Wroclaw #3: Dwarf Hunt

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After having a leisurely breakfast, I headed out into Wroclaw once again. Since I had seen pretty much everything I wanted to I had thought that my day might be a bit aimless. So I decided to do a Dwarf Hunt. A famous tourist attraction that has sprung up over the years is the Wroclaw Dwarves. I had seen a few of them on my wanders around the city, but decided that I would pay them a bit more attention today. I had bought a map at the tourist information office which has the location of 100 of the dwarves on it and their names in Polish and English. Although there are now many more dwarves than those listed on the guide and new ones are popping up all the time. I decided to head back to the Old Town as there was a large concentration of dwarves in that area, especially around the marketplace. I soon came across some and happily spent my time taking pictures of them. It was nice to see how they were all unique in some way. It also meant I wandered around some the sides streets a bit more, which was interesting. I walked past an area in which the original wooden houses dated back to the end of the 14th century. These houses had been completely destroyed in 1945, but had been rebuilt in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I had a walk around the Salt Square which is close to the Market Square spotting a few more dwarves. My dwarf hunt took me to the John and Margaret Houses and St. Elizabeth's Church beyond them. I had visited the church on my first day in Wroclaw but since it was dark, I hadn't noticed the booth outside the church, where you could buy a ticket to climb the church's roof. I decided that I wanted to do it, so paid the entrance fee and made my way through the side door and up the many, many stairs. The first part was up a small narrow windy staircase before entering a large room that had a big concrete staircase and then another set of metal stairs that led out on to the roof. While it was an overcast day, this didn't interrupt the view. There was a walkway all around the roof so that you could see all of Wroclaw. All the red rooftops looked pretty and I could also see the spires of some of the churchs and cathedrals that dotted the city's landscape. Wroclaw is a pretty flat city, but I could see a mountain in the distance. There was also a factory/power plant with big chimney churning out smoke. I kind of liked it as it added to the atmosphere of the city.

After making my way down from the tower, I explored some more of the side streets that I hadn't yet been along. I came across the Old Butchers' Shops and a cute little alleyway, where I found some more dwarves and also some shops selling art and handmade crafts. All very nice stuff. I also ended up buying a Nutella filled doughnut from one of the many small bakeries I had seen dotted around Warsaw. I always tell myself I don't like doughnuts but 9 times out of 10 I enjoy eating them. This one, however, I did not enjoy, so I just sucked the filling out and threw away the pastry. I wandered some more until I was hungry. For lunch, I decided to head back to the wrap place I had been to a couple of days earlier since I knew it was cheap and filling. This time I had a yummy falafel wrap and watched the world go by. Since the 6th January is Ephipany, a national holiday in Poland, the Old Town Square was set up ready for some festivities. As I was eating my lunch, I got to see the parade go by, which looked like fun.

I headed to the area of town that was near the museum I had visited the day before. Here I came across the Pomnik Ofiar Zbrodni Katynskiej, a memorial to the Katyn Massacre. The sculpture is quite harrowing to look at as it depicts the angel of death looking down on a distraught woman with a victim of the massacre in her lap. The Katyn Massacre happened, on Stalin's orders, in the spring of 1940, when 22,000 Polish army officers, policemen and other prisoners of war at Kozielsk, Ostaszkov and Starobielsk camps. The massacre is named after the Katyn forest, where some of the first mass graves were discovered. I went to the Bastion Ceglarski next. I would have liked to have known more about the bastion, but the descriptive sign on it had been covered with graffiti making it ilegible. However climbing to the top did give me some nice views of the river. I then headed down the other side and took a walk along the river. I hadn't been this far along on my walk around the previous day. I got some great views of Cathedral Island and also spotted a few more dwarves. I really liked the dwarf that looked like a printer, the person not the machine. There was also a funny looking dwarf holding a book, that I came across. He looked so much younger than all the other dwarves I had seen. The sun was starting to set by this point and the sky was turning a pretty pinky orange shade. I took a walk around the islands again. It was nice to see the bridge lit up and I loved the artwork that covered the sides of the old buildings. I continued my walk along the river. It was nice as the buildings across the river were lit up and they looked very picturesque.

One area I hadn't been to was the train station area, I took a walk up that way. There wasn't much to see on the way, just what looked like mainly residential and office buildings. The train station did look all pretty lit up at night. I had a wander around to the back of it, where the bus terminal was. Since there wasn't anything of interest there, and it was cold and dark, I headed back in the direction of home. Since it was a public holiday in Poland, the supermarket was shut, so I headed to one of the convenience stores a short walk from my hostel to pick up some bits and pieces so that I could make some dinner. Back at the hostel, I relaxed over dinner, reading and drinking tea in the kitchen. I love it when a hostel has free tea and coffee. I also attempted to get an early night as my flight was leaving very early in the morning and I was taking the bus to the airport around 4 am. I am so glad that Wroclaw has a good public transport system that runs throughout the night.

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Photos

Pomagajek
Little Helper

Wodziarz
Water-keeper

Wyplatnik
Withdrawer