Poland 4: Sanok

Dobra: on the Icon Trail - Samok

Sat 28 April 2018
Glorious drive east for four hours to the town of Sanok. We stopped a couple of times, including the impressive Nowy Sacz, founded in 1292 and with the second largest Rynek in Poland after Krakow.

Nowy Sacz main square - with the town hall in the middle erected in 1897.

Our aim had been to get to the tourist office in time to get information on the 70km “Icon Trail” - but it shut before we reached it. Nothing for it but to sit in the sunshine at a cafe in the quiet Rynek and have a beer (or two) and do some planning. Having discovered that the 1st of May is a major holiday week in Poland, we were struggling to book accommodation at our next stop, the Bieszczady Mountains.

Sanok’s Rynek: cafe on left perfect for an afternoon of admin

Church of The Holy Cross, Sanok.

Sun 29 Apr
We woke to thunderstorms and rain, so adjusted the Icon Trail plan and drove one hour north to see Polands largest aristocratic home - Lancut; originally 15C, but redesigned in 1641 and several more times including end of 19C to give the new-baroque facades:

Lancut

Then we looped east to the town of Przemysl with a lovely main square and twenty churches!!

**Now is probably a good moment to add a “church warning” **
Poland is one of the most devoutly religious countries in Europe, with 87% Roman Catholic (2012). They are everywhere - even in the smallest villages, and often new, hideous designs alongside lovely old ones. Today was absolutely a heavy church day....!

This unpronounceable town close to the Ukrainian border has had a chequered history including Austrian ownership (they fortified it heavily in 1850) and it unfortunately marked the border between Germany and Russia in WWII.

Cathedral of St John The Baptist (interior below)

We had an amusing coffee in the main square, meeting a Polish lady who had lived for the last 50 years in Chicago and was back to see her family, and considering staying. When she left Przemysl it was Communist!

We then looped back around to Sanok, through fantastic twisty forest roads with Polish (motor)bikers out playing in the sunshine. With some deft navigation, Jess parked us half way up the Icon Trail, and off we set on foot to see some of these beautiful old Orthodox or Uniat churches in little villages around the San River valley.