Road Trip in Lower Silesia, Part II: Visit to Andy Ceramika (Bolesławiec, Poland)

Main objective of our road trip was to visit Bolesławiec. I don't remember how we first learned of the famous pottery from this small city in southwestern Poland. Maybe instagram. Maybe some friends / acquaintances here in CDMX. Not sure. But since we have something more than a passing interest in pottery, we had to visit this town while we were so close (about 1h 45m from Wrocław by car).

I did a little research ahead of time, knowing that there are many little shops to check out and we likely would not have a ton of time to wander. I found a post from the Military in Germany website. Super helpful. I had all of these shops pinned as targets. Further research led me to a YouTube video from Polish Your Kitchen. They spent a day in Bolesławiec, inclduding a tour of ANDY (video clipped at the bottom of this post). Very compelling. So ANDY become my priority shop to see.

ANDY is actually about 10km east of the city center. We were coming from pitsop to see the church of peace in Jawor, so our approach took us up A4 to 94 to local roads. Like the rest of the day driving, it was all very scenic. Green with the recent rains and fields of yellow flowers throughout the drive. Once you're off the main road into a small rural setting of well-kept homes and gardens you quickly see the ANDY compound appear. Somewhat remniscient of an Illinois dairy farm if you squint.

Inside it's an impressive selection of styles and forms. Little things that are easy to bring home. Bigger baking dishes if you were smart and left yourself room in the checked baggage. Great quality and, to my eye, value, too.

We snagged a few pieces, of course. Both the coffee mug and espresso cup are now in heavy rotation back here in la CDMX.

Strong recommend for the whole experience. The drive, the visit, the pieces, and even the center of the city (next post coming soon).

Full video from Polish Your Kitchen. ANDY visit starts around 6:15.

Road Trip in Lower Silesia, Part I: Świdnica's "Church of Peace"

Turns out that I could not resist a bit of a road trip during our vacation in Poland. Wrocław made for a good jumping off point as it is within driving distance of some important historical sites and areas of personal interest for us.

The impetus that pushed me over the edge was one of those random emails exhorting me to "use your miles before they expire". Apparently I had like 5500 AA miles that I had given no thought to. Pretty useless in terms of flying, but wouldn't you know it was essentially enough to cover 1 day of car rental? Sold. So on May 22 we made our way to Kaizen Rent to pick up what was advertised as a Fiat (fun!) but turned out to be a generic Toyota.

Not very sexy, but it got us where we needed to go. One thing that struck me generally as we drove around (and even from the trains) was that Poland is pretty scenic. Lovely countryside. And the roads were in great condition, without a ton of traffic. Easy to navigate, with the scenery making for a pleasant ride.

First stop, Świdnica. My frame of reference for Świdnica is the famous "Church of Peace". Been a while since my European History classes at BC (shout out Professor Lawrence Wolfe), so my current grasp of the Thirty Years War is non-existent. But it was a big deal. And for those who are of a more historical bent than I am, Świdnica and the church make for an interesting stop. Minimal other visitors there on the gray Thursday we stopped.

Worth a stop for sure. And, there is a cute and conveniently located cafe called 7Niebo right there. Good for a coffee and a bathroom break.

Quick Review: Piekarnia Poko Bakery (Wrocław, Poland)

We needed something pretty quick and simple one morning, as the larger plan was a full day of driving out into the countryside a bit (more on that in a later post). Ducked into Poko, which was just around the corner from our Airnbnb.

Well lit, well-appointed, well-reviewed place. Friendly. English spoken.

Food hit the spot. Some kind of brioche breakfast sandwich with some egg, bacon, and ... cream cheese? Or something. Hard to tell once it was heated up. Tasty, regardless. And Judy loved the foccaccia.

Sufficiently fueled up for the rest of the day's adventure. Would recommend.

Quick Review: Ragu (Wrocław, Poland)

My original plan for trying to witness the Wrocław lamplighter was to sit at this place for a bit on the patio with maybe some apps and a beer. It was well rated and looked nice. What I didn't check closely enough was the menu. Maybe it's seasonal or varies by week, whatever. Night we were there 9 of the 10 apps featured asparagus and the 10th was probably mushrooms and shrimp or something similary unappetizing. Dissatisfied with the offering, I needed to improvise. I had pinned Ragu during my pre-trip research. Just in case. Wasn't sure if we could make it there, eat, and make it back in time for 'dusk' (vague starting time of the lamplighter). But we were hungry, so off we went.

Turned out to be a great call. Nice enough to each outside. Judy loved me taking this pic.

Starter of burrata with their homemade bread was quite good. Happy to have a glass of primitivo, too.

I got one of the ravioli dishes. It sounded like something I would make up in my imagination more than what an actual restaurant would serve. Sweet potatoes, peanuts, ginger, habanero. Yes, please. Was delicious.

The place felt very pretty neighborhoody. Though it's on a main street we saw a number of walk ins, both to sit down and take away. Our experience here was another part of the good vibes I felt throughout our visit in Wrocław.

Many good options for dining around the city, so I'd probably try a few others before heading back to Ragu. But I'm glad we stopped in that night.

Assorted Scenes from Wrocław, Poland

We really enjoyed our time in Wrocław.

Our Airbnb was solid and comfortable. I could see how it may not be ideal in really warm weather. But during our stay temps were mid 50s to maybe 70 on the high end. Perfect for us.

With a population around 700,000 (roughly the same as Coyoacán, just one of 16 alcaldias in CDMX) it's a nice size city. Good energy without feeling overwhelming. It has a variety of areas and vibes, too. Old Town is different than Nadodrze, which is different than Ostrow Tumski, which is different from the areas east of the center over toward the tech university and further out toward the zoo. Felt like it would be a cool city to live in. But I do that a lot. Picture myself living for at least a few months in almost every place we have ever visited.

Wrocław, though, was really pleasant. Scale, vibes, variety. Different elements reminded me of aspects of the places I've spent time over the years. The trams that made me nostalgic for my days on the Green Line heading up and down Comm Ave and Beacon St. Various bridges getting you between different parts of "the Venice of Poland," which vaguely reminded me of crossing the Charles between Allston and Cambridge. Sharp new condo complexes with a modern/industrial aesthetic overlooking the water that made me think of West Loop or River North from 15-20 years ago in Chicago. Neighborhood restaurants with the informal streeside seating areas that sprouted everywhere in Mexico City (and many other places of course) during Covid. This assortment of shots provides some sense of what we did and enjoyed during our 3-night stay.

Obligatory pics of the Stare Miasto / Rynek area and the traditional buildings painted in various colors that make you happy.

This last one shows the market that was opening up on our last day in the city. We were bummed it didn't open earlier. But we had seen the same thing in Krakow, so didn't totally miss the experience. Maybe we'll make it back some day as part of a Christmas Market tour.

These were taken during an easy walk / scoot around the city. Wish I had time to visit AleBrowar (first pic). Next time.

The 'scoot' alluded to above was my first venture out on a Bolt scooter. Had been wanting to try this form of urban transportation for awhile. The tour in Krakow finally gave me the nudge required to make it happen. So I did a test scoot early one morning while Judy was back in the apartment. Success. On our last morning in Wroclaw we had some time before the train to Poznan, so we scooted. Aimed west, kind of toward the zoo and the parks on that side of the city. Our route is below (love this new-to-me feature of google maps where you can track your routes).

We enjoyed the scoot too much to take too many pictures. But here are a few.

Also, we did eventually get over to Ostrow Tumski on our first evening in Wrocław. My phone died so I wasn't able to take pics. Judy grabbed a few. Overall that experience was not quite what I had built up in my mind based on what I had read. But I'm glad we saw it. Definitely unique. But not necessarily something you *need* to go out of your way to experience, in my opinion.