We have had a minor change of plan. We have been so enjoying the small towns we ride through. They are full of character, free of tourists (except us!) and the unspoilt nature of the villages always provides us with an opportunity to interact with locals. So....we are not going to ride to Wroclaw along the Odra River as planned. Instead we are going to meander on secondary roads and hit some key towns that have historical significance or something that appeals to us. We found that for a loaded bike (tandem) and trailer, some of the sections along the river are too rough. As well, the rainy days lately makes these paths tougher too. Last night, we mapped out a route that would take us through the country, up and down hills, avoiding cities and ending up in Jawor. We have read about the Unesco site, The Church of Peace and we really want to visit it.
The chef here at Chata Karzcascowski is exceptional and breakfast was very good. Lots of tapa offerings, tomatoes with mozzarella and pesto, scrambled eggs and unlimited coffee.
Suddenly as we were riding along this quiet country road we came upon this big enterprise to install s solar complex in the farmer's field. Today we also saw a number of wind turbines. This is the first environmetal energy installations we have seen in Poland.
Now, this is what we call a communication breakdown: we asked for 4 slices and we ended up with about a pound of ham before we could stop the woman slicing the meat in the store. It's good that it is cooler now so that we can carry the meat with us.
"like two peas in a pod" We continue to be amused by the full time Polish sport of people watching. I asked the man if I could take their picture and his expression did not change. The dog however had a low toned growl the whole time.
Uh oh...I guess we should have taken the barricade half way across the road a few miles back more seriously. We couldn't read the sign and saw cars going around it, so we figured we could too. Darn, we were almost at our destination, Jawor. So, a detour of about 10 km and we made it.
After the detour and fighting a heavy headwind (the storms are imminent), we arrived in Jawor and easily found the guesthouse Villa Nova that we had chosen on Booking.com. Our impression was not good: the room was dingy, located in the attic with a skylight as the only window and no secure place to store our bike. The clerk was sympathetic and helpful, but the owner was a bit more aggressive. Luckily we arrived about 4 pm and exercised our right to cancel the reservation. The clerk booked a room for us at Hotel Jawor - many thanks to her for her consideration. What a difference!! Hotel Jawor is situated in the middle of the Old Town. It is a beautiful hotel, immaculately run by a family, with Persian carpets and lovely furnishings throughout. Breakfast is included and the price is the same as Villa Nova. Plus, the best part is that they have a garage for our bike.
Out for a walk to explore Jawor - it is a bit rough around the edges, but full of character and historical significance. One of the reasons we came here is to see the Peace Church, a Unesco site, which we'll visit tomorrow.
We found a bakery with great coffee and tasty chocolate and poppy seed cakes. We are becoming like the Poles and adopting the national pasttime of people watching. We sat outside to have our treat and unabashedly watched the locals.
Jawor Tourist Office - very helpful young woman. We have been having trouble finding useful maps, but we had a lot to choose from here. We bought Sudety which is in English and on the reverse side explains all of the attractions in each village. The Sudety map will cover the rest of our time in Poland. The Guide Book and map (Mountains and Foothills) is free, in English and quite detailed.
The city hall and some of the homes around the old square, dating from the 14th century. Just like in old times, the street level is made up of shops and businesses while the upper levels are homes.
On the outskirts of town, there are large stores, but in the centre there are only tiny shops with a specialty : produce, bread, meat, underwear, shoes, etc. Of course there are also small Skleps that carry a bit of everything. People carve out their own niche and are supported by locals in their daily shopping.
