In the Gnomes of Wrocław collection, this is Farmaceut, the Pharmacist Dwarf, with his own pill blister pack. It’s linked to the Boehringer Ingelheim, a German pharmaceutical company with strong connections to Poland.
Tag: Wroclaw
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Wrocław – AleBrowar
I’ve had quite a few beers from AleBrowar over the years and I’ve also been to their taproom in Gdynia. They do flights of any five beers for 40zl and that felt a suitable way of trying a number of them. The brewery was established in Lębork in 2012 and they were one of the earliest craft brewers in Poland, most focusing on hoppy beers although they brew a variety of different styles.
The interior in the early afternoon when the bar wasn’t exactly as its busiest. The service was friendly and I liked that the server gave me a printed receipt of the five beers that I ordered to ensure no confusion on what was what on the flight.
The beers on the flight and from left to right:
(i) Rowing Jack from AleBrowar, an IPA with a bitter ending, with a bit of pine and general tree, quite a punchy beer.
(ii) Tower of Cats from AleBrowar, a porter which had a dark chocolate taste, a bit of coffee and was smooth with some roastiness to it.
(iii) Coco Monkey from AleBrowar, a hazy IPA which I thought had more stone fruit than coconut, quite sweet and hoppy.
(iv) Baile de Rosas from AleBrowar, a red IPA which was more like grapefruit juice than anything else, although it was still pleasant.
(v) El Fruto from AleBrowar, an 8% DIPA which had no shortage of mango flavouring, so all that juiciness must be healthy.
This was rather a lovely little bar which is well-reviewed on-line, I imagine it can get quite busy during the evening and the prices were reasonable. I didn’t eat anything as I was heading back to the airport, but they do offer pizzas and they look suitably tempting from the reviews.
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (Bankomatnik)
In the Gnomes of Wrocław collection, this is the Bankomatnik gnome, located next to an ATM. I’m not sure whether they’re repairing it or robbing it though….
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (A02 : Parasolnik / The Umbrella Gnome or Szermierz / The Fencer)
The Umbrella Gnome, also known as the Fencer, from the Gnomes of Wrocław series, located outside the university at pl. Uniwersytecki. As if it’s not hard enough to find all of these gnomes, some have split personalities, so this one is either seen as holding an umbrella as a defence against the rain or holding a fencing foil. I mean, it looks like an umbrella to me, but the official name is the Fencer, so there we go to add to the confusion.
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (A03 : Profesorek / The Professor Gnome)
The Professor Gnome from the Gnomes of Wrocław collection, identifiable with his glasses, book and mortarboard. He is located by the University of Wrocław and shows his love of education and academia.
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Wrocław – National Museum in Wrocław (Stephen Báthory by Andreas Riehl)
This artwork is located at the National Museum in Wrocław and this imposing chap is Stephen Báthory (1533-1586, also known as István Báthory in Hungarian, Stefan Batory in Polish), a significant historical figure who was Prince of Transylvania, Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), and later King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586). The text at the top reads “By the grace of God, Stephen, King in Poland, Grand Duke in Lithuania”. Báthory was a skilled military leader who led successful campaigns against Ivan the Terrible of Russia, recovering territories lost in the Livonian War, much to the annoyance of the Russians. He also strengthened the Polish-Lithuanian army and reformed its organisation, whilst also implementing reforms in the administration and judiciary of the Commonwealth, aiming to strengthen the central government and improve the efficiency of the state.
He was also a skilled dancer, which I’m not entirely sure that I expected from the portrait, but it’s best not to judge. It is also said that he kept a pet bear at his court, which is certainly brave and at least it wasn’t a polar bear. On top of that, he was a master swordsman and he apparently kept on fencing into his later years. Before the Second World War and also since the fall of communism, he has become something of a hero in Poland. The Russians didn’t like him though and his historical role was downplayed during the communist years, it wasn’t really the done thing to celebrate someone who had fought successfully against the Russians.
As for the artwork, it was painted by Andrea Riehl (1551-1613) in about 1600, so after Stephen’s death. He was a German painter, but there’s not much known about his life and this is one of his most important works.
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław
Wrocław has become well-known as being the city of gnomes (or dwarfs) and there are now an estimated 800 of these little things dotted around the city. There are so many of them that I’m not even sure that there is a complete list available (although the map at https://visitwroclaw.eu/wroclawskie-krasnale is likely as complete as anywhere), which makes completing a task to visit them all rather difficult. There’s a city map available listing hundreds of them (Dwarfs in Wroclaw_map), so I’ve now decided that I’ll have to start finding some of them because that’s what happens when I’m left alone in a city without any adult supervision……
Anyway, my two loyal blog readers can now expect some random posts about gnomes every time I find one (and, so far, I’ve found under 30 which is a rather amateurish effort I accept).
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Wrocław – PINTA
PINTA are one of my favourite breweries and they’re based in Warsaw where they have a taproom which I’ve been to several times. I’ve also been to their now closed taproom in Sopot, but I didn’t know that they had one in Wrocław and when I realised, I thought I’d better rush there. As for the Sopot outlet, I’m not entirely sure why that closed.
The beer boards and they’re also on-line at https://pinta-wroclaw.ontap.pl/. The service was friendly, personable and welcoming, with the atmosphere being laid-back and comfortable. It’s all rather on-trend, but in my desperate attempt to pretend to be a millennial, that suits me. I asked about flights and they’re reasonably priced and there are four different beers on each board of whatever the customer so desires.
The flight of beers and from left to right:
(i) Sourtime Mango Imperial IPA from Maryensztadt Brewery, which is a sour that had mango, so they nailed that. There was a sharp citrus edge, handy as I wanted my fruit in my diet.
(ii) Break Point from PINTA Brewery, which was clean, dry and with a taste of grapefruit, quite punchy at 6.5%.
(iii) Lublin to Dublin which is a collab from O’Hara’s Brewery and PINTA Brewery, this was very creamy and a joint Irish/Polish delight. Rich flavours of milk chocolate and coffee, this was my favourite of the four.
(iv) Atak Chmielu from PINTA Brewery, which was malty, resinous and definitely had a taste of forest in it.
The interior was light and open, although as it is evident, it wasn’t the busiest lunchtime haunt for locals.
The fish and chips which was well presented, at the appropriate hot temperature and served as a generous portion size given the price. The fish had a richness of taste, the batter was quite crisp in places, but it was all suitably moreish and it went well with the beers.
As mentioned, I was pleased to discover that this bar existed, not only because it let me try more beers from PINTA, but also as it’s a comfortable space and I hope that they open up more of them around the country. I suspect, and hope, that it’s rather busier in the evenings and at weekends. The prices were moderate, the entire food and drink cost £11 and I thought that was reasonable. If I come back to Wrocław, which seems likely, then I’d be surprised with myself if I don’t come back here. All really rather lovely.
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Wrocław – Doctors’ Bar
Doctors’ Bar is a centrally located craft beer bar and restaurant in Wrocław, with their current beer listings at https://doctors-bar.ontap.pl/. I understand that the bar was formerly the taproom of the Doctor Brew brewery and hence the name, although I don’t think that’s the case any more. Either way, this venue is open for long hours and it has quite an extensive list of cocktails in addition to the craft beer range.
I like this, they have a copy of the beer board outside and it’s very uncommon to see this. It is a marvellous idea though, look at those tempting options and if I was someone meandering by on a regular basis I’d be tempted in simply by seeing the words “pastry sour”. I don’t get out much, it’s simple things that excite me in life….
The bar area felt modern and on-trend with the general ambience feeling inviting. Most people here seemed to be coming for food, perhaps because they have a low priced lunch menu, so there was table service available, but I headed to the bar to order. The service was friendly and helpful, it all felt a welcoming place to be. The prices were moderate for the beers and although I was tempted by the 11% Imperial Baltic Porter, I thought that it might be just a little too much at lunchtime.
I went for the Pretty Tatanka from Magic Road, a brewery from Warsaw who regularly come up with some really rather lovely sours. This one was no exception, it had a suitable level of sourness and it had lingering flavours of apple and mango.
I rather liked it here, it’s quite a large venue with a choice of different seating types and everything seemed clean and tidy. Customers seemed to be enjoying their food from what I could see, whilst I was sufficiently surprised and delighted by the eight beer taps.
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Wrocław – National Museum in Wrocław (Siena by Ludwig Peter Kowalski)
This artwork at the National Museum in Wrocław was painted by Ludwig Peter Kowalski (1891-1967) and I’m intrigued by this more in terms of the artist than this particular work. It is a stylistic view of the Italian city of Siena which is quite alluring, but it was painted in 1930 and this was at a time when nationalism was starting to increase across Germany. Kowalski had served in the German military during the First World War, but he studied in Italy and in 1927 he went to work at the Academy for Art and Crafts in Breslau (now known as the Polish city of Wrocław). His works were not liked by the new Nazi regime as they weren’t keen on the expressionist movement, he was tolerated for a short period before being dismissed in 1934. He was effectively forcibly moved in 1945 when the borders were changed and a couple of years later he went to live in Berlin for the rest of his life.
I might be alone in this, as I often have random flights of fancy about these matters, but there’s something in looking at an artwork painted nearly 100 years ago knowing that the artist couldn’t have possibly have predicted what would have happened to him. The city in which he worked would cease to be German, he would be fired from his job and forced to move elsewhere in the country, eventually securing some financial reward but likely struggling throughout the 1930s. That somehow all felt rather more imposing than the artwork in front of me. And it also reminded me that I haven’t been to Siena.