There are so many places in the world and I am constantly delighted to learn about them! I was delighted to learn that there is a city in Poland where there are hundreds of little gnome “dissidents” are appearing for visitors to discover and for locals to remember their recent history! My friend Anita, a retired grandmother who loves to travel, recently visited Poland April 25th to May 5th, and when she told me about the gnomes, but also about being lucky enough to come across an amazing local attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records record for guitarists! I just knew it was the kind of story our readers would love! Read on to hear about Anita’s trip to Poland and why the city of Wroclaw has hundreds of gnomes and thousands of guitarists popping up around town!
(All photos courtesy of Anita)
Many of the bronze gnomes include little details that relate to their location, like sleeping gnomes at a hotel!
GSIT: Tell us about how you came to travel to Poland?
Most of my trips as an older adult I would label as pilgrimages. I have a friend who is a parish priest who also likes to travel.
Three years ago a group of 30 or so individuals from this priest's parish signed up for a trip to Poland. But as luck would have it Covid struck and so this trip got re-scheduled several times, spring, fall, spring, fall etc. until this year when travel restrictions were lifted. It was this priest's desire to go to Poland since he has some Polish ancestry. So, I figured why not?
I have a wonderful traveling companion (Callie) who is young enough to be my daughter. She has travelled all over the world, first as an army brat, and then going to places she wants to explore, usually with her mother, when she is not organizing a group trip.
Wilanow Palace
GSIT: How did you plan your trip?
My travel companion is travel-wise and she has organized several of my most recent group trips. For several of our trips we have used Gate 1 Travel. We had one travel agent who was with us the whole time but like most trips abroad we also had various travel guides for a particular city join the tour.
GSIT: What did you do while on this trip?
Day 1 & 2- Of course, the first day was travel to Warsaw (Varshava) Poland's capital and cultural center on the Vistula River. which then becomes day 2 when we landed. Check in etc and welcome dinner were part of that day. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw.
Day 3- We toured beautiful Lazienki Park (jewel of Warsaw) where we viewed the Chopin monument; stopped at the Memorial commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto uprising walked through the Old Town to Market Square (most of the Warsaw streets are cobble stoned) ; viewed the Cathedral of St. John and the Royal castle (residence of King Jan III) and the royal gardens.
Day 4- Travel to Gdansk. On the way we stopped to tour Marienburg (Malbork) Castle, which is one of the largest Gothic castles and medieval fortresses in the world. It was founded in 1274 by the Knights of the Teutonic Order. I was amazed at how magnificent and well preserved this was.
Malbork Castle
We continued on to Gdansk, Poland's principal seaport. This is the home of the Solidarity worker's movement which started the breakaway of the country from the Soviet Union. This city is also the amber capital of the world. One street is lined with jewelry shops that mainly sell amber. Fr. Riley celebrated Mass for us at St. Bridget Church which has some WWII damage from bombings but has been renovated since then. The reredos (backdrop of the altar with tabernacle) is in the process of finishing its construction built entirely from donated amber from individuals' jewelry and artifacts. It is breathtaking. Much of old town Gdansk has been reconstructed since WWII looking much like it looked before the war. During our free time in the afternoon we took a pirate ship ride up and down the a branch of the Vistula River. A talented guitarist/singer entertained during our voyage. I recognized some Irish songs sung in Polish.
Gardens at Winalow Palace
Day 5- More Gdansk touring buildings and churches and learning about shipping and trading.
Day 6- Traveled to the enchanting town of Torun which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and is considered one of the best-preserved medieval towns in all of Europe. We saw the house where astronomer Copernicus was born. This is also the town where pierniki (gingerbread) was first made. There was a festival going on while we toured, so we saw acrobats, jugglers, singers etc. in the streets. We then traveled to Wroclaw (pronounced vrowt.swaaf), a city with a turbulent history with Bohemian, Austrian and Prussian influences.
GSIT: So tell us about the gnomes and guitars in Wroclaw- that sounds unexpected!!
Day 7
This city has a gorgeous very large Market Square where, coincidentally, there was a gathering of guitarists that gathered (over 7,676 of them) to break the Guinness Book of World Records playing Jimi Hendrix's song "Hey Joe" at the same time. AMAZING.
Thousands of guitarists gathered to break a Guinness World Record!
While in Wroclaw we were introduced to bronze gnomes that are the hallmark of the city. In response to the communist regime in 1980 people gathered wearing orange hats mimicking dwarfs and shouting "No freedom without dwarfs". After many years in part to memorialize the event the first bronze gnome appeared in the city in 2005. Since then they have grown in number and appear in front of many businesses and other buildings in Wroclaw. They now number over 350.
We also toured the cycloramic depiction of the Battle of Raclawice during the Kosciuszko uprising.
On one of the evenings there we walked to Tumski island to see the Lamplighter (dressed with a top hat and cape) who walks the streets of this island to light the gas lamps in the area.
Day 8- Travel to Czestochowa for the monastery of Jasna Gora to view the daily unveiling of the Black Madonna painting( a shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary).
Day 9- We toured the Jewish district with its ancient synagogues and ancient main square of the former ghetto and the memorial called "The Lonely Chairs". Then drove to the historic 16th century Wawel Royal Castle district for a tour of medieval Krakow. Then a somber visit to Oswiecim where the Nazis built Auschwitz and Bierkenau Extermination Camps.There are no words to describe these sites adequately.
A reconstructed Synagogue
Day 10- We travelled to Wadowice, the town where pope St. John Paul II was born We visited his family home that is now a beautiful museum and parish church. We then drove on to the St. Sister Faustina Sanctuary and participated in the Divine Mercy Chaplet that was being televised that day.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising monument
My name is Anita. I am a 75 year old widow (5 and 1/2 years) with three wonderful children (all married) and 6 adorable grandchildren in ages from one year to 17 years old.
I have always loved to travel first as a single person and then, when my children were older and on their own, with my husband (44yrs married when he died).
I have travelled to Ireland (twice), England, Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Israel, Portugal, Southern France (Lourdes), and various places on this continent including two cruises.