Tat’s Travels: Lower Silesia Weekend Trip
Last weekend Konrad and I went on a group trip just outside of Wroclaw. We visited a few really cool sites in our region of Poland, called Dolnośląskie (Lower Silesia). The trip was put together through the school I have been taking Polish classes with (more on that later)! We got up at the ass crack of dawn on Saturday, downed some coffee and avocado toast (thank god), called an Uber and were on our way to meet the rest of the group at the bus. I wish I got a picture of the bus which was a total throwback to the 90's—amazing.
Our first stop was a corn labyrinth called Kobierzyce, only a 20 minute drive outside of Wroclaw. I have to be honest, this was my least favorite part of the weekend. The whole corn maze thing is fun in theory but when you mix corn maze with 8AM and 25 strangers it frankly becomes cringeworthy. Maybe I’m just not a “corn maze” kinda gal but I found it super frustrating that once you actually find the center there’s literally NOTHING THERE. And I mean nothing. I just spent a half hour trying to find the center of this thing only to see more corn, an old beer bottle, and then find my way back out?! Hmmm… #notmyideaofagoodtime. I did get some cool pictures though, and Konrad had a blast since he’s basically a 12-year-old boy.
Corn on corn on corn
We made it to the middle of the maze! Photo by my lovely friend Luisana.
At least the lighting was nice!
Next on our agenda was a more somber stop at the Gross-Rosen concentration camp and museum. For those who do not know, the area of Poland that we live in actually used to be Germany and the land became a part of Poland after WWII. So Gross-Rosen is located in what used to be German territory. Gross-Rosen is not in particularly great preserved condition as most of it was destroyed during and after the war. One strange fact that our tour guide stated was that after the war, the people were so desperate to rebuild that they took materials from anything and everything—so most of the remaining bricks and wood from the barracks at Gross-Rosen were actually taken and transported to Warsaw in order to rebuild…whoa. Just the thought of the building materials from such a sick and terrifying place being used to rebuild Poland’s capital city shook me. The grounds at Gross-Rosen are extensive and split by a long pathway which was hand paved with cobblestones by prisoners before the camp officially opened in 1940. I felt a little spooked walking on it. Throughout the grounds there are mostly leveled foundations of what used to be barracks. On top of a hill behind the museum building there is a large quarry. It was mentioned a few times throughout our tour that Gross-Rosen was considered one of the hardest camps of the many that existed in this region. Prisoners worked day and night digging out granite from the quarry and digging tunnels in the nearby mountain range for Project Riese, a system of complex underground tunnels planned to reach Hitler’s new headquarters at Książ Castle.
Building foundations on the grounds
Prisoner barracks. These beds were actually taken from Auschwitz
The granite quarry
The information we received during the tour at Gross-Rosen was compelling but I was definitely disappointed that the museum did not have anything translated into English. I have a deep appreciation and respect for the Polish language but I really wasn’t able to enjoy the museum itself because I could barely read anything. I have visited Auschwitz before, and I have to say, from a tourist’s perspective, Gross-Rosen does not hold a candle to it. The museum at Auschwitz is extensive and eye opening, the grounds are well kept, and the memorial is tasteful and beautiful and brought me to tears. I’m still glad we visited Gross-Rosen as I learned a lot about the area, the history and I was able to connect it with our next stop… Osówka.
Located in the depths of the Owl Mountains, Osówka is nicknamed the “underground city”. It is one of many unfinished secret underground complexes built for the Nazis by slave workers starting in 1943. The scale of this place is incredible when seen in person and, although there are many theories, its purpose is still claimed as unknown today. The tunnels are in a grid-like pattern, with some reinforced by thick concrete or simply carved out of rock. The height of the tunnels can reach up to 8 meters, leading to massive rooms where some WWII artifacts remain. Our tour guide here was great—thorough but quick, told some stories and cracked a few jokes along the way.
One of the large rooms in Osówka
The terrifying extreme route
I found out later on that our group signed up for the “extreme” tour, which is basically the regular tour with a few added surprises. Let me just start by saying I do not like surprises. I’m a researcher, a Googler, a preparer. I like going into a situation knowing exactly what I am getting myself into. So I was slightly shocked when our group arrived at the end of a dark tunnel only to be stopped by an underground RIVER where a man (looking identical to the fisherman from “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) arrived in a flimsy little boat to take us to “the other side”. I took one look at him and thought to myself “is this where I die?” And everyone else is all “don’t forget to grab a flashlight!” Needless to say, I was flipping out. Once we actually arrived at “the other side”, I was just thrilled to see a suspension bridge complete with wooden plank obstacle course... just thrilled. I was so nervous that I couldn’t keep my balance on one of the wooden planks and ended up stepping in the river—which is great when it’s 5 degrees celsius and you’re not wearing waterproof shoes.
Luckily our group rented an awesome house in the mountains where we had a bonfire that night, so my shoe dried quickly :)
Roasting kielbasa on the bonfire
‘til next time!
xoxo,
Tat