Europe Trip 2025 - Wrocław

Another visit to Wrocław (pop. 673k). This time with my Australian guests. First time riding bikes in Wrocław and first time visiting the Panorama of the battle of Racławice. If you are a fan of Discworld, it may remind you of the Battle of Koom Valley cyclorama. I recommend both the Discworld books and the Panorama Racławicka:-)

Getting there

We came by train from Warsaw. Arriving at Wrocław Main, the second best train station in Europe in 2025 :-) 

I love this steel and wood canopy.

Ticket windows. I love neon signs. They give this hall a steampunk feel.

The station front is a bit off the street, which creates a nice pedestrian plaza that usually hosts art or history displays.

The west side exit from the ticket hall.

Another beautiful train station: Wrocław Świebodzki. Train services stopped here in 1991, but they should restart by 2029.

Panorama Racławicka

The painting is 115m long and 15m high. It's big (about 7x bigger than the Battle of Koom Valley :-)). You walk inside it, with a guide. At times the physical scenery blends so well with the painting that it's hard to say what is painted and what is real. The painting commemorates the Battle of Racławice between Poles and Russians, in 1794 during the Kościuszko Uprising, after the second partition of Poland.

One of these birch trees is real.

A close up on my phone camera: Russians are in green uniforms. The Polish highlander in traditional white.

Close up of Kościuszko - a soldier hero of Poland, Belarus, Lithuania and the US, a social justice and freedom fighter, probably a gay man, and overall a good person - see my blog from the Polish History Museum in Warsaw.

The places of troop movements and major battles of the uprising, in chronological order, from Kraków to Maciejowice, create an outline of a horse.

The plaque describes the history of the painting, and it shows, like many other places in Wrocław a connection with Lviv, where it was painted and displayed in 1894, damaged in 1944 during the war, and moved to Wrocław in 1946.

Bikes

The e-bike pricing in Wrocław is a rip-off. It took me by surprise. It is the same scheme as pricing for e-scooters, which I used once, in Tallinn, and will never use again. It costs 0.59 zł per minute. While a 60 minute ride on a standard bike costs 3 zł, an e-bike costs: 35.40 zł (8.39 Euro, 14 AUD). The fees for theft, loss or damage are outrageous for both standard and electric bikes: 4,613 zł (A$1824) and 21,525 zł (A$8511). Warsaw uses the same nextbikes and a 60 minute ride costs: 1zł standard, 6 zł electric - 6x less than Wrocław. Theft, loss or damage: 4600 zł and 9500 zł (2x less than Wrocław). I liked riding in Wrocław, but I would not do it again using an e-bike. Very poor form, city of Wrocław! Note: both cities charge more for the 2nd hour, and Warsaw charges even more for 3rd and 4th hour! The pricelists for city bikes are a mess in most cities - I think Katowice was the worst - check my blog about city bikes and infratructure.

A standard nextbike.

A nice bike path by the river.

Bike stands in a new development.

A food delivery rider on cobblestone streets. Most one-way streets have an exception for bikes. The 'no entry' sign on the left in this photo has "Nie dotyczy"/"Does not apply" sign below with a pictogram of a bike.

A sign of a liveable city: kids riding bikes to kindy.

Vibes

Wrocław, similar to Singapore, has public "good vibes/be a good person/relax" messaging:

"Are you looking for help? Try municipal support stations", "Every minute without hate is an hour of smiling more", "Choose how you measure your time: in seconds of hate or in hours of support". 

"Don't stress out, buy a ticket! (for public transport)"

1947 - the year Śląsk FC was established.

"dogs on plinths", "quality mark given by a music radio station to a footbridge" :-)

A relaxing dwarf.

"Women know what they are doing. Wanda Rutkiewicz" - she was a mountaineer and computer engineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the third woman to summit Mount Everest.

"Don Quixote, patron of people fighting illegal graffiti"

"Have you loved you today?"

"Good to see you"

Locals

While on a previous visit, I met a cheerful and helpful ticket office attendant at the main train station,  and a polite and helpful construction worker. This time I met two rather unhelpful museum employees, and witnessed a shouting match between a local resident and a couple of foreign-born residents. 

The situation with the museum employees was strange: there was a ticket office, I asked a question, got some one word answer, tried again, and got an impression that I was intruding. I was confused, as there were multiple corridors, doors and gates and I did not understand what was where, and what was open. There is a Military Museum and an Archaeological Museum there, and the courtyard is magical, but the signage could be better. From the courtyard you can enter one room of the military museum and the toilet:

The shouting match was clearer: an old tenement house with a yard used as car parking, one car exited through the footpath onto the street, another tried to enter, an old woman started scolding the driver, something like 'you should not park here', the driver tried to back into the yard, through the gate, but finally gave up, talking back to the woman 'I live here, I have the right to park'. The driver spoke Polish with an accent and looked middle-eastern. This was probably on this ugly street in the Nadodrze district:

Humor

Wrocław is a joker. Have a look at this neo-gothic district court building with a cross and clocks tower:

They mean business, right? Well, this rubbish bin is in the nook of this building. 'Zakaz palenia' means 'no smoking':

Here, there are are two "Nie parkować" / "Do not park" warnings:

A hawk, or eagle capturing a CCTV camera:

A building-size mural, an ad for season 2 of Netflix's 1670:

Ugly

Like in other Polish cities, there are dilapidated buildings, graffiti, architectural mish-mash, and streets with too many cars:

Too many bloody cars.

I like the 30 km speed limit and a footpath free of cars, but the all-glass façade does not fit. 

A bit gloomy.

Signs of war, still there after 80 years.

These iron spikes may be historical, but they are a hazard.

Australian cities do this too: put a glass and steel building next to a historical one.

The building on the right is not the worst eyesore in this area, this one is, but still, this is opposite the beautiful 19th century main train station. A road diet could help too - there's a lot of asphalt here.

Eh...this street has too much space for cars and too few trees. Just add trees to hide these mis-matched buildings.

This building was in a poor shape, inside and out. Our apartment was very nice though.

Another building waiting for a reno.

Beautiful

The most beautiful places have people, trees, water, art, bikes, trams, but hardly any cars:

A tram stop with a nice green shelter.

Human scale street with a tram.

New apartments with a playground.

Green tram tracks.

The Centennial Hall, served as the primary filming location for the arena in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023). UNESCO World Heritage site, built in 1913.

The Cathedral Island, the oldest part of Wrocław.

This is the Salt Square in Wrocław, not the main square.

Monuments

When I travel, I take notice of street names and monuments. I go to history museums. I try to understand why things are the way they are, and why people think and behave the way they do.

"In the spring of 1940, by the order of Stalin, by a shot to the back of the head, in Katyń, Miednoje, Charków and unknown places of the former USSR, 22 thousand Polish officers, policemen, and other prisoners of Kozielsk, Ostaszków, Starobielsk, were murdered"

A statue of poet Aleksander Fredro created in Lviv in 1897 by Leonard Marconi, and moved to Wrocław in 1956.