First Impressions of Poland

Our first impressions of Denmark turned out to be wide of the mark, and our first impressions of Poland are even less likely to be accurate as the place is so big, but we'll have a go.  This is all based on a day in Szczecin and a drive from there back to the coast near Koszalin...

• There's lots of space in this corner of Poland.  We've driven for miles through fields and forests with no sign of habitation.

• The standard of driving is right down there with the Calabrians.  They're not quite as bad as the Italians in town, but their faith in God and the protecting spirit of Pope John Paul II gives them the confidence to pull off some breathtaking overtakes on the long single carriageway country roads.  (In 2009 they had 12 road deaths per 100,000 of population, compared to 3.8 for the UK).

• People are very Catholic.  We saw people in Szczecin praying in front of a statue of Pope John Paul II in the middle of a busy park.  In front of the statue there was a mound of fresh flowers and lit candles.

• It's startlingly cheap, especially when you've recently arrived from Denmark.  We had a very substantial meal in Szczecin in a small bar which cost us a total of about £5.60.  Diesel is just over £1 a litre, a loaf of good bread costs 60p.  With local products looking so cheap, imported goods must seem terribly expensive, I can't work out how there can be so many Audis about.

• The food is really good.  Back during the cold war we used to joke about pork and cabbage.  Maybe it's improved but I can report that the pork is delicious and tender and the finely shredded cabbage is crunchy, sweet and herby.  Also, the pierogi is just as delicious as Italian ravioli. The street market in Szczcin is heaped with raspberries, plums and apples that are local and properly ripe, better quality than you would find in Cardiff market.

• It's a struggle for them to get their infrastructure up to the standard in the 'old' EU.  The contrast with the former East Germany is revealing.  East Germany had a big infusion of funds from the former West Germany to help it.  From what we saw every building has been at least rendered and painted, every strategic road has been widened and resurfaced and the place looks very much like the former West.  In Poland they're having to work their way through their 'to-do' list with their own resources (plus European Regional Development Funds).  Lots of old Victorian buildings in Szczecin are dropping their façades into the street, the secondary roads are potholed and the reinforcing rods are bursting out of the bus shelter walls, although improvement work is under way everywhere we look.

• Szczecin was obviously badly damaged in the war and was repaired rather cheaply. The 'New Old Town' (as the locals apparently call it) is a jumble of surviving historical buildings and cheap prefab apartment blocks. It's not so much a beautiful town as a town with some beautiful things in it.

• When a Pole admits to speaking 'a little English' you can assume they speak it pretty well perfectly.  They must be setting a very high standard, maybe comparing themselves to Joseph Conrad.  This is fortunate for us, as Polish is a total mystery to us.

• The average haircut for a young Polish man is a little too short, giving them an unnecessarily intimidating air until you get used to it.

• Men driving trucks wear blue hillbilly dungarees, men working on the roads wear the same but orange.

• The profit to be made from picking a basket of mushrooms in the forest, then selling it from the hard shoulder, is enough to entice hundreds of elderly Poles out into the countryside at this time of year. There are also quite a few young women standing by the roadsides, but they don't appear to have mushrooms to sell.

The weather is still lovely, warm and sunny here despite a little rain overnight. We've read that usually at this time of year it is less than 10 degrees Celsius during the day so we know we're very fortunate to have chosen this year to visit. Let's hope our luck holds as we continue our journey to the Slowinski National Park and Gdansk.