Blogs from Poznan, Greater Poland, Poland, Europe

The centre of Poznan is full of green spaces, but the biggest by far is Citadel Park. We took the 20 minute stroll north of the city centre for a look round. It looks like a park, but in reality is the remains of what was a sizeable fortress. It largely avoided any serious military activity until 1945 and for the most part was used as a prison. The Germans primarily used it was a POW camp from 1939 onwards, but it proved a key stronghold as the conclusion of the Battle for Poznan was played out in February 1945. The majority of the city was taken by the Red Army on 16 February, but the Citadel held out until 23 February. The bricks and rubble of what remained was then largely used in the reconstruction ... read more

It’s time to start the journey back to Berlin, stopping tonight at Poznań. Mainly because it’s half way rather than because my guide book enthuses about Poznań, which it doesn’t. It’s another 4 plus hour drive but this time we are allowed to stop. To prove we’re really living the dream, we have brunch in a KFC in a motorway service station. If there was a prize for the meal which looked least like the photo on the menu, my cheese wrap would win. I consider whether to try and return the cremated pile of crap in a country where I can’t speak the language, but the old man scoffs it. No matter, I have a bucket of chips. After that healthy interlude, we continue to Poznań, which is a lot bigger than I’d expected. And ... read more

Post POW trail bloggin' in Poland. We’re strangely demob happy, but adrift, after completing the main purpose of our trip (See previous blogs). But on to Wrocław, pronounced bvroaswov as I’ve earnestly tried to utter over the last few days. Wrocław is a big city to the west of Kraków. Its city centre / old town is a mixture of ancient buildings, 1900’s Art Nouveau and Soviet Apartment blocks all sharing their 21st moment. Our first stop, of course, is the Botanical Garden. Indeed we have chosen our smart, brand new apartment, not for it's evident shine and gloss, but because it’s just as very the road from the BG. And BG is to be recommended. Lots of signage so that you can check out the stuff you don’t know, ponds, bridges, trees, ice cream, sculpture, ... read more

Poznan Stare Zoo is the far smaller and inferior of Poznan’s two zoos. Though Stare Zoo wasn’t all bad and nothing was really terrible, just not that impressive with rather too many domestics for my liking. The Stare zoo is a very old zoo and I believe the oldest continuously operating zoo in Poland and was Poznan’s main zoo before the tiny size of the facility necessitated a larger zoo to be built though they are both under the same management. As a result the zoo has a lot of history associated with it including former exhibits that would be considered unsuitable for the species that they were originally intended for but they have since been re-purposed for other species. The entrance to the zoo is free and I believe it is officially a public park ... read more

Today we set out on our last big drive in Poland and what a beautiful morning it turned out to be after last night’s thunderstorm. We were up really early to check for any evidence that we had not had company during the night and finding none showered, packed and left our emergency accommodation. Looking back on our night’s accommodation we had to agree it had one of the strongest free wifi internet connections so far and an over-supply of wall sockets. As we depart Kwidzyn we can now laugh about our time in this town. Perhaps we have the wrong impression but our first experience was not a good one. By the time we had checked into our next hotel we had received an emailed apology from the pension. They had not received our reservation ... read more