August 15, 2015
Bialystok: Planning
I had a terrific night last night. It was comfortable and quiet and I had an uninterrupted sleep. Of course, I woke up at about 5 a.m., which is when the light in the room started changing. I need to learn how to sleep through that! I threw out my mask because I had it on the night before the eye infection became evident, and I thought it might be contaminated.
I got up slowly and packed. I had breakfast at the hotel, which I had opted for when I checked in. It was great! There was the usual assortment of bread and cheese and cold cuts, as well as butter and jam and nutella, and my choice of "hot appetizer", which was eggs scrambled in butter with ham. It was delicious. I had two cups of cappuccino from the fancy espresso machine. With the nice room and AC and good breakfast, the Verde Hotel was my oasis in the desert.
I chose to ride the 16 to Bialystok. It is a bigger road than the ones I used yesterday, but the most direct route. I figured that with an early start and a short riding day, it would be okay. It was. There were a couple of long steep hills that I can feel in my thighs tonight, but overall a good ride.
Before I left Sokolka, I booked a room for tonight at the Cultural Orthodox Guest House. Or something like that. It turns out to be a guest house next to and run by the Orthodox Church. I have a view of the church from my room.
If you look closely, you can see the bells in the tower, and also a man standing in there. He rang the bells intermittently for about half an hour, and then a sustained ring, which was followed by a choir concert and what sounded like it may have been a sermon. Not too bad, although I hope the bells don't chime through the night!
Bialystok is a mid-sized city. I'm near the Centrum, where there are a couple of big churches, and a big cobblestone square that is lined with cafes. It's pretty, and doesn't feel too over-crowded.
I got in around noon, took a shower and rinsed out some clothes, and headed to the tourist information office to get some train schedules. I hadn't seen any signs for the office, but my hotel gave me the address. The office was closed, perhaps permanently. No worries, I also had a guide to Bialystok with the address for another tourist office. I went there, in the opposite direction from my hotel. As I approached, there was a sign with an arrow pointing away from where I thought it should be. I followed the arrow, but didn't find it. Then I recalled reading somewhere that the kids like to turn the signs around to confuse people. It works! I went back to where I expected it to be and found the office, but with a sign on the door that it was closed for a few days and a referral back to the first office that was also closed. Again, no worries, I'll just go to the train station, which was about a mile walk from where I was.
I should probably explain that I have decided to short circuit Poland with a train to Krakow. I found out that to get to Krakow you need to go through and change trains in Warsaw, so I figured I would stop there for a day or 2 to see the city. The information I found online for the train to Warsaw was confusing and inconsistent, so I was trying to get the real schedule.
At the train station, with the help of a young guy who spoke reasonably good English, I found out that there is some track maintenance going on, and that it requires a bus transfer, that the bus transfer doesn't allow bikes, so (as the ticket agent put it) it's impossible.
I didn't make much progress with the question of "where can I go with my bicycle?"
There was a sign at the train station for a hostel that said basically, "we speak English, let us help you". So off I went. When I got to the hostel and tried to explain that I just wanted some information, the woman at reception didn't understand. She thought I was trying to find my bike. Then someone came by with better English who said that, yes, it is a problem. The only way to get to Warsaw with a bike is on a bus where it is not really permitted, and to try to sweet talk the driver into taking it. Its risky because you have to buy a ticket, which you will lose if the driver won't take the bike. I asked the same question: where can I go by train with my bicycle. It turns out that one answer is Gdansk. Gdansk was one of the places I initially wanted to see in this trip, but I gave it up to ride through the Baltic countries and continue south. There is direct train, Bialystok to Gdansk, and another Gdansk to Krakow, so although it's out of the way, it will work out about the same as going through Warsaw, and I'll get to visit Gdansk, which I've heard is a beautiful city.
Before I started the trip, I wanted to visit the Bialowescza Forest, which is original forest in Europe with the opportunity to see European Bison. I've chosen to skip that part of the trip. I've ridden through enough forest, and don't need to see a special one. I had also plotted out my trip through to Bialystok, but left it vague beyond that. Poland is a pretty big country, as Europe goes, and I feel okay bypassing a big part of it in the train. Going to Krakow moves me a little further west, which I'm also okay with.
Uh, oh. The chimes are going again.
Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,342 km (833 miles)
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