Yesterday was one of those days that was full of contradictions. We were frustrated by the sameness of the route, the speeding cars and the lack of infrastructure, not to mention the constant bumps in the road. But then, we met a lovely family and experienced genuine hospitality, accepting an invitation into their home and sharing their midday meal. As always, we saw some amazing things, enjoyed the smiles from people we saw. We were constantly reminded that in this world of cultures which are increasingly homogenized by fast food chains, etc that rural Poland has retained its unique quality and its traditions.
Hotel Aleks in Trzcianka was not a good choice for the night, but it was the only choice available. The setting is nice, close to the lake and bordering on sport fields. However, little is done to maintain the building, internet is poor and breakfast was not to the standard we have grown to appreciate in Poland. For the first time, scrambled eggs were cold and had not been prepared fresh. Our recommendation would be to give it a miss.
We did like the front row view of the soccer field we had from our balcony.
There is a nice beach area on the lake and money has been spent adding better access on brick walk/cycle ways and features like fish structures in the park.
Today the ride was on quiet smooth roads with great views of pretty forest scenes. Now this wasn’t our road, just liked the look of it. The roads seem a lot less busy today being a Sunday.
We stopped to make our lunch at a playground in a village and as we were having our tea and sandwiches we saw an elderly man slowly make his way across the road from his home. He wanted to visit with us but he spoke no English. He was able to ask if we liked Poland, but that was it. He stood quietly for several minutes smiling apologetically and saying his English is bad. He learned a bit of English when he was a boy. Then he said that he knew Marcus and Karen in Canada, do we know them? After that he smiled again and slowly made his way back to his home. We wish we could speak Polish.
After being in the countryside so much, we feel a bit culture shocked to be in Pila, a small city with amenities like this mall and many typical small Polish shops and Skleps in the neighbourhoods.
In the Vivo mall, there was a special event featuring children performing for an event like American Idol. Plus, there was an area where people were making floral headpieces and then posing for photos with their families.
We are staying in Hotel Gromada in Pila. This tall building has been a landmark here since 1938. It has old world charm and comfortable amenities. Most of the tall buildings have massive ads on the sides of them. Our hotel had an ad for dental implants. The hotel has 211 rooms. Surprisingly it costs less than the hotel last night and it includes breakfast.
Poland is a member of the European Union, yet the traditional Polish Zloty currency is used predominately. In small towns and in the county, it would be impossible to use Euros as pricing is only in the Zloty and very little English is spoken. A knowledge of Russian is more useful here as it was taught in school for years. It is a steep learning curve for us to try to communicate as our understanding of Polish is low and our ability to pronounce properly is pretty bad.
Travelling here is so affordable and offers great value. Most hotels,including breakfast, cost about 170 zloty (roughly 35 euros). We find that with the day’s expenses of food and accommodation that we are probably spending half of what we did in Germany....and we are eating well and staying in nice accommodation. That is a perk.
The drab concrete soviet era highrises are brightened up with huge murals.
