. .. . Wroclaw Culture, History, Info Etc.

. . . . . . . . . . . Intro/History
Wroclaw is an ancient Polish (formerly German) city that has a completely unique atmosphere & vibe from any other city due to its cross-pollinated cultural heritage & its river & canal entwined architectural physiognomy. One of the promotional catch phrases often thrown around is that it is Poland's Venice. There are reportedly 123 some odd bridges in the city (I stopped counting at 6). With this said in the interest of deflating touristic hyperbole, Wroclaw is no Venice. I doubt there is even a Polish word for gondolier… Nevertheless it is rich with its own charms & atmosphere that can only be described as Wroclawian.

  Hostel quick list.. Mleczarnia Avantguarde Boogie Cinnamon Nathan's .. . . . . . Today in 2009, it has more going for it across the cultural, economic, social, & cultural boards than arguably any other Polish city. Huge cranes & gaping craters dot the cities landscape, which in the coming years will be replaced by modern business centers, posh apartments, 2-5 new McDonald's/KFC & at least one bowling alley (one can dream). The Heavily German influenced architecture around the, ahem, second largest Market Square in Europe (Damn you Krakow!) is the perfect environ to heave a stein of piwo(thats beer), to the sky & admire the sites. If you are a walker, writer, dreamer or screamer there are an abundance of beautiful parks to indulge yourself just a short 20 walk outside the center of town including Botanical Gardens, a Japanese Garden & Poland's oldest Zoo (The zoo is open 9am-6pm in summer & 9am-4pm in winter with the box office closing an hour before the zoo itself, so make sure you are there by 5pm or 3pm respectively. Tickets cost 10 zloty for hard-working citizens, or 4 for slackers.)

. . . . . . Lets back up a second though & sort this name thing out. Opposed to accepted English phonetic rules, Wroclaw is not pronounced Rock-Law (although that would be a badass name for a city & befitting of its history), but rather in accordance with its centuries old Polish name, is pronounced Frot-Suave. With this out of the way, some of you may have heard of or indeed know Wroclaw as another fish completely, that of the formerly East-German city of Breslau… In fact out of all the Polish Cities, Wroclaw has, & has had the most German influence & to put it quite frankly it was lock stock a German (actually Prussian for those of you keeping score) city for more than 200 years. The Czech's also laid claim to Vratislava back in the day & controlled the cobbled stones from 13th Century until the Germans took over. The Poles however kicked things off & good old King Boleslaw established the Wroclaw bishopric right around the year 1,000.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Architecture
Hodgepodge, mixed bag, random, eclectic, what the hell is that… all of these epithets are indeed sufficient to describe Wroclaw's colorful & intriguing architectural landscape. You got your Gothic(Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Ostrow Tumski), Renaissance (Town Hall, Rynek), Baroque (University Building, Grodzka Street), Modernist (Hala Ludowa Wystawowa 1), Concrete Constructivist, Historism (Water Tower, Sudecka street 125a) Socialist-Realism (Buildings on Kosciuszki Square) & Expressionist (Curved Glass Department store, Szewska Street). The story of Wroclaw's architecture is the story of its often tumultuous but also rich & culturally nuanced past. Head on out, look up, search around & if you get down with God you got countless churches of all shapes, sizes & persuasions to discover. For the best views of Wroclaw & its skyline ascend the three major Cathedrals- St. John the Baptist on Ostrow Tumski- the highest, oldest & most beautiful Cathedral in town; St. Elisabeths on St. Mikolja St.- best view of the Market Square & old town; & St. Mary Magdalen's Church on Szewska street; the only Cathedral with a bridge connecting the belfries.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Night-life
Much like Krakow, Wroclaw has a vibrant & diverse night-life which mostly lurks in & around clubs & bars close to the market square. Wroclaw is a big university town & using the transitive property of vodka, this also means it is a heluva drinking town. The epicenter of Wroclaw Nightlife has to be the Pasaz Niepolda located at Ruska 51 between Ruska & sw. Antoniego. Here is located at least 10 fine public pubs, music clubs & hip techno holes to fill your souls & keep you afloat for the better part of your stay. You will notice several of these places on our map & there is definitely a little something for everyone in this seemingly seedy alley (even a burrito window!). Outside of Pasaz the old town is peppered with hundreds of pubs, clubs, bars, gardens, most worthy of attention. For the best times though stick to our guide.

. . . . . . . . . . Food
Pretty much the same Polish dishes that can be found in most other Polish cities with the exception of an abundance of hybrid potato dumplings. There are small ones called kluski, which are just potato & have a hole in the middle; pyzy, usually with a meaty center; & kopytki which are slightly bigger. You can actually find most of these dishes throughout Poland but they just happen to be in abundance Wroclaw the capital of Lower Silesia. Dumplings are definitely not for everyone & can tend to stick to your gums & have a strangely off-putting gelatinous texture that when digested will weigh you down for days. If you're looking for some cheap & authentic Polish eats check out the end of Kuznicza Street near the university. There are some great buffets & milk bars. Also good is Kurna Chata on Odrzanska Street. Of course Wroclaw has a huge variety of International restaurants for the most sophisticated & expensive of tastes. Check our recommendations.

Worth Checkin' Out . . . . . . . Panorama of Raclawice- ul. Purkyniego 11 www.panaromaraclawicka.pl This 360 degree mural is the pride & Joy of Wroclaw & a must see. While I was a bit skeptical about spending 20 z's & an hour & a half of my time seeing a mural of an obscure 200 year old Polish-Russian battle… it turned out to be pretty damned impressive. The mural depicts the epic battle of Polish soldiers & peasants against Russian & Cossack brigades. The Polish force was led by General Kosciusko (of American Revolution & Krakow Mound notoriety) as part of his uprising to keep Poland independent. The canvas is impressive & so is the low-fi set decorations protruding from the canvas giving a 3-Dish effect & the hi-fi handsets that whisper the depicted history in 1 of 6 languages. The whole experience is a little surreal, especially if you are lucky enough to get stuck with a group of 50 pointing, poking & giggling Polish school school kids.

Hala Ludowa (The Peoples Hall) Wystawowa 1
Don't miss this Architectural marvel while you're in town. I haven't seen anything this impressive since the big metal thing in Paris. Seriously though, plan at least half a day to check this place out, not to mention the adjacent steel phallus & the surrounding zoo parks & gardens. Well worth the trot outside of the center with its well worn drinking holes.

Jatki Alley
There is a small little lane in the old city called ul. Jatki where you will not only find some of the most interesting independent art galleries in the city (check out the textile gallery, silk screen & textile galleries) but the alley is also home to some heavy metal party animals, literally.

A-gnome-ilies
A little known fact about Wroclaw is that it is home to a population of Ancient gnomes… J Some of these little critters jump right out at you but most of them are hidden quite well. There are supposedly 15 gnomes hangin around town so see if you can find them all… (prize to be named later). They even have their own names, professions & temperaments. But seriously, aside from just being cute, quirky, & great photo-ops, these little dudes actually have a lot of symbolic meaning for Wroclaw. In the 1980's a group of whacked out anarcho-performance artists called the Orange Alternative staged a slew of Dadaist anti-communist protests. One of which was to dress up like gnomes & run around the city. Now we finally know how the Cold War came to a screeching halt… naughty gnomes.

. . . . . . . . Museums n/ Stuff
Like most big, historically rich cities, Wroclaw has its fair share of Museums to check out. The National Museum is a must for your art freaks & even for the anti-art crowd it's a great time-kill if you get stuck with a rainy day (Powstancow Warszawy Street 5- open 10-4pm every day, except Mon. Tues.) If you are into guns & swords & shit make sure you stop by the Military Museum (Cieszynskiego St. 9- open 11-5 every day except Mon. & Tues.) to check out some serious weapons of past destruction. They also have one of the best helmet collections in Poland… say no more eh. A random one to check out is the Museum of Post & Telecommunication (Krasinskiego 1- the building with all the freakin' satellites- 10-3pm every day, closed Tues.) with several exhibits tracing the history of the Polish postal service as well as featuring some random items from the Postal world at large including a collection of post boxes of the world. Simply put, go Postal. & then you got your other standard museums most of which are subtly captivating in their own special way for their own niche audiences. Archaeology Museum - ul. Cieszynskiego 9- open 11-17:00, closed Mon. Tues.; Architecture Museum- Bernardynska 5 - open 10-18, Thu 12:00-18, Sun 11:00-17 closed Mon.; Ethnographic Museum- Traugutta 111/113 - open 10-16, Thu. 09:00-16 closed Mon.

Fun Facts & Random Historical Quips

Red Baron
Yup, the one & only was born & raised in German Breslau in the early 1900's. Born Manfred von Richthofen, he is known for being the terror of the German Imperial Air Service in WWI. He had more confirmed kills than any other pilot in the war. The original Top Gun was a bit too trigger-happy however & after being begged to retire after 50 kills he finally took one for the time on April 21, 1918. He is officially credited with 73 kills & inspiring exactly one Charles Schultz parody.

John of Capistrano
This preacher in the 15th century heated things up a bit by giving speeches from the middle of the Salt Square with a Skull in his hand. He viciously condemned everything "evil" from gambling, popular books to mirrors & even, gulp,… Jews. He eventually demanded that all Jews either convert to Christianity or be burned at the stake.

Euro 2012
Lookout sportsfans & hooligans because Wroclaw is one of the city slated to host matches for the 2012 Poland-Ukraine Euroepean Football Championships. Construction is to begin this year for a brand new 50.000 person stadium in Wroclaw. Early plans show that the designers are opting for an Alien spaceship look. Might go well with Wroclaw's architectural potpourri.

That's all for now folks. . . Special thanks to Thymn Chase for complying this info..