After a sunny weekend at Dobeln we arrived at Dresden on a wet Monday morning! Our chosen camperstop was at the City Herberge, which is both the youth hostel and also a very good, modern hotel, so if you’re planning a visit without a motorhome this is an ideal destination, whatever your budget.
A dismal view of Dresden….
…and in the sunshine
It was a great stopover, as it is only about a 10 mins walk into town; we also found the electric hook-up invaluable in the cold, wet weather.
Spotted in Dresden -people carrier, economy version!
There is a restaurant within the hostel which, in addition to breakfast every day, serves a choice of 3 very good hot main meals at lunchtimes Mon-Fri for around €5-€6. Dresden’s a beautiful place, however the almost constant rain spoiled not only the pleasure of our visit, but the photos too, so don’t be put off by my pics if you are planning a visit!
From there we stopped off at Camperstop Copitzer along the river at Pirna, a pleasant overnighter en route to the ACSI campsite at Decin in the Czech Republic. It was a friendly site,with all services (including a much need washing machine) novelly housed in shipping containers, in addition to which you could get breakfast served in the pictured Yurt!
When we left it was in the direction of Poland, with a 2nd Czech stop planned at a Campercontact listing at Tanvald near the border; I put the co-ordinates in Satnav, which duly took us off road up into the hills and when we got to a dead end it was still showing some way to go, so we turned round, headed downhill and tried Satnav with the address instead, but it wanted to take us back to the same place! Back on the main road we headed for Poland, only stopping for a late lunch at a roadside inn where we were served soup and a delicious main course of pork and dumplings for about £2.75 each. That meal was the bargain of the trip! By teatime we’d arrived in warm sunshine at Camp 66 at Karpacz, a 2 year old site with great facilities.
Facilities viewed with the Krkonos range behind
It’s a member of the Polish Federation of Camping and Caravanning (PFCC) and I bought a booklet from reception listing all their sites, which was a godsend because wildcamping is forbidden, ACSI have no listings and the Camperstop has only about 30 for the whole country.
World’s smallest caravan home?!
We found all the facilities on site that we needed, including a washing machine (joy of joys!) and there is a good restaurant too. The next morning we woke to mist on the mountains, but it didn’t prevent us from spotting the ingenius nesting boxes, housed under the eaves of the main building.
The facilities in Poland vary greatly from site to site as we found, much to our dismay, when we stayed at the Stadion (PFCC 117) in Wroclaw. Don’t stay there on any account, the facilities block is a leftover from Communist days and the “drinking” water came out of the standpipes a dirty, cloudy colour and smelling of sewage.
Wroclaw…
…from on high!
Wroclaw itself was worth visiting and certainly justified the huge expense of 68p(!) each way for the tram tickets into town and, had we known, it could have been only half the price because over 70’s travel free on buses and trams (but not trains) so, if you are one the lucky (?) ones, carry ID with you. It goes without saying that we stayed only one night and Sunday 14th May found us parked up on a camperstop listed carpark at Wieliczka, a couple of minutes walk from an amazing salt mine, now wholly a tourist attraction which is a must see, especially the church inside built into the salt. You will also see a sculpture of John Paul II down there; as their very own beloved Pope his image is found countrywide.
The mine entrance
The carpark is the only place there where overnighting is permitted and at £7 per 24 hours it’s also the cheapest; if you approach from the Krakow direction it’s the first one, on the left hand side, and the attendants flag you down so you shouldn’t miss it! 2 days later, 15 miles down the road, we returned to Camperstop listed El Camp, our base to visit Krakow, a 15 mins bus trip to the outskirts of the city. Be sure to arrive at El Camp during business hours as it is a motorhome dealership, whose main gate is locked out of hours, as we’d discovered 2 days earlier when we turned up on Sunday afternoon! We paid only 30zl per night, i.e. £6, to stay just outside a main city; electricity is available but we had no luck with it as there was a problem with the meters, either that or it was very, very expensive! A quick “Hello” here to Ellen & Alan Brown from Wilnecote and to Suzanne and Michel le geldron from Ploulec’h near Lannion in Bretagne.
Krakow cafe culture!
Your carriage awaits
We loved Krakow even though we got a bit lost, on a yet another wet day, looking for the Schindler museum, which is housed in the factory which was made famous of course by the film “Schindler’s List”. It was worth the search, another “must see”, we were there all afternoon. The next day gave us glorious weather, which pleased me because I went back into town that evening to a concert; 90 mins of beautiful music, which cost about £15 – try for prices like that in London! Thanks here to Eli for forwarding his videos to me. It’s worth mentioning here that many people have asked us if we “felt safe” in Poland and the answer is an emphatic “Yes”; the only time I had any concerns was when walking through town after that concert, when there were a couple of groups of, obviously drunk, loudmouths who fortunately didn’t cause me any bother, but it was clear when they were shouting around that they were English! Most people visiting Krakow make the 40 miles trip west to Auschwitz (Oswiecim), which has been a World Heritage Site since 1979; we chose not to as we’d visited Dachau, near Munich, in 2011, out of respect to all Holocaust victims, and decided that one such harrowing visit was enough.
Pilgrims at the monastery, avoiding renovation work.
At Czestochowa we spent 2 nights at PFCC Olenka, a lovely little site, very close to a monastery which has become a pilgrimage site. All the children were dressed in confirmation robes, but the adults were just in casuals. We paid 52zl (£8.75) per night and use of the washing m/c was free, saving me about £10, so I reckon they paid us to stay there!
At Warsaw we used the Sierpinia camperstop; it’s tucked away behind a large garage and carparking complex, not very pretty but did the job and was only a short bus ride from the centre. Make sure that you google for the bus number before you set off; we got numbers from staff at the garage, but the first one we jumped one didn’t go to town!
Beautiful architecture, out of the ashes
Spotted in Warsaw – I think they’ll soon be going home!
Warsaw stands out for its wide, open spaces, especially the Royal Way and, as with other towns in Poland, it’s hard to believe it was almost entirely rebuilt after the 2nd World War, especially in the courtyard of the Royal Palace. We’ve visited quite a few European cities and John said he thinks that Warsaw is the best we’ve seen.
There’s a huge amount of road building/repairs going on all over Poland but some of them are still a bit of a nightmare for motorhomes! Don’t let this put you off making a trip though, we covered 1400 miles in just over 5 weeks here without too much trouble; it’s such a huge country that, like us, you can simply decide which places to knock off the list which, for us, was notably Zacopane in the south and the Natural Park in the east, which is home to the bison reserve. Having decided that Warsaw was the furthest east we were going, we left there pointed in a (roughly) north westerly direction, heading for Torun.
Zdorwz-at one with nature
About halfway between the two we spent a couple of very relaxing days at Zdworz on another PFCC site, aptly named Relax. It’s by the water, in a forest setting, in the middle of nowhere. Facilities were basic but adequate, at 41zl per night or 51zl with hook-up. We met an Austrian couple there and, if you’re reading this, we wish you well with your worldwide travels, you certainly have the right vehicle to make it happen!
Next was UNESCO World Heritage Site, Torun. The beautiful city is famous as being the birthplace, in 1473, of Mikolaj Kopernik (or Nicolaus Copernicus to you and me!) so, naturally, you’ll find the Muzeum Kopernika right there on Ul. Kopernika. Their university also takes his name.
Medieval sandwich board!
Elegant Torun
Torun is also famous, we learned, for its gingerbread and we can vouch that it’s delicious! Our abode was parked at PFCC Tramp, about a 20 mins walk from the centre. We were amused by the site restaurant’s artful use of suitcases, see pic! Like many of the sites we used during our stay, Tramp had a hotel/bunkhouse and was kept very busy with busloads of school children, who would arrive excitedly with their
Holiday supplies?
bags, ready to make the most of a few days away from home; these lucky ones got a barbeque on their last night. We were really impressed with how the country was bustling with school parties, at a level not seen at home; they were clearly enjoying themselves, with hardly any bad behaviour or mobile devices to be seen! Before we left it was a case of right place, right time and we were in the town when the annual (National, we think) Chimneysweeps’ parade took place,
Chimneysweeps’ parade!
before a church service; the whole town got into the spirit of it, with young children in the procession too.
A couple of days later we had planned to stay at Ilawa, but there was a water festival on and no pitches to be had, so we drove along Jezoriak Lake to Szalkowo and found “Na Cyplu”, which has a sloping grassed area for camping along the lake. Its main business seems to be from the boaters needing a slipway.
Na Cyplu
It was certainly basic, but pleasant enough, with a very friendly owner and just affordable at 26zl (£6.50!) per night including services and electrics.
Onwards and upwards in the general direction of Gdansk, before setting off we picked out PFCC Ukiel at Olsztyn as our next stopover. We found it eventually, along a very bumpy track, way off the main road and when we arrived, boy, rustic wasn’t in it! I and a German neighbour repaired the washing machine next morning, having put the 15zl in the slot and getting no response from it! It was housed under the eaves of the facilities block and it was now the 27th May, but the dust we also had to clean off it showed that we were the season’s first laundry maids! However, it was hot by now and we were parked in the shade, overlooking the water, so we stayed for a couple of nights before heading further north, to PFCC Camping 61 at Elblag, another good spot by the water’s edge and on the edge of an attractive town. We had planned to spend a few more days before reaching Gdansk, on the Baltic coast, and wanted to take a slight diversion to Malbork, a town on our “list”, en route. However, plans had to change at this point, because John’s shoulder had been painful for a week and was getting worse rather than better. I googled to find a nearby Chiropractor and we were amazed to find that there are only 6 qualified ones in the whole of Poland! Fortunately for us 3 of them were only 80kms away, 2 in Sopot and 1 in Gdynia; an early evening phone call got him an appointment for the next morning, in Sopot with Sophie Nielson, a Dane who had qualified, like many in the profession, at the school in Bournemouth. She got him feeling very much better over 2 appointments and then we were good to go again. We stayed overnight between the appointments at PFCC Metropolis which, despite the excellent facilities, was a dismal site, but it was well placed for taking a walk along the famed and beautiful Sopot promenade, which was taken with rain macs on unfortunately! Hello here to Peter and Wilma van Zelst of Zevenaar in the Netherlands, whom we had the pleasure of chatting to on the camp site. Remember to look us up Peter and Wilma when you next visit your scouting community friends in Peterborough!
Our stay in Gdansk was on the PFCC 114 site, Przy Wydmach. The Baltic coast sites are the most expensive we used, paying 60zl (£15) here, including ACSI discount, similar to what we paid in Sopot.
Gdansk’s bustling quayside
(Although there’s no ACSI sites here you should carry your card if you have one because it often gets you a discount.) All the staff were very helpful and obliging; a 5pm meal in the restaurant was advertised in reception, so I asked if it was available only at 5pm, or could we eat when got back from the town at 7pm and was told we could. 
It was quite delightful when we sat down because we had our own table, but found ourselves amongst 2 parties of school children; the food was delicious and the atmosphere was reminiscent of my school dinner days! A 10 mins walk from the site was the tram stop which took us to the edge of the city, then another 10 mins walk at that end. Gdansk is fantastic, the architecture (rebuilt of course), the port area, the café culture but, best of all, the Solidarity (Solidarnosc) exhibition;
Solidarity Exhibition Centre
I spent over 4 hours in there and when I left John had found himself a seat near the exit to wait for me, as he always does, because he gets round all museums etc. twice as fast as me, partly because he knows that his back and knees can’t cope very well with the marble/concrete floors. Hello to Alastair and Sheena from Cardiff, near neighbours on the campsite, who were visiting the exhibition at the same time as us, but singly as they had to do turns about sitting outside with their dog!