We left Poleski National Park and went the short distance west to Lublin. 

We parked very close to the old town and arrived in a square where the foundations of an old church were still quite prominent.

Lublin is the largest city in southeast Poland and it has lots of history. It was the first town to be taken over by the communist government in 1944.

The facades of the houses around were mostly patterned in interesting designs.

There were a lot of young people around. There are a lot of colleges and a university here and the schools just went back this week. 

We went up the hill to the main old square with the town hall. This is where the crown tribunal used to sit. 

We found lots of goat statues.

The Lublin goat is one of Lublin’s most important symbols. There is an interesting legend connected with it, which explains why it is this animal that has been incorporated into the city’s coat of arms. It tells how, when the Tartars plundered the city and the inhabitants were taken captive and their animals stolen or killed, the surviving inhabitants managed to save one goat. Its milk was fed to the children who survived the raid. The story was said to have pleased King Władysław Łokietek so much that he granted Lublin city rights and decreed that it was the goat that would feature in the coat of arms of the new city. So why is it the goat leaning against the vine? There are several explanations… it is said that the artist appointed to the task was inadequately rewarded by the deputies, so in retaliation, instead of a graceful goat, he painted an ugly goat in the coat of arms.

It was lunchtime so we found an interesting looking restaurant called Populare. It was a bit like the communist milk bars – we had to order inside where Lisa and I found very interesting. It was very 1960s communist era. 

We all had interesting soups and either coffee or beer. 

We then got back to sightseeing and headed for Lublin cathedral. 
We found an old city gate on the way.

The inside of the cathedral was amazing – there was huge amounts of paintings – many trompe l’oeil giving a 3D effect. 

We then went to the Dominican church the oldest church from the 1400s just round the corner which also had many great art piecesi.

It included this one of Lublin in 1719. 

There was also part of the old floor visible through glass on the floor. 

We then headed down the road to the castle . We found a good icecream stall on the way so we all enjoyed one. I had marscapone and blueberry – delicious! 

The castle’s only original parts are the tower and chapel. The rest was built in the 1800s. The Germans had used the castle as a termination camp so there were a few memorials.

It is now a museum and Tuesdays are free – which was today – so we went in. 

The first area was about Neolithic times abd had interesting jewellery including large chunks of amber – probably from the Baltic coast where a lot is found. 

The Holy Trinity Chapel is an original part of the castle painted by Russian orthodox artists in 1418 mixing wet plaster and paint. This is a difficult technique but it has allowed the paintings to last until now. They were amazing. 

We then came across an exhibition of paintings by Tamara de Lempicks who was born into a rich Jewish family in Poland, brought up in Russia and managed to get out to Poland when the Bolshevik revolution happened. However her wealth had been taken away from her.  She developed a unique style in art and became famous in art nouveau which allowed her to get back to her comfortable lifestyle. 

She and her husband didn’t like the facism going on in Europe so they left Poland the week before the Germans invaded managing to get her family out later. They moved to the USA. 

She struggled to get recognition there so tried other techniques that were unsuccessful. However there was a big exhibition of her older art which made her famous again. She then got back into the old techniques. 

She changed husbands a few times as well so had a tumultuous life. She died in her 80s in Mexico. What a life! 

It was a very enjoyable exhibition of someone I had never heard about before. 

It was now after 5pm and we had an hour to travel to get to our next destination Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula River. It is known as a very artistic town. We parked in a carpark up cobble streets just below the castle. It was a bit tough to get there but it was worth it to be so central. 

We got going quickly to have a little explore of town and then go to dinner. 

We went down the hill and through the main square which looked very old and had some beautiful buildings. No restaurants were open in that area. 

We found a good Polish restaurant not far away called Stars Laznia. At first at 7.10pm we were the only people in there – but soon there were quite a lot of customers. We had beer from Zwierzyniec brewery where we had just visited which we enjoyed. The food was excellent. I had beef cheek in wine sauce with beetroot salad and mashed potato. Lisa had trout and the boys had venison meatballs. All very much enjoyed it. 

We then climbed back up to the carpark and had a good sleep in the very quiet town.