Wrocław, Poland — foodiana

Jul 11

Jul 11 Wrocław, Poland

As always, started day one in a new city with a free walking tour! (www.freewalkingtour.com) It is definitely much warmer here and I was finally able to wear my summery clothes!

Wrocław has been a part of many different nations and was once the capital of Prussia. Before WWII, it was part of Germany. Post-WWII, Wrocław is part of Poland. The Germans were moved out of this city and Polish people from the east were moved in. The city was carpet bombed in 1945 when the Soviets won the city from the last remaining Nazis.

Today, this city is a beautiful university town surrounded by rivers and bridges and is essentially an island in the middle of the country.

There are beautiful churches, both Protestant and Catholic and even one really nice synagogue. (Post WWII, the Jewish community is very small.) I always enjoy seeing the churches even if they have been reconstructed. There were so many cathedrals that they have a section of the city called "Cathedral Island" and I can't remember which one is which.

After the walking tour we had lunch at Targowa, a restaurant outside the market hall. Since it was Sunday, the market was not open. The tour guide recommended this place and though it looked like a casual beer hall, the food was excellent. Maybe the best perogies we had while here.

I had also been wanting to try some Camembert cheese so I ordered this grilled carmelized cheese for my main course. It came with a little salad, toasted bread, and cranberry sauce. It was very very good, but I was quite full from the perogies and then it sat on my stomach with all the heat and walking.

After lunch we wandered around and entered a few churches. This one pictured below was a Catholic Church and definitely the most impressive one I have seen on this trip to Poland.

After an ice cream break, Uncle Mark and I hiked up the 300 steps of St Elizabeth Cathedral through a very narrow winding staircase to see the view from the top. Definitely worth the sweat. We could see the entire city and I got a great pic of the main town square.

Amazing.

We ended the day with some wine and food at a little restaurant. I took a picture of the menu to share with you so you can see some of the amazingly reasonable prices for food. If only wine was $2 a glass in the USA I think we would all have happier meals.