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All those things in the second half of 2015 that got missed

Before 2015 comes to an end, I want to try and write, at least briefly, about all those things that happened in the second half of this year, but which never got the blog post they deserved – a combination of my own ill health and the excessive heat we experienced during the summer months. It will take two posts, so here is the first. And the second has now been written and published.

July

Newly renovated statue of Jan Hus in Staromestské námestí/Old Town Square, Prague © Ricky Yates

Monday 6^th July marked the 600^th anniversary of Jan Hus, the early Czech Church reformer, being burnt at the stake in Konstanz on 6^th July 1415. As I have previously explained, during the past two hundred years, Czech people have tended to celebrate Hus as a political and cultural hero. His opposition to church control by the Vatican gave strength to those who opposed control of Czech lands by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He preached and wrote in the Czech – language is the main factor in Czech national identity. Even the Communist regime tried to claim Hus as a proto-communist!

Joel Ruml, Moderator of the Evangelical Church of Czech Bretheren speaking at the Ecumenical Service © Ricky Yates — Joel Ruml, Moderator of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren speaking at the Ecumenical Service © Ricky Yates

The sermon being given in a debate format by Bishop Dušan Hejbal of the Old Catholic Church & Romana Cunderlíková of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren © Ricky Yates

Therefore it was pleasing to see the main non-Roman Catholic Churches take the lead in organising events in Prague over a long weekend 4^th – 6^thJuly, to mark the 600^th anniversary of Hus’s martyrdom. They took place on two stages erected either side of the newly renovated statue of Hus in Old Town Square, culminating in an open air Ecumenical service celebrating the life and teaching of Hus and broadcast live on Czech radio. It was good to see and hear Hus being commemorated for who he really was, with his spiritual legacy being reclaimed and proclaimed.

Cardinal Vlk bringing a personal message from Papa František/ Pope Francis © Ricky Yates

The other pleasing aspect were the efforts made by the Roman Catholic Church, to finally acknowledge their own history and responsibility for the death of Hus. Cardinal Vlk, the now retired, but still active, former RC Archbishop of Prague, spoke at the service, bringing a personal message from Papa František/ Pope Francis. At the end of his address there was applause, showing appreciation for the conciliatory nature of the message.

Yours Truly with Very Rev’d John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry Cathedral © Sybille Yates

On the morning of Friday 10^th July, I attended, along with Lea Williams, the last part of the Fifth Conference of representatives of the Cross of Nails Community in Central and Eastern Europe which was being held in Prague that week. The conference ended with a Festive Service at which the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, Very Rev’d John Witcombe, gave a address on the theme, ’75 Years of Peace Efforts by Coventry Cathedral – Turning enemies into friends’. Following the service, we were all invited to lunch at the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague’s dining hall where this photograph was taken.

With the Choir of Little St Mary's, Cambridge, UK © Melissa Guiliano — With the Choir of Little St Mary’s, Cambridge, UK © Melissa Guiliano

On the morning of Sunday 26^th July, we had the pleasure of the Choir of Little St. Mary’s, Cambridge, UK, enhancing our worship at our Sung Eucharist. Like previous visiting choirs, they very much enjoyed the excellent acoustics of the Church building, as well as the splendid organ. During their visit to Prague, they had a group photograph taken in each of the places where they sang. Therefore following worship, the choir posed on the chancel step, along with their travelling supporters, and insisted that I be in the middle of the photograph 🙂

August

The first half of August was dominated by my hospitalisation with a pulmonary embolism, about which I did manage a blog post of explanation. However, I was very pleased to eventually be given clearance by my GP, to spend Tuesday 18^th – Monday 24^th August, walking with Sybille in Germany, from Görlitz to Kamenz, along the first part of Der Ökumenische Pilgerweg. That week has to have its own blog post or posts, even if it isn’t written and published until early 2016.

As I explained in the post about my hospitalisation, one consequence is that I have had to retire from playing cricket. I have therefore donated all of my cricket kit – batting pads and gloves, wicket-keeping pads, gloves & inners, along with my box 🙂 , to the Prague Barbarians Cricket Club, for whom it has been my privilege to play for the past six summers. In turn, Terry the club captain, kindly organised a dinner in my honour to mark my retirement, attended by a number of my playing colleagues.

September

On each of the first two Saturdays of September, I conducted a wedding. In both cases it was British male marrying Czech female.

On Saturday 5^th September, I conducted the wedding of Paul and Michaela, the couple who own and run Sansho, the dégustation restaurant where Sybille and I celebrated our joint birthdays earlier this year. Their wedding took place in the grounds of Trojanuv mlyn, Tiche udoli, a peaceful rural location just within the Prague city boundary. Unlike in England and Wales, outdoor weddings are permissible under Czech marriage law.

Michaela & Paul making their marriage vows to each other © Sybille Yates

From L to R: Aleš, Jana (Michaela's Mum), Paul, Michaela, Yours Truly © Sybille Yates — From L to R: Aleš, Jana (Michaela’s Mum), Paul, Michaela, Yours Truly © Sybille Yates

Using the liturgical texts that I gave her, Michaela had an attractive Order of Service produced, the cover matching their wedding invitations. Michaela’s brother Aleš, kindly helped me with the liturgy, enabling Michaela to make her vows in Czech whilst I helped Paul make his in English. Meanwhile, the very supportive congregation, sat on straw bales, surrounded by trees to witness the ceremony. It does have be said that I heard numerous, ‘It’s about time too’ comments, from friends and family, very pleased that Paul and Michaela had finally tied the knot 🙂

On Saturday 12^th September, I conducted the wedding of Charles and Radka, a couple who I first met at the beginning of 2015, when they started worshipping at St. Clements, having just got engaged. Whilst Charles is a baptised and confirmed Anglican, it was a wonderful to hear Radka profess Christian faith and to baptise her as an adult, during our Easter Day Eucharist earlier this year.

Their wedding took place in Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe, Malé Cicovice, adjacent to the Penzion where they held the reception following their marriage service. Malé Cicovice lies north-west of Prague, not far from Kladno. On this occasion, Renata and Eva, two friends of Radka, helped her make her vows in Czech, whilst I did likewise for Charles in English.

The interior of Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe in advance of the wedding © Ricky Yates	Paperwork ready for signing, including the magic stamp 🙂 © Ricky Yates
The newly married couple with family & friends © Ricky Yates	Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe as seen from Penzion v Polích © Ricky Yates

Whilst we didn’t sing any hymns, I drove Larry Leifeste and his wife Celieta, from Prague to the wedding venue, so Larry could play the ancient chapel organ to provide music before the service, for the entrance of the bride, and for the happy couple leaving at the end of the service. It did make for a most enjoyable occasion, helped by some warm and sunny weather.

Between Thursday 24^th – Sunday 27^th September, I attended the 2015 meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod, which this year took place in a Roman Catholic conference centre, just outside Zagreb in Croatia. In past years, each Archdeaconry Synod meeting has had its own blog post, but in 2015……

Three highlights from this year’s meeting were:

1) Our long-standing and long-suffering Archdeacon Patrick Curran, formally stepped down as Archdeacon of the East and thus ceased to be ‘venerable’ 🙂 I’ve never seen Patrick so relaxed – he was very much demob happy 🙂 Patrick was presented with an icon of St Cyril & St Methodius by the Chaplaincies of the Archdeaconry, and with a framed map of Europe, together with an ‘interesting’ bottle, by Bishop Robert.

Bishop Robert making a presentation to retiring Archdeacon Patrick Curran © Ricky Yates

Patrick and his wife Lucille with the icon, framed map & 'interesting' bottle © Ricky Yates — Patrick and his wife Lucille with the icon, framed map & ‘interesting’ bottle © Ricky Yates

In his place, we formally welcomed our new ‘free-standing’ Archdeacon, Colin Williams. Colin is now half time Archdeacon of the East, and half time Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe. But unlike Patrick, who remains Chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna and oversees the daughter congregations in Klagenfurt, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Yerevan, Colin has no responsibility for a particular chaplaincy, hence he is deemed ‘free-standing’.

2) During our Sunday morning Eucharist, Janet Berkovic, who brilliantly organised the Zagreb Synod meeting, was licensed as a Reader by Bishop Robert. Janet has led the small Zagreb Anglican congregation for many years, under the long distance guidance of Patrick from Vienna.

Danijel & Janet Berkovic with Bishop Robert © Ricky Yates

Janet, with Bishop Robert & her & my new Archdeacon Colin Williams © Ricky Yates

Three years ago at our Synod meeting in Athens, Jack Noonan was licensed as a Reader to serve the Prague Chaplaincy. It was during that licensing service that the Holy Spirit spoke to Janet saying she should also offer herself to train as a Reader, something Patrick had been suggesting to her for several years. So she is now licensed as ‘Reader-in-charge of Zagreb’, but still under Patrick’s jurisdiction. An additional highlight under the Berkovic heading, is that Janet’s Croatian husband Danijel, a Hebrew scholar, gave us three brilliant expositions of the Psalms, particularly bringing out things that are so easily ‘lost in translation’.

3) On the afternoon of Sunday 27^th September, after a tour of central Zagreb, we were invited to coffee and refreshments at the new headquarters building of the Croatian Roman Catholic Bishops Conference. Here we met the chairman of their ‘Ecumenical Committee’, together with one of their bishops. Whilst our Zagreb Anglican congregation use Roman Catholic premises for their services, the Anglican congregation is not recognised as a ‘Church’ in Croatia – they function as a ‘voluntary organisation’.

Therefore having Bishop Robert with us made quite an impact, most notably when he spoke, with Danijel Berkovic translating. I still remember the look of total surprise on the face of the RC bishop, when Bishop Robert said he was responsible for just over three hundred Anglican congregations scattered across Europe. With only seeing one little congregation of English-speaking Anglicans in Zagreb, they had no idea of the size of the Church of England in continental Europe, let alone the wider Anglican Communion.

Bishop Robert and the Croatian RC Bishop with Janet interpreting © Ricky Yates

Frauenkirche update

Recently, I’ve had various questions and enquiries about my involvement with the regular monthly English-language Anglican Evening Service held in the Frauenkirche, Dresden. So I thought it was time for an update, particularly now I’ve finally finished writing here about our October Polish adventure.

My previous post in early October, explains the background to the regular monthly English-language Anglican Service and how I was asked to take future responsibility for it. One important update to what I wrote then, is that Gustav, the husband of Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens, who I mentioned as being seriously ill, sadly died on 30^th September 2015, something I didn’t discover until four weeks after the event.

As I mentioned in that post, having led the service and preached on Sunday 20^th September, I wasn’t expecting to be in Dresden again until early December. However, on Thursday 29^th October, I suddenly got an email inviting me to an evening meeting only five days later, to plan all the evening services, including the Anglican ones, for the first four months of 2016. Deciding that it would be best to be there to avoid things being decided on my behalf, I cancelled what I was meant to be doing in Prague, and booked a train ticket.

Therefore on the evening of Tuesday 3^rd November, I sat through a meeting lasting nearly two hours, conducted predominantly in German. I should add that all the other attendees were German Protestant ministers & theologians. Need I say more 🙂 To be fair, I did understand a good deal of what was being said, but struggled to respond in grammatically correct German. Sybille had firmly said that I should go to the meeting alone, as it would improve my German 😀

When an answer was directly required of me, Pastor Sebastian Feydt did always ask me in English. Probably the funniest moment was when he asked in German, ‘Was ist Palmsonntag auf Englisch?’ ‘Palm Sunday’, I responded, and everyone laughed.

The tradition at the Frauenkirche is that the evening services follow a set theme over a series of weeks. The English-language Anglican Services are not regarded as an exception, but rather as part of the agreed theme. Therefore, whilst on the first three Sundays of January 2016, including the Anglican Service on Sunday 17^th January, there is no set theme, from Sunday 24^th January – Sunday 20^th March inclusive, the theme is to be ‘Das Kreuz verbindet’ – ‘The cross connects’ or, ‘We are connected by the cross’.

The idea is that each service will focus on one of the numerous crosses that are within the Frauenkirche. On Sunday 21^st February, I have been specifically asked to preach about the ‘Cross of Nails’ that connects the Frauenkirche with Coventry Cathedral. My theme will be reconciliation and my text 2 Corinthians 5. 18 – ‘All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation’. What a wonderful opportunity but also a great challenge. I will also have the joy of preaching on Palmsonntag Abend – Palm Sunday evening.

'Building bridges, living reconciliation, strengthening faith' © Ricky Yates — ‘Building bridges, living reconciliation, strengthening faith’ © Ricky Yates

I always enjoy my Dresden visits, not least because the Frauenkirche authorities kindly organise and pay for me to stay overnight at the nearby Hotel Martha. On my early November visit, I was particularly struck by this banner displayed outside the Church. For those who cannot read German it says, ‘Building bridges, living reconciliation, strengthening faith’. A pretty good mission statement for any Church!

As explained in my earlier post, when I was next expecting to be in Dresden, was on the evening of Sunday 6^th December. For reasons that I’m still trying to fathom, in December, the English-language Anglican Service gets moved from the third Sunday, to the first Sunday of the month. This causes me problems, as the monthly Brno service is also normally held on the first Sunday evening of each month. This year, I sent my Reader Jack Noonan off to Brno, to conduct their Service of Lessons and Carols, where he promptly had the biggest congregation we’ve had in Brno since beginning services there, four years ago. I obviously need to get him to officiate in Brno more often 🙂

The evening service in Dresden was also one of Lessons & Carols at which my Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, was the preacher. It was his first visit to Dresden and the Frauenkirche. At the end of the service, just before we gave a great rendition of ‘O come all ye faithful’ and Bishop Robert gave the Blessing, there were two presentations made by Pastor Holger Treutmann.

The first of these was to Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens, to thank her for her ten years of overseeing the English-language Anglican Service. After she had spoken in reply, it was my turn to be introduced as the new coordinator. As well as welcoming me and thanking me for taking on this task, I was given two gifts which you can see in the title photo of this post.

The book is a beautifully illustrated history of the Frauenkirche from 1726, when building commenced, right through to the consecration of the re-built Church in 2005. Reading it has both improved my knowledge of German Church history, as well as giving me a wonderful insight into the design of the interior and how it illustrates Lutheran theology and ecclesiastical understanding. The circular box contained some most delicious sächsische Schokolade. I love the way the creator of the chocolates is a Schokoladenmanufaktur – all one word 😀

Rev'd Dr Irene Ahrens, young Argentinian couple & Yours Truly © Ricky Yates — Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens, young Argentinian couple & Yours Truly © Ricky Yates

Following the service, I stood at the Church door with Irene, as we bid farewell to the congregation. I wanted a photo of myself with Irene but in the end, the only reasonably decent photo I got was this one with an Argentinian couple who regularly attend the service and have recently had a baby. The prominent scab on my left cheek is from where I was treated with liquid nitrogen by my dermatologist, four days previously. It has now healed.

Dresden Christmas Markets adjacent to the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

After bidding farewell to everybody, Bishop Robert and his wife Helen, together with Irene & I, were all invited to a splendid evening meal, hosted by Pastor Holger Treutmann in the adjacent Coselpalais restaurant. After a much needed good night’s sleep at Hotel Martha, I enjoyed briefly exploring some Christmas market stalls as I made my way to the Hauptbahnhof and my return journey to Prague on Monday morning.

The next English-language Anglican Evening Services in the Frauenkirche will be on 17^th January, 21^st February and 20^th March, all starting at 18.00. The details can also be found in both English and German, on the Frauenkirche website.

Some final thoughts on our October trip around Poland

Wroclaw dwarf at the ATM © Sybille Yates

‘Did you enjoy your holiday in Poland?’, is a question we’ve been asked several times since our return to Prague just over six weeks ago, on Wednesday 21^st October. My reply is always a very positive ‘Yes’, with the notable exception of the problem we had with the ‘Carly’ when the immobilizer malfunctioned. I hope that some of our enjoyment comes through in my previous eleven blog posts 🙂

A number of people questioned in advance of our visit, whether we were wise to travel around Poland in mid-October, thinking we would experience bad weather. However, in the whole of the fifteen days we were away, we were only affected by rain twice – in the late afternoon and evening when we drove from Frombork to Malbork, and the bulk of the day when we sought to explore Wroclaw on foot.

During the first few days of our trip, when we enjoyed blue skies and bright sunshine during the day, it was inevitably quite cold overnight, with a touch of frost on occasions. But it was never severe and temperatures soon rose, once the sun came up.

There were two major pluses arising from visiting Poland in October. One was the wonderful array of autumn colours we saw as we travelled, which became more pronounced each successive day. The other was the cost of our hire boat on the Masurian Lakes, which was half what it would have been, had we hired it in July or August. But also, because we hired in the late-season, we then had the lakes virtually to ourselves.

The Masurian Lakes more than lived up to my expectations. What really impressed me was the excellent balance that the authorities seem to have achieved, between protecting the wonderful unspoilt environment with its variety of wild animals and birds, and allowing visitors to enjoy and explore the area. I would love to visit again in summer, but it would inevitably be far busier with many more visitors.

Although we travelled from the south of Poland, to the far north, and back again, we were still limited in the number of places that we had time to stop in and explore. And even in the places where we did stop, I often felt that we only scratched the surface of what there was to see and discover.

Speaking of the places in which we did spend some time, my own preference was for Wroclaw rather than Kraców, despite the rain that impinged on our enjoyment of the former. As Wroclaw is no more than five hours drive from Prague, it is certainly somewhere to which I would like to return, hopefully in better weather.

The inevitable question that has been asked is why didn’t we visit the capital, Warsaw. There is a very simple answer – I have to go there next year in late September, as the Warsaw Anglican congregation are kindly hosting the 2016 Eastern Archdeaconry Synod. I hope to encourage Sybille to come with me and we might then add on a few more days of annual leave, and discover a little more of Poland.

‘Did anything come as a surprise?’, is something I’ve also been asked. Probably the biggest surprise was discovering how widely English is spoken, with the exception of when we most needed it to be, when the ‘Carly’ broke down 🙁 Also, when we offered either English or German, English was nearly always preferred, with the notable exception of the marina at Mikolajki.

The only other surprise, though as a geographer by first degree I should have known, was discovering in reality, how big Poland actually is. Except when travelling on motorways, of which there are currently relatively few, it did take a lot longer than I originally anticipated, to get from A to B.

Of all the eleven blog posts that I’ve written about Poland, the one that has attracted the greatest number of comments has been the first one, regarding contrasts between the Czech Republic and Poland. I’m most grateful to everyone who did comment and it has been very reassuring to receive several affirmations within those comments, concurring with what I wrote.

Firstly, my thanks to Cynthia, an American expat living and working in the Czech Republic and who writes an excellent blog herself 🙂 , saying that she had exactly the same response from Czech people as we had, questioning why on earth she would want to spend time visiting Poland.

Secondly, I appreciated the various explanations, by both expats and native Czechs, as to why Czech people rarely visit Poland. That Czechs prefer the warm Adriatic sea to the cool Baltic sea. That they think it will be the same as the Czech Republic, therefore why would they want to see more of the same? That they have experienced poor Polish food imported into the Czech Republic and presume therefore that all Polish food is poor. That agnostic Czechs feel threatened by the power and influence of the Polish Roman Catholic Church!

My original observations were written and posted after only being in Poland for five days. But what we observed in the following days, only further confirmed what I originally wrote. I mentioned the high level of adherence and practice by Polish Roman Catholics, in contrast to to the Czech Republic. Both Sybille and I were amazed at the number of masses being celebrated at almost any urban Roman Catholic Church. The photograph on the left was one Sybille spotted in Wroclaw.

I also wrote that virtually the only area where I had observed any similarities between Poles and Czechs, was in their fashion sense. As in the Czech Republic, throughout our travels, we continued to see many men having long hair and tying it back in a pony tail. And it certainly seemed almost de rigueur, in virtually every bar-restaurant we patronised, for young female waitresses to wear short stretchy black miniskirts or mini-dresses 🙂

I finished that post by saying that since passing through the border area just north of Ostrava, we hadn’t seen a single Czech registered car! That continued to be true until three days before the end of our trip, when we were passed by a Czech registered car, just north of Wroclaw. But we didn’t see another until a few kilometres before the Polish-Czech border near the ski resort of Harrachov, on our drive back to Prague.

One major attraction that I omitted from my post about Wroclaw, were the dwarfs that can be found throughout the city. Apparently, there are now over three hundred of them! Our favourite of the ones we spotted, was the dwarf using the ATM, at the beginning of this post. Below is another.

Wroclaw

We spent the final two nights of our October Polish adventure, staying in the city of Wroclaw, and used the intervening day to discover some of the delights it has to offer. Until 1945, Wroclaw was part of Germany and known as Breslau. In the last few months of the Second World War, it suffered serious destruction, with the Nazi forces seeking to defend the city, only surrendering to the Soviet Red Army on 6^th May 1945, just two days before the official end of the war.

As Sybille had organised advance booking of our accommodation for the two previous nights, she declared it was my turn to both find and pay, for somewhere for us to stay in Wroclaw. So, whilst enjoying a mid-morning coffee, sitting in the central market square of Poznan, I got online and reserved us a room for two nights at the B&B Hotel Wroclaw Centrum. It was little more expensive and upmarket compared to where we had stayed in Malbork and Poznan, but I decided we deserved it for the last nights of our holiday. The hotel was located within easy walking distance of the historic city centre, had secure off-street parking for the ‘Carly’, and all the reviews said that its wifi was excellent 🙂 The reviews were correct!

Determined to avoid a repeat of the problems we’d had, trying to drive to our hostel in Poznan the previous afternoon, I’d found the street on which the B&B Hotel is located, using the city centre plan in our Polish guidebook, and worked out a route of how to get there. All went perfectly to plan, except that we found ourselves driving along on the opposite side of the street to the hotel, with a set of tramlines in-between, which it was impossible to drive across 🙁 Fortunately, we kept our sense of direction and managed to eventually find a legitimate way to drive back up the other side of the street and reach the hotel and its car park.

After checking into the hotel and getting our belongings from the car to our room, we set out to walk into the historic city centre and main market square, just as it was getting dark. The floodlit Gothic Town Hall looked magnificent, as you can see in the photograph at the top of this post. The square has numerous bars and restaurants. We eventually chose to eat at a Greek restaurant and shared an amazing seafood platter.

The weather next morning was cloudy and grey. By mid-morning, it started to rain and got progressively heavier as the day went on. This was great shame as there was much to see. The rain and lack of light, also made taking photographs more difficult. Those that follow, were taken before the rain really set in.

Buildings on one side of Wroclaw Market Square © Sybille Yates

Ornamental façade of the House of the seven Electors © Ricky Yates — Ornamental façade of the House of the Seven Electors © Ricky Yates

Various creatures on the gable end of a building in Wroclaw © Sybille Yates

Tower of the Church of St Elizabeth © Ricky Yates

Memorial to Dietrich Bonhoeffer © Sybille Yates

Near the Church of St Elizabeth, (which was unfortunately closed due to major restoration work taking place), we found this memorial to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran Pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, who was born in Wroclaw in 1906.

Plaques below the memorial. In Polish on the left, in German on the right © Sybille Yates

In the afternoon rain, we walked from the city centre, to an island in the Odra/Oder river, to visit the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist.

Wroclaw Cathedral from a distance across the Odra/Oder river © Sybille Yates	Wroclaw Cathedral © Sybille Yates
Interior of Wroclaw Cathedral © Sybille Yates	Wroclaw Cathedral in 1945 © Sybille Yates

Whilst walking to the Cathedral, we spotted a statue of St. James. Within the Cathedral was a sign indicating it as being a point on the Via Regia, leading to Zgorzelic/Görlitz and the der Ökumenische Pilgerweg which Sybille had walked earlier in 2015.

Noticeboard in the Cathedral © Sybille Yates

Outside was a map, showing various waymarked pilgrimage routes. Notice how far it is to Santiago de Compostela!

Poznan

The Town Hall in Pozna? © Ricky Yates — The Town Hall in Poznan © Ricky Yates

We left Malbork in the late morning of Sunday 18^th October and, after crossing the Wisla/Vistula river, joined the major north-south motorway that comes from Gdansk and heads towards Warsaw. We then made speedy progress southwards, at the expense of a relatively modest toll. Having crossed the Wisla/Vistula river twice more, just south of Torun, we left the motorway and headed south-west to Poznan.

As well as booking us into a double room in the Tey Hostel, located right in the middle of the historic city centre of Poznan, Sybille had also downloaded a map to her tablet, to help us negotiate the narrow one-way streets and reach our destination. The advice of the hostel was to drive to the front door, unload, and pick up a parking permit for an off-street parking place, located a short distance away.

Unfortunately, when we reached Poznan, we discovered that several roads had either been changed to being one-way in the opposite direction, or were closed because of work to install underground cables, water pipes or sewers. We ended up getting completely lost and frustrated, despite thinking we had come well-prepared to find the hostel. After going around in circles for about forty-five minutes, Sybille spotted a ‘hostel’ sign.

The street ahead is closed! © Sybille Yates

We were actually in a spot where it was possible to at least temporarily park the car. So I stopped and Sybille ran off. I couldn’t drive any further forward because the road ahead was dug up and closed 🙁 When Sybille returned, around ten minutes later, she told me that the sign was for the wrong hostel, but she had found the right one, just around the corner. As it appeared safe to leave the ‘Carly’ where it was parked, at least for a short while, we unloaded all that we needed, and carried it to the hostel and put it in our room.

After this, I collected my parking permit from the hostel receptionist. She gave me a small map, on which she marked where the correct place was to park the ‘Carly’. ‘But which route do I take to get from where the ‘Carly’ is currently sitting, to the off street parking place?’, I asked. Even she wasn’t sure because of all the disruption caused by temporary road closures. But with a slight further deviation, her suggested route worked. Health warning – don’t try driving into the historic centre of Poznan if you want to maintain your sanity!

Despite these initial hassles, I very much enjoyed Poznan. Whilst it isn’t as grand as either Kraków or Wroclaw, it therefore means that it attracts far fewer tourists. Yet the central market square consists of a whole variety of attractive buildings, including the Town Hall above, which dates from the middle of the sixteenth century, and a row of arcaded buildings, adjoining the Town Hall, which you can see in the photograph below.

Arcaded buildings in the market square of Poznan © Sybille Yates

Inappropriate Communist era architecture in Poznan © Ricky Yates

Unfortunately, within the main market square, there are examples of inappropriate Communist era architecture, no doubt replacing buildings destroyed during the Second World War. We were interested to see that in front of these relatively new buildings, there was a statue of Sv. Jan Nepomuk, a very famous Czech saint.

The exteriors of many of the buildings that surround the central market square, are highly decorated. It was difficult to choose which ones to post here. As in the Czech Republic, there is sometimes a stark contrast between the exquisite artwork on the buildings, and the use made of the ground floor premises, such as in the fourth example below. From our observations over the two weeks of our travels, kebabs seem to be a very popular takeaway food in Poland 🙂

Exterior artwork in Poznan © Ricky Yates	Exterior artwork in Poznan © Ricky Yates
Exterior artwork in Poznan © Ricky Yates	Exterior artwork in Poznan © Ricky Yates

To the east of the historic city centre, on an island created by two branches of the Warta river, stands Poznan Cathedral, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. A Church has stood on this site for over a thousand years. It has been rebuilt and remodelled several times since, and has been more recently restored to its earlier Gothic form, after suffering damage during the Second World War.

The exterior of Poznan Cathedral © Ricky Yates

The interior of Poznan Cathedral © Sybille Yates