Virtual World Trip: Polonia (#20)

Witajcie!

Just for fun, I began to do a “virtual world trip” of all the countries in the world without leaving my home. Each two weeks, I “visit” one country by looking at live cams, cooking some dishes, listening to the radio, and checking the news. I know it’s not like visiting the country in real life, but time and money are two limiting factors, and this is (sadly) the closest I will be to experiencing the country.

My first posts were about South Africa, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Saudi Arabia, England, Argentina, Armenia, ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀, Austria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, St. Kitts and Nevis, Hungary and Laos. Here we go with the twentieth country on my list: Polska.

Even though Poland has a huge border with my “adoptive” country, Germany, I never had the occasion to visit it but don’t worry, after these two weeks, I will be planning a trip.

Poland being a big country with a lot of interesting places and cities to explore, I tried to focus myself on two of them during this small period of time.

This week I will stay on the West Coast and explore the city of Szczecin! (Even though I certainly may not be able to pronounce it lol)

So here we go! Let’s have a small walk in the city centre first and check the interesting places. [Zwiedzacz](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PyH1tULeMnU&pp=ygUNU3pjemVjaW4gd2Fsaw%3D%3D) will be our guide.

While I looked at Grunwald Square, a feeling of déjà-vu settled in because this roundabout seems quite familiar. And it’s true, the city’s plan was built by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, the same guy that planned Paris.

On this roundabout you can also find the Sailor Monument (Pomnik Marynarza), which represents a sailor behind a ship’s wheel. The cute thing about it, is that each year this statue is disguised as [Santa Claus](https://super.fm/storage/app/uploads/public/272/b1a/5f8/thumb__1400_0_0_0_auto.jpg), a process that because of the height of the guy, requires 1,5 hours.

One of the culinary specialties of Szczecin is called Szczecin pasztecik, which is a kind of deep-fried dough filled with good stuff and the bar [“Pasztecik”](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Sn8sd87xmDdhxyiL7) with its Soviet machine is still producing these goodies. With a capacity of more than 600 pasztecik pro hours, it was originally made to feed the army. One place to visit if I ever go there!

Speaking of food, let’s cook. As usual I looked for a nice radio station and gathered my ingredients. In Szczecin there is a private radio station called [Radio Elita Cafe](https://radio-elitacafe.pl/) and it broadcasts mainly rock and metal. They even have their Internet page in French!

It’s a little bit cliché but I made pierogi for a start. I made them with two different stuffing: Mashed potatoes and Sauerkraut. Mine are sadly a little bit too deep-fried perhaps but they are delicious! Some Mizeria salad is served as a side dish to get some green.

I also checked out the “East of Germany” section at my local supermarket and apart from pasztet, which certainly must taste very good, I found some cute packed chocolate. Even though it doesn’t explicitly say it contains alcohol (Or perhaps in the front), the taste is quite strong but pleasant.

Next week I will continue to explore this country and have a look at the city of Rzeszów.

Feel free to share some places, recipes or even songs made in Poland. See you next week for my update post!

Bye bye!