Poland For Lunch: A Day Trip to Szczecin (Stettin)

It all started while sitting around at a bar one day, our friend Karla from Australia mentioned, "I want to go to Poland for lunch...just because I can." Coming from big countries like America or Australia, the chance to just "pop" over to another country for a day, or lunch, is quite a novelty. We decided to go for it. Szczecin is a two-hour train ride from Berlin, a smallish Polish town. The best part is things are open on Sundays there, there are pierogies and everything was super cheap. I took out the equivalent of 30 EUR and managed to get a full lunch with beer and appetizers, coffee, postcards, some more beers and fill a grocery bag with food. It was also generally a super fun day trip.

One good thing to know is that you can get a Berlin-Brandenburg group ticket for up to 5 people for 28€. For some reason Szczecin, though not actually in Berlin or Brandenburg, is included on this ticket (it's right on the border). Thus, the trip there AND back cost each of us less that €5,50 total. Hellz to the yes, I say!

I baked cake and made a HUGE container of coffee for the ride and we arrived at the train station for our 9am train on Sunday morning, July 8th.  We were tired. Our friend Myriam managed to somehow go from a night out straight to the train station without sleeping and not die.

Marion, Myriam and Carly, who was visiting me. Tired at the main train station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof, but excited!

Carly was demonstrating that we got to touch a piece of Russia. Train stations are exciting!

Me demonstrating the parmesean cheese soap in the train toilet. Yes, I took pictures in the toilet.

We arrived! The first thing we did was eat, of course! Well, the first thing we did was walk around confused, exchange our money into the Polish currency, Zloty, get a map, and take the old tram into town. Anyway, above are some Polish salads. Some info from Wiki about Szczecin:


Szczecin (German: Stettin), is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. In the vicinity of the Baltic Sea, it is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland. As of June 2011 the population was 407,811.

Szczecin had quite the chaotic past, being taken over by Germany and Sweden at different points, a location of a few witchhunts and entirely fortified by walls in the 1600s. Apparently Szczecin also "was an important site of anti-communist unrest in the communist era." (Wiki).

Myriam with the pierogi. We went to Karczma Polska Pod Kogutem, where there were many pierogi options among other things. They had mushroom and cabbage ones without cheese or meat for me and also some with cottage cheese and something and some with meat. They were delicious. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed sitting on the patio and drinking some beers with our lunch.

Carly and June chowing down! Writing this is making me hungry all over again.

I found these pigs in the restaurant on the way downstairs to the bathroom.

After lunch, we took a wander to see the "sights", which there were not too many of. You can't really say Szczecin is the most beautiful of towns, though it does have some old nice buildings, a river running through it, etc. We thought this was funny...Franklina Delano Roosevelta street, guess FDR made an influence?

I believe the brown stone building used to be a Merchant Marine Academy. To the right is the river.

This happened.

The Church square.

Pretty old building! June, Myriam and Marion are enjoying the door.

I want to live in there.

I was complaining that there was not going to be vegan things...and then I found this poster. A vegan hardcore something from the USA at Teatr Kana. Of course. But then...

Let me mark the moment I found a cafe with soymilk in Szczecin! Sojowe mleko, bitches! I enjoyed that soy latte, for serious, and was shocked to find one in this small random Polish town. So, if you're wondering where to find soymilk in Szczecin, Kawiarnia Fanaberia (Cafe Fanaberia) is your place! Here are some reviews, if you're interested. The address is Bogusława 5 and there is another cute place called Teatr Maly next door that had beer and food. This area, Buguslawa Promenade, appeared to be the "hip" district of Szczecin. Anyway, Fanaberia had a little patio area out front and another area to sit in the backyard. They had lots of cakes and pastries and you could buy their tea and coffee, all presented with lots of fancy teapots and whatnot. They also had iced tea and apparently have really good hot chocolate, but it was way too hot to test the latter out.

Then we wandered more and found this building.

At last, we all headed to the mall for our last hour before the train. Everyone else looked at clothes,  but I headed straight for the supermarket. This was perhaps the biggest super market I'd ever seen in my life, and I'd gladly go back to Szczecin just to go there. There was an entire aisle of milk, where I found the beauty above, entire aisle of canned meat, another for yogurt, pasta, and half a refrigerated case filled with pierogies. It was epic.

After our shopping adventure we decided we better head back to the station to catch our 6pm train. Unfortunately the trams were not running so frequently and we arrived one minute after our train had left...running like idiots up to the platform. Oops. We had even attempted hitch-hiking to the station, but got turned down (there were five of us). So we managed to kill a couple hours until 8pm when the next train came, drank some more beers, ate some food in the station and played some games (I Spy anyone?). At least the train back was direct with no changes and we ended up having fun anyway.

We will surely go again, it was a great day trip, yummy food, cheap day out of Berlin and we had an awesome group that lead to never-ending giggles and adventures. Yay Szczecin!

Krakow, Poland, Part II: Pierogies, Wawel Castle, the Dragon and Friends!

After our busy first day, we decided to take it easy the second. So we wandered around Krakow looking for the sex machine. It seems the locals couldn't find it either. It says, "Wait! Where is the sex machine?" The sex machines are in Prague, apparently, but that's for a later post.

But we got cold and hungry, so we made pierogie stop number one. These were mushroom and cabbage pierogies. Mmmmm.

After filling our tummies, we went back to the hostel. Did I mention we stayed at the best hostel I've ever been to, possibly the best in existence? If you go to Krakow, stay at Greg & Tom's Junior Hostel. Anyway, we hungout in the living room with our other hostel mates for most of the night. Kt convinced this guy from Australia, Max, to stuff 16 Polish cheetos in his mouth. It didn't take much persuasion...

This is Steffen, not sure of the spelling. He was from Germany (Frankfurt?) and told me he knew how to cook vegan food. Nom. I'm still constantly embarrassed that everyone in our hostel (and in my life now in general) can speak on average 2-3 languages, while I still come in at about 1.4. I'm working on it!

The second bar we went to in the Kazimierz, the Old Jewish district of Krakow (a where all the chill, eclectic stuff was), was a indoor beach! I made a sand angel.

Bryan on the right was confused? He later came to visit us in Prague a few times as the next stop on his journey. Yay friends!

We're such hotties.

Craig, from New Zealand, and I. There was some deal where you get a free shot with a pint, so I partook in the free part. Craig came to visit us in Prague later and we took him out to Bukowski's. Traveling is awesome.

This Aussie was out for the count. There's Kt in the background with this dude we picked up on the street whose an English teacher in Krakow from the UK. Those English teachers are everywhere!


This is the Wawel (pronounced Vah-vel) Castle. Much more modern-looking than a lot of the castles I've seen in Europe, but still pretty! Like Kt said, it looks like it's actually still in use rather than just existing to be pretty.


This is the dragon! It used to eat sheep and young virgins, until some dude named Krakus or Krac got some sheep and mixed a thick, yellow paste from sulfur to smear all over them. Then fed them to the dragon who got really thirsty and drank so much water from the river that he exploded! Dragon-problem solved.

Then we ate more pierogies at a Polisn Milk Bar that was super cheap. Everything on the menu was Polish, so the only words I could read were "onion, soup, meat, cheese, borscht and beverage" thanks to my Czech. Somehow it worked out. I got pierogies, some breaded, fried eggroll and borscht. Kt got some type of meat dumpling.

That night, we went on the hostel pu crawl. The first stop was a vodka bar, where we sampled 4 different shots of vodka. There was also this gem of a photograph behind Kt. Boobies!

This is Marek. He worked at our hostel and led the pub-crawl. He was really nice and pretty awesome. Also one of the ones that put up with one of my 5000 "How do you say *word* in *insert language here*?" questions. I probably should stop quizzing native speakers of any language other than my own incessantly, but I want to know how to say everything! Especially the dirty words.

Here are some other hostel-mates on the crawl and a French guy we met off couchsurfing.com named Aziz whose living in Krakow (2nd from the right).

The morning before we left, we had another wander (and got more pierogies at a 24-hour pierogie joint....rock on Poland!). These are a lot of really cold pidgeons, cuddling. You'll get the theme in a minute...

In the train station, I made the mistake of feeding one pidgeon part of a chip. Which made all of them ATTACK MY FACE. Inside! I have hereby learned my lesson, let it be stated.

My nemesis.

After our first train brought us from Krakow to Bohumim, back in the Czech Republic. We went on a quick wander for some food. I thought this sign was funny because I'm a 5 year old boy. Guess why.

On the second train Kt was trying to demonstrate something to me. I'm not sure what it was, but it sort of looks like she's brushing her teeth while jump-roping. Yes!

That's all there is for Krakow! It was such a freaking amazing trip and we met so many amazing people and partook in lots of shenanigans. Pictures on Facebook eventually, but my internet may be limited from here on out. Currently in Hamburg and heading to the first farm today!

Krakow, Poland, Part I: Sleeper train, Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mine

I think Kt summed up the night train from Prague to Krakow best when she wrote, "went to sleep in Czech Republic..woke up in Poland.. most productive nap ever." I didn't actually sleep much because I was so excited, but it's a good idea! I sort of felt like I was at summer camp, but it was moving and no one wanted to play.

We pretended to sleep, at least.

I read a lot! I'm pretty sure all the train travel in my future is going to do wonders for my literary repertoire.

After we checked into our hostel and ate free breakfast around 6:30 am, we booked tickets to Auschwitz and the Salt Mines for that day. This was not quite as happy as the sleeper train (by a long shot), but definitely world shattering. And by this I mean I almost started bawling on the bus just from the movie about Auschwitz before we even got there. Damn. I know I learned about concentration camps and the Holocaust in school...Maybe I forgot it all, didn't pay attention, or maybe they just never got into the details of exactly how horrible everything was, but being there and hearing stories of how many people were killed, the manipulation, torture and sheer mass of former residents' belongings (and hair) right in front of me was intense. There are not even words. This is the entrance to Auschwitz. The motto over the gate, "Arbeit macht frei," translates as "Work makes you free."

These are the buildings people were kept in. We went in most of them, but weren't allowed to take pictures. I think the most memorable room for me was one where they stacked up a fraction of residents' shoes, hair brushes, glasses and hair in separate rooms. In each room, the item went from floor to ceiling. When people first got there (sometimes they even made them buy their own train tickets, telling them they were going to work camps), they took their belongings and separated them to use for themselves. Once people were killed or when women first got there, they shaved their heads and used/sold their hair to make textiles for the German armies. I honestly can't even process the level of exploitation involved in these acts.

Two layers of a barbed fence, a wall and a watch-tower.

This was also really intense. Found in a courtyard with blocked windows so no residents would see what was happening, this was a wall specially created so people could be shot in front of it.


After Auschwitz, we went to Birkenau about 10 minutes away. This was another, bigger concentration camp created to ease congestion at the main camp. These train tracks were used to bring people to the camp through the main gate. Also to take them to gassing rooms that no longer exist beyond the trees. Prisoners were told they were going to shower and made to strip naked then brought to these chambers that even sometimes had fake shower heads installed. Once they were in there, they were locked in and gassed with Zyklon B, a highly lethal cyanide-based pesticide used as an instrument for extermination.

Large cabins, originally design for horses with no insulation, where people slept in three layer bunk beds, a few to a bed, with access to bathrooms only several minutes a day.

These were the toilets. As you can tell, absolutely no privacy whatsoever. Because people were fed rarely and poorly, they often had a variety of gastrointestinal problems. One of the "good" jobs was cleaning out these toilets because you could go to the toilet as much as you wanted and got to work inside.

View from the watch tower.



After the intensity of visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau, I was sort of happy we had a less depressing point on our itinerary to cheer me up. I stole all these pictures from a friend we made at our hostel, Pedro, who was nice enough to send them along. The Wieliczka salt mine was definitelly an impressive site. This is the main ballroom, hundreds of meters underground. Everything is made of salt: the chandeliers, the stone floor, the alter and the pictures on the wall.

Close up of the chandelier made of salt.

Statue made of salt and Kt and I!

I don't remember what this is, but there's Kt and Pedro!

I mean, you HAVE to lick the walls, right?!?! You don't walk into Taco Bell and not eat tacos, do you?!?!