Advertisement
We took the train from Warsaw's rather grand Central station to Torun, a journey of just over two and a half hours. Torun was a place I had never heard of and so we were surprised when our friends put it on the agenda. It was about halfway between Warsaw and our next destination, Gdansk, and we are so pleased that this decision had been made for us. What a fantastic city to visit. I'd like to say there were fewer tourists but I can't. It was a public holiday in Poland and the place was packed with Polish tourists. Oh well, you can never win!
A taxi took us over the River Vistual and dropped us right outside the
Hotel Spirchz, just inside the old city gates. What a great choice of hotel this was. Situated in a converted Swedish granary building, it had bucketloads of character and charm, and the staff were super friendly. They even sorted out a dentist for our unfortunate friend who was in desperate need of one. The rooms were very comfortable and the restaurant was superb for both breakfast and for dinner. Hearty Polish food for hungry travellers!
Torun is a beautiful place
for just wandering around. The old town will have you ooh-ing and ah-ing at every turn. We also took a small ferry boat over the river to see the old train at the station, then walked back over the bridge taking in some amazing views along the way. It was hot, but in the shaded woodlands it was delightfully cool. One unmissable thing that many people manage to miss is the musical fountain. Located in a park just to the west of the centre, they are incredibly well choreographed and, if the evening had been just a little warmer, we could have sat there for much longer than we did!
There is a lot to do in Torun so a trip to the tourist office is essential and they are very helpful in there. We visited one of the two gingerbread museums,
Zywe Muzeum Piernika , where we learned all about the history of gingerbread and got to participate in an entertaining lesson about making (and tasting) it! The actors leading the tour are incredible and will have you in fits of laughter as they deliver the information in both Polish and English. The other place we went to was the
Tony Halik Explorers' Museum where an eclectic mix of artifacts and souvenirs from around the world await the curious tourist. Some of the printed fabrics from across Africa were particularly spectacular.
Torun was simply so much fun that it was hard to leave. Two days was perhaps a couple too short.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 13; qc: 34; dbt: 0.054s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Menna
non-member comment
In agreement !
Excellent report Russ and I totally agree with everything you say. Also we were very glad that we had an extra day to enjoy Torun, we never felt the need to race past anything.