Andrew and I were in Poland with his parents. We had just left the Olender Ethnographic Park around 4pm. We were on our way to Torun (aka Thorn) which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Why include Torun in our Mennonite tour of Poland? Well, let’s see… I did a lot of reading about this on our trip but I’m really forgetful and am already losing the details (if I ever knew them, let’s get real) so once again, please enjoy my vague, embarrassingly non-academic take on historical stuff!
The main thing about Torun is, this city is old. And Mennonites lived around here for hundreds of years. Like, the kind I’m descended from. So they went there to trade and stuff. So this was our opportunity to see some of the same structures that our ancestors may have seen. We’re talking 1600s and 1700s era ancestors. To me, that is amazing.
Here’s some of what we saw leaving Mala and Wiekla Nieszawka:
I was frantically taking pictures from my passenger seat. I wanted to just take it in, but also record some of the old, maybe somehow familiar-looking structures we were racing past.
And then suddenly we were on a bridge. This felt important so I took a picture.
Andrew said: “Look at the river! It’s the Vistula!” My jaw dropped.
The time was 4:18 pm… and I was seeing my first glimpse of the Vistula River!
AND of Torun in the distance, on the other side of the Vistula!
Why was I excited to finally see this river? Well, since I started paying attention to the history of the people I’m descended from (whatever label you want to throw at them, typically “Russian Mennonite” but… I’ll get into that another time) the Vistula loomed large in tales, histories, and on old maps. Villages filled with Mennonites were found all over the Vistula Delta. I think this river is why Mennonites were in Poland in the first place, and why they stayed here for so long. (My ancestors were here from the 1500s to 1700s… but lots of other Mennonites were in Poland right up until 1945.)
But also, when traveling, if you find a UNESCO World Heritage Site along your route and have the time, it sure seems worth your while to check it out. So, Andrew had booked us a hotel in the heart of Torun. Now we just had to get there.
Dutifully following Google Maps’ instructions, we were suddenly driving where it did not look like an SUV could or should go.
This was quite nerve-wracking because at home we drive a small car and on wide roads. But in Poland we were driving a big vehicle on tiny roads. You see the issue.
The hotel that Andrew had researched and booked for us is built into what had been a mill back in the… 1600s, I think? It’s called Hotel 1231, named for the year the city walls had been built. And those tiny winding cobbled streets too, probably. “Oh shoot,” I kept saying, as the navigation situation seemed to grow in complication. I thought surely around that next corner things would improve, but they did not – we were now at a pedestrian street.
There was no way to turn around and go back. But how to go forward with the never-ending foot traffic? Surely we were not supposed to drive there. But then I noticed other vehicles parked in a few random spots – deliveries to restaurants and whatnot, I suppose. Andrew coaxed the Opel onto the street and we continued obeying the instructions my phone was barking at us. It led us to an actual parking lot (okay so maybe tech isn’t so stupid?) that was wedged into the ruined castle walls.
We were now in the most spectacular parking lot I had ever seen. Andrew told me to figure out how to pay for parking while he walked to the hotel to find out what to do now. (Because we had not arrived at hotel parking – this was public, and therefore not really where we had wanted to go.) And then he returned, informing us that the hotel (and parking) was just on the other side of this castle-y gate, which apparently he could just… drive through.
Hotel reception had told him it was fine, he could do it. And he certainly didn’t want to drive on that pedestrian street again. There was only one way forward.
Andrew did it! I suppose for locals it’s no big deal but for Canadian prairie folk, this was a big deal. Once we were on the other side, we laughed and laughed, and then looked up at our hotel. Wow!
Once in our room, we found little heart-shaped gingerbreads on our pillows. This is because Torun is the land of gingerbread. Half the shops in the Old Town are gingerbread shops. I immediately devoured mine:
Andrew’s parents were wonderful to travel with, and to thank us (well, Andrew, honestly) for planning this trip and driving, they treated us to dinner that night in Torun. Andrew had researched dining options and led us to Jan Olbracht, a medieval style brewpub in the heart of the Old Town.
We were most grateful to walk there and no longer be trying to drive on these non-drivable streets. Here Andrew finally ordered pork knuckle, which he had learned was a Polish specialty.
Much like the housebarns of the Olender Ethnographic Park, these food items felt familiar.
After dinner, we led Andrew’s parents back to the hotel where they retired for the night.
“Are you sure?” he asked them. “It’s only 7:30.”
They were sure.
And so Andrew and I set out to explore the Old Town of Torun on our own. But first we sat on the edge of the Vistula River, and took it in. Just steps from our hotel, it was picturesque and fantastic. What a great way to see the river my ancestors relied upon… and fought against.
