(Wrocław's) Ostrów Tumski

There's one in Poznań, there's one in Głogów, but google 'Ostrów Tumski' and the one in Wrocław yields the first page-and-half of results. Tourist Wrocław is more than its old town and market squares; a visit to Ostrów Tumski, the very oldest part of the city, is also obligatory, and nightfall on a hot summer's day is an ideal time to explore. Below: view up ul. Katedralna towards the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. Don't come here looking for a vibrant night-life; you'll be lucky to find somewhere to serve you an ice-cream.

Ostrów (the old Slavic word for island) Tumski is no longer an island, surrounded only on two sides by water. Below: view of Ostrów Tumski from the restaurant on board the boat moored outside Hotel Tumski (***) where I stayed - a good value hotel with an overpriced restaurant where I waited 40 mins for a burger. The six or seven other diners experienced a similar wait.

The optimal way to reach it in terms of visual effect is across Most Tumski bridge (below), now weighed down by tens of thousands padlocks left by couples in love. The keys are traditionally at the bottom of the river. How much all this ironmongery weighs, and what effect it must have on the structural integrity of the bridge, is one for engineers to work out, but it may be that these padlocks will have to go before too long.

Left: gaslighting (in the original sense of the word). The quality of illumination is far more pleasing to the eye than electric light bulbs, but it needs manual activation. The daily ritual of lamplighter doing his rounds is a tourist attraction; not visible in this pic is the small crowd of visitors snapping away with their phones and camera.

Below: the church of St Giles (an odd name; in Polish Idzi, in Latin, Aegidius), the oldest building in Wrocław, built between 1220 and 1241.

Below: looking the other way towards St Giles church, the cathedral to the right. Beautiful cobbles. Might look empty, but I waited for a gap between the tourist groups to get this shot.

On to the adjacent island, Wyspa Piasek ('sand island'), trams run along ul. Św. Jadwigi between ecclesiastical brick; to the left the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary...

...And further along (below), to the right the Orthodox church of Saints Cyril & Methodius.

Below: the Most Piaskowy ('sandy bridge') connects Wyspa Piaski with the mainland. Nice wrought ironwork dating back to 1863.

Below: looking across the Odra river.

I last visited Ostrów Tumski 11 years ago (see this post). Since the, a lot of remont has happened; the city is brighter, more modern yet more traditional, better. When once the only foreign language I'd hear on the streets was German, now I'm bumping into tourists from Scandinavia and Holland, Italy and Spain, the Far East and - of course - Germany. Unlike Kraków, where the commercialisation for the sake of tourism has gone too far ("Guided Tours! Auschwitz/Salt Mines! CHEAP!" - panhandlers, touts, buskers), Wrocław is far more dignified and all together nicer. Can't make up my mind whether I prefer Wrocław to Gdańsk/Tri-City or the other way round...

This time five years ago:
Behold and See - short story - Part IV
[My longest work of fiction thus far...]

This time six years ago:
A new-found fascination for Mars

This time seven years ago:
Rhetorical question: why the fuss?

This time eight years ago:
Varsovians! Ditch the car - buy a quarterly karta miejska
[Today 250zł, still excellent value at 4zł per working day]

This time nine years ago:
The limited interests of mankind's geniuses

This time ten years ago:
Into the fading light

This time 11 years ago:
Ar y Ffordd i Pwyl Rhydd