Day 5

We woke up to rain. After breakfast, we started driving towards Lublin, but we were not sure if we’d stop there if the rain continued. We did drive into the old town and decided to walk it even though it was raining. Bo got a map of the Jewish trail and we tried to follow it as much as we could. Lublin had one of the largest Jewish populations in Poland before the war, with thriving Jewish culture. The old Jewish town is beautifully renovated and very charming and interesting. We enjoyed it in spite of the rain and bitter arctic wind. From there it was only a half an hour drive to the historic 18th century spa town of Naleczow. We walked around the spa park and had coffee and decadent hot chocolate in the spa drinking pavilion. The weather had improved so it was a nice walk. Then another 30 minute drive and we got into Kazimierz Dolny, a charming Renaissance town on the Wisla river. We checked into our hotel (Kazimierzowka) and started exploring the town. We climbed to the ruins of the castle, then even higher to the hill of 3 crosses with a gorgeous view of the town, then we took a electric minibus tour of other sites, including the old granaries, the Gorge of the Roots, the monument to the Kazimierz Jews called the “wailing wall” made of tomb stones recovered from the old Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis, the oldest wooden farmhouse in Kazimierz (17th century) that still belongs to the same family. Then we went to the old synagogue to see an exhibition and had to stay for a drink because it started pouring. We did make it back to the hotel fairly dry.