History and Mystery

WORLD TRAVEL 61 History and mystery A trip to her motherland in search of Poland’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites takes Iga Motylska to medieval castles, cavernous salt mines, primeval forests and cities of dragons and dwarves The Royal Castle (far right) towers over the capital Warsaw’s old town WORLD TRAVEL 63 t least once a year, Cloth Hall for sheepskin slippers, amber waters of the Vistula. The grassy banks IA visit family in Poland. On my most jewellery and other souvenirs. The radial are popular with locals looking for a quiet recent trip, before my relatives had too cobbled alleyways lead me to the fortress retreat or a picnic spot. I bid farewell to much time to fatten me up, I rented a that encircles the city centre, which is in the sinking sun on a cruise downstream. car and took to the road. My mission: turn surrounded by a man-made forest, I’ve set aside a day to visit two more to explore a few of the country’s 14 home to hundreds of squirrels. World Heritage Sites – each less than an UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I hit On its outskirts is the Jagiellonian hour from Kraków. The concentration play on a Best of Polish Rock CD and University, which dates back to 1364. camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, built by set out, travelling from Kraków in the Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer the Nazis on occupied Polish land, is a south to Wrocław in the west; then on who postulated that the sun was at the sobering reminder of the World War’s to Warsaw in the interior and finally to centre of our solar system, studied here. tragic impact. Wilted roses left by visitors the north-eastern border with Belarus. Further along, but still within walking distance, Wawel Hill rises up from the Kraków In Kraków, legends are intertwined with HERE BE DRAGONS… history and still told as bedtime stories. A legend dating from the 12th century It comes as no surprise then that the city’s tells that a fire-breathing dragon lived in historic centre has been given UNESCO a cave beneath Kraków’s Wawel Castle World Heritage Site status. As I ascend and terrorised the town’s inhabitants – the 82m-high tower of St Mary’s Basilica, he particularly enjoyed devouring young I can admire the Gothic and Renaissance maidens. Finally, a cunning shoemaker’s apprentice named Skuba coaxed the architecture of the town square. Down dragon from his lair with a dead sheep, below, pigeons are frightened into flight which he had filled with sulphur. After by horse-drawn carriages, settling again eating the sheep, the dragon had such on the outstretched hands of tourists – bad heartburn he drank from the Vistula provided they are full of grain. River until it was almost empty. In fact, Kraków unfurls her many tales on a he drank so much, it made him swell daily free walking tour that begins at the and explode! A bundle of bones – said to be his – still hangs chained up at the foot of the basilica. Wooden marionettes entrance of Wawel Cathedral. wink at me as I browse the stalls of the The main market square in Kraków bustles with people in summer 64 WORLD TRAVEL Take in the sights of Wrocław with a trip along one of its many waterways dangle from the barbed-wire fence at the with its tumultuous history is built on entrance. Rooms filled with possessions 12 islands, with more than 130 bridges – glasses, shoes, luggage – are an abacus arching over the Oder River. You can counting the camp’s 1.1 million victims. hire a rowing boat, kayak or motorboat It’s with a lighter heart that I descend to explore the waterways on your own, the 378 steps into the Earth’s cool belly or join a catamaran sightseeing cruise. at Wieliczka Salt Mine (never fear, there The local joke is that the city is ruled is a lift to the top!). Images chiselled into by dwarves. There are 300-odd dwarf the large, reinforced concrete structure the walls tell stories of the mine’s 13th statues throughout Wrocław, with the marked a development in engineering century origins. The large underground number growing annually. One figure and architecture. The quatrefoil form lakes are outshone only by subterranean reads a book beneath a toadstool, while seats 6 000 people, making it an ideal St Kinga Chapel with its salt statues and another slides down a lamp post. There venue for exhibitions, music concerts crystal chandeliers. are a pigeon keeper and a sleepwalker and theatrical productions. too, each one adding its own touch of Wrocław magic. Take the dwarf tour, or get the Warsaw free smartphone map to discover them Over the centuries, Wrocław has been at your leisure. Old and new coalesce in Poland’s capital. claimed by the Kingdom of Poland, the Then there is the Centennial Hall, During the Second World War, 90% of Austrian Empire, Bohemia, Hungary, Wrocław’s UNESCO World Heritage the old town was destroyed, yet valiant Prussia and Germany. The Island City Site. When it was completed in 1913, reconstruction efforts – the Royal Castle was rebuilt from its own rubble – earned the historic centre UNESCO Cultural Built in 1913, the Centennial World Heritage Site status. Here, open- Hall in Wrocław was a air cafes and art galleries spill out on to pioneering engineering feat pedestrianised walkways and umbrellas outline the town square. Warsaw’s medieval landmarks stand parallel to its more recent communist architecture and its modern skyscrapers. The controversial Palace of Culture and Science, which remains Warsaw’s tallest building, was gifted to the nation by the Soviet Union in 1955. I photograph the cityscape from the observation deck on the 30th floor, as trams wind their way through the streets below. The Atelier Amaro, Poland’s very first Michelin-starred restaurant, is a shining example of the city’s old-new amalgam. 66 WORLD TRAVEL GOOD TO KNOW The basics Poland is bitterly cold in winter, so it’s best to visit from May to September. For more on when to go and what to see, visit the Polish National Tourist Office website. www.poland.travel Getting there Emirates operates daily flights from Cape Town and Joburg to Warsaw, via Dubai. You will find a monument to As with other European Union countries, Frédéric Chopin in the park South Africans require a Schengen visa of Warsaw’s Łazienki Palace to visit Poland. For all the details, contact the Polish embassy. www.pretoria.msz.gov.pl The shell of an old municipal bathroom from France. It was later sealed within a has been reimagined into a culinary studio pillar of the Holy Cross Church (another Getting around that creates 21st century Polish cuisine: landmark lovingly reconstructed after think salmon cured in beeswax and spare being destroyed in the war). PKP (Poland’s railway) and PKS (Poland’s ribs prepared in hay, paired with a variety regional and local buses) are reliable. Most of vodkas. Białowieza National Park cities have a subway or tram system. Warsaw pays homage to perhaps its If you’d like to rent a car, you will need an most famous resident, composer and Herds of woolly European bison roam international driver’s licence. This is easily pianist Frédéric Chopin, on Sundays, what was once the royal hunting ground. obtainable via the AA. with recitals held at his monument in The 15 200 ha Białowieza National Park Visit www.aa.co.za and click on ‘Travel’ the Łazienki Palace’s gardens. Pack a – which covers only one sixth of the huge and ‘Going overseas’ for more info. picnic and enjoy. Chopin deeply loved forest by the same name, which stretches his home town and – as per his wish – into neighbouring Belarus – is Poland’s Currency after he died, his heart, preserved in a oldest national park. The very last wild jar of alcohol, was smuggled back here European bison died in 1919. Yet, after While Poland has been a member of the decades of breeding and conservation European Union since 2004, it retains its European bison roam efforts, the park is now home to around own currency. The złoty is worth roughly wild once again in 500 of these large beasts. three South African rands, with prices on Białowieza National Park Białowieza is Europe’s last remaining par with those at home. OTO temperate primeval forest, its innermost ckph reaches having grown for around 800 TO is , years with no human interference. This S E G UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site In the airport lounge at the end of A boasts 52 mammal and 120 bird species. my trip, I sip on a glass of Zubrówka im ETTY The moss-covered forest floor – there are (bison grass) vodka (I challenge you to G around 200 moss species in the park – try that tongue-twister after a few of ALLO/ G is one of its distinguishing features. them). It is named after the European , Besides my footsteps, bird calls and bison (zubr in Polish) and each bottle is ORB the occasional distant grunt, all is silent. contains a blade of the grass on which C A, There’s a sense of seclusion on each of the animal likes to feed. Pale yellow in sk the four guided walking trails leading colour and with a slight taste of anise, A MOTYL into the depths of the forest. Along the I enjoy mine on the rocks with a dash G two cycling trails (18 and 38 km), you of apple juice.

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