EAST ACROSS EUROPE

After leaving our friends in Bensheim, we drove due east towards Bavaria and onto Nuremberg, where neither of us had been before. We parked at the Knaus Camping Park on the edge of the city. The “historical” significance of this particular camp site is that it is situated in what was the Nazi Party Rally grounds, much of which still stand in one way or another. To stand on the  balcony that was built for Hitler to deliver his speeches and look down on the large arena was an experience we won’t forget . Yes lots of the building have been demolished including all the pillars that formed a back drop but much Albert Speer’s architecture still stands. 

Info Boards on the Nazi Party Rally Grounds

Standing on the Balcony overlooking the Parade Grounds

The Original Building had pillars along the rear

More Nazi era Architecture

Hitler's Grosse Strasse

It was fascinating to go into the city centre to see where the town was destroyed in 1945, but later rebuilt so that you would never know what had happened there. Another famous place we visited was the Nuremberg Court, where many of the leaders of the Nazi Party were tried for war crimes in 1945 and 46. It was interesting to read about how these trials were organised and how they have led, indirectly, to today’s International Criminal Court. Experiences like this really makes history come alive for us. 

Old Buildings in the centre

Nuremberg Castle

St George gets everywhere

It was raining so this musician played under this arch

Old Buildings in the centre of Nuremberg

The Court and Dock

The Dock where the Nazi Leaders were tried

Nuremberg Court

After Nuremburg we headed through Bavaria and into the Czech Republic with a first stop at the beautiful city of Cesky Krumlov. For those who haven’t seen it, take a look at a video we made of this town. It really is a marvel. We also managed an afternoon canoeing down the river and getting very wet, first by a huge thunderstorm then awhile later by taking a swim on one of the weirs. Sadly at this stage the camera also took a swim but after a lot of hours drying out it seems to be working again.

Cesky Krumlov

At the Castle

Cesky Krumlov

Paddling the River

After Cesky Krumlov we headed north to the Capital of the Czech Republic, Prague which is another of Europe’s beautiful capital cities. For us it was a little too hot and humid as well as being busy so perhaps we didn’t fully appreciate what an amazing place it is. We camped on an island in the river just a few kilometres upstream of Charles Bridge and opposite Vysehrad, the Old Citadel just outside the city centre. We took the free ferry across the river to the nearest tram stop and a quick 5 minute tram journey and we were in the centre.  

Looking towards Prague

Tomb of Dvorak

Citadel at night

Busy Charles Bridge

Even the statues put 2 fingers up to the tourists

Our first stop was to walk along Charles Bridge and admire the statues. It’s a great place to people watch as well as listen to the different musicians and street performers which play there. At midday we watched the Changing of The Guard at Prague Castle which was great fun. Almost like being at home, but not quite. We spent ages wandering around the castle and the old town and went into many of the churches. The icon we will both remember has to be the bearded lady……apparently she prayed all night because she didn’t want to marry her suitor, and in the morning found she had grown a beard, so the wedding was called off. Unfortunately her father then killed her. What a life some people had.

 From Prague we headed north into Poland with a stop in the hills on the border. We were hoping to do a little walking after the heat of Prague but it was wet and miserable there so we moved on the next day and came across a town called Klodzko with its massive fortress standing guard over the town. We spent a day here looking at the huge hilltop structure which became a prison then a Prisoner of War Camp in WWII and finally a factory making parts for German Aircraft towards the end of the war. The old town certainly had some ancient buildings but again with much of this area of Poland it suffered badly in 1945 when the Russian army defeated the German army here.

The fortress at Klodzko

Looking down on the town

Inside the fortress

This was a POW camp in the war

Klodzko townhall

The bridge with statues

Patterns

The next stop was north east to Wroclaw, previously know as Breslau when under German (or Prussian) rule. This was one of the last towns to surrender and was to be made a fortress (Festung Breslau) under direct orders from Hitler. The town was to be defended until the last man. Consequently much of the town was destroyed by the surrounding Russian Forces in the siege of Breslau. Many soldiers and civilians were killed. After the war the town was handed over to Poland again taking the name Wroclaw with all the German inhabitants that had survived being removed and Polish people replacing them mainly from areas of Poland that were going to be in Russia. 

Jan with the Bear

Old Town rebuilt

Miniature Dwarf statues are everywhere in the city

Rebuilt

Same spot in 1945

editing photos

Many of you will know that Jan and I decided to get fitter when we came back from Africa and started running with Calne Running Club. We also started to do Park Runs, a 5 km timed run on a Saturday morning at 9am. UK has hundreds of these now all over and they are also in many other countries. We fitted in a Park Run in Mannheim, Germany and managed our 2^ndof the Grand Tour in Wroclaw. We both enjoy them and are getting (OK well one of us is) very competitive wanting to get faster each time.

A Russian MIG fighter at the start of Wroclaw Park Run

We finished

Poland obviously has large towns and cities but plenty of rolling countryside with arable fields of corn all being harvested at the moment. It also has large areas of forest, mainly Northern European Pine forests. It was in one of these I realised we were going close to a town called Zagan, (Sagan under German Rule) This in itself probably doesn’t mean much to you but those who have been around a few years and have sat indoors over Christmas with a TV will have seen the annual showing of “The Great Escape” (No not our trip to Africa, look back through the blog for that). The camp Stalag Luft III was situated at Zagan so we decided to go and find it. There is a small museum adjacent to the road and a memorial where “Harry” the escape tunnel was much further into the forest. There are still odd pieces of the buildings left in the forest of Stalag VIII, a huge POW camp that was next door. There is also a memorial to those who were executed for escaping. The area now has been returned to its natural forest and little visible remains.

Stalag Luft III

Memorial to Stalag VIII C a huge POW camp

This was the hospital at Stalag Left III

The start of "HARRY"

The route of the tunnel

The exit of "HARRY" in the woods

Bases to a hut

Memorial to the murdered men

After leaving Zagan we started looking for a camp but could not find one so we decided it was time to try it our first “Wild” camp.  We pulled onto a small track in the forest and drove slowly down looking for a spot to stop. It was lovely sitting in the quiet of the evening, listening to the owls nearby and reminiscing about some of our African campsites we have stayed at. . It was a very quiet night with just the forest around. We know Poland has a few bears and wolves but sadly none in this area.

A Wild Camp in Poland

As you can see on here we are also trying to produce the occasional “VLOG” with videos. Please look them up and we would love comments. We would especially like to hear what you think of the, how we can make them better (as we are new at this) and also if anyone has any questions with regard to our “Grand Tour” We would really like to answer them for you. Watch a video and click subscribe and you will be automatically informed when we have published a new one.

We that’s it from here in the centre of Poland, We are still heading north. Thanks for reading and let us know what you think

Mike and Jan.