Re-evaluation of the Polish train system

From Augustow the plan was to catch a night train to Malbork, spend a few hours there and then continue by another 6.5 hour train to Szczecin. This journey has proved to be a little nightmare of its own.

The first leg of the trip was relatively comfortable and took me from Augustow to Bialystok in the company of Grzesiek and Dorota (kayaking group members). There we managed to sprint of the train and swap onto the Bialystok-Warsaw train quickly enough to secure seats. Having left Augustow at 6pm, I arrived in Warsaw and 10:30pm with my night train scheduled to leave at 11pm and arrive in Tczew at 6:20am. As it turns out that particular train originated all the way in Krakow and was beyond full. I had entertained the hope of finding a sleeping car to get my rest for the next day’s worth of sightseeing; however, there was not even any seating room. All the compartments were completely packed. The corridor was so full that there was barely enough room to stand. Eventually everyone managed to find a little bit of floor space and crouched/sat/squatted/lay down in any way possible. As those in the compartments got up to go to the washroom, everyone was tossed/kicked/stepped on/woken up over and over throughout the night. At 6:45 we finally arrived in Tczew where I quickly hopped onto my next train to Malbork (thankfully with empty seats) and arrived in Malbork at 7:40am to find the train station under renovation and absolutely nowhere to leave my baggage.

I started walking towards the center and poked my head into the first hotel I passed gladly paying the 5 zloty fee to leave my backpack in their care. I then spent the next few hours touring the amazing Malbork fortress and crusader castle and headed back to the train station to catch the 1:45pm train to Szczecin.

I had honestly expected it to be half empty and when I finally climbed on board and found even more people than on my night train, all I wanted to do was scream. The first 1.5 hours I spent standing in the hallway with my backpack crammed between my legs and little room to move in either direction with the sun beating down on us. Thankfully at that point we reached Gdansk/Spot/Gdynia where many of the passengers were getting off and I managed to snag a seat. The train immediately filled up again and is continuing on in this overfilled fashion. It is insane the amount of people traveling by train here. Even if you exclude all the school/kindergarten/scouting trips that are all commencing right now, the mass of people packing themselves into virtually every train heading to virtually every corner of Poland is simply amazing. Hopefully by 8:20pm I will arrive in Szczecin for a much needed shower, dinner, and R&R.

On a side note, I saw more wildlife from the train than I did during my trip out to the wild Bialowieza Forest: a couple of deer and does as well as a fox. Aside for that the fields of poppies and wildflowers that we passed were one of the few highlights on this train journey.

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Kayaking in Rospuda

My original itinerary had included a couple days in the Masurian Lake District spent either kayaking, hiking, biking or simply soaking in this world renowned area. However, given the general shortage on time at my disposal I had started considering joining up on an organized weekend kayaking excursion. The problem was that all the starting points around the Mazury Lakes were incredibly difficult to get to by public transportation. Given this I opted for the next best thing: the Lakes in the Suwalki and Augustow Region and their interconnecting network of rivers.

In recent years the most famous of these has become the Rospuda Valley given to a massive uproar that erupted amongst nature lovers and environmentalists when the government decided to construct a highway through this fragile region. The end result was that the highway construction was stopped and plans are in the works of restarting it several (or several dozen) kilometers past the Rospuda Valley. Given the supposed beauty of this region I opted for a three day camping/kayaking excursion down the Rospuda River.

This entailed two nights spent in a tent (which I had to rent and which sets itself up. Yes, you heard me right, all I have to do is unzip the case for the tent and the tent pops open on its own fully erect with nothing left to do but to pin it into the ground. It is quite the ingenious contraption, but a little inconvenient to carry around.) The trip also included 30 km worth of paddling down the river and lake, a visit to a forest sauna and a couple camp fires.

The catch was that aside for the sleeping bag and the rented tent, I had no other camping gear. This meant that the nights were spent on the very hard and often quite cold floor and food had to comprise of sandwiches since I had no pots or pans to cook anything else. But this in no way affected the enjoyment level of the trip.

Our group ended up being 12 people including the guide. Everyone was paired off into kayaks with the exception of me and was forced to paddle all the way on my own while most girls relaxed and tanned while their partners did most of the work. (Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but a few breaks would have been nice). The first day was approximately 14 km down this little forest river with trees quite often encroaching on the river itself offering entertaining obstacles to avoid (or to plow directly into). The second day was primarily marshlands where for about 10 km the river snaked a tiny narrow path between fields of reeds. And when I say snaked, I truly mean it, as on this stretch there were exactly 100 very sharp turns. It concluded with the last few kilometers on a much wider river and then on the lake.

We had a fantastic group of people and ended up having an absolute blast, and although two days was a bit short, I truly don’t think my arms and shoulders could have taken any more.

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Augustow & Rospuda: back in Poland

The couchsurfing might be over and done with, but the hospitality is never-ending. I said bye to Dalius and Armin and got on the train back to Poland. With the school holidays having begun, the crowds were quite impressive. I don’t think that there was a single seat free in the final train across the border and into Poland.

Once in Augustow I was met by Ania, not a couchsurfing host, but in a way similar. She is the sister of some family friends back home whose contact information I had received a few days earlier and who kindly agreed to pick me up at the train station and look after me for the few hours before my kayaking tour. Again, the hospitality offered by complete strangers on this trip has absolutely amazed me. I was immediately sat down at the dinner table, where a huge selection of food was put in front of me, I was told to eat, then given towels, and told to make myself feel like at home. Thereafter I was ushered into the car and given a tour of the town and the surrounding countryside, including an exclusive stop at a private golf course. Once the tour was done it was time to head back to the house so that I could be fed some more just before being driven off to my starting point for my kayaking excursion.

The hospitality continued after my trip with a pick up at our finishing location, access to an amazing shower (after 2 days in a tent), more food as well as food packed for my night train ride to Malbork.
In instances like that there are simply no words to express the thanks and gratitude.

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Puszcza Bialowieska: Poland’s highly acclaimed wild forest

The Bialowieza National Park is Poland’s oldest national park. It is recognized by Unesco as both a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage site and boasts over 100 species of birds, along with elk, wild boars, wolves and the European bison (zubr). Given these descriptions I had high expectations and purposefully adjusted my itinerary to see this amazing forest and the bison (not a small feat given that it was at least 4-5 hours out of my way).

Well, the only way to visit the Strict Nature Reserve (the area of the forest where nothing can be touched or done, where the trees and nature are left to do their own bidding), is via a 3 hour guided tour. After my 2.5 hour bus ride to Bialowieza I was lucky enough to be able to join a group of 10 others on this tour (thereby keeping my costs down to a mere 11 zloty). Well, the tour first took us through the Palace Park, where I was shown Canadian Pines, American Ash, and Weymouth Firs (I might be mixing up the tree species, since botany is not my strong point). However, these exotic trees were a highlight as they are not known in Europe. We then proceeded into the Strict Nature Reserve which is a mixture of coniferous and pine forest that has been allowed to grow in its natural fashion for the last couple hundred of years. Again various plants and trees were pointed out, including a 300 year old pine (swierk???) that was a couple meters in circumference. We were shown one that had fallen over 12 years ago and whose roots still created a round disk in the air, and a dab that had toppled in 1975 and was slowly rotting away. Oh, and I must not forget the one dead mole and one dead frog that I saw.

Now, I know that this is cynical, but compare such a tour with a hike around Buntzen Lake, where some of the trees would take at least 5 people holding hands to reach around, where the stumps of old trees form the home for new trees, where the forest has ran its own course for countless centuries. Well, Butzen Lake is about a 10 minute drive from my home. Drive a further few hours and you will find yourself in the midst of the West Coast Rainforest which would put Bialowieza to shame. Consider the oldest and widest tree we saw on the West Coast Trail which would take 10-15 people with hands outstretched to surround it. Consider the ancient Sequoias in California, one through which a car can drive through and the other which was used as a bridge for cars to drive over. Bialowieza still has another 1,000 years to go before its wilderness could even begin to compete with our back yard.

But I’m forgetting the European bison for which this Reserve is so famous. There are apparently 451 running wild in the reserve, havi

ng been painstakingly reintroduced into the reserve. Between 1919 and 1929 there was no bison left alive. In 1929 the reintroduction started with the purchase of 5, from which their numbers have slowly multiplied. Well, we didn’t see any on our tour (not surprising). I was, however, told to go to the European Bison Reserve where I could see them in a zoo like setting. I did go and I did see them. 8 or 10 were hiding in the grass some 50 meters from the fence.

Now again, I might be a little unfair in comparing, but consider Yellowstone National Park. There along the river we saw a herd of bison grazing, cooling off in the water and in the sand. The following morning when we woke up and stuck our heads out of our tent we realized that our campground was surrounded by a heard of grazing bison. One was maybe 5 meters away from our tent. Later on by Salt Lake City we nearly drove into one in our attempt to find our camping spot at night. We have photos (one of them attached here) posing in a bison like stance with the beast several meters behind us.

With all that said, I must admit that I was impressed by one thing: the amount of mosquitoes there. I don’t think I have ever been devoured to that extent, even through the long pants I was wearing and the sweatshirt that I put on despite the heat.

Overall, my advice is as follows: if you have done any kind of hiking in western Canada, you can easily skip a visit to Bialowieza; if in addition, you had seen bison somewhere in the wild, whether in Alberta or the US, then you can definitely skip Bialowieza. The only proviso I would put on this is in winter time. I think that a sleigh ride through this forest would be quite magical. Also, if you do spend a night there, try to organize a tour very early in the morning, even before dawn. Head out either on a sleigh or on a walking tour (if in summer) some time around 4am, see the forest wake up, see the mist slowly lift, and that is also your best chance to see the bison grazing in the wild. If not, then go for a hike around Buntzen Lake, on Vancouver Island, or anywhere else along the west coast and truly appreciate the beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis.

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Rzeszow: A city full of surprises

Rzeszow was not pretty or important enough to find its way into my guidebook, nor was Lancut, and yet I am incredibly glad I made a stop there.

I was hosted by Robert and was immediately made to feel right at home. He took time off from writing his master thesis to show me around Rzeszow and the surrounding towns. But mostly, he made me regret the fact that I travel with such a big pack. He’s a hitch-hiking fanatic. Well, maybe not that extreme, but he has taken part in hitch-hiking championships between Sopot and Munich and has an endless array of amazing stories and experiences. During my two days in Rzeszow we managed to hitch three rides, one in absolute record time, where I barely had enough time to step on the sidewalk, stick out my thumb, and had a vehicle screeching to a halt. But on my longer journeys, as much as I would love to travel in this fashion, the large bags are simply not conducive to it. It is not so much the fact that people won’t stop for me because of a big bag. However, there are times when you might go hours without being able to get a ride and sometimes find yourself needing to walk a kilometer or two, or eight or nine. With a little backpack that wouldn’t be an issue. Maybe next time round. A young couple, Kinga and Chopin, managed to travel around the world by hitch-hiking, so why not (they have a book out describing their journey).

My first day in Rzeszow was spent meandering through the Old Town. It is not very large, but nevertheless very charming. It’s got a beautiful city hall on one end and is surrounded by gorgeously restored old facades and an endless array of cafés and restaurants that spill right out into the square. Truth be said, there is not much more to Rzeszow. They do have a tour of the underground tunnels, but I must admit I did not go on it. The river running through the city provides kilometers worth of strolling options and it seems that we did quite a bit of walking. In the evening we came back to the city center to watch Justyna Steczkowska (a well known Polish singer) perform for free in the town square.

The following day we headed out to Lancut to see the beautifully maintained and decorated castle as well as their wagon hall (Powozownie). Not quite sure what you would call it in English, but it’s a beautiful garage in which they exhibit all the old wagons used by the castle inhabitants as well as those collected by the museum since then. They have everything from hunting wagons, luggage carts, sleds, limousines to speed wagons. Quite the impressive collection.

From Lancut it was back to Rzeszow and from there off to Kolbuszowa where we wanted to visit the Skansen museum (akin to the Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam). It was a very quaint and peaceful setting. There was virtually no one there and we could wander around the fields and old historic houses as we pleased. It was from there that we managed to catch a ride in record breaking speed. I seriously thought that the little car’s breaks would start to smoke given how quickly and forcefully the elderly gentlemen stepped on them.

When back in Rzeszow we headed towards the center to grab a bite to eat, passing the empty stage in the city square that was playing Sting and joked about how funny it would be if he were to perform there that night. Well, after dinner it turned out it wasn’t Sting, but yet another big name in Polish music. This time round it was Grzegorz Turnau who sat at the piano, accompanied by a small orchestra and his band members. It was an absolutely amazing concert in a beautiful setting that was made even nicer by the fact that the menacing rain clouds of the morning had all but blown away and the night sky was strewn with stars.

I truly could not have wished for a better two days in Rzeszow.

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Train travel in Poland: And they say North America is the land of milk and honey

So if I was impressed by the buses in Turkey and the night trains into and out of the Ukraine, I am now in awe of the new Regional Train service in Poland. Newly implemented and with the lowest prices, the RegioExpress is a brand new set of fully airconditioned trains which includes the following: TV screens that tell you what stops are upcoming, when you will be arriving there, and how fast you are traveling; little electric displays above every seat that welcome you aboard; electrical plugs for your laptop under every seat; free wireless internet connection (so long as the network isn’t overloaded); washrooms where everything is sensor-controlled, fully wheelchair accessible and spotlessly clean; and racks for bikes that store all bikes in a vertical position before entering the compartments. And did I mention that these trains travel on average 120 km/h, have priority on all the tracks and cover the distance between major cities probably quicker than you could by car? And I know for a fact that I mentioned that these are now virtually the cheapest train tickets you could buy (my trip from Rzeszow to Warszawa would have cost about 40 zloty or $13).

Now, in contrast, in the land of milk and honey, the continent that is continuously imitated and held in awe by Europe, what do we have? One single company of Greyhound buses that offer miserable, uncomfortable, slow and expensive services across the country? One passenger train line across the nation which so expensive, that unless you are a train nut or want to sight see via the rail, you would never choose that option of transportation? Or Air Transat where you pay hundreds of dollars to be cramped into little seats, told to pay for your blanket, headset and any food that you wish to buy? North America still has a lot to learn.

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