Torun, Poland

Other than the fact that we could spell the name of the town, we really didn’t know a lot about Torun. However we needed a small town after several days in big cities/towns, and it fit the bill nicely. The old walled town sits on the bank of the Vistula River. There are yet again those annoying cobbled streets ready to sprain an ankle or stub a toe, and many ruins of old churches and castles that those pesky Teutonic Knights had either built or destroyed.

The center of the town and the surrounding streets are doted with statues and plaques. There is even a life sized statue of a donkey, which Mu found fascinating!

We spent much of a very sunny day exploring the town at a leisurely pace, including a visit to a 15th century church that was oddly empty and devoid of the tourists who were flocking to other attractions around the town.

By the second afternoon we found ourselves wandering along the esplanade beside the river and spotted a ferry pulling in. We worked out that for a crazy cheap 15 zloty (that’s about €3.50) we could have a one hour river cruise, and decided to give it a try. After waiting about 10 minutes until departure time while enjoying the smooth sounds of Polish disco music we headed off. As the ferry pulled away from the dock the Polish disco music stopped and a recording in Polish begins. The boat moved as fast as a beaver swimming against the current carting a sack of onions. And it never accelerated. Not once. During the first leg we seemed to be racing a lady pushing a pram who was walking along the esplanade. She won. The Polish recording continued rather monotonously for the whole hour as the boat slowly made a 2km circuit from one bridge to the other and back to our original dock. It was hands down the strangest ferry journey ever. Oh, and the heat gave us a bit of heatstroke as well. Fantastic. But a good excuse for ice cream!