Torun – Poland’s Best Kept Secret

Torun is one of the places we’ve been that we want to keep a secret. So obviously the best way to do this is to write a post about it! But in all seriousness, like Kotor, Nafplio, Cordoba, and Vik before it – Torun is a place we could actually envision settling down in. As one of the few cities that miraculously survived the devastation of WW2, Torun still retains its medieval town center and has managed to land itself on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This honour is well deserved, and we were upset that we only planned to spend two days in this charming and welcoming city.With a postcard-perfect setting on the Vistula River and much of the medieval city walls still standing, Torun is the kind of place that made us just feel like wandering. We weren’t trying to size up photos for the blog or learn about the history of every building. Instead we were just soaking up the feeling of the city. And the food. Oh the food… We had some fantastic meals in Torun. From boiled pierogies to baked pierogies to giant fried pierogies – we had them all. And they were all delicious…but you will have to wait for my “Travis Eats His Way Through Europe” post coming at the end of our stay in Poland to hear more about that! Needless to say, it’s hard to beat sitting in a beautiful medieval square on a warm sunny day with a plate of pierogies and a jug of homemade lemonade.

I was also pleased upon hearing that Torun was one of the best places to try gingerbread. As gingerbread has been made in Torun since the 13th century, we figured they would have perfected it by now and thus had high expectations. We were not disappointed. Upon seeing a sign advertising fresh gingerbread , we entered a small little store on the outskirts of the old town. The man inside couldn’t have been friendlier. He invited us over to the counter and proceeded to give us maps and show us some interesting points and daily events we made not have seen or been told about. After perusing his store a little more and admiring his personal collection of ancient wooden gingerbread molds, we bought a small bag of cookies and set off again (the cookies were absolutely delicious by the way – even Calli couldn’t get enough and she doesn’t even like gingerbread!). Probably the only thing you see and hear more about in Torun is their most famous resident Nicolas Copernicus. His name and face can be found everywhere in the city (and many other places in Poland as we quickly found out), and why shouldn’t it be – he figured out that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system way back in 1543. But perhaps the best reason for visiting Torun is to see some original Polish architecture. As it was not affected very much by the war, the vast majority of the buildings are still original and look just as they would have when constructed. From the wonderful central market square complete with an amazing town hall to the large Gothic churches throughout the old town, we spent countless hours simply walking and exploring.

Logistics: Torun is a short (and cheap via PolskiBus) trip from a number of neighbouring towns (Gdansk, Warsaw, Poznan). The bus seems to be the best choice as the station is just steps from the old town, while the train station is a thirty minute walk. The city is compact and there is no public transport in the old town area – you wouldn’t need it anyways. Tourism is just starting to develop here, other than a couple touristy restaurants and a few stalls selling medieval armour and fake swords. So go now before Rick Steves mentions it again and the hordes start storming this delightful town.