Art Travelling. Torun: from Astronomy to Gastronomy

Torun: from Astronomy to Gastronomy

Why is Poland off the tourism radar?

I have been visiting Poland regularly for decades now, and while I do enjoy the relative lack of tourist crush, I do sometimes wonder why it is that the country is a little bit off the tourism radar. I don’t mean that nobody visits; of course they do. ‘Cheeky weekend’ city breaks to Krakow have been advertised for years, usually mentioning the price of beer (low). And the lakes and castles of western Poland see a fair share of visitors, as do the Baltic beaches. But what’s not so well-known is that Poland is an incredible place to be an Art Traveller.

My most recent trip was to Toruń, in the north of Poland, in November. I went for the annual Camerimage film festival but to be perfectly honest, going to Toruń was well worth the trip in itself. While the city in November was very hygge — lots of coffee, gingerbread and cozy nooks on offer — I’m looking forward to going back in summer to enjoy the beautiful streets and the magnificent Vistula river walk.

So what is there to do in this magnificent, mediaeval UNESCO world-heritage city? Plenty. And everything is within walking distance. It’s the birthplace of astronomer Nicolas Copernicus (1473–1543), so you can visit his monument and his house — and all the…