Poznań, Poland

All of our unfair stereotypes about Poland vanished when we arrived in Poznań. We were picturing a dreary, industrial landscape, but were surprised by beautiful pastel-painted buildings, a wonderful museum of Polish art, and delicious, cheap meals. The city's main attraction is its old market square, Stary Rynek. We visited the town hall, which has been turned into a small museum of local history. Both here and in the art museum we were dutifully followed by a gaggle of middle-aged docents, who are there to make sure you don't touch anything (or take pictures, in the case of the town hall, where the privilege costs you an extra 7 zloty). It was pretty amazing to see an entire museum dedicated to artists we'd never heard of, and artistic movements Western Europe has more or less forgotten - the museum included an excellent collection of Polish Symbolist art, something we didn't really know much about, but which is apparently finally getting its due in an exhibit at the Tate Modern in London.

We enjoyed some great food in Poznań, too. We had pierogis for lunch and Polish Jewish cuisine for dinner, and bought honey liqueur at a local food shop. Although we only spent one day here, it was definitely worth seeing.

Ostrów Tumski, a cathedral on the east side of the city.




One of the many open-air markets we saw.


Stary Rynek, Poznań's town square.





Facades in Stary Rynek.


The Pope Crosses record each visit the Pope has made to the city (we think).

One of the university buildings.