Wroclaw

Election day at home. No conclusive result before everyone went to sleep in Oz. Tassie returned to its roots - nearly! But 4 out of 5 is heading in the right direction.

It might have been hot politically in Australia but it was also hot here in Poland as well - temperature rising above  30 degrees by late morning. A slight breeze though had a great cooling effect.

Our drive into Wroclaw was very interesting. It was the first time on a Polish motorway and what a great piece of infrastructure. We can recall 36 years ago when a major road like this would have been busy with horse drawn vehicles amongst the very few mechanical vehicles. Today the motorway was very busy with Polish cars travelling in all directions. What a turn around in a generation! 

And what a surprise we had at the end of our trip - Wroclaw, a city of over 600,000. For a town that was virtually devastated in the final battle of WWII it has been transformed into a very enticing city for residents and visitors. We were not expecting such a redevelopment in such a short space of time.

Market  Square Wroclaw. 

Our first visit was to the National Museum which exhibited many outstanding works of Silesian and Gothic art as well as modern Polish art of the last two hundred years. An fascinating museum which we enjoyed greatly. When enquiring as to how all these pieces of art survived the the destruction of the city the reply was that a Gernan art restorer adviced the Polish authorities to place as many pieces as possible into hiding. They did this by distributing the art works to hundreds of locations around the territory- this though didn't stop many from being destroyed or stolen. 

"Marina and Child with a Goldfinch" - 16th century.

Exquisite 15th ccentury woodcarvings. 

After the museum visit we strolled along the south bank of the River Odra which has a great view of the river island, Ostrow Tunski. This is the area where settlement was first made. 

Churches and buildings on the river islands. 

It was when we reached the Market Square that we could see the real attraction of the city  having been given very little money over time for the reconstruction it is amazing the extent of the finish. The square was alive with people with many activities being conducted throughout. 

Pictureque facades. 

Soccer in the Square.

The tradition of woodcarving has been a part of the heritage of this part of the world for hundreds of years. 

Interesting to note that very little English was available in brochures etc where as there was German readily available . I wonder if this was a legacy of Wroclaw once being a German city. The history of the city over the last 75 years is very interesting. 

The day was drawing to a close - and thunder storms were fast approaching - we got on our "bike" and headed for our overnight in the village Zielecice.