Poland is What I Needed
A Foreigner's Guide to the Food, Parks, and Darkness in Krakow and Tricity.
Although I had planned to stay in Poland for a few weeks, I stayed for over two months. The contrast to Valencia, Spain, was just what I needed—
“Peace.”
Krakow’s parks create a green oasis in a city of over 700,000 people (1,000,000 if you include the student population). The people speak at a volume Valencians would consider a whisper and with an amount philosophers would be proud of.
Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.
— Epictetus
However, if you read “A Local’s Guide to Poland,1” you know my Polish host thinks most Pols are anything but wise or even tolerable.
His brutal directness and critical thinking about relationships, politics, and Poland gave me an insight most tourists wouldn’t experience. Thanks to my host’s unstinting generosity, I visited restaurants and museums without breaking the bank. More importantly, I had the time to walk, bike, and take in Krakow and Tricity at a slow and therapeutic pace.
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Food & Poetry
Before I arrived in Poland, I imagined hunks of dough and chunks of meat slopped down on a plate with some sour cream and overused dill wolfed down by barbarians whose flat backs of skulls were used as dinner plates.
I wasn’t wrong, but there’s more to it than that.
The produce in Poland is some of the best I’ve had—probably because 40% of their population is rural, and almost all their poetry is about the land… or death.
"Życie na wsi" (Life in the Countryside) by Franciszek Karpiński (1741-1825)
Excerpt:
Tu wśród pól zielonych płynie życie moje,
Wśród łąk i lasów spędzam chwile swoje.
Rolę uprawiam, plon zbieram bogaty,
Życie na wsi to spokój i dostatek.Here among the green fields flows my life,
Among meadows and forests, I spend my time.
I till the soil, gather rich harvest,
Life in the countryside is peace and abundance.
The pastoral veins, otherwise known as Vistula (Wisła), Oder (Odra), Warta, Bug, Narew, San, Noteć, and Pilica rivers, run through Poland’s fields, forests, towns, and cities. Even in urban areas, they’re never far away, and you feel their presence as you eat the cuisine, which is delicious to those of us who love the tangy sourness of fermented foods.
Żurek is Poland's most famous soup and my favourite. It’s made using fermented rye flour (what’s often used for sourdough), giving it a distinctive sour flavour. The ingredients usually include kiełbasa (Polish sausage), diced potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, carrots, leeks, onions, and spices like marjoram, bay leaves, garlic, and horseradish.
I can’t write an article about Poland without Pierogi. This is where you can taste the poetry as everything they grow on their fertile lands, whether it be strawberries, blueberries, cherries, or apples, are used in Pierogi. There’s also Pierogi z Kapustą i Grzybami (Pierogi with Sauerkraut and Mushrooms), Pierogi z Mięsem (Meat Pierogi), Pierogi Ruskie (Ruthenian Pierogi), and the broke ass Pierogi—Pierogi z Kaszą Gryczaną i Twarogiem (Buckwheat and Farmer’s Cheese Pierogi).
I also wrote about Kotlet Shabowy (similar to an Austrian Wiener Schnitzel) and Rosół soup (chicken soup with carrots, parsnips, celery root, leeks, and onions) in “A Kid's Guide to Krakow, Poland” if you’re interested in learning about what children value in Krakow.
Land & Poetry
These are the types of places you find in Krakow scattered throughout the city. If you bike and walk to different neighbourhoods, you rarely go on roads. Instead, you weave your way through parks. The people do not scream or gather in large groups. They keep to themselves, but is it out of respect or depression?
There’s a darkness to the stillness here that’s best captured by Adam Mickiewicz and Tadeusz Różewicz.
"Dziady" (Forefathers' Eve) by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855)
Excerpt from Part II of "Dziady":
Ciemno wszędzie, głucho wszędzie,
Co to będzie, co to będzie?
Śród drzewa cienistych kęp,
Śród mchów wilgotnych gąszczu,
Drży leśny liść, drży wieczny pęd.Dark everywhere, silent everywhere,
What will happen, what will happen?
Amidst shady clumps of trees,
Amidst damp thickets of moss,
The forest leaf trembles, the eternal sprout trembles.
"Ocalenie" (Rescue) by Tadeusz Różewicz 1921 to 2014
Mam dwadzieścia cztery lata
ocalałem
prowadzony na rzeź.Oto są słowa puste:
człowiek i zwierzę
miłość i nienawiść
wróg i przyjaciel
ciemność i światło.Człowieka zabijają jak zwierzę
widziałem:
furgony porąbanych ludzi
którzy nie zostaną ocaleni.
Pojęcia są tylko wyrazami:cnota i występek
prawda i kłamstwo
piękno i brzydota
męstwo i tchórzostwo.I am twenty-four
led to slaughter
I survived.The following are empty synonyms:
man and beast
love and hate
friend and foe
darkness and light.Man is killed just like an animal
I’ve seen:
truckloads of chopped-up people
who will not be saved.Concepts are only words:
virtue and crime
truth and lies
beauty and ugliness
courage and cowardice.
There is no escaping war in Poland. People here don’t stop talking about war strategies and weapons while suppressing their scars behind vodka and the so-called tough-dude patriarchy.
I thought there might be a break in the mentality in the Tricity (Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot) since the forests and people inhale the sea air. Then again, that air belongs to the Baltic—a dying sea with low salinity due to limited exchange with the North Sea and substantial freshwater inflows. Eutrophication from nutrient runoff, pollution from industrial activities, overfishing, and climate change have led to declining water quality, dead zones, and reduced biodiversity. Worst of all, it looks like slimy diarrhea due to the algae and nutrient pollution.
However, staying out of the water has its benefits.
Since I was alone on the Hel Peninsula—a narrow strip of land stretching about 35 kilometres into the Baltic Sea—I experienced it without my host’s history/war lessons. I took advantage of the stretches only 100 meters wide, running from what felt like one sunset to another. I ate fresh Halibut, watched kiteboarders, illegally slept on the beach like the locals, and avoided the bunkers and other war attractions at all costs.
Yet, even here, where surfers, partiers, fishermen, and holiday-goers overtook the land, there is an aura of sadness. Is it generational trauma from war? The dark winters? The access to too much vodka? Whatever the combination is, people love to complain here. They’ll admit it’s a national sport. Yet, it’s not the French complaining type where people get together to protest, create social change, or shit in their beloved Seine. There’s a deep, internal pain and frustration here that no amount of wealth or increased GDP seems to change.
So, how exactly did Poland give me what I needed? If you’ve been following this season of Born Without Borders, you know that I planned to go to the North of Sweden.
That’s not happening anymore. I mentioned my goal was to explore slow travel's therapeutic effects and return home, wherever that is.2
Something in me told me to go to the North of Sweden. That something was trying to prove to others what I didn’t need to prove to myself. I didn’t need to show off how far I could travel with trains, buses, and bikes—I needed to feel homesick.
Which didn’t turn out to be my birthplace (Chile), the land of my heritage (Belgium), or the country I grew up in (Canada). It was Spain. I started to crave Comunidad Valencia's ambiance. I missed stepping outside in the morning and hearing groups of people talking over each other and disregarding what Northerners call personal space. I missed the sassy abuelas, the morning-drinking abuelos, and most of all, I missed seeing people from all walks of life enjoying life to the fullest.
Yet, I’ve spent enough time in Poland for the country to shape my behaviour and thoughts. For one, I’ll complain more about Spain’s tax system for autonomous (self-employed people). By the way, next week, you can learn about Poland’s tax system, which keeps my friend (who’s originally from Belarus but embodies a true global citizen) in Poland despite all the racism she faces here.
Most of all, I won’t shy away from humanity’s darkness or deny that our world is shaped by violence. Fortunately, you can create beauty within the doors of chaos like the space within atoms. These are the waves on which the human spirit rides.
Remember, I also give quick updates and recommendations on Notes. If you’re tired of traditional social media's mindless scrolling and ad-controlled algorithm, Notes is a much more positive place to hang out.
I also post my collection of Notes in the newsletter. I’ll release my collection soon, which gives you even more insight into Poland and all the places I visited.
Where to next?
Hamburg, Germany. Then maybe Belgium and eventually back to Spain. However, I can’t return to my apartment. That’s an Airbnb story for a later time.
If you know other people who would enjoy Born Without Borders and want to salir de las fronteras que impone su mente, please spread the word!
You had me on "Czesc"! Thank you for beautiful writing about my Homeland.
Żurek sounds amazing. If not for the danged Schengen Zone, we'd be spending Christmas in Poland!