Let's meet in Wroclaw

The city of gnomes

[Tripper: Paola]

IT

In the wake of the new routes opened by Ryanair we decide for a long weekend of leisure: destination Wroclaw.
The city presents itself to its public with the slogan - City of encounter - and I couldn't imagine a more suitable name.

Market Square (Rynek) - Wroclaw

The colorful houses of the Rynek

Wroclaw comes to meet you, takes you by the hand and involves you without delay in its cheerful vitality.
The houses of the market square (Rynek) meet: they seem to go hand in hand while retaining their personality in the shapes of the roofs and bright colors.
Hansel and Gretel (Jaś i Małgosia) meet, they are the two buildings on the edge of the square, where the guardians of the altar of the Church of St. Elizabeth stayed. Thanks to the arch that connects them, it seems that they are holding hands. Attention, it seems that it is good to make a wish passing under the arch, so why not try it ?.
People meet in the streets and squares, watching street performances, drinking vodka while listening to music. You must necessarily taste the Zubrowka, the bison vodka, so called because in the bottle there is a thread of Bison Grass, the grass that bison eat, the symbolic animals of Poland. The city is animated by the many students who attend its renowned universities. As many as 9 Nobel laureates studied here.
Customs and traditions of different origins meet, because this land has been invaded and disputed but always hospitable, over time it has become a varied mix of styles, where it is really easy to feel at home.
The oldest part of Wroclaw is the no longer island of the Gothic Cathedral, named after St. John the Baptist, patron saint of the city. We who are at home in Turin have one more reason to feel close to us, since we share the same patron saint.
Ostrów Tumski is the name of the original village on the Oder River, dating back to shortly before the year 1000. At the behest of Napoleon, however, the fortifications of the time were demolished and the basin all around filled, so much so that today the island is not 'is more.
A nice attraction helps us to preserve the taste of time: a municipal lamplighter passes through the streets every evening to turn on over 100 gas lamps, restoring an ancient atmosphere to the village.
The idea of the gnomes is also brilliant. Born from the anti-communist movement of the 1980s, as a means of propaganda, initially they were orange graffiti painted on the walls, then in August 1982 the first statuettes appeared. It was immediately mania. Today the city has its small population distributed almost everywhere to make the visit almost a treasure hunt for collectors. Don't worry, the tourist office provides a map to help you search.
In front of the entrance to the University there is the professor gnome with a shiny nose and hat: tradition has it that it brings luck to touch it before exams.
And we too touch it before entering: may the visit of the place smile at us!
And it is easy to imagine how it went: the Aula Leopoldina takes your breath away. The hall, used in official ceremonies, arrives perfectly preserved in its baroque friezes, from the time when the Jesuit Academy was in these spaces, later transformed into a University by Leopold I of Habsburg in 1702. It is also worth visiting the Mathematics Tower, where temperatures have been recorded since 1791. From the top you can enjoy an extraordinary view of the city.
Our favorite gnome, however, is the one behind bars. The poor man had the grave fault of shaving his beard and you know, even in their free spirit, this is something that should not be done. Looking for it is an excuse to discover the amber route, an ancient road that connected the Roman Empire to the barbarian lands, from Gdansk to Aquileia, passing through Wroclaw, created specifically to trade the precious resin.
As you may have guessed, we come back from the Polish weekend excited, so much so that we are planning the next visit for the Christmas markets. The event, which will start in late November and continue until 31 December, will make the market square an even more magical place.
Have a good trip!