Campsites,Poland

We drove into Wroclaw, through the downtown area and found the campsite right next to the Olympic Stadium. Wroclaw was part of Germany in the 1930’s, and a portion of the 1936 Olympic Games were held here. The young boy at the campground office spoke English, so I had him make some phone calls for us, so we could visit with friends and relatives of the Polish family we had helped move to the USA in 1981.

We found a campsite in Kraków and got settled for the night. I thought of going into Kraków, and the camp manager said, beware, the taxi drivers might charge too much. I decided that tomorrow would be soon enough, tonight I must rest. Then we were charged double what we have paid elsewhere in Poland for a night in a campsite. A few years later, at this same spot, I demanded a lower price, and got it.

We found Warsaw’s campsite, a couple of miles from the center of town. Travel behind the “Iron Curtain” is difficult sometimes, and we were both very tired. The next morning, after a good night’s sleep, Emmy said, “I feel like a new woman,” and I said, “Goodness knows I need one.” We stayed here again, in 1991, after the Berlin Wall fell.

The campsite in Poznan is nestled in a forest of white birch trees. Every few yards they have put down cement blocks so a camper can park among the trees. The facilities were OK, except Emmy had to take her shower while standing in dirty water—but she lived. Facilities were better a few years later, in 1991.

The campground in Gdansk-Sopot, was about a block from the Baltic Sea, just a mile from the home of Henryk and Irena, the people we had met at the Warsaw campsite in 1985. For the next few days, with Henryk as our private driver and guide, we saw many things in and near Gdansk, and Gdynia, the home port of TSS Stefan Batory, the ship we had sailed on, from Rotterdam to Montreal.

Rather early in the afternoon we went to the campground near the Malbrok Castle. The campsite was right next to, and actually part of a hotel. I went in the office to pay, and the best I could figure, was told to forget it, no charge. There were only two or three other campers here tonight.

It took a while to find, but the campsite near Szczyrk was the finest, and the lowest priced campground we had in Poland in 1991. It’s surrounded by tree and hills, and cost only $3.85.