Wroclaw in a day

I've already told you a little bit about my Christmas. I also told you that Poland is a country with many beautiful, easily accessible cities. Well, we remembered this on the second day of the year, and decided it was a good time to go to Wroclaw and here's the result.

I want to start by saying it wasn't the best time to go because, of all the time we could have chosen from, we decided to go on the coldest day of the entire winter. It was below 10 degrees the whole time, the ground was slippery and snow was falling nonstop. Still, we really enjoyed the city, because it's an enjoyable city at any time of the year.

We went by train, because it was really cheap and much faster. I think we paid about 40 zl (a little under 10 euros) for a return ticket, and the trip lasted about 3 hours. We arrived on a sunny Sunday, and were greeted by a ghost town. We arrived at 10:30 and, due to the cold, there was not

many people around. It was too late to take the "Free Walking Tour of Old Town", which I would have really liked to do; so we walked calmly - we had all the time in the world - from the station to the city centre; we took our time to take pictures of the buildings, the snow and, of course, the adorable little dwarfs that you can find all over the city.

There was also a "Special Free Walking Tour" of one of the most symbolic buildings in the city. But it was so cold at the meeting point that the guide - who was a bit pedantic and not very humorous - aptly suggested that we should go to the city's History Museum because it was an interesting place and it was warm. I think it was the best decision because we didn't freeze to death, and at the same time we learned a couple of things about the history of the place we were in - there's quite a lot of it. Touring the museum with a person who summed up the most important things for us and told us interesting anecdotes was a very different experience from what it would have been if we had done it alone-we probably wouldn't even have entered the building. This building was the city Palace when it was the capital of Prussia. Wroclaw changed hands many times during its history. Czech, German, Russian, Polish, all these cultures left their mark on the city; this is one of the reasons why Wroclaw is the 2016 Culture Capital of Europe.

At the end of the tour, we wandered around for a bit until we could join the night time tour -yes, we took a night tour in freezing temperatures - which was a tour that covered a mix of Old Town and Jewish aspects of the city. We visited the synagogue and saw the hotel with the neon lights.

This hotel was a symbol of resistance against the communist regime. We also heard the story of the three squares in the city centre and the flower stall that is there year round - real flowers too, even in winter - we went to see the bridges. Wroclaw takes third place when it comes to most bridges in a European city. These bridges were lovely but it was very cold. We saw how they lit the oil lamps the old-fashioned way before ending up in the city's great cathedral. Of course, along the way we heard local stories, such as the true origin of the dwarves, which are the representation of a group of young students who resisted the communist regime using creativity: giving away toilet paper on the street or organising marches where people dressed as dwarves. Now, dwarfs are a very important tourist symbol in the city and their numbers are increasing, as businesses try to attract people by placing statuettes near their shops.

Since we had a lot of time until the train left, we went to a bar - I can't think of the name - where you could buy snacks for 5 zl. Yes, it's a lottery. I remember my friends ordered the chicken jelly and it was, literally, jelly with bits of chicken in it. The sausages were good and I remember the coffee was delicious. The most important thing is that it was open until 5 in the morning, and we could wait for our train in a warm place with food.

It was a very nice day in good company but the weather and the amount of time we had didn't allow us to fully enjoy it. Wroclaw isn't a huge city but I would recommend spending one night there; two days is more than enough to see it all.

My general impression is that it is a very regal city, with a lot of history behind it. Despite having passed from hand to hand in recent centuries, it continues to maintain its romanticism and charm.

It is very similar to Krakow but with a certainje ne sais quoi that makes it different. I'm sure me and Wroclaw will meet again.