After pigging out on a big buffet breakfast, we left Poznan and headed south to Wroclaw (pronounced vrots-wahf). Let's talk about the Polish language for a minute. It's tough. Vs are Ws, there's a letter that looks like an L and a lowercase T had a baby and that's a W sound, there are about 14 different pronunciations for the letter C, several words are double digits long with 1 or 2 vowels. It's tough. Regardless of how you say it, Wroclaw is a good looking city. It was beat up pretty badly in WWII and has been rebuilt to be charming, classic, and modern all at the same time. It's called the second Venice because it's on a river and there are many islands.
We ate at an Indian restaurant for lunch. It was quite good. There was some Polish flare to the menu, but seemed very close to Indian food we have the US.
There's a shrine for Pope John Paul II in the Wroclaw cathedral. Props for the Polish pope.
There are two buildings in the town square that are called Hansel & Gretel. Not quite sure why, perhaps because they're attached? There is also a legend of the dwarfs related to the buildings, or maybe it was the city. Anyways, I indulged in the dwarf photo opp.
After a nice afternoon in Wroclaw, we proceeded to go deeper into the Silesia region. Poland is pretty, and Silesia has been the most gorgeous region we've driven through. Rolling hills, lush green countryside, cute villages. Helped the time go by, especially when getting stuck behind a truck or tractor (which is often).
We've seen a lot of wind turbines throughout the country. Yay for wind power!
And finally we landed in Polanica Zdroj, a breathtaking spa town nestled into the hills of the Klodsko Valley. Serene and tranquil with healing waters. People come to stay to reap the benefits of the healing waters. There are several spa towns in Poland, with varying benefits of the water depending on the region. Our hotel has a health spa and a couple of tubs with the mineral water. There are some other fancy spa things that we haven't see in the US. There's a foot bath with 4 chambers that you walk through, alternating from hot to cold water. And there's a chair with different lights above it - we couldn't figure out what it was so we hung out in the hot tubs, sauna, infrared sauna, and steam room. After several days in cities and driving a ton, it's nice to dial things down and relax.
Highlight of the day: Parking for the day. We've been doing a lot of driving and are both happy to be out of the car for awhile.