We ended up in Lublin because we missed our bus to Sandomierz. We woke up early in Zamość because HOB was having coughing fits and, though the guy at our hostel had explained how to get to the bus station by local bus, we decided to walk instead and enjoy one final stroll through the glorious old town of Zamość. Well that was a good idea, until we realized we’d walked to the wrong station and had to sprint to another station which also turned out to be the wrong one. (Why does a smallish town have three bus stations?) By the time we reached the the correct station we’d missed our bus (which I’d already bought tickets for, grrrrrrr). Without being able to speak Polish I had limited ability to sort out how to get to Sandomierz but someone told us to get on a minibus to Lublin and make a transfer, so we did.
Since it seems to be a requirement that we have a terrifying minibus ride in every country we visit, our driver to Lublin—let’s call him Mario Andresski—drove like he was making an emergency pierogi delivery to Pope John Paul II himself. Well any way, neither of us threw up and we made it to Lublin with a couple of hours to spare until we had to catch the next minibus to Sandomierz.
Fortunately the old town of Lublin is right outside the minibus station so we trotted up a steep hill into an area of lovely old buildings.
My motto in life is “always stay fit in case I miss a bus somewhere and have to spend the afternoon walking uphill on cobblestones while wearing my backpack.”
Lublin is a 700 year old town with lots of Jewish history: it was once a center for Jewish Universities (and later a place where Jews were slaughtered by Nazis). We stopped into the tourist center for a map and there was a couple from Israel researching their family roots in the area.
We ran around with our map like crazed tourists. This 13th century Tower of the Trinity is mighty handsome, isn’t it?
We peeked into the 16th Cathedral of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist (perhaps affectionately known as John² by locals). This delightful trompe-l’œil ceiling painting is by Jozef Majer.
Long live the mustache-boob pillar.
We were running out of time and didn’t have a chance to find picnic supplies so we bought sausages at a stand. They were pretty tasty and it wasn’t like we were going to leave Poland with trying a Polish sausage anyway….
Our last stop was at the bathroom at Lublin’s minibus station, which in fact was the highlight of our visit. HOB was treated to this mural over the urinals.
And for the ladies? Helloooo!
A town that has a poster of squirrel testicles in the bus station? That, my friends, is a fine town to accidentally detour in.
How we got to Lublin: mini bus from Zamość.
Where we slept: Pokoje Goscinne na Szlak a Jablkowyn (in Sandomierz). Price: €42 for a double. Recommended: yes.
Picnic at the Cathedral 
Very alucky musing as always😀😀😀
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Thank you. If we are going to do something embarrassing like miss a bus we might as well get some laughs out of it….
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I agree – you have prompted me to write a post about a missed train in France some years ago that has been long talked about.
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Apologies – I see my typing and predictive text got the better of me. I meant amusing!
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Informative and funny. Always enjoy your posts.
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Hey thanks! How’s the job hunting going?
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Sometimes the detours turn out to be as much fun as the route carefully planned. Loved the bathroom murals!
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Those murals! I’m trying to imagine any public transportation center in the US that would have murals like that but can’t imagine it. Our loss.
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Very lucky! If you’d caught the tight bus you would have missed the most interesting toilets in Poland. I note that in future if I pre-book bus tickets I should miss the bus. I’ve only done that with flights till now. More expensive and not nearly as interesting.
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If you ever find more interesting toilets let me know—I’ll be on my way.
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Oh how I admire your energy, sense of humour and adaptability. Putting Lublin on my bucket list.
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Thanks, though, just between you and me there may have been some undisclosed swearing that I failed to mention in the post….
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[…] one of my favourite travel blogs, Picnic at The Cathedral and WOB’s hilarious reflections on missing a bus in Poland and was immediately reminded of missing a train in Bordeaux on Bastille weekend and the […]
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Such a lovely place…and… interesting toilets 🙂
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Public toilets are pretty much my favorite subject—glad I’m not the only one who finds them interesting. 🙂
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Lol… Only when they are artsy… 😛
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I want to know how the Polish sausage was…
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The sausage tasted fine, though my favorite part was the crispy onions on top.
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Can you tell what I do when I travel? My stomach’s growling…
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Brilliant 😀
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Thanks! 🙂
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Whimsical toilet art!
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Yeah, I don’t normally look to public toilets for whimsy. There were actually more funny murals but taking photos in a public bathroom is a pretty sketchy undertaking.
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