POLAND two travels

It is a country that I liked so much that I returned a second time to visit the central north after having seen the central south. I began by arriving by plane in WROCLAW or Wroclaw, a beautiful university city on the Oder river full of students and with a beautiful RINEK market square with an imposing central building and then canals and university buildings. Not far away you arrive in the beautiful capital WARSAW which was completely destroyed during the war but has been faithfully rebuilt and elegantly presents itself as a perfect capital. There is the royal palace that I visited with beautiful rooms and furniture, next to it there is a promenade that leads to beautiful central squares, a museum dedicated to the famous Polish astronomer Copernicus. Elsewhere you visit a beautiful park full of roses and a black statue of the great pianist Chopin and you can listen to his sonatas in that romantic setting. There is also a nice interactive museum dedicated to Chopin which I visited with interest. There is a promenade along the Vistula river and a Soviet communist-style building that the Poles would like to demolish but which is actually beautiful and recalls that particular type of architecture. Opposite there are modern skyscrapers that house offices, but in my opinion they are uglier. To the south I visited the most beautiful Polish city which in my opinion is KRAKOW, a jewel surrounded by the river with bends with the wonderful market square which houses a beautiful palace, an important church and various horse carriages that are used by tourists for tours of the city- Various avenues branch out from the square and there are green parks all around. Citizens use to walk a lot because everything is within reach in a very well-kept and historic environment. Then there is the Jewish neighborhood with the cemetery, the cathedral and several clubs that are frequented in the evening by many young people. You eat long stuffed sandwiches, drinking excellent Polish beer. Then it was the turn of the beautiful Zakopane, both a summer and winter tourist resort, where even Pope John Paul II went skiing. The location is very beautiful, both in the valley where there are many places where you eat meat, sausages, potatoes while listening to live bands. You can take the chairlift and go up where you can enjoy the beautiful view. Another place visited in the south was the 2,000-year-old Wielicka salt mine. You go down with the elevator and pass through various rooms, some very large with salt chandeliers, salt statues, etc.. the temperature is cool and you are accompanied by a guide. Then the sad site of Auschwitz, the famous concentration camp where around a million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and political dissidents were exterminated. We visit various rooms that contain the objects of the poor victims, even fabrics and blankets created with hair, many suitcases, and then the barracks where they stayed, the gas chambers and the ovens where the bodies were burned. At the entrance the writing ARBEIT MACHT FREI work sets you free and in the hall it reminds you that the place must be visited and remembered so that history does not repeat itself. On the second trip I landed in LODZ which is the city of cinema with a very long street in the center and the VIP stars of Polish cinema as in Hollywood and then a beautiful cinema museum with many old cameras and various objects, even an exhibition dedicated to Maryleen Monroe. A little outside the city is the Manifaktura, a former textile factory transformed into an entertainment center with cinemas, restaurants, bars, etc. Outside Lodz I visited a Jewish cemetery. Further north I visited the beautiful city of GDANSK on the Motlawa River, a branch of the Vistula Delta. It has superb buildings, beautiful squares and naturally arouses curiosity because its occupation by the Germans on 1.9.39 gave rise to the Second World War. I went to visit the Westplatte island, once a tourist and holiday site, which later became a military site. I also arrived in front of the construction sites where the former Polish president Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity union which started the Polish rebellion against the regime, worked Communist. Further north I arrived on the Baltic Sea, visiting the port city of Sopot and Gdynia of which I only saw a beautiful sailing ship anchored at the river pier. I also visited the beautiful and interesting castle of Malbork or Marienburg, built in XXXIII by the Teutonic Order, it is the largest gothic middle age castle in Europe, originally was a monastery, later a warehouse for weapons and before the second world war an important meeting place for nazis. When I think of Poland, beautiful blonde girls come to mind, good food such as pierogi, stuffed ravioli, borsc, cold red turnip soup, ricotta cake and excellent beer. Young Poles speak English very well, they are friendly and nice, Poland is a rapidly growing country and I believe that in a few years it will surpass Italy in terms of gross domestic product.