Warsaw to Bialystok

Tuesday, September 18
 
This morning, Tom picked up our nine-passenger van at the airport, Jamie arrived at our airport hotel, and we were off to Bialystok in northeast Poland.  This will be our base for four nights as we explore the area that was home to Tom’s maternal ancestors.

Vicki had arranged in advance for a guide to accompany us on a tour of central Bialystok, which was easily walked in three hours this afternoon.  Anna added greatly to our appreciation of the history and culture of Bialystok and the surrounding region and we learned a great deal from her.  

Bialystok was 80% destroyed during World War II in successive waves of German and Russian occupiers, so almost everything we saw was either reconstructed or dates from the 1950s. The original central square, named for Tadeusz Kosciuszko, hero of the American Revolution, is actually a triangular sp ace.  The pavement of the plaza is inlaid with tiles outlining the original location of Jewish-owned shops.  They fronted the original market hall, known as the City Hall, though it actually houses a restaurant and a museum.  The square is lined with restaurants and cafes, most featuring an outdoor area shaded by cream-colored market umbrellas with very discreet signage.  This is an element of a (successful) effort by city fathers to maintain a tidy and orderly urban environment.  

Near the square is the birthplace of Ludwik Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, the international “auxiliary” language.  As a young man in the second half of the 19^th century, Zamenhof witnessed disagreements and conflicts among the many ethnic factions of Bialystok’s population.  He felt that a common language would help reduce discord and prejudice; after several attempts, he devised he settled on a simplified vocabulary and grammatical structure that he hoped would help achieve those ends.  Though Esperanto never reached universal acceptance, it was once a required subject in Polish schools and it remains the world’s most widely used “constructed” language.

The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, a brick neo-Gothic church was built at the turn of the 20^th century when the population outgrew the city’s original early 17^th century church.  Under Tsarist rule, no new Catholic churches could be built in Poland, so after decades of repeated petitions for a new church had been denied, permission was finally given to build an “annex” to the original church.  At ten times the size of the Renaissance-era church, the soaring brick annex dwarfs the small, whitewashed original to which it’s appended!




Our final stop was the Branicki Palace, known in the 18^th century as the Versailles of Poland. Built by a nobleman with political aspirations, only its shell escaped destruction during World War II; its restoration was a project of national pride.  The palace itself now housed the administrative offices of a medical university, but some areas retain the aura of grandeur it once presented.  The lovely French gardens have been meticulously re-created and the main gate of the palace complex is original.  Tom, Jamie and I climbed up into the tower to see the original Swiss clockworks, the oldest working example in Poland.  It was fascinating!

Tom and I checked into our apartment – after Tom somehow maneuvered our large van into a tight parking space – and enjoyed happy hour on our own before reuniting with the rest of the family at a restaurant on Kosciusko Square.  On this mild evening, we were delighted to dine alfresco and enjoy the passing scent.  Anna had recommended the restaurant as the only place that offered dishes representative of the four main cultures of Bialystock – Russian, Tatar, Jewish and Polish and among us we had a great sampling of the offerings.  It was a fine way to end a lovely day.