The statue of Karol Musioł, a local resident who was the founder of the National Festival of Polish Song. The statue was designed by local artist Witold Pichurski and it’s rather chirpy and informal, having been installed here in 2008.
Tag: Opole
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Opole – Photos of the City Centre
Some photos of Opole city centre….
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Opole – Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Cross
This beautiful church dates back to the fifteenth century, although there was a previous thirteenth century church on the same site which was destroyed by fire. It’s the tallest building in Opole and is easily recognisable from its two towers, although these were only added towards the end of the nineteenth century.
The side of the three-naved church.
The main nave, with the size of the current restoration project visible from the work on the left hand side of the church. The restoration has the exciting aim of removing heavy layers of plaster which for centuries have covered the brick walls. This “regothicisation” has the aim of returning the building back to its medieval origins, showing the original fittings which were in the brick walls.
The font is from the fifteenth century.
The pulpit is from 1805.
This is the grave of Stefan Baldy, a priest from this church who served from 1977 until his death in 2003. He made a substantial contribution in terms of offering private assistance to those involved in the solidarity movement in the early 1980s and he also made public announcements against martial law in the country.
In 1999, the city gave him the ‘Merit to the City of Opole’ award and Pope John Paul II awarded him the title of ‘Honorary Chaplain of His Holiness’.
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Opole – Museum of Opole Silesia
I’ve been greatly impressed over recent years about the quality of museums across Poland, they’ve been redeveloping and refocusing their collections to a wider audience and making them more accessible. The Silesian museum in Katowice, which isn’t all that far from Opole, is exceptional in nearly every regard, including the staffing, the presentation, the quality of the exhibits and the explanations.
Since I haven’t moaned about anything in a while, I feel the need to note that this museum in Opole was an exception, I thought it was pretty third rate.
The first problem that the museum has is that it has its exhibitions dotted all around the building. The above photographic exhibition was in one of the basements, and there was a ceramic exhibition located in another set of separate rooms. The museum has made pretty much no effort here to bring it all together, there was no map handed to visitors, no clear signage and no staff member directing visitors. There were some orientation maps on the wall which helped slightly, but not much.
I’m fairly convinced that I missed some parts of the museum, as I found an exhibition that I wasn’t allowed in (and was ushered out of quite quickly) and I’ve noticed photos of sections that I didn’t see. I kind of like these mistakes now, I feel that I’m a useful reminder to museums that visitors sometimes need assistance.
I also had the unfortunate issue of three sets of Polish visitors asking me questions. I wasn’t much help with my answers, and I understood little of their question, but they were clearly all asking for directions. So if the Poles can’t find their way around the city’s main museum, there was little hope for someone who is as incompetent, and British, as I am.
Anyway, onto the main exhibit (or at least, the main exhibit that I was able to find and be allowed into) which was a series of rooms detailing the history of the region. Above is a model of the city in the eighteenth century, and this was the stand-out part of the museum for me. It was inter-active, interesting and a really useful way to get an impression of how Opole used to look.
This granite plaque was placed outside of the city hall and it commemorated the occupation of Opole by the Red Army in 1945. It was taken down in 2008 and the museum will be its permanent home.
A display of old weaponry from the area.
A sixteenth century bell from the city hall.
A stone used as a counterweight which assisted in the weighing of heavy items.
Items of interest to the Jewish community.
A carved stone head from the city’s church, dating back to the fourteenth century.
A photo from the early twentieth century of the town’s main square.
The English translations in the history section of the museum were excellent, well translated and clearly put together. The museum skipped sections of history, there was little about the early twentieth century and the First World War (although a lot about the plebiscite after it) and not much about the Second World War, although there was a little.
So, I’m left none the wiser about whether troops from the area went to fight in the First World War, not particularly clear about what happened in the city during the Second World War and perplexed about why the museum say that Opole was liberated in two stages by the Red Army (it might well have been, but this isn’t what other history books suggest). There was some brief mention of the mass transfer of German people for Polish people when the borders moved, but perhaps there could have been more. Perhaps the information was there in the Polish text though to be fair.
I found the ethnography section of the museum, which had some interesting pieces in, but that was pretty much the end of the tour for me. There was probably more to the museum, but the entire operation of this place seemed to be a throwback to the bad old days of poor customer service, so I was content to just give up.
Overall, I thought it was all pretty inadequate. Entrance was £2, moderate enough by international comparison, but not cheap by Polish standards. Perhaps a decent compromise here would be to shut this museum down and for the Silesian Museum in Katowice to open something new and exciting in Opole instead.
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Opole – Shanti Indian
This Indian restaurant opened earlier in 2019, on one of the main streets in Opole, specialising in more street food type dishes.
The menu was relatively short and this is usually a good sign, as complicated menus rarely bode well for decent cuisine. The menu was also easy to understand, they’ve avoided the temptation to make everything overly-complex. And, although they haven’t translated all of the ingredients, the name of each dish is in English, making it easier for non-Poles to understand what to order.
The interior was clean and comfortable, with an on-trend feel rather than a unnecessary nod towards stereotypical Indian restaurant designs. The service at the counter was excellent, with the staff member being engaging and helpful, then bringing the food over when it was ready.
Freshly made lemonade, not exceptional, but still refreshing and it had a clean flavour.
This was a bigger portion size than I was expecting, a combination of chicken curry, rice and some salad elements on the top. The curry had a depth of taste to it and wasn’t too spicy, whilst the chicken was tender and plentiful.
I’m not sure that it’s overly authentic Indian cuisine, but it was quite a decent lunch, which cost around £5 including the drink. Hopefully the venue will do well, the contemporary structure to the whole operation looks towards the future rather than the past.
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Opole – Delikatesy
I haven’t entirely worked out the set-up here, but it appears to be a like a mini food court with a number of food and drink outlets within one premises.
I ordered the pizza from one of the counters shortly after entering the restaurant and they gave me a buzzer to collect it when it was ready. The service at the pizza counter was warm and friendly, with the ordering process briefly explained. And having the buzzer meant that I could go and investigate the craft beer options in the meantime.
When it arrived, the pizza was a little larger than I expected, but it was well presented and at the appropriate hot temperature. There was plenty of chorizo on the pizza and it had a pleasant flavour, with the edges being suitably crispy. I could find slight fault that the bottom was slightly soggy, it needed probably another couple of minutes in the pizza option, but it still tasted good.
Meating appear to be operating both a restaurant serving burgers and grilled items, alongside this craft beer selection. And, I have to say, this is brilliant, on-trend, interesting and innovative selection of beers. The staff member was enthusiastic, engaging and was merrily offering samples of the beers.
There were two dark beers available and I tried one of them, the coffee oatmeal stout, which didn’t quite taste as rich as I’d have liked. So, instead I went for a lighter option, which is the Birbant Hopsbant, which was hoppy and had light flavours of peach. It was expensive for Poland, and around £3 a pint, although the bar did have cheaper beers as well.
But I’ll be back, as this was a stand-out bar for me, because of the selection, the customer service and the quality of the beer.
The seating area, although there were lower level tables and also external seating as well. All absolutely lovely and so very on-trend, with well above average customer service.
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Opole – Opole Zoo
I like zoos, so since the weather was acceptable and I thought it might be quiet being a Friday during term time, I decided to pay Opole Zoo a little visit. Entrance was around £5, which is cheap by international standards, but it makes it one of the more expensive tourist attractions in the region.
The whole zoo seemed quite modern, although this is because the previous one got flooded in storms in the late 1990s, so nearly everything here was reconstructed after that. The collections got larger, the zoo was modernised and it also took over more land in the city’s park.
The zoo wasn’t particularly busy today (a Friday in late September), around ten other visitors, plus a school party which I never actually saw again other than at the entrance. I’m assuming they went to some form of educational classroom as part of their visit, but all told, I wasn’t exactly fighting for viewing room to see the animals.
There were a lot of owls at the zoo, rather beautiful birds.
A playful primate.
This frightened me. It’s a cheetah and the thing came careering over towards me and looked like he was going to jump. The enclosure here doesn’t have high fences, more just a big dip in the ground so that the cheetah can’t physically jump out. However, it didn’t look like a very big dip, so I was concerned the bloody thing was going to jump over. Being naturally cautious, I rushed off and Googled “can cheetahs kill humans?”, which was actually reassuring. It seems if the cheetah had of jumped out, it was unlikely to have tried to attack me.
I’m assuming this is a normal cat, not one of the animals belonging to the zoo. Zoos don’t seem like safe places for cats like this, I’m not sure what the cheetahs would make of it.
A very philosophical look I thought.
And his friend looked relaxed.
Hippos.
Zebras.
A horse thing.
All of the enclosures at the zoo seemed spacious, so the animal welfare seemed at the top of their agenda. This serval seemed a bit manic though, he wasn’t only pacing, but was doing so almost by walking around in mini circles.
Californian sea lions.
Not deliberately, but I think I woke the cat up.
Cute.
Mischievous.
Tall.
The zoo has three lowland gorillas, although they decided to sit at one of the furthest points possible from where visitors could see them.
A goat on a rock.
This is one of the bird areas where visitors can walk through ferns and plants to see different types of bird. Although I only saw two little birds who soon hopped off.
And a meerkat, who I named Leon.
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Opole – Kawiarnia Kafka
My quick lunch today was the coffee shop at this rather modern looking building, which is I think part of the city’s library.
The coffee shop is bright and airy, with an open feel to it, with more seating available outside. There was a range of different seating types as well, catering for those who wanted a table (ideal for me and my laptop) and some more comfortable lower level seating.
It wasn’t particularly busy, just a couple of other customers when I was there. Everything seemed clean and ordered though, with the bonus that I felt that the ordering process was clear and so I didn’t look as confused as I often do about what to do.
A latte and some sort of fruit sponge cake, I didn’t quite ascertain exactly what it was. The cake was nicely presented and I liked the little addition of the orange slice to make it more colourful. The cake had a pleasant taste and wasn’t too rich, all perfectly acceptable. The latte was also served at the temperature that I think it should be, namely not so hot I have to wait twenty minutes for it to cool down.
The service was pleasant and polite, with the staff member speaking English, as my Polish didn’t really extend to ordering a cake that I couldn’t actually even describe in English either. The whole environment was relaxing and peaceful, all very appropriate for its location near to the library. The cost for the drink and cake was just over £3, which seems to be in keeping with what I’d expect for Poland.
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Flixbus – Berlin to Opole
During the 2003 Iraq War there was a Minister for Information named Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, although he was better known as Comical Ali. Flixbus’s advertising always reminds me of him, it’s aspirational to say the least. My past experiences with Flixbus have ranged between dreadful and poor, so they’ve really focused in on providing a consistent level of service.
I wasn’t going to use Flixbus any more because they’re really not very good. But, there’s something quite amusing about them, in the same way that Comical Ali attracted quite an audience. Anyway, on this journey, I can’t fault the information provided at Berlin coach station, it was perfectly sufficient to know when and where my bus was going from.
And there were also screens to show passengers where to go, which is all excellent and often not provided by other bus operators around the world.
And, information at the bus stop itself. I was worrying at this point that Flixbus would be providing an excellent service.
The coach pulled in fifteen minutes early and let people board. This is also excellent, as it can be frustrating to have a coach at the stand and no way of boarding it. I didn’t work out what language the driver spoke as he didn’t say very much, but he was efficient and polite. At this stage, I was verging on being distraught that Flixbus were offering such a quality service.
I sat upstairs in front of the steps, meaning that I didn’t need to have anyone recline into me. Although not one single person did recline, perhaps that’s the politeness of the Poles.
And, I have to say, the driving of the bus was decent and the journey was comfortable. The temperature was appropriate, there were no disturbances and the driver made regular announcements. For the first time, Flixbus have provided me with a bus service which is comparable to that of Megabus, so I’m slightly surprised to say the least.
I can’t say that perfection was reached though as the wi-fi didn’t work and nor did the power sockets. But I didn’t need either thanks to a large data allowance and a fully charged power bank.
And, the coach stopped at a BP petrol station on the Polish border for reasons unknown. I’m sure it was important, but I could have done without the bus being plunged into brightness for fifteen minutes, although a few customers did go and buy snacks from the Wild Bean Cafe.
The coach having arrived in Opole, around 25 minutes late. I’m not sure why the coach arrived late as it seemed to be on time at all its stops, but the delay was actually useful to me as it meant that dawn had fully broken and I wasn’t in a new city in the dark.
My ticket for this coach cost £13.99 and I have to say, this was an entirely acceptable service from Flixbus. This is the first time I’ve been able to report that, so either things are picking up or this is just an aberration.
