More Sandomierz photos

Like Edinburgh, the visual beauty of Sandomierz's architecture requires more than one post to cover. [Here's a link to the first post, from yesterday.] Below: looking towards the Old Town square from ul. Mariacka.

Below: the Church of St Michael the Archangel on ul. Żeromskiego. The building to the right on Powale Górne is a new build; Google Streetview imagery from 2013 shows it still under construction. Sandomierz cares about keeping the architecture unified. Note too lack of graffiti.

Left: golden cobblestones along ul. Bartolona, leading down towards the Podwale. Note the massive brick buttresses holding up the walls.

Below: the Bishops' Palace on ul. Mariacka, the road that leads from the Old Town square to the castle, passing the cathedral on the way.

Below: the colonnaded passage in front of the post office, the Opatowska gate is visible in the distance.

Left: under a perfect azure sky, lit by strong late-August sun, the colours of the houses on the Old Town market square are most impressive. There's a similarity with Warsaw's Starówka, though the buildings are lower, two-three storey structures on the square, and one-two storey structures on the streets running off it.

Below: an ice cream and waffle stand on ul Gen. Michała Sokolnickiego

Below: looking down Sokolnickiego towards the Old Town market square.

Sandomierz, I will be back!

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When do we want it? NOW!"

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Sandomierz - another outstanding Polish town to see

I rate towns and cities the following way: there are places that are so excellent that I could see myself retiring there. Then there are places to spend a long time living and working. Next up, somewhere to spend a holiday. Then the town or city that's worth a long weekend. Then the town or city that makes it worth breaking a journey to visit and see the sights. Then there's various shades of 'don't bother'.

Sandomierz, which I've now visited four times, is quite simply an amazing historical town, it keeps getting better with each visit, as though the local authorities know what they need to do to continually improve it as a draw. Today, I'd rate Sandomierz as long weekend-plus. The town itself has plenty to see, and the surrounding countryside - especially on a weekend like this one - is quite beautiful.

I arrived at the castle at noon to chair a panel at a trade conference aimed at the region's fruit and veg growers. After the conference, I had time to explore the town. Below: from the castle, the view of the Cathedral Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1360.

Below: the interior of the cathedral. Twelve gory paintings (one for each month) depict the deaths of Christian martyrs, blood spewing, severed heads; things to distract from lengthy sermons.

Below: the vicarage, across the road from the cathedral. Very much an ecclesiastical town, many priests, monks and nuns are to be seen.

The Brama Opatowska is the gate at the northern end of the town. This Gothic structure dates back to the second half of the 14th Century, built by King Kazimierz III the Great. He's the builder-king that came to power when Poland was largely built of plants and left it built of brick. This was one of four main gates and the only one to survive to this day.

If amber is the tourist take-home in Gdańsk, here in Sandomierz it's striped flint (or banded flint), a rare stone that is to be found in abundance in this region of Poland. Many workshops and souvenir stores sell all manner of jewelry, cuff-links, tie pins and the like featuring this stone set in silver.

Below: the Old Town square, beautifully remonted since my last visit to Sandomierz in January 2006. Back then it was grey and crumbling; today, it is vibrant and appealing. EU (and Swiss) funds have been put to good use.

Below: I stayed at the Aparthotel strategically located on the Old Town square, with an excellent and comfortable room overlooking the back, away from the noise. Price for apartment: 280 złotys, £56 (Wow! suddenly Poland starts looking pricy when comparing with a weak pound!)  Only disappointment with the hotel was the breakfast (see further down).

Left: this Old Town wicket gate (furta miejska), is the one surviving of the two built. This, the Dominican wicket, is known as the ear (not eye) of the needle. Steep steps lead down to the Podwale; the Bistro Podwale offers good food and a great range of craft beers and ciders including my favourite Polish cider - Cydr Ignaców.


Below: plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants in and around the Old Town. Prices lower than Warsaw, higher than Zamość (half-litre of local beer, 8 złotys).

Below: Sandomierz's town hall stands in the middle of the Old Town square. Like the cathedral and the gates, it is Gothic and dates back to the second half of the 14th Century, although the white tower was added on in the 17th Century.

Below: looking southeast from the steps of the Basztowy hotel. Across the Vistula lies Tarnobrzeg and in the distance, Rzeszów.

After the slap-up dinner of local produce laid on by the organisers, my colleagues from our Kraków office set off for home (Sandomierz is a three-hour drive from Warsaw, a three-hour drive from Kraków). Below: a night-time view of the castle.

This morning I slept until half past eight, had breakfast (poor! powdered coffee, no fruit juice, no fruit, no salad - just bread, butter, ham and cheese) and decided to spend more time looking around Sandomierz. Below: the Town Hall, lit by strong morning sunlight.

Left: I've not seen these before in other tourist hot-spots. Sandomierz has a fleet of these Chinese-made electric powered replicas of the Ford Model 'T' to convey tourists on guided tours of the town silently and aesthetically. Full marks to Rariro (Guangzhou) Vehicle Co Ltd for making these. There's a global market for such heritage vehicles. Faux they may be, but they are so much more fitting than golf carts.

Below: the old town of Sandomierz stands on a hill rising 40m to 50m over the Vistula river. Every now and then, you can catch a glimpse of the river and the plains beyond.

Below: this could be Tuscany. This beautiful town is quintessentially European in its history, culture and architecture.

Below: half past ten, time to set off back to Warsaw on my motorbike. The fine way. To Zawichost, by ferry across the Vistula, thence via Annopol, Puławy, Wilga and Góra Kalwaria home.

If you've not been - go! You will not be disappointed by Sandomierz. Finally, a thank-you to Tomek from our Kraków office, who schooled here and showed us round with the expert knowledge of a local.

[I took so many interesting photos I needed to put together another post to accommodate them all - click here for more Sandometer!]

This time two years ago:
Food hygiene and lies as Russian foreign policy tools

This time three years ago:
Asphalt for ul. Poloneza (to Krasnowolska at least)

This time four years ago:
A welcome splash of colour to a drab car park

This time five years ago:
To Hel and back in 36 hours

This time seven years ago:
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Świdnica - one of Poland's unknown pearls

I've just returned from Świdnica, south-west Poland, going there and back by night train - an institution that's a very effective combination of transport and nocleg (a useful two-syllable word in Polish that needs several English words to convey - 'accommodation for the night'). A one-way journey costs 145 zlótys (about £25), leaving W-wa Wschodnia at 22:18; I wake up in Wrocław eight hours later. The same train carries me on to Jaworzyna Śląska, and on from there to Świdnica, for the Kongres Regionów. This is a major annual local government get-together at which I'll be talking about the UK experience in public-private partnerships. I return the same evening, and arrive in Warsaw's W-wa Wschodnia at seven this morning. In the meantime, W-wa Wschodnia has been reopened (more on that anon).

Travelling around Poland is becoming easier and cheaper. The appearance of a new airline, OLT Express, has forced state carrier LOT to slash its prices on internal routes. The new motorway between Warsaw and Łódź will been deemed 'passable' by the Polish government in time for the football (though the S2 southern Warsaw bypass will not be ready). However, the night train, where available, is for me the ideal way of covering longer journeys across Poland.

Now, Poland is full of noteworthy or even stunning gems, hidden away, unknown to most Poles. I had no idea, for instance, that Świdnica is home to the world's largest wooden church of UNESCO heritage status. It is quite breathtaking.

I suspect that one of the reasons it is not promoted more widely within Poland is because it is so clearly German. From the outside, it looks un-Polish – indeed, from certain angles it would not be out of place in Warwickshire or Kent. The black-and-white timber-framed church sits among greenery at its greenest now, late May. But a quick look at the tombstones – they are all in German. A few names hint at Polish roots, germanised.

Inside, a party of Germans in their early 60s is being conducted around the church, with a German-speaking guide. As I leave, soon after they do, another group enters the church – German teenagers on a school visit.

I am minded of my visit to Lwów/Lviv – seven years ago. There's a constant nagging worry at the back of the mind – Lwów/Lviv was so clearly a Polish city – the pavements, the walls, the squares, the churches – are testament to that. So if it was Polish – shouldn't it be Polish now? And Schwiednitz, in alte Niederschliesen... it was German – shouldn't it be so now? There are the obvious ins-and-out of 20th century history, but in places like this, the dissonance is evident.

The church itself is a clear case. It was – and remains – a Protestant, Lutheran church, in a Catholic country. What amazed me, however, was its interior – it drips with Baroque, in its mitteleuropaische version. I expected dourness and austerity – yet the Baroque is so over-the-top as to feel at home in any counter-reformation Roman Catholic cathedral. And the smell... that unique smell of a centuries-old wooden church.

Wrocław, which I feel I know fairly well, has had is more Germanic edges filed down, softened, over the decades, while Świdnica – not so cosmopolitan, not so knowing, has been left looking as it did in 1939, with the bomb damage filled in, 1960s style.

This time last year:
New lick of paint for W-wa Powiśle station

This time two years ago:
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This time three years ago:
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