WROCLAW. We love you!

Potato pancakes and cherry wine.

A long train trip sees us arrive in Wroclaw, where we’ve been before but it’s such an interesting town, we thought we’d check it out again and of course, see the Xmas market. Stopping off for lunch at a favourite restaurant that also has a menu for dogs! We order their mulled wine and it knocks us out, it’s so strong. A whole camembert served warm and topped with pear chutney and walnuts and served with a pumpkin salad hits the spot and we’re off after leaving our bags at the old converted monastery where we’ll be staying.

We come across the bronze gnomes in various activities that are everywhere in the city. There are 165 supposedly so you’re always on the lookout for them. The became a symbol of the Solidarity movement and have grown in numbers since then.

The market is stunning and curves around corners and is overshadowed by the beautiful rebuilt buildings. The foods are interesting, we come across a soup one with Poultry stomach stew and another one of tripe. Gorgeous bottles of different flavoured vodkas, including peach, pineapple and pomegranate; amazing stalls of different types of Halva; retro beers; gorgeous donuts, smoked patterned cheese rounds; the smell of caramelised nuts and roasting chestnuts filling the air; stunningly painted gingerbread cookies; kebabs of cubed cheese in breadcrumbs.

Across the road is my favourite cherry wine shop - Pijana Wisnia, which of course we drop in to warm up with a warm cherry wine; beautifully decorated ginger biscuits.

That night the market is alight with beautiful Xmas lights strung across the old town. We eat at a restaurant overlooking the markets and the beautiful square. An appetiser of beetroot, cumin and pumpkin, and saffron carrot dips and I have the potato pancakes with a mushroom sour cream sauce and we return home through the beautifully lit streets.

Next morning, I find a coffee shop that serves a coffee made with frothed orange juice! It is amazing!. I find so many gnomes and a 13th century street which used to be butcher’s shops but which is now a street of beautiful galleries.

I meet up with the girls for a lunch at Konspira, a restaurant where the anti communists used to meet to overthrown the government. Great food, huge portions and retro surroundings. Walking back through the town I find a photo of what this place looked like after the war, it’s amazing what they’ve rebuilt.

That night we have crazy cocktails and tapas at Rumbar and we declare that Gdansk and Wroclaw are our new favourite places. The people are lovely, it’s got a wonderful young scene, great cafes, vegetarian and vegan places, fantastic bars. So many places we didn’t get to see but we decide we have to return. We love Poland!

Poznan, Poland. Art and cool cafes.

We arrive in Poznan after a train journey where I watch the snowy landscape flash by, see hares in the fields and the odd deer. I arrive at the hotel and ask for directions to the Xmas market and the woman there says it’s been moved as they’re doing construction work in the main square, the square that I saw and chose to visit Poznan because of its beauty. Such is life but we made up for the disappointment with the special grilled cheese and bacon, served with cranberry sauce and for later - a chocolate coated pear.

We find the markets which are lovely but small and we sadly cross the construction site, huge holes, big equipment, mud and fencing that prevents you from even taking good photos of the gorgeous colourful buildings that again had been rebuilt after WWII. But it’s here we find the cutest vegetarian restaurant with white mulled wine flavoured with rosemary. That night we have good Thai and the next morning I head out to explore.

I have a coffee to get me going and then visit the pink church of St Mathias which is richly decorated as per Italian churches; I go past the beautiful town hall that you can’t visit because of the street work; visit a market with a plethora of pumpkin varieties and end up getting out of the cold at the Chocolaterie Cacao Republic, where I have an Amaretto thick hot chocolate to warm me up.

Then I go to the Castle which has been destroyed over centuries and rebuilt into a museum. It’s a fascinating glimpse of life through the centuries and I particularly am intrigued by an exhibition - Silver from the National Defence Fund which began in 1936 to try and raise money for arms against Germany. Following the invasion of Poland, the unused donations were taken to Bucharest, then to France only to be recovered by Poland in 1976. Fascinating look into people’s prized possessions that were donated. At the top of this castle was an amazing view of the rebuilt city.

The next day I find another cute cafe for a croissant, cute shops abound outside the decimated square.

Next on my list is the Art Gallery and I am blown away by the Polish art works. Stunning.

It was a day for walking, as I headed out to the other side of town to see the Cathedral island across the river, the oldest church in Poland dating back to the 10th century. Then on to see the Mural Srodka which was stunning. It’s a 3D painting on a building celebrating the history of the neighbourhood.

I lunch at the vegetarian place and then head off to Stary Browar, a shopping complex set in a 19th century brewery all done up for Xmas. The architecture is superb.

And then we're off again. Stay tuned. The next place would have to be one of my favourite cities.

Gdansk, Poland. Snow and dumplings.

Next day we were off on our grand tour of European Xmas markets beginning with Gdansk. At Venice airport, the Christmas panettone were on display and what a display!

As the plane started to descend we saw fields of white and the excitement began. It snowed upon arrival in this northern Poland city on the Baltic Sea. We headed towards the Xmas markets as the tiny flakes came down. We had a gluwein topped up with cherry brandy and dined at Pyra bar on crispy potato pancakes with creamed spinach and chicken, perfect hearty food for this climate.

I didn’t sleep much that night because I kept checking on the snow, flurries highlighted by the street lights throughout the night and the next morning I walked out to nature and architecture delineated by white. Found a good cafe for a coffee and then checked out the streets of beautiful houses 90% of which were destroyed in the war. Looking at these incredibly elaborate buildings, it is beyond belief that this was all rebuilt by exactly as before. The riverside is old on one side, newer modern architecture on the other. They've even rebuilt a huge medieval crane. It is a port town, made famous by the uprising in the 80’s against Communism by the dock workers. It’s also the town where Goldwasser vodka was created in 1598. It’s a strong liqueur comprising 20 different roots and herbs with small flakes of 23 carat gold suspended in it. It’s deadly.

We head to the Xmas markets and have a specialty from this region - smoked patterned cheese wrapped in bacon and grilled over a wood fire and .served with a cranberry sauce. Delicious.

We are frozen so after checking out the little wooden huts filled with Xmas decorations, gifts and foods we head to a restaurant for Pierogi, Polish dumplings. I order a salad but having ordered one also last night, I realise that most of it will be comprised of various lightly pickled vegetables, which happens to be the case. After that we try four different vodkas that we each have a sip of. One is Gingerbread, another potato, there's a tomato and a dark chocolate. Perfect sustenance to head back out into the cold. We eat by the river that night. The cold here is bitter, I think it’s because there’s a breeze off the river and we’re on the Baltic. Mulled wine is necessary as is carbs!

SOPOT.

We head off to Sopot on the sea the next day, taking a taxi as they are so cheap here. We laugh when we walk down through the street to the beach that is covered in snow and full of

people walking along it. Sopot also has the longest wooden pier in Europe which was built in 1827. We walk halfway out but the cold is too much.

We find the oldest pub of Sopot, Blekitny Pudel, opposite the wonky building that is famous here and enjoy the warmth of the retro styled interior and the passionfuit and white chocolate mulled white wine! It’s fantastic.

Then after we have a Thai lunch (we’re missing Asian food again) and then head back to Gdansk. I wander around and find a cherry liquor shop and have a warmed one, standing up with all the other people who are dropping by on their way home to warm their insides.

Later that night I walk into the old town to meet the girls and the snow has started up again. So exciting! We dine underground in a cute restaurant with tables that are filled with old memorabilia under glass and we have baked potatoes with a range of different fillings. Perfect for the deep freeze of the night.

The next day, a wind is added to the chill factor, I have a high carb breakfast and then head to the river but it’s just too cold. How do people cope here? I walk back into the city and admire the coloured buildings, the beautiful ironwork, a street of beautiful shops selling mainly amber as most of it is found in the Baltic sea region. I have my photo taken and inserted into a Gdansk newspaper article because - why not? The girl who is standing in the deep freeze escaped from the Ukraine, I can’t believe how lucky we are.

I do have to mention a pastry I had as we headed to the railway station the next day. It was beyond flavoursome, a Pirog z twarogiem i malinami, crispy layers of pastry filled with sweet cheese raspberries, orange rind and sultanas. I ate it warm as we walked past The Great Mill, built in 1350 and in operation until the end of WWII and the largest industrial plant in Europe during the Middle Ages. Next to it is the Miller’s Guild House, build in 1894 and completely destroyed during the war and rebuilt. It’s so beautiful sitting in the middle of the canal.

I have to say I love this city, the people are so friendly, it's so interesting and so cold that it's a good excuse to have carbs on tap!