Żnin

Twelfth stop: ŻNIN

Hello :)

Time passes so quickly and I realized that it’s the last post in this year! For this reason I decided to write you something about the town where I’m going to spend New Year’s Eve.

It’s called Żnin and it’s located between two lakes: the Żnin Great Lake and the Żnin Small Lake in Kuyavian and Pomeranian Voivodoship in Poland. Although it has got only 8,35 km², it’s full of interesting places to see. 

 

There are three historic churches: St. Martin’s Church (XIV century), St. Florian’s Church (XV century) and Blessed Virgin Mary’s Church (19th century) and in addition, on the small central square there is a 15th-century Tower. What’s more, if you would like to visit the archaeological open-air museum in Biskupin, which is located really close to Żnin, you can take a narrow gauge railway train and during this pleasant trip, admire beautiful nature of the countryside that surrounds the town. At the end of the trip, you can go to the Museum of the land of Pałuki in Żnin.

If you already don’t know why I really like this town, I can just say that I adore sitting by the Żnin Great Lake and admire sunsets, feeling the cozy atmosphere of this small town and meeting people who are always willing to have fun with you! But what's the most important, you can't get lost there :)

Happy New Year!

Strasbourg

Eleventh stop: STRASBOURG

Hey! It’s Christmas time that's why I want to tell you something about the city that I was discovering during this special time of the year.

I went to Strasbourg in December and I need to admit that it was my first time visiting France so I was really curious to get to know better this culture, people and traditions. It turned out that French were really kind and helpful nation! I was living there with the lovely French family which was really happy to serve me their traditional dishes and show their habits. Thanks to them I could finally taste many types of French cheese! What’s more, I discovered that this quite small city was full of many surprising and beautiful places! So where would I recommend you to go?

For sure it’s worth visiting European Parliament but firstly you should see the city centre composed of many canals and charming white and brown buildings. Next you need to go to the old town and admire the majestic Strasbourg Cathedral. During the Christmas time it’s all decorated with colourful fairy lights and that’s why the atmosphere of this city is even more amazing! In addition, I recommend you taking part in Christmas Market not only because it looks really nice but you can buy there many things as well. 
I was in Strasbourg only one time but I will remember forever all those beautiful views and the taste of the delicious mulled wine that I was drinking there :)

So, Merry Christmas everyone! 

London

Tenth stop: LONDON 

I don’t know what do you think about London but for me it’s certainly one of those places where I want to come back in the near future!  

Well, two months ago we organized with friends a spontaneous trip to London. We decided to stay there only for one night and try to visit as many places as possible. Of course, we started discovering city from Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Big Ben etc. and I need to admit that I was so  exciting that finally I could see all those breathtaking monuments! Two of them, that have definitely stolen my heart, are Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. Besides them, I was completely impressed by the British architecture, I mean the way they built those charming houses! I adore their proportional and simply shapes because it makes them special. I think that thanks to those typical buildings, red buses and telephone boxes and of course, presence of the Royal Family, London is considered to be really cozy, majestic and for sure, unique city. 

In addition, I need to admit that British are really open, helpful and nice people! 

So all in all, it was an amazing experience to spend 24 hours in London and in that short time see all those well-known places from movies or TV series, for example China Town, red buses or Buckingham Palace. As I’m a big lover of ‘The Crown’, you can imagine my happiness when I was staying in front of the house of the Queen Elizabeth and admiring Changing the Guards! Even though we didn’t manage to discover all the places in that one day, at least we visited those that we always wanted to see. We made our dreams come true!

Bologna

Ninth stop: BOLOGNA

Hey! Do you like eating? I hope you do because today we’re traveling to Bologna –one of the most important place on the culinary map of Italy! What comes to your mind when you think of this city? Well, for sure you associate it with a popular spaghetti bolognese. And do you know that Italians don’t use this denomination at all? For them pasta with tomato sauce and minced meat is always called ‘tagliatelle al ragù’. What’s more, as you can see, they don’t prepare it with spaghetti however they use flat, long pasta ‘tagliatelle’. If you visit Bologna, you have to also taste tortellini (a kind of really small dumpling), mortadela, prosciutto (pork ham) and of course, lasagne! So after a long day of walking through the city, you’ll find many places to taste some delicious Italian dishes!

 

If it goes about monuments, as always I don’t want to bore you telling  you something about the old town and the rest of the top places to see there. I would like to share with you some curiosities of this city that not everyone knows. Bologna is famous of its towers, so it’s worth climbing the one situated in the city canter, called ‘Torre degli Asinelli’, just to see an amazing panorama. Moreover, in the city there are a lot of arcades, so you can take a moment to admire the architecture of this place. 

The other interesting fact is that Bologna offers you a chance to see the oldest University in the world that was established in the 1088! Just to finish our adventure in Bologna, I’d like to reccommend you visiting Santuario di Madonna di San Luca, situated on the hill next to the Stadium of Bologna. Of course first you need to go up the stairs but the view from the top of the hill is really nice, so it’s worth geting tired a bit just to see the city from the other perspective!

Eight stop: POZNAŃ

Hello!

Today I’d like to take you to the one of my favourite Polish cities – Poznań! Well, I’ve been living here for 2 months and I need to admit that I’m in love with the atmosphere of this city! Maybe I think like this because I’m a student and Poznań is considered a typical student’s city but believe me, there are much more advantages of this place!

First of all, there’re many Universities in this city, that’s why it’s possible to participate in various events often organized especially for students. Moreover, a lot of restaurants, pubs and bars offers special discounts for young people, so you can eat delicious food and pay little. The city is
well-connected with other cities and countries, so it’s really easy to travel both inside Poland and abroad. The other reason, that in my opinion makes this city really attractive, is a labor market. Without any problems you can find a job here, even if you’re full-time student. 

If it goes about architecture and monuments, there’re of course many tourist attractions to see (museums, the old town, the castle etc.) but to be honest, the places that have totally stolen my heart are squares which you can find in every part of the city. They’re not only destined to be admired but to be used as market stalls as well, where you can buy fresh vegetables, fruits etc.

At the end I’d like to mention only one, but quite big, disadvantage of Poznań that I noted so far, so it goes about traffic. There’s always a traffic jam and the buses really often are late.

See you soon!

Seventh stop: ROME

Seventh stop:  ROME

          Welcome to the one of the most popular European cities! Not without reason it’s called The Great Beauty because actually every, even the smallest, building or a square took part in many historical events and that’s why now it’s full or memories and mysteries. For sure, everyone starts visiting Rome from well-known monuments and for this reason I’m not going to talk about The Colosseum, The Roman Forum, The Trevi Fountain, Vatican City, The Circus Maximus etc. I prefer sharing with you some of my tips just to help you to discover the whole beauty of this city.

If you’re skyline lovers, and I hope you’re :), you should definitely go up stairs to the The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven, it’s just between The Capitoline Hill and The Altare della Patria. From this point you can admire many rooftops of the city, including Castel Sant’Angelo and St.Peter’s Basilica. By the way, it’s worth to go in the back of the Capitoline Hill because from this place you can see the breathtaking  view of Foro Romano and Colosseo. Then you need to go to the Villa Borghese Gardens, the huge park in the city centre, and there you’ll find two lookout points. It’s definitely my favourite place to see the sunset in the Rome!

What’s more, if you’re hungry, the best idea for the fast and delicious dinner are always pieces of different kind of pizzas selling in every corner of the eternal city. Be prepared that it’s almost impossible to find shopping centres and toilets in the city centre. That’s why if you want to go shopping, you can go on Via del Corso Street because there are many shops but to find some mall, you need to go on the edge of the city. And if it goes about the toilets, the best idea is to use those situated in the bars but remember that first you always need to buy something there and then you can enter to the toilet.

In the end, I just would like to aware you that Rome is full of thieves, that’s why always keep your money and document in the safe pocket. Additionally, there're not enough trash cans, that's why they're overflowing and as a result, the city is quite cluttered. What’s more, I don’t recommend you visiting the eternal city in the summer (June, July, August) because there’re a lot of tourists and every place is crowded, moreover every single day is really hot, so it’s impossible enjoying your trip because of the terrible heat.