Trip Review: Wrocław, Poland

I had an ulterior motive when it came to visiting Poland. A few years ago, after spending a Christmas in the far northeastern Germany, we’d driven across the border to Szczecin just to say we’d stepped foot there. (And I think we ate pizza.) But since I didn’t spend much time there, I never really felt that I could say I’d *been* to Poland.

In order to alleviate this traveler’s cognitive dissonance, I kept an eye on flights to Poland over the past six months. And finally, a cheap flight to a city called Wrocław aligned with a puente (long weekend) from school.

First of all, let’s talk about the word “Wrocław.” We English speakers might pronounce this something like “Roe-claw.” Right? Well, apparently that couldn’t be further from how it’s actually pronounced. The “w”s make a “v” sound, and that L with a line through it makes our “w” sound. Oh, and the “c” makes a “tz” sound. So I think we’re left with something sounding like “Vrotzwav.” Not to be confused with Warsaw or other similar-sounding Eastern European cities.

Okay. Now that we’ve got that cleared up…

Arrival in Wrocław

I flew into WRO airport via Ryanair. There weren’t actually any flights between Madrid and Wrocław, so I connected through Brussels-Charleroi. I realized upon arrival that I’d made a rookie traveler mistake and didn’t double check to make sure that Poland uses Euros. They don’t!

Luckily, I had my Spanish debit card and there were plenty of ATM’s in the airport. I wasn’t sure how much money to take out. I’d be in Poland for two days, so I decided to start with the equivalent of about €60. Poland’s currency is the Złoty. When using an unfamiliar currency, I always do a conversion to see how many of x currency = a dollar/euro. In this case, about 4 złoty was equal to one euro.

With money in hand, it was time to figure out how to get to the city. I just went to an information desk, told the person where I needed to go (my hostel’s address), and she told me which public bus to take. The bus was really cheap and was my first indication of how inexpensive Poland would be.

After checking into my hostel — Mleczarnia Hostel, which was really well located — I went out to explore. But my first priority was finding food. I wandered towards the Market Square, which is always a good idea in my opinion, and quickly found the place of my dreams. “Viva la Pierogi” called to me and connected with my soul. I hadn’t eaten since the night before and it was now almost dinner time.

Food

Pierogies – I never realized that not everyone may be familiar with these until I talked to a few friends who didn’t know what they are. Probably the biggest chunk of any heritage I have is Eastern European — my mom’s grandparents immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia in the early 1900s. International borders in that time were a little hazy, but in any case, pierogies and other things like stuffed cabbage were in the repertoire of the foods we’d have for dinner while I was growing up.

So, for those who don’t know, what are they? Pierogies are like dumplings, typically filled with potato or cheese, and cooked by boiling, baking, or frying. At Viva la Pierogi, they had tons of different kinds. One of their specials was to mix and match any 9 that you wanted. I tried some filled with the typical potato and cheese, but others filled with pork, and one even filled with duck confit and apple! Plus, I got a mulled wine — something that doesn’t exist in Spain. All that for roughly the equivalent of $7. I’d pretty much fallen in love with Poland already by that point.

Pączkis – This is like a Polish version of a donut, filled with jelly or cream. And strangely enough, I was introduced to this one last year while working in La Porte, Indiana. Apparently La Porte has a higher-than-average concentration of Polish people? But it was Fat Tuesday, which is when pączkis are traditionally eaten, so one of our clients brought them to the office. In Poland, it’s also common to celebrate Fat Thursday, which is the week before. And it just so happened that my first day in Wrocław was Fat Thursday. I didn’t even think about it until I saw lines of people — a block long — standing outside. I had no idea why… until I found the source of the line. It was a Pączkarnia.

Vibes

Going back to Market Square — stylistically, it reminded me a lot of the ones I’d seen in Brussels and Bruges or other cities. What made Wrocław stand out, however, was how colorful its buildings were! No dark, muted colors or elaborate ornamentation saturated with gold. Instead, you could find its main square, as well as other buildings throughout the city, in almost every color of the rainbow. I have to say it’s probably one of the most colorful places I’ve been!

The weather was really beautiful on the first day I was there, with a bright blue sky overhead. It was perfect weather for walking along the Oder river or admiring architecture of elaborate churches. Unfortunately, the next day was rainy and gray, so I tried to find indoor activities. Wrocław isn’t a huge city, so most of my options revolved around food. I was okay with this. Turns out, Wrocław has a really great restaurant and café culture. There are tons of places with a great ambiance, delicious food, and strong Wi-Fi. It was enough to make me almost wish I wasn’t there alone, just so I’d have someone to restaurant/bar-hop with on the rainy day.

A couple of my favorite places – Bułka Z Masłem and Nadodrze Cafe Resto Bar.

Stray Observations About Wrocław

• Poland reminded me a lot of Russia in some ways. Maybe it was the remnants of their shared history, or maybe it was the obsession with coffee, creating the illusion of warmth inside its establishments, and all the bookstores! But I really enjoyed both places, so that’s not a bad thing at all.
• Remember how I saw Poland was inexpensive and I’d only taken out the equivalent of €60? I actually still had money left over at the end of my trip, and I paid for everything in cash.
• Speaking of money, even if I hadn’t been able to take out any cash, Wrocław was very credit-card friendly. Even for really small purchases. Even paying for my bus ticket from the airport to the city, you could do contactless payment with their machines.
• Everyone I interacted with had good English. There weren’t any communication issues at all.
• One of my favorite things to do in different countries is go into their grocery stores. I like to see what products they have and how much they cost compared to Spain or the U.S. The most interesting thing I found in the Polish grocery store was Cinnamon Coke!

Now that I’ve been to Poland, I really want to go back. I know there are lots of other interesting cities to visit, too… and I still have to spend my leftover złoty!

 

Have you ever visited Poland or Wrocław? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy

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Originally Published on March 24, 2019.