Okay guess where we are right now:
Okay, you’re thinking “Looks Renaissance-y, bet you WOB and HOB are in Italy”.
Nope. This is Zamość, in Poland.
Yep, we’re in Eastern Poland. Here’s how we got here: ate breakfast at our hostel in Warsaw this morning and took a train to Lublin. Jumped off the train in Lublin and walked until we found a pierogi shop.
I didn’t know how to order so I pointed at a man’s meal and said in Polish “Two please.”
The meal of the day turned out to be kluski, potato dumplings and two lovely cabbage sides—one red and one green. The kluski, which were tender and comforting, were topped with a brown butter and flour sauce (’cause it’s always best to smother starch with more starch).
Our meal cost PLN 12.00, so about $1.50 each for a filling lunch. Plus we got to watch ladies buy huge bags of pierogi while we noshed.
Then we got an other train, which was wonderfully scenic and relaxing, stopping in dozens of small Polish towns. Our hostel is right next to the train station so we dropped our bags and walked straight into the walled city of Zamość.
Zamość, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, pushes all my buttons.
Renaissance arcades? Check.
Clean lined urban planning? Check.
An outstanding, secular-centered town square? Check.
A gazillion details to linger over? Check.
Poor HOB is not feeling well. He’s been down with a bad cold. You know those gross people who cough all over you on the airplane? Yup, that’s him this week. This is what he looked like when our alarm went off early this morning.
If you listen closely in this video you can hear HOB start to make a tapping sound. He’s mad because he warned me to make a video no longer than 10 seconds (and this is more like 24 seconds). That’s because he was fretting over the life of the camera battery, which I admit I gave quite a workout with all the pictures I took in Zamość today. I’ll be sure to write more about the town, and show you more details of the glorious town later. Now I’d better try to get some sleep next to the coughing man.
How we got to Zamość: train from Warsaw to Lublin followed by a bus from Lublin to Zamość.
Where we slept: Hostel Zamość. Price: €32 for a double. Recommended: yes.
Picnic at the Cathedral 
Sleep well and dream of more kluski! And of course cabbage too!
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Thanks Claudia. As a dedicated cabbage lover, I’ve found my culinary home in Poland.
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THANKS! It is always a pleasure to read your blogs, even though due to old age (70+) we won’t be able to follow most of your routes. But this Poland trip we hope to do next year after our annual visit to the International Travel Fair in Berlin in March.
In fact we had planned a trip to southern Poland in spring of this year after ITB Berlin, but it had to be cancelled because husband met a minor accident and the doctor sent him to hospital treatment. As hospital treatment costs in Germany are extremely high compared to India, we decided to return home immediately.
If our travel plans for next spring will work, we wil certainly add the places you visited. Special thanks for the route map and the bus routes plans – such very helpful informations we did neither get at the ITB from one of the Polish stalls – nor from two visits to the Tourist office of Poland at Berlin!!!
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Thanks for your kind words tcrdora. I am sorry to hear about your husband’s accident. I hope he had a swift and thorough recovery. Wow, I’m jealous of your annual trips to ITB Berlin! Hopefully you’ll find your way to Southern Poland comfortably—I’m finding it an especially easy place to travel.
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Looks a gorgeous city, and you get dumplings too, what’s not to like??? Enjoy and hope HOB gets better soon 😉
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Thanks and congrats to you for finishing your epic trip. I going to catch up on your remaining posts when I’m back stateside with more wifi. 🙂
HOB is still coughing but finally starting to feel better, after keeping me and the guests of two different hostels awake all night with his coughing fit.
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Wowsers to this place, my kind of urban ensemble (and clearly yours too)! The videoed panorama of the square caught the atmosphere beautifully — though hopefully no cold germs will convey themselves through the ether!
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I think we both know a gorgeous town when we see it!
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Tell me if you ever get a dinner. In Poland I got used to a large bowl of soup for dinner, and then waiting for the remainder of the meal at the table while everyone else just walked off. I discovered that they all go to a bar after the soup and have lots of piwo.
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Ha ha, that’s so funny because until yesterday we’d only eaten in our room or street food/cafeteria style food. But yesterday we went to a really lovely outdoor place and the soup came right away, then the potato pancakes, and after an hour (and prompting the waiter) we got our fish. Then their was more reminding needed for dessert. However, the food was excellent so it was worth the wait.
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All’s well that ends in dessert, of course.
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The place looks desolate.And I did hear the tap tap.
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All the tourists are in Krakow’s old town….
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Well, you can explore leisurely.
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This city looks ancient and beautiful.
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