One night a few weeks ago, while out to drinks compliments of the Google Krakow recruiting team, a coworker of mine mentioned she was from a large city to the west of Krakow called “Vrot-swav.” She talked about how pretty it was and how it was hard for her to leave the city for Krakow.
Of course, I felt like an utter idiot because I could not figure out what city she was talking about. Now, my geography is not great, but I have looked at Google Maps several hundred times since getting here, and I could not recall ever seeing a “Vrot-swav.” When a few hours later another foreigner from Jamaica didn’t know what “Vrot-swav” was, I finally asked for the spelling – “W-r-o-c-l-a-w” with a stroke along the “l.”
A few weeks and several more stories of Wroclaw later (and after a coworker from Warsaw said that he thought Wroclaw was better for tourism than Krakow), I decided I’d be a real Pole and take a weekend trip to see what all the hype was about.
Wroclaw is often described as a Polish Venice, but just leaving it at that would not do the city justice. It’s a gorgeous metropolitan city originally built on a series of islands. It is very similar to Krakow, but it is more diverse due to its history.
Because of its location in western Poland, close to the Czech and German borders, Wroclaw has been under the control of many different countries. Originally settled by the Slavic Slezan tribe, it was eventually absorbed by the Czech territory who gave it its name.
About 1000 A.D., the Piast dynasty founded the Polish state and brought Wroclaw into the new country. In 1336, Wroclaw was taken over by Bohemia, only to change hands several more times before returning to Poland in the 20th century.
This rich history is reflected in the interesting mix of new and old in the city. While making my first walk to the square, I passed by a row of metal balls, one being pushed by a leprechaun – the symbol of the Orange anti-communist movement. These leprechaun statues are hidden throughout the city.
A short walk outside of the main square is the most popular tourist stop of the city – the Raclawice Panorama, a circular painting of a Polish military victory against the Russians in the 18th century. The painting was stored in Lwow until after World War II and then took another 40 years to be displayed, mainly due to censorship during Communist days. The painting is extremely realistic and fills the entire building, built specifically for it. Special lighting and scenery (hills and trees) add to the effect.
As the former seat of government in its region, Wroclaw has a lot of churches, the most famous being the cathedral built on a former island across from the bulk of the city. Construction on this massive gothic building began at the beginning of the second millennium and went through several phases, leaving it the monolithic structure it is today. For the gutsy tourist – namely me – you can walk a series of extremely narrow steps then take a cramped, unstable elevator to the top of one of its spires and get a view of the entire city.
Indeed, the view on the river is possibly the most beautiful thing I have seen so far this trip. Of course, I might be biased toward water scenery, but from the river you can see numerous old buildings and well-kept gardens that make the view stunning. While possibly not on the main Eastern European tourist route, I would recommend this city to any travelers interested in getting a real taste of Polish culture.
Sonny Franckel is a senior computer science major and will be writing summer columns on her experience interning with Google in Krakow. She can be reached at sfrancke@umd.edu.
