Travel Guides: All Countries / Europe / Poland
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| | | | Baltic adventures
From the Daily Mail
The woman at the travel agents couldn't believe her ears. 'A beach holiday in Poland?' she exclaimed. 'But there isn't any sea, is there?' Well, as it happens, there is just the tiniest bit of Baltic at the country's northernmost tip.
Hardly a regular haunt of UK holidaymakers, not least because the nearest town is Gdansk - which conjures up images of grim shipyards bedecked with Solidarity banners, rather than golden sands.
However, the shadow cast by the cranes and industrial chimneys of the Lenin Dockyards does not stretch the 10 miles up the coast to Sopot, the seaside resort that is Poland's Brighton and Blackpool all rolled into one, as well as home to the magnificent Grand Hotel.
Over the past 75 years, the long, dark red corridors of this palatial Art Nouveau pile have been trodden by such distinguished figures as Charles de Gaulle, the Shah of Iran and Val»ry Giscard d'Estaing.
This summer, it was the turn of myself, my wife and three children.
In terms of looks and location, the Grand more than lived up to its name, not merely adjoining the beach, but dominating it.
The hotel even commanded its own private corner of the Baltic, thanks to a thin, ET-like finger of land called the Hel peninsular, which keeps out the chilly, weed-clogged waters that characterise this part of the world.
Five minutes after pillaging a breakfast buffet that included everything from salami to scrambled eggs, and rollmop herrings to honey and gherkins, the children (ages six to 12) were agitating to be out on the beach they could see through the restaurant window.
Only endless repetition of the let-your-food-go-down-first lecture managed to stem the tide of trunk-donning.
And so it continued for the next three days, with swimming and sandcastle-building interrupted only by spells in the hotel beach bar, swigging fizzy drinks and tucking into giant, juicy frankfurters and gently-spiced kebabs at just nine zloty (£1.50) each.
No question that Poland is cheap to visit. Full-scale restaurant-meals for the five of us never rose above the £25 mark and while some of the local dishes were a bit too pickle-and-cabbage flavoured for young palates, we grown-ups loved the bigos (meaty, smoky stew), pierogi (stuffed pasta dumplings) and zurek (sour chicken and potato soup).
Sophisticated would not be a word to apply to Polish cuisine - witness the golonka (fatty boiled pork knuckle) and the ubiquitous chicken and chips (kurczak z frytki), washed down by beer (piwo) or vodka.
Travel guide: Poland
Krakow's a cracker
From the Daily Mail
The sound seems to drift in on the breeze, an eerie echo disappearing almost as quickly as it arrived. The second time, it's sharper but none the less disconcerting. By the third time we are confused.
It is only when a waiter at our pavement cafe points up at the church clock tower that the realisation dawns on us. It is 7pm and, from his eagle's nest, a trumpeter is heralding in the hour before, bizarrely, cutting off mid-tune.
For Krakow, this ritual harks back to a 13th-century Tartar raid on the city that was beaten off after a watchman took up his horn, getting an arrow in his throat in the process.
On the hour, his bravery is honoured with a short trumpet blast that is cut off mid-melody.
The story sums up the troubled and turbulent history of Poland's cultural capital. It's amazing that this medieval gem is still almost intact, having survived the violent tides of European history.
The other great Polish cities of Warsaw and Gdansk were almost destroyed during World War II. But it is in Krakow that the Nazi legacy has really left its mark.
It was home to the best-known Jewish ghetto and it was in nearby Auschwitz that Hitler's Final Solution was put into practice.
Krakow was home to Oskar Schindler, the Austrian industrialist who saved the lives of more than a thousand Jews and whose story was told in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.
A walking tour of the city, taking in sights featured in the film, is the best way to get to know Krakow.
Beginning in the district of Kazimierz, which by the 16th century had become the biggest Jewish community in Europe, we find a wealth of Jewish architecture and synagogues, beautifully preserved with the help of £400,000 of Hollywood money.
Travel guide: Poland
Doing the locomotion
Maybe it's a generation-thing. When I was a boy I wanted to be an engine driver, so did lots of my friends.
That was in the days when steam was king and the men who worked the footplate were demi-gods, as deserving of reverence as any airline pilot.
Part of the pleasure of steam trains was the smell - the pungent aroma of coal smoke shot into the air by a panting locomotive.
You can recapture a flavour of those golden days on numerous preserved rail lines in the UK. You can even turn fantasy into reality on many of them, buying time on the footplate as a 'trainee' driver.
But where do you go to become a working member of a crew on engines operating regular passenger and freight schedules? The unlikely answer is Poland.
Steam is alive and well around the country town of Wolsztyn, in northwest Poland's Wielkopolska region.
Here you can learn to drive locomotives that are an essential part of the region's transport system. Upwards of 4,000 passengers each day and 2,000 tons of freight each week are steam-hauled.
For the past five years small bands of enthusiasts have been making the pilgrimage to Wolsztyn to live out their dreams.
Each course lasts a week and usually involves eight duty spells or some 500 miles of footplate time. Neither age nor sex is a bar. The oldest recruit so far was 81.
The steam network, shared with diesel-hauled workings, runs over three lines and almost 100 miles of mostly single-line track from Wolsztyn to the mainline junctions at Poznan, Leszno and Zbaszynek.
Travel guide: Poland
A land fit for heroes
The Gdansk shipyard protests 20 years ago, led by Lech Walesa, put Poland in the forefront of the Eastern Bloc countries keen to try to shake off Soviet control.
Following the eventual collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989, however, Poland has been slow to emerge from the shadow of the Red Flag.
Other former communist countries have successfully relaunched themselves as mainstream holiday destinations - Hungary and the Czech Republic, for example.
Poland, however, is still largely seen as a slightly forbidding Stalinist place. A great shame, because Poland is one of Europe's friendliest countries - and as I discovered in many ways it is the perfect holiday spot.
One of the more fortunate consequences of becoming an Iraqi prisoner of war at the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 was that I became one of the youngest members of the Royal Air Force Ex-Prisoner of War Association.
It was a real pleasure to spend time with the veterans, sharing many cups of tea, or even pints of beer, and chatting about war.
But my band of elderly friends has diminished in size and over the years I have watched as history passes away. I decided I wanted to write a book and record their amazing stories before it was too late and their experiences were lost for ever.
The first step in the writing process was to try to find some of the old Second World War PoW camps and so I set off for Poland with my co-writer Tony Rennell, alongside a group of air force veterans and their families.
Now in their late 70s and early 80s, they were all anxious to revisit the site of their incarceration for the first time since 1945. Of course, in their hearts, most of them also knew that it was almost certainly going to be their last visit.
After a flight to Berlin we took a five-hour coach journey across the Polish border, north through the industrial areas around Szczecin and into the heart of Pomerania where the main focus for tourists is the multitude of seaside resorts on the Baltic coast.
Travel guide: Poland
Fashionable getaway
From the Daily Mail
Coming up fast on the heels of Prague and Budapest is Eastern Europe's latest fashionable getaway spot. The Polish city of Krakow the country's ancient capital, boasting a remarkably well-preserved Old Town - is an impressive short-break destination, less than three hours' flight from London.
A long weekend is plenty of time to enjoy the flourishing cafe society, historic neighbourhoods, monuments and museums, all under Unesco protection as part of a world heritage site. British citizens don't require visas for short stays. The currency is the zloty: cashpoint machines and currency exchange counters (called kantors) are widespread. English is spoken in hotels, cafes and restaurants, though a phrasebook is useful for deciphering menus.
It's safe to say that you can't miss the Rynek Glowny, or Market Square, Europe's largest medieval square and focal point of the city. Day or night, it's a free show, with its busy covered craft market, felt-hatted coachmen tending their horses, flower stalls and buskers, portrait painters and pavement cafes.
The square sits at the heart of a network of courtyards, churches and flower-decked mansions, which make up the vibrant Stare Miasto (Old Town). To set your watch, listen for the trumpeter's hourly mournful melody from the Gothic St Mary's church Head down beautiful ul. Kanonicza to see the restored mansions at their best. Cafe U Literatow (at number seven) has a shady courtyard, which makes a great cappuccino stop.
Then it's on up to the cathedral, open daily 9am to 5pm (Sunday, 12.15pm to 5pm). Situated on Wawel Hill, the castle is of historic importance to all Poles. Fewer tourists make the 20-minute walk beyond the castle to the Kazimierz district, Krakow's former Jewish ghetto, which thrived from the 16th century until the Nazi occupation in World War II.
This was the location of much of Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List, and at the Jorden book shop (ul.Szeroka 2), you can sign up for a tour of places associated with the film, as well as for excellent historical walking tours. The former Auschwitz concentration camp, 45 miles west of the city, is an even more sombre destination.
Krakow's most popular half-day tour is to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Salt has been mined here for more than 700 years. The two-mile guided walk through cavernous tunnels and galleries is a blast - religious statues carved in salt, gnomes, chapels and chandeliers and, 300ft down on a platform above a salt lake, a brass band playing Roll Out The Barrel. You couldn't make it up. The underground shopping centre does brisk business in bags of natural salt and rock-salt lamps.
The city centre is fairly compact and the largely traffic-free streets make it easy and pleasurable to walk to all the main sights. A yesteryear feel is bolstered by the ubiquitous clip-clop of horse-drawn traps. Boat trips provide fine views of castle and cathedral. The pier is near the Grunwaldzki Bridge and departures are roughly hourly.
Eating out is excellent value - even near the main square you are unlikely to spend more than £10 a head, including drinks, while a beer in one of the pavement cafes costs about 70p. Polish cuisine is not noted for its subtlety, and you can expect hefty servings of meat in sauce, with local specialities such as beetroot soup, stuffed cabbage, dumplings, goose, duck, pike and trout. Trendier restaurants are making an impact, with new takes on Polish and Central European cuisine.
For crafts, the 16th-century Sukien-nice (Cloth Hall) in Market Square is first call for leather handbags, painted and lacquered wooden boxes, jewellery (especially amber) and lace. Kleparski farmers' and flea market (closed Sunday) offers a crash course in the local economy, selling everything from beetroot to fur coats.
Travel guide: Poland
A walk through Poland's wild side
For a room with a view, I couldn't complain. Perched on my toilet seat, I was more than a little enthralled.
Through the skylight of my hotel bathroom loomed the forbidding leaden hulk known as the Sleeping Knight, (Giewont), a 1,895 metre high ridge of the Tatra Mountains overlooking the resort of Zakopane in southern Poland.
My eyes followed the distinctive rocky silhouette of an eye, nose and chin, before a cleft for the neck swooped over an inclining chest and stomach. Legend has it that a dozing warrior awoke to fight off the country's enemies.
Today, Zakopane doesn't have much to fret about – except when the dry, warm mountain wind known as the halny tears through town. Reputed to provoke irritability among the highlanders – as locals are known – this force of nature is spoken about in reverent tones and is even enshrined in law. Normally mild-mannered Poles are excused from minor misdemeanours whenever the legendary halny blasts.
The next one was forecast to arrive within the next 48 hours. I couldn't wait. For now though, as I gazed at the pinky twilight haze and fat fluffy clouds freckling the sky from my loo seat, the scene looked serenely gorgeous.
Which helps to explain how Zakopane manages to attract three/four million annual visitors. Less than two hours drive from Krakow, it has become the country's foremost winter ski resort plus a summer stomping ground for hikers.
Its origins however are rather less inspiring. Local iron deposits helped to establish a steel industry in the 16th century before mining all but sank into oblivion. A renaissance followed in the 1870s when wealthy Poles flocked to this frontier retreat on the Slovakian border. A railway was added, development mushroomed and today Zakopane boasts a population of 30,000.
Admittedly, I was ignorant of all of this before I arrived. So when we rolled past dense forests, gently curving hills and pretty Hansel and Gretel style homes into the driveway of the Hotel Belvedere, I'm not ashamed to say I was slightly gushing.
The next day, there was plenty more reasons to drool when we toured the area. Although there wasn't much in the way of sights, the town's uniquely striking feature was its architecture - multi-layered wooden mansions featuring steep sloping roofs, countless eaves and window frames. Often home to three or more generations of families, many owners now privately rent rooms to tourists for as little as £2.50 per night.
But for sheer fairytale book charm, nearby Chocholow village was hard to beat. It took us barely 10 minutes to walk its length, past picket fences, overgrown gardens and single story timber dwellings - still customarily washed with soap and water by local women.
Unfortunately, I couldn't ask more about this painstaking custom because the street was strangely deserted. Until suddenly, a young woman seemed to appear out of nowhere clad in traditional folk dress. As she approached, I could make out black ballet-style slippers encased in white stockinged feet and an ankle-length red tunic tied over a white blouse by a long scarlet sash. She was dressed like a museum mannequin – and smiled happily as she agreed to pose for photos.
If Chocholow was funereally quiet, Zakopane was positively festival-like when we arrived at the town's main pedestrianised street (Krupowki). Thronging with tourists and shoppers, it turned out to be fairly unremarkable, offering souvenir shops, bars and restaurants, alongside stalls selling smoked sheep's cheese. Soft but highly salty, some found these small golden pacels hard to swallow.
In fact, it helped if you had a gargantuan appetite in Poland. Pork, beef and fish featured liberally on menus, while we needed to loosen our belts for heavy, hearty dishes like ghoulash, pancakes and pierogi – rather bland dumplings stuffed with either veg or meat.
The Hotels Belvedere and Litwor served excellent, generous portions of food, whilst for a taste of authentic local surroundings, we headed to the Czarci Jar restaurant where the live folk band music was so loud I'm sure they could have heard it over the border in Slovakia.
Far easier to savour was the Polish vodka, which I discovered to my cost. One evening, I downed three different flavoured shots – including bisongrass poured from a bottle containing a green blade from the pastures on which the animals are said to graze - in swift succession until my increasingly slurred attempts of Na Zdrowie (cheers) prompted me to head to my bedroom.
The next morning, when we turned up for a 10km trek looking worse for wear, I feared that our normally cheerful guide Januscza would erupt with all the force of the forthcoming halny.
But our enthusiasm made up for our rather jaded appearances and within minutes of leaving the hotel we had entered the national park (Entrance fee – 90p). Other walkers, from toddlers to grandparents and even a nun, bounded ahead of us on the trail.
Under a blue sky and increasingly gusty wind, we climbed steadily, past crystal clear streams, gurgling waterfalls and over slippery forest steps amid towering fir and spruce trees. Less than three hours later, we faced our final hurdle - a steep rock scramble.
Buffeted by the wind, I paused to look up and saw clouds racing furiously overhead. My head spun dizzily. Was this the famous halny, I wondered?
Using all four limbs, I picked my way over the rock before reaching the wind-swept summit of 1,377m high Sarnia Skala Mount. Behind us ominous grey clouds barrelled over distant granite peaks, whilst the Sleeping Knight looked even more perilous at close quarters. Below, Zakopane and the surrounding villages cloaked the wide open valley.
"This was the view - and now we're in it," said Paul in my group as we grinned like a bunch of intrepid explorers.
And he was right. Next time I gazed at the vistas from my hotel bathroom, I had more than one reason to feel satisfied.
* Prices for a week's half board break in Zakopane's four star Hotel Belvedere with Crystal Holidays departing May 13 2007 starts from £520per person, including British Airways flights between Gatwick to Krakow. Book at www.crystallakes.co.uk or call 0870 403 0543.
* Feeling inspired? Book a holiday.
Travel guide: Poland
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| | | | Stolid uninterested
Presentation, too, was on the un-chic side, with most of the restaurants in Sopot's main square offering paper plates and plastic cutlery, accompanied by deafening Western music (since Communism, they've gone overboard on pop and rap).
The same overpowering decibel level was in operation each night till 4.30am at the beach disco. As a result, we asked to swap our grand, high-ceilinged rooms on the ground floor of the north wing to rather humbler accommodation on the top floor of the south wing. Anything to get away from the thump-thump-thump.
This request, as all others, was met with dusty weariness by the team of stern matrons who ran the Grand's reception desk - and seemingly the whole hotel.
Scarcely more animated were the staff at the hotel casino, a gigantic, starkly lit ballroom with fruit machines along one wall and roulette and blackjack tucked into a corner.
The biggest disappointment of the trip was the way in which people remained stolidly uninterested in our attempts to speak Polish, in our daughter having picked up a bad case of gastro-enteritis and in the fact that we seemed to be the only English tourists in the place.
But that said, the week was nothing if not an adventure, combining regular beach romps with a couple of more adult-friendly day-trips.
One was by car to the nearby lakes of Kashubia Province, and the other by train to Gdansk, now restored to the Amsterdam-like beauty for which it was famed before Hitler reduced the city to rubble (it was at Gdansk, known then as Danzig, that the first shots of World War II were fired).
Would we go back? Yes, but not until the children are older. Anyone can brave the Costa Brava, but you need to be a little travel-toughened to take on Poland.
TRAVEL FACTS:
The Grand Hotel, Sopot is on 0048 58 5510041, or visit http://www.orbis.pl/hot_gras.html. British Airways and Lot Airlines fly regularly to Gdansk (flight time is 2hr 15min). For information on holidays in Poland, contact the Polish National Tourist Office, 310-312 Regent Street, London W12B 3AX (020 7580 4488 or http://www.visitpoland.org).
Vibrant and civilised
With a distinctly village-feel, its small cobbled streets and pavement cafes make for a fabulous base to stay in Krakow. At night, students mingle with artists in this Bohemian area, packed with restaurants and bars.
Most of the attractions of the 'Schindler trail' are just 15 minutes' walk away. The main square around Szeroka Street, with its 500-year-old synagogue, for example, was where Jews in the film were rounded up.
Across the River Vistula in Podgorze is where the real ghetto used to be, an area housing the Ghetto Museum (Zgoda Square) and Schindler's factory.
Yet, while this unsettling part of Krakow's past certainly overshadows any visit, it is just as vibrant and civilised as you'd expect of any of Europe's cities of culture.
Set aside all preconceptions of Poland, those bleak images of the Cold War and coal mines. Krakow is awash with good restaurants and shops - and boasts wonderful museums and galleries.
Day or night in Market Square, cavalcades of musicians and entertainers vie for attention. In the evening, candlelit cafes are full of city-dwellers unwinding after work.
Krakow is a city that knows how to party. On Saturday nights, the town centre is buzzing well into the early hours.
Everything is within a five-minute radius, it's a pound a pint, and we quickly acquired a big gang of Polish friends who dragged us from venue to venue.
Just before we take a taxi home, we hear that truncated blast from the bugler. It's 3am - and Krakow's still buzzing.
TRAVEL FACTS:
British Airways (0845 77 333 77) flies direct to Krakow from Gatwick. The family-run Eden Hotel (00 48 12 430 65 65), in Kazimierz, has clean, comfortable rooms. Short breaks to Krakow, including hotel booking, can be arranged by British Airways Holidays on 08702 424243. For more information on Krakow, visit websites www.krakow.pl/en/ and www. explorekrakow.com.
A green giant
On my first morning I was rostered for the 11.10 from Wolsztyn to Poznan - the flagship commuter route of the PKP Polish Railways' steam operation - a 50-mile trip scheduled for 1hr 50min, calling at 16 stations and country halts.
Our locomotive, the pride of the Wolsztyn fleet, was Piekna Helena (Beautiful Helena), a green giant of 1937 vintage weighing 120 tons.
On fast stretches it rattled along comfortably at up to 60 mph with four double-deck carriages behind.
With me was David Eva, 60, a retired electrical engineer from Devon and another first-timer.
We were both under the watchful eye of mentor Howard Jones and the regular Polish footplate crew.
It was Jones, a one-time travel company executive and lifelong steam enthusiast, who set up The Wolsztyn Experience as a non-profit society with financial support from other British steam buffs.
The original plan was to buy a locomotive to run over PKP track.
Encouraged by the Deputy Minister for Transport, Polish Railways had a better idea - to plough back money earned from driver courses into maintaining the last outpost of Poland's steam heritage.
Jones's driving instructions were simple enough - think about how you handle a car and translate that into locomotive driving technique by concentrating on four things.
Mounted above the firebox, the regulator handle is the equivalent of a car's accelerator pedal.
Blue and orange town hall
In July and August, Poles flock to this part of the country to bask in the sun on the white sandy beaches. But in autumn the area is quiet, even deserted, and the best you can hope for is a walk along the beach wearing hat, scarf and gloves.
Our first stop was the small town of Koszalin where we would base ourselves during our visit.
This was the first time I had visited Poland and Koszalin was the epitome of everything I imagined the country would offer.
The fact that a vicious storm was blowing in from the Baltic Sea some eight miles north did nothing to help the grey, drab aura that hung over the city.
The Stare Miasto (Old Town) was badly damaged during the fighting at the end of Second World War and had been rebuilt, in true communist style, using grey concrete and pink paint.
As we wandered among the shabby streets, I was struck by the irony that some of my travel companions had been responsible for the sort of action that had destroyed the heart of these cities.
Luckily, someone from Changing Rooms had obviously helped to rebuild the place and the modern flag-stoned square is dominated by a truly gaudy blue and orange town hall which, on an otherwise miserable afternoon, raised a smile.
Sore heads notwithstanding, we had come to Poland from far and wide to re-discover the past. Roger Allen had made the trip across the Atlantic from Oklahoma with his wife and one of his daughters.
He had been shot down on his 13th mission over Germany in 1944, three of his crew had died and the survivors were eventually imprisoned at Stalag Luft IV (Air Force Prison 4) outside the village of Gross Tychow which is some 25 miles south of Koszalin.
Gross Tychow itself is a tiny village with just a handful of houses, but in 1944 it had been home to some 10,000 Allied prisoners of war.
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| | | | Enormously satisfying
When opening it to leave a station keep a careful watch on the steam chest pressure gauge. Overcook it and the driving wheels slip.
Next the cut-off, the locomotive counterpart of a car gearbox, controlling the amount of steam fed to the cylinders.
You operate it by cranking a 15in wheel, clockwise to increase the percentage cut-off (change into higher gear), anti-clockwise to decrease (come down through the gears).
Braking is probably the most difficult thing to master. An overshoot, leaving the front coaches beyond the platform so passengers have to climb down to or up from the track, is a heinous crime.
Conversely, coming smoothly to a halt exactly alongside the marker post is enormously satisfying.
The fourth essential is the whistle. There are 70 points on the Wolsztyn-Poznan run where roads and farm tracks cross the line. Regular blasts are vital to warn of our approach.
Two other course companions - car dealer Mike Green, 54, and lighting designer Alan Maxwell, 66, both from Hertfordshire - related how, one evening, they spotted a Polski Fiat bowling at speed along a country road seemingly on a collision course with their train.
Despite repeated whistle warnings the car did not slow. Although the regular crew seemed unconcerned, Mike and Alan waited for impact with mounting trepidation.
When only yards away the car abruptly disappeared from view, to pop up on the other side of the line as the engine ran over a bridge.
My own close encounters were with wildlife rather than vehicles. Deer have a habit of leaping across the line just yards in front.
Months and years of captivity
After driving around the local area we eventually found the remote pine forest and the site of the camp which had once imprisoned Roger and his friends.
Today, there is little left to see and without our guide it would have been almost impossible to guess what had once been there.
Nature had taken back the acres which were once four dusty compounds and the 60 or 70 long wooden huts in which men had lived out dreary months and years of captivity.
The miles of barbed wire fencing had gone; so had the watchtowers that stood at every corner. A few brick and stone foundations remained, and Roger, now 78, knelt down and chipped away at them to find a rock, something solid, to take away with him as a memento.
But the camp had not been forgotten. The Polish people who had come to occupy the towns and villages nearby when the War was over were eternally grateful to the men who had sacrificed their freedom.
They built a monument on the site of what had once been Stalag Luft IV, a tribute to the brave Allied prisoners of war. A statue depicting an airman and a propeller towered some 10ft over a large area that had been laid to concrete.
The statue was flanked by flagpoles and two huge boulders carried plaques engraved in both Polish and English.
On the following day, we decided to take a last look at the site. As we drove up the narrow track to the monument we could see that British, American and Polish national flags were now flying from the flagpoles.
As we drew nearer we could see fire engines, official cars and military trucks standing by the road, alongside about 500 people. Having been told that a small party of veterans from Britain and America was coming to visit, the local villagers had turned out in force.
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| | | | Certainly very steamy
Once at the terminus, I looked back along the train from my lofty driver's perch to watch 400-odd passengers disembark, thinking with a certain smugness: 'I brought them here!'
Not quite. Safety considerations do not allow inexperienced drivers to take trains in and out of mainline stations or through passing points, so I had not driven the final five miles.
Other than that, under the constant vigilance of the Polish crew, you pretty much get free rein.
One of my biggest adrenaline rushes came from hauling a freight train to the marshalling yards at Zbaszynek, 17 miles away.
Another high point was feeding a hungry firebox during a stint as fireman. This is not as easy as the professionals make it look, so there was a lot of sweeping up to be done afterwards.
In all there are 12 working locomotives at Wolsztyn and nearly 20 others besides. The daily schedules require just three. Polish Railways has guaranteed the continuation of steam - and the driving courses - until 2006. After that, who knows?
As a regular returnee to Wolsztyn commented: 'It's better than sex!' Well, it's certainly very steamy.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
The Wolsztyn Experience (http://www.wolsztynexperience.org.uk tel: 01628 524876) runs week-long steam driving courses.
The course fee is from £575 and includes accommodation in the society's house a few minutes walk from the Wolsztyn depot, or in a nearby self-catering guest house. Travel to Zbaszynek can also be arranged.
Tree-planting ceremony
The town's mayor and local dignitaries stood to welcome Roger and his comrades as they stepped down from our bus. A detachment of the Polish Army formed a guard of honour.
There were representatives from every army, navy and air force base in the area. Old men with drooping moustaches and weather-beaten faces wore the uniforms of the partisan units in which they had fought the Germans half a century before.
There were speeches and presentations, wreaths were laid. There was a tree-planting ceremony where so many trees had to be planted that even the coach driver and I were asked to take part.
For the rest of our visit the veterans' stories flowed in an almost unstoppable torrent. We drove to Kolobrzeg, a beach resort and health spa rolled into one that attracts over a million visitors each year, where we saw the wreckage of an old B-17 American bomber.
We visited the coastal town of Mielno where wooden fishing boats were parked up on the dune-fringe sands in a vain attempt to avoid the storms.
And as we walked along the promenade, leaning into the cutting wind, they told me how many of the PoWs had arrived by sea, hundreds of them crammed into the holds of old coal ships, never seeing food, water or even daylight for days at a time.
Our trip to Poland came to an end all too soon and my group of elderly travellers returned to the comfort of their retirement homes.
They had made the journey so many of them had been promising themselves for years. I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had witnessed history coming to life.
Sadly, it was almost certainly for the last time.
*The Last Escape, The Untold Story Of Allied Prisoners Of War in Germany 1944-45 by John Nichol & Tony Rennell is published by Viking, price £20
TRAVEL DETAILS:
For further information call the Polish National Tourist Office on 0207 580 6688
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| | Destination Guide : Poland |
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| | | Modern and medieval |  | Why go on holiday to Poland?
Poland is reinventing itself, becoming a multi-faceted country where modern and medieval co-exist. The centres of Warsaw and Gdansk have been lovingly restored and villages seem left behind by the 20th century.
Poland also has beautiful, wild places with rare flora and fauna, and a cold but beautiful Baltic coastline. It's cheap, with hospitable people who welcome visitors.
How much does it cost?
Prices do vary but as a rough guide, four nights in Warsaw and three nights in Krakow in September (including accommodation and breakfast) starts from around £560. Fourteen nights in the Tatra mountains including flights and half board is £500-600, depending on season.
Flights to Krakow start at around £200 return, it's cheaper to fly to Warsaw from £120 return. A room in a palace or castle can be yours from £25 a night.
When should I go?
The tourist season runs roughly from May to September, when temperatures range between 15-23C (59-73F) in Krakow, 10-20C (50- 68F) in Gdansk and 11-24C (52-75F) in Warsaw. July and August are especially busy months.
The best time to go is late spring (mid-May to June) or the turn of summer and autumn (September to mid-October). During winter it's cold and dark, but still good for city visits when the heavy food will be particularly welcome.
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| | | Enjoy outdoor adventure sports |  | What should I do when I'm there?
Apart from city breaks you can take part in the following activities in Poland: hiking in the Pieniny, Bieszczady and the Karkonosze trails. Kayaking in the Krutynia and Czarna Hancza rivers in Masuria.
Sail in the Masturian lakes, windsurf in the Gulf of Gdansk or raft down the Dunajec river. Horseriding is available across Poland and for caving, take your pick from more than 1,000 - mostly in the Krakov-Czestochowa upland and the Tatra Mountains.
What's worth a visit?
After World War II ravaged Warsaw, a handful of historic oases were reconstructed including the Old Town Square, a harmonious blend of Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque elements, with open-air cafes and art stalls.
Krakow, European City of Culture 2000, came through the last war unscathed, so its skyline is dominated by church spires. Be sure to visit the Old Town and University.
Many say that Krakow has everything Prague has to offer at lower prices and with fewer tourists.
Also see the Gothic city of Torun (birthplace of Copernicus), the cultured city of Wroclaw with its old market square, and Malbrok, the biggest castle in Poland.
To remember a shocking period of history see Auschwitz - now known as Oswiecim - or nearby Birkenau. They are exactly as they were when abandoned and partially destroyed in 1945.
What about the great outdoors?
Late spring and early autumn are the best times to visit Poland's Tatra Mountains, an alpine region of towering peaks and steep, rocky cliffs plunging hundreds of metres into glacial lakes. There are countless walking paths from the easy to the expert.
The Great Masurian Lakes form part of an extensive system of waterways that are a prime destination for yachting enthusiasts and canoeists. The Bialowiza National Park is the largest original lowland forest in Europe with primeval plant and animal life.
On the Baltic coast Slowinski National Park is the finest part of the Polish coast.
Festivals and celebrations?
Christian celebrations are big in Poland - particularly evident at Christmas and Easter - but any Sunday is good for getting a taste of Polish devoutness and religious fervour.
Musical highlights include the Music In Old Krakow Festival every August and the Wratislavia Cantans in September in Wroclaw.
Warsaw is a thriving cultural centre, with contemporary music showcases in autumn and the Warsaw Theatre Meetings in January. The Polish Film Festival takes place in Gdynia in November.
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| | | Hearty rich food | | Where's good for nightlife?
Polish jazz is good and you will find the most lively scenes in Warsaw and Krakow. In Lodz and Warsaw you'll find good opera productions - although pricey.
Polish theatre is world-renowned and some of the best companies perform a more physical than language-based theatre, so they are worth seeing even if you don't speak Polish.
Most Polish towns will have bars and cafes nowadays, but vodka dives are best avoided.
Krakow has a wealth of cafes, many in historic buildings and medieval cellars. In the old town you will also find discos and student clubs. Krakow has a lively cultural life including the Piwnic pod Baranami, Loch Camelot and Jana Michalika cabarets.
What's the food like?
Polish food is hearty; thick soups and sauces, potatoes and dumplings, lots of meat but not many vegetables. Characteristic flavours are dill, marjoram, carraway seeds and wild mushrooms.
Favourite dishes include bigos (sauerkraut and meat) and barszcz (beetroot soup) and pierogi (ravioli-like dumplings stuffed with chese, meat or wild mushrooms).
Stuffed cabbage leaves, potato pancakes, knedle or sweet dumplings and dried meat sausages rather like salami are also common and delicious.
Tea and vodka are the favoured Polish beverages. Vodka comes flavoured with bizarre-sounding ingredients - bison grass vodka is surprisingly good. Traditional long meals are interspersed with flavoured vodka shots.
What should I buy?
All Polish towns have Cepelia shops that are good value for craft work - Poles excel at paper cutouts, woodcarving, tapestries, embroidery, paintings on glass, pottery and handpainted wooden boxes.
In Krakow head for the Cloth Hall for every imaginable Polish craft - amber and silver are especially good value. In Warsaw some streets and squares are nearly bazaars but there are also proper markets at Plac Defilad and the Stadion Dziesieciolecia.
What is there for children to do?
Children get discounts on local transport, accommodation and entertainment. There are shops devoted to toys and kids' clothes.
If your children enjoy visiting castles, walking around pretty towns and sitting in cafes, or the many outdoor pursuits on offer, then Poland is the place to take your family. If your kids want a swimming pool, a kiddies' club and fast food... forget it.
Tourist office
Polish National Tourist Office, Remo House, 310-312 Regent Street, London, W1B 3AX. Tel. 020 7580 6688.
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| | Fact File : Poland |
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| | | Poland | | Did you know?
Marie Curie, the discoverer of Radium, was born in Warsaw.
Language
Polish
Visas
Britons can stay in Poland without a visa for up to 180 days. You will need a valid passport.
Getting there
Direct flights to the capital Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow from Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester.
Flying time from London
Four hours
Getting around
In Warsaw - get from the airport to the city centre by bus No. 175. Once there you will find 30 tram routes, 100 bus routes and a metro. In Krakow most attractions are in the Old Town or in easy walking distance. But there are also trams and buses. Taxis are reasonable but make sure you use one from a reputable company. Across Poland the train network is pretty good and where they don't go, buses do. Driving your own car is the best option, but car theft is a problem. Fill up at every petrol station you see as they can be few and far between.
Currency
Zloty pronounced zwo-ti and abbreviated to zl.
Costs
Prices vary, but as a rough guide: bottle of lager 70p, moderate meal £8, four-mile taxi ride £2.50.
Weather
Between May to September temperatures range between 15-23C (59-73F) in Krakow, 10-20C (50- 68F) in Gdansk, and 11-24C (52-75F) in Warsaw, peaking in July and August. The best time to go is late spring (mid-May to June) or the turn of summer and autumn (September to mid-October). During winter it's cold and dark, but still good for city visits when the heavy food will be particularly welcome.
Time difference
One hour ahead of GMT
International dialling code from the UK
00 48
Voltage
220V, 50Hz.
Opening hours
Grocery shops 7/8am to 6/7pm. Delis and supermarkets are open longer - until 8/9pm. General stores open 10-11am and close 7pm (2-3pm on Saturday). The office hours are Mon-Friday 9am-5pm. This is a guide only as hours vary greatly from place to place.
Health - Before you go
Get hold of your NHS medical card - you'll need it to get free treatment in Poland. But this is not extensive cover so you should probably also get travel insurance. No vaccinations are needed or recommended. If you're visiting the lakes in summer take insect repellent, as there are mosquitoes galore.
Health - When you are there
You NHS medical card will get you free hospital treatment and some other medical treatment but you will pay for a doctor's visit and 30% of medicines prescribed. Hospital care is poor especially in rural areas. Most minor problems can be solved by going to a pharmacy - apteka. For more serious trouble ring the embassy /consulate to find medical treatment, or ask anybody for the nearest przychodnia (outpatient clinic).
Warnings
Serious risk of robbery, especially at main train stations, money exchange outlets, tourist sights and on trams. In Warsaw don't go into rundown areas, dodgy-looking suburbs and desolate parks, this goes for all the big cities as crime is on the increase in Poland.
Emergency
Police national emergency, Tel. 997; ambulance service, Tel. 999 - in both cases ask a local to call for you, as the operator won't speak English. British Embassy: Aleje Roz No 1, 00-556 Warsaw. Consular/Visa/Consular Section: Emilii Plater 28, 00-688 Warsaw. Tel. 00 48 22 628 1001-5.
Customs
Poles are more conservative and traditional in behaviour and clothing than westerners - more so in the villages which often still adhere to the traditional spiritual culture. Lewd behaviour, overtly sexual behaviour, homosexuality and skimpy clothing will all receive unfavourable responses in most rural areas. However Poles are also friendly, generous and follow the traditional saying 'a guest in the house is God in the house'.
Pets
Don't take your furry friends - Poland is not part of the Pet Travel Scheme so they will have to be quarantined on return to the UK.
Tipping
Tips of around 10% are expected from Westerners.
Tourist office
Polish National Tourist Office, Remo House, 310-312 Regent Street, London W1B 3AX. Tel. 020 7580 6688.
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| | Available rental properties in Poland |
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| |  | | Cracowstay Luxury Apartment, Krakow City Centre
Our Krakow apartment is located in one of the most charming parts of Krakow, 5 mins away from the main tourist attractions in historic center of Krakow. It has all it takes to enjoy your holiday
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Quality Vacation Rental Apartment in Center of Krakow with Great View.
Central Holiday Flat in Krakow, Poland.
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English owners Beaut 5x2 bathroom home with panoramic mountain views, close to Krakow, The Salt mine, Aushwitz, Zakopane Tatra mountains and Slovakia.
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Holiday cottage in peaceful Brenna resort: beautiful mountain views, trails, skiing in Beskidy mountains with Wisla & Szczyrk, Krakow, Wieliczka, Aushwitz nearby. Sleeps 6-8 people.
|  | | Starowislna Luxury Apartment
The Majestic And Spacious (140M Sq.) Old World Starowislna Apartment, Its Impressive Wooden Staircase And Large Solid Oak Dining Room Table Awaits You.
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Holiday Rentals in Poland |
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