I had one day to see as much as could around Lublin, so I started early-ish. I was out the door just after 9am, on my way to the Lublin Open Air Village Museum. First, some morning vibe shots outside my apartment at Zamojska 12.
The museum is on the northwest side of downtown. From the map view it appears deceptively far. But even in the morning 'rush hour' it took maybe 15 minutes to get over there.
When I pulled into the parking area I was taken aback to see how full it was.
I mean, this was Wednesday morning, maybe 20 minutes after it opened, in April. This must be some kind of popular destination. Upon further exploration of the museum grounds I determined that this lot must be a commuter parking lot or maybe it's a residential lot for the area. Unclear. But me and one school group were the only people tooling around the museum that morning, so these cars had not brought a ton of visitors to the grounds.
I followed the signs to the ticket hut and paid for my entrance (30 PLN).
Found another sign pointing you toward toilet or, according to my understanding of Polish, "not-toilet". I chose not-toilet and started taking in the scenery.
You can read more about the museum to get a full idea of what is presented, but the gist of it is that it's a cross section of regional life and socio-economic segments from early 20th century, maybe some late 19th century. So you get some traditional farmer homes and barns, a typical small town scene with assorted small businesses, and an example home of the mid/upper class. There are signs everywhere so you can pick up the important points on your own, but I would definitely see the value in having a guide talk you through the details and context.
These pics show some of the town, which has a number of typical shops or services that you can peek into.
(Entrance to the barber shop. Most of the shops have these little steps you need to hop onto for a better view, so a lot of the experience is not particularly accessible friendly.)
(A tailor's shop)
(Pretty sure this was like an ice cream shop / general store)
Here's the example house of the rich folk. Comfy tidiness for sure. Absolute luxury when you compare it to some of the lower class homes below.
There are a number of more rustic buildings with these straw roofs.
And these are the high-level explanatory signs that you find as you cruise around. Helpful context.
(This one made me think that I have seen similar scenes nearly 100 years later in the weaving town of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. Or when I visited some artisans in Nuevo Lurín, Peru, last fall)
All in all I spent a little less than an hour exploring on my own. I would imagine that a guided tour likely runs a good 2 hours. And there is a little restaurant/café on site where you could rest up after with a coffee and bite to eat.
Verdict: I was glad to have checked it out. Is it the top attraction in Lublin? Probably not. Maybe higher up the list for families and anthropologists. But if you're around for more than 2-3 days it's worth the time and 30 PLN, in my opinion.
After a brief stop in Kazimierz Dolny I continued on to Lublin. The drive was mostly pleasant. I wish I could capture more pictures while driving without running myself off the road. Maybe one of these days I will invest in a camera that I can mount on the dash or something. Until then, I'll be left with random snaps like these.
I found the address of the apartment I booked. Unfortunately I could not manage to access the parking lot with the instructions provided. And I could not get in touch with the owner/manager quickly to help me figure it out. Here's a picture of the Renault Clio parked in front of the building, documenting the impasse. I think the parking was through that entrance to the right of the car.
So I pivoted to plan B, street parking. The apartment I rented was at Zamojska 12. It's not a main road, but it's busy enough as a feeder into / out of the southeastern part of the city. You can see in the image below that the old town and downtown are indicated by all the map pins I saved (fwiw, here is my "Lublin" list for reference). The apartment is where the heart icon appears. And the pics further below in this post looking out onto the street from the apartment balcony illustrate the general traffic flow. It's busy-ish.
Turned out to be a good spot. Felt local, just a 10-minute walk from the center. But in the moment of arrival when I couldn't access the building's private lot and there were buses running in both directions, cars pulling in, out, etc. I needed to regroup somewhere calmer. I found a quiet part of the street near the Arche Hotel and made my way to the parking meter.
During last year's trip to Bolesławiec we sucessfully pulled a valid parking slip out of a meter, so I had a vague recollection of what needed to be done here. When you approach the meter it is not immediately obvious. This is what you see. A lot of Polish.
However, you will notice a little flag button just to the left of the "A" key. Press that and the screen will give you some language options at the bottom of the screen.
Hit English and you're on your way to buying your 'parking ticket'.
19 PLN for 24 hours is not a bad deal at all. Street parking was plentiful. I used it around the city in a few different spots. And nothing happened to the car. All in all probably more convenient than trying to deal with the castle-like entrance / exit of the private parking lot.
Car parked, it was time to get into the apartment itself. The listing on Booking.com was for "Zamojska Residence - Silver Line Apartment", which I can no longer find available. At least not the particular unit I stayed in. The address was Zamojska 12, 19a. Building itself was fine, apartment was decent. Bargain price of $65/night. My primary concerns were a decent living room space with a couch, a place to sit and get some work done, and a kitchen. Check, check, and check.
(Not pictured here is the electric kettle, but I did have one. Found it oddly difficult in Poland to find places with the holy grail of a working stove, microwave, and a kettle / nespresso machine. And when I did find one, like in Warsaw, the stove didn't work. Induction stoves. Not a fan. But this one worked and I was able to successfully boil some tortellini.)
Of course you assume a decent bedroom, and I thought I had one.
Unfortunately I couldn't use it as I could hear the neighbor's TV loud and clear through the wall. So we grabbed the bedding, closed the bedroom door, and slept on the couch.
And honestly that couch was pretty wide and comfy, so no harm no foul since I was traveling solo here. Snapped a few shots from my balcony while there was still light and sat down for a few hours catching up with work. Somewhere in between I hit the Biedronka down the street for some supplies, but no pics of that grocery run.
After a few hours on the laptop catching up, I ventured out for an evening walkabout. Central Lublin can be divided broadly into Old Town (Stare Miasto) and downtown (Śródmieście). My mission that night was to do a quick orientation spin through the hearts of both. I made my way up Zamojska and Bernardynska, taking pics of things that caught my eye, including the Perlowa Brewery and my first glimpses of the old town towers.
It was around 9:30pm on a Tuesday in April, so things were pretty quiet. I walked and snapped shots of places that looked interesting and maybe worth checking out if I find myself in Lublin again.
I think the Multimedia Fountain turns off by 9:45 ish, so when I found myself on Krakowskie Przedmieście, which is the cool east-west pedestrian street connecting the two sections of the city, I went left/west to check out Śródmieście first.
(View east toward old town)
(View west toward Plac Litewski)
Plac Litewski is easy to spot as you approach after dark. Everything was lit up, looking great.
When I got over to the fountain I took a couple of not great video clips. And while they are admittedly not great, they give some sense of what you're seeing and hearing as you explore the area at large.
Snapped a few more shots of the area, thinking this would be a pretty cool place to live and work. Easy to picture having nice job in a nearby office, enjoying the walk in each morning, then maybe strolling about in the afternoon on your lunch break, followed later by a craft beer and some appetizers after work, etc. My Lublin Śródmieście fantasy.
Turning back to head in the other direction toward Stare Miasto, I took a few more shots of storefronts / restaurants that I found alluringly illuminated as I walked.
I then paused in front of Brama Krakowska, looking back toward Śródmieście and then forward toward the entrance into Old Town.
(View back toward Śródmieście)
(View of Brama Krakowska)
Again, it was a Tuesday evening in April, so not peak season. Which honestly was nice. But that explains why I was essentially solo taking some oligatory medieval scenery vibe shots.
(Per Gemini, Jasza Mazur is the fictional tightrope walker and magician from Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel The Magician of Lublin. In Lublin, Poland, a resin sculpture by artist Jerzy Kędziora depicts Jasza and a small monkey balanced on a tightrope high above Grodzka Street.)
With some imagination you can picture the Rynek during better weather, more sociable hours, and livelier times. But also nothing wrong with enjoying the setting during more tranquil moments like these.
Also spotted my first goat (google Lublin and the billy goat legend to learn more).
With a successful walkabout complete and the clock stroking sometime after 10pm (aka, about 12 hours after I picked up the Renaul Clio in Warsaw), I wrapped it up and slept cozily on the couch at Zamojska 12, unit 19a.
