Eastern Europe 2022 - Day 17 - Przemysl, Poland — A. H. Y.

Przemysl - pronounced “Preh-sem-ish” - is just basically a way stop on my journey into Ukraine; I came in last night and I go out on a train tonight, so I was only here for the day. But that’s kind of a bummer because it turned out to be a really cool spot. I started out with a walk along the San river, where I visited what turned out to be a section of town that was reserved for people’s gardens. Basically you can buy a plot of land that you don’t live in but is just a place to go visit and maybe to grow things. Of course the weather right now is pretty poor so it was largely empty, but beautiful. Then I stopped and had a Polish breakfast and a great restaurant called Routyn; it was so good that I ended up going back for lunch.

Then I just…wandered around town. I went to several museums; the coolest of which was the National History Museum of Przemysl, which was immediately awesome. The first room I went into was this amazing collection of medieval and early 20th century artifacts; lots of helmets and halberds and chainmail, extending up into muskets and long barrel rifles. Presented largely without commentary and available to just look at, not behind glass or anything; I mean, you weren’t supposed to touch (and I didn’t), but they were just…right there. Then there were a bunch of more traditional history displays, extending up through WWI and WWII. Getting a polish perspective on these events, such as the invasion of the Nazis and the roundup of the Jews, was pretty fascinating.

Then a museum about bells and pipes, then a beautiful cathedral where I stopped to pray, and then a long walk through an urban forest that reminded me a bit of the one in Portland. Then back to that restaurant for a second lunch.

Poland in general has been very cool and impressive; I’m not sure what I expected, but it’s a very clean, modern and upbeat country that’s easy to get around, and everyone is very nice. I sit and type this in a clean coffee shop/cafe that wouldn’t look out of place in any town in America, except maybe it’s even nicer.

I’m kind of sad to leave, but it’s time to move on.

Comment

Share