Activity Report: Walkative Wroclaw Walking Tour
One of our favorite activities in any city is a good walking tour! Thankfully, Walkative is here in Poland and we had already been on their tours in Krakow and Warsaw. Over the Christmas holidays, they had a full schedule of two tours a day!
Complicated History
Meeting at the main square church, our guide kicked off with the usual city’s church. Similar to other Polish cities, Wroclaw has an interesting, complicated history. Throughout time, basically any and every country has been in this town between Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, among others. In recent years, Germany has been primarily here and called it Breslau. The Germans built this beautiful old town, only to destroy it during WW2.
As we started on our walk, our guide pointed the only two remaining buildings in Old Town. He first asked the group but I was very optimistic! Instead, the ugly santander building was survived and represent 1930 modern architecture. Thankfully, at least one historical pretty building remained upright - the church!
Sadly, after WW2, people weren’t sure what to do with the destroyed city because it was a formerly German. Most of the rubble and useable bricks went to Warsaw instead! After years of neglect and waiting, the last old town structure was built in the 1990s. At least we have a terrific Old Town to explore today!
Dwarfs are Everywhere
Every street corner and every landmark has a dwarf. Dwarfs are everywhere. Around the fall of communism, a movement began to represent free speech and everything else that was wrong about communism! The Orange Alternative was one of the kickstarters in Wroclaw to knock down the iron curtain. In their protests, they obviously wore all orange and then topped it off with a dwarf hat because they had nothing else.
To commemorate this awesome movement, the town erected a dwarf sitting on top of a thumb (or middle finger if you get creative!). Ever since then, the commercial impact picked up and it became unfashionable to not have a dwarf! The guide estimated there are over 600 in the city. At the beginning of the tour, he recommended taking pictures of the ones you really thought were cool rather than all otherwise you would get dwarf fatigue!
The Wroclaw Highlights
Because our guide truly loved his city, we stopped at every miscellaneous landmark or corner. Here are a few of Wroclaw’s highlights!
University of Wroclaw
Located next to the river, University of Wroclaw has beautiful architecture and designed by a King. Back in history, the popes did not want this school on their land so King Leo built it on his land instead. After it was built, it was one of the largest and tallest buildings in Wroclaw. While the university use to play second class to Krakow, the university is well known in Poland these days!
Butcher Street
One of the more unique spots was the old butcher street. Known for pretty houses and stalls, the butcher street now has different shops! Inside their courtyard, they have one of the more unique dwarfs with loads of animals… It is ironic!
Beautiful Courtyards
To this day, I don’t remember why we visited this courtyard other than it started raining and we wanted a break from the wind AND rain. Instead, it was one of the best pictures I took on the entire tour! Sheltered from the busy streets, the courtyard is extremely peaceful and relaxing. The red walls with the sprawling gardens would have been perfect on a sunny day. Today, it was cold, wet, and windy so we enjoyed it for as long as we could!
Cathedral Island
Home of the original settlement, Cathedral Island forms the outskirts of the old town as it use to be the old town. Back in the day, the rich and powerful started competing with each other by building their own cathedral. It was classic Pope versus Duke and who had more money! Either way, the island is very cute and quaint and is a nice break from the bustling city center.
Sadly, similar to most of Poland and Wroclaw, this island was mostly destroyed. Unlike Old Town, they wanted to rebuild these buildings due to their religious and historical meaning. Thankfully, they did not under go a Soviet modern rebuild!
The church is truly beautiful! The stained glass and the red brick amongst these colorful houses is a great mix of the old and new!
The UnChartered Summary
On this tour, the guide was extremely passionate about his story of Poland. He is very proud of his Poland and the strides made throughout their history! While it was cold and windy, we enjoyed learning about this small city in Poland!
- Whilst the guide was proud of his city and hertiage, the freezing snow/rain should have told him to cut down on the more minor Wroclaw stories.
- I still have NO IDEA how to pronounce Wroclaw. The only tip I have is it is a mixture of Bonsoir and Warsaw if you pronounce the Ws like a Polish.
- Similar to other Polish cities, most of the Wroclaw old town was destroyed in the war so the old town isn’t that old.
- Like the Krakow tour, this one also included a handy booklet with local tips and restaurants and bars. As Wroclaw is a fairly small city, it will come in handy!