14. POLAND

In life things never turn out the way you expect. This sentence is especially true for me when it comes to Poland. I have never been to Poland before and either never had any plans to visit it even though it's a neighboring country of Germany. In the end, I ended up spending there in total more than 4 months on 5 visits and visiting so many parts of the country. I have found my second family there and fell in love with my girlfriend Alicja. That fact probably helped Poland a lot to convince me but even from a neutral perspective, it's a great country to spend time in!

Poland's landscape is very varied, ranging from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Tatra Mountains in the south. In between, you will find amazing nature with vast forests, beautiful lakes and fascinating wildlife. What surprised me the most about Poland were the cities. Kraków, Warszawa, Gdańsk or Wrocław all offer a high quality of life, plenty of sights, extreme cleanliness and beautiful old towns. Poland's society is extremely homogenous in terms of religion, ethnicity and language. Compared to Germany the church plays a much bigger role in people's everyday life. It's one of the most religious countries in Europe and a picture of the late Pope John Paul II is found in most polish houses. The Church still enjoys a much higher level of prestige and influences Polish politics a lot.

In total, I spent around 6 weeks in Warsaw. The capital of Poland is one of the European Union's fastest developing business centers and constantly changing. The city was nearly completely destroyed during World War II which earned it the name "Phoenix city". Warsaw really has a high quality of life with plenty of good international food around. There is a large variety of cafes, museums, & art galleries and the city is super cycling friendly. If I could choose one of the big cities in Poland to live in, it would probably be Warsaw.

We also visited many other cities such as Poznan, Kraków, Gdańsk and Wrocław, which all have plenty of charm and are among the cleanest places I have seen so far. Polish cities are very underrated and still don't attract big crowds. Especially Wrocław made it to one of my favorite cities in Europe!

My personal favorite time I had was in the voivodeship of Zachodniopomorskie, the northwestern corner of Poland. Alicja's family is living there and in total we spent there 4 weeks with her parents and had a great time. For the first time, we stayed 2 weeks in the tiny 324 people village of Bobrowo during an ice-cold winter with temperatures of sometimes minus 20 degrees. Weather-wise more attractive were our 2 weeks in the neighboring town of Złocieniec, where we stayed at the apartment of Alicja's Babcia (Grandmother) in spring. The region is full of lakes, wildlife & forests and is a paradise for cycling. Alicja's father took us on great road trips and I was even lucky enough to spend Easter there, which is celebrated with plenty of great food! For me, it became clear pretty fast that I have found a second home there.

Another place I finally visited was Oświęcim & Brzezinka/ Auschwitz & Birkenau. Every European should visit that place once in their lives. Seeing that cluster of concentration, labor and extermination camps, established by the German Nazis during the Second World War, will break the toughest heart. You will find tons of valuable exhibitions inside original historical buildings that will teach you more about World War II than every single book or lesson in history classes did.

Another big change that happened in Poland was, that after my last visit there, my solo traveler career ended. Alicja quit her office job & apartment contract in Warsaw and joined me for a crazy open-end adventure.

5 Highlights:

- Museums and restaurants of Warsaw

- Lakes and forests in Zachodniopomorski
- Spot mooses in Kampinos National Park

- Exploring the beautiful city of Wrocław

- Visiting Auschwitz and learning about terrible Nazi history