as tall as Varso Tower in central Warsaw (both have a height of 310 metres). The skyscraper overlooks the morose City of London. Back in pre-COVID times, when Michael visited London regularly, he aptly described the city as “drab”. I find this epithet profoundly accurate; a pity the Polish language lacks a word conveying exactly the same meaning.

London is also the most expensive city I have ever visited. The entry prices to sights other than museums seemed justified by the heritage of past centuries and costs their upkeep and as a sightseeing freak I have made a deliberate choice to fork out money. But the stomach-filling bills in anything, but fancy bars / pubs in central London were paid through the nose.

While confronted with the prices, I was curious to compare them against earnings in the capital of the UK. I learnt an average (or median, if my memory does not serve me right) after-tax salary in London is GBP 30,000 yearly (or GBP 2,500 per month). Unless prices of basic goods are lower in the suburbs than in central London, this allows to eke out a living, but is definitely insufficient to lead a comfortable life.

Two full days were far too short for a proper sightseeing, yet given the fact I cannot be sure I ever return there, I decided to make the most of the trip. Needless to say, I spent Monday working from home, just ticking over, to have a bit of rest after the intensive weekend.

Off to Wisła and then to Bieszczady around the middle of the coming week, so the next write-up is due in three weeks.