Torun Poland – Midieval town

Through a recommendation from a colleague, my wife and I visited the medieval town of Torun. Torun is about a 3-hour drive from Warsaw. The roads are in exceptionally good condition outside of Warsaw, so it was quite easy to travel. However, the driving culture of Polish drivers can be a bit stressful. They can be overly aggressive. Although I was driving at 115-125 KPH (70-75 MPH) other drivers wanted to pass me and they would really get close to my back bumper, despite the speed. Sometimes I felt like they were in my back seat. A good consequence to this aggressive driving was that there was not anyone just “Sunday Driving” in the left lane. You would only use the left lane to pass other vehicles. This driving culture is quite common in Poland. It is a bit unnerving, and I must really concentrate while these yahoos are in my rear-view mirror!

 

Anyway – Torun. Torun has been registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. It is a medieval settlement established in or around the eighth century.

 

We visited the home of the most famous local figure – Nicolaus Copernicus. His notoriety was that he established the model that put the sun in the middle of our solar system, not the Earth. Prior to that, the Earth was the middle solar system. His home is now a museum that has displays that are in English, Polish, and German. Each display had an interactive activity to read or watch so that I could understand the area even better. I have found monuments for Nicolaus Copernicus in several cities throughout Poland.

 

Gingerbread: Well, I must admit I was never a fan of Gingerbread. However, we came across a store in Torun that had Gingerbread that was awesome. It was impressive. I loved them and could not stop eating them. Fortunately, it did not have any impact on my blood sugar. The sweet flavor is derived from honey rather than corn syrup, sugar, or fructose. The ones that I really liked the most had black pepper (“Pepper Bread”) added to the batch. These originated during the Middle Ages as “Knights” brought pepper from the middle east to Europe. They also sold Gingerbread cookies that were about 15 cm (6”) in diameter that had pictures of bees and other animals in the frosting. The images were amazing. Great gifts for family and friends. The store we stopped at was “Iga Sarzynska.” I will be ordering more Gingerbread from them. It was well worth the stop.

 

The old town has two half-circle walls with ramparts outside of these walls. There was like an alleyway where the two walls were closest. I’m pretty it was controlled access to and from the river. Most had had the major restoration completed during the last century. Some interesting buildings were the; Leaning Tower of Torun, which was really leaning, and the ruins of the Teutonic Knights Castle or Torun Castle. The ruins of the bridge crossing the “Wistula” (pronounced “Vistula”) river which runs completely across the country of Poland from the Baltic Sea to the mountains near the Czech Republic. These ruins represented one of the two bridges that crossed the 1,000+ KM (650+ mile) river. The other was in Krakow. Therefore, trade from the western part of Poland and Germany had to go through this bridge. This brought trade to the area between western and eastern areas around what is now Eastern Europe. The gate in the city wall for the bridge was built in 1432. There was a sign at the site that said that the bridge was destroyed by floods and/or ice on a fairly routine basis and had to be reconstructed each time.

 

We stayed in a charming hotel with one strange feature. The bathroom did not have a door. During all my travels in the world, the only place that I have ever encountered a bathroom without a door was during boot camp in Great Lakes, IL. Those of you who have served understand this dilemma. My wife has never encountered that. We made do with that shortfall by using the restrooms in the lobby. Oh well, it was a last-minute reservation, and it was the only room left. I will call in camping!

 

Restaurants in the city were plentiful. We stopped at “Sznyt na Winklu.” I have no idea how to pronounce this name. This restaurant is a traditional Polish restaurant with a genuinely delightful atmosphere. We really enjoyed the experience. Small dinner and drinks for almost 170 Zloty ($40). It was not only a great deal it was also incredibly good. Not to mention – good for my Glucose levels.