(Oswiecim, Poland to Krakow)
View 2008-05-30 Oswiecim, Poland to Krakow in a larger map
Highlights: flat floodplains in morning, hot & hilly in afternoon, bizarre space station, wonderful forest trail, getting to Krakow
Yikes...never had to do this before! (Oswiecim)
How to ruin a perfectly good town square: insert hideous Communist structure directly in the middle (Oswiecim)
Typical morning scenery (east of Gromiec)
What the...?! Straight out of a 1970's sci-fi show (west of Rudno)
Pleasant afternoon surprise (east of Rudno)
Journal: The aim today was to get close to Krakow and then take several days off to enjoy the city. The morning was essentially flat as we pedaled along the wide floodplains of the River Wisla. The only problem occurred when we followed signs for the "river trail" (instead of the Vienna-Krakow Greenway) and ended up on a messy stretch of worn-out & overgrown concrete that appeared not to have been maintained since World War II. After re-emerging onto the proper trail, we shortly crossed the river via a narrow causeway that involved climbing half a dozen steps with our bikes. Once on the left bank we meandered thru farm country until the heat of the day came upon us, so we decided to stop for a lunch break and consume some traditional Polish food (sour rye soup with egg & mushrooms, and potato pancakes with vegetables for me). The afternoon consisted of a few good climbs in the hot sun before finally cresting and beginning an enjoyable 10-mile stretch (shaded forest bike paths, then downhill out of the hills once more) to the outskirts of Krakow. As has become typical in eastern Europe, the supposed campground we were looking for did not exist and we had to continue riding towards the city proper. No harm in the end as we found a reasonably priced hotel room ($60 US per night for a double room) that we will use as a base to explore Krakow over the next several days.
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