Berlin to Odessa Day 3: Głogów

Yesterday we left Zielona Gora and our wonderful hosts Jackyc and his wife, Mila after a fantastic breakfast. Jackyc, the intrepid cyclist, gave us a small tour of Zielona Gora. He showed us the place he used to live as a kid (and how he climbed trees in the yard and jumped wrecklessly across the rooftops and over alleys in the city a la parcour, but in the 1960s).

Our hosts Jackyc and Mila in front of their apartment building

He showed us some of the ancient city ruins as well as the site of the old city wall and several tributes to Bacchus (or Dionysus), the Greek god of wine, and patron of Zielona Gora.

Graham in front of Bacchus, who has grapes and doves as hair (Graham's are covered by the helmet)

 Jackyc even rode with us to the rural road that brought us straight to our next destination: Glogow.

Glogow (pronounced Gwo-goff) which is only a slight detour from our route, but we had an offer from a very enthusiastic host that we couldn't possibly turn down.


Upon arrival, Krzystof (our host) took us on a complete walking tour around Glogow, starting from his elementary school to the high school where he teaches Polish history, philosophy, and German. He has been here almost his entire life and has an intense interest and profound knowledge in all things Glogow and how it has changed during and well before his lifetime. But the first stops, naturally, had to be sports related. So we snuck through the turnstyles into the soccer stadium where, while empty, we could feel the previous fervor of fans who pack the stadium to see rep their third league team, Glogow Chobry.

The Chrobry stadium - the team is a huge part of the spirit of the town and decorations are everywhere

He took us around the immense sports complex, complete with clay tennis courts, swimming pools, etc. It was importat to note that the pride in this complex comes from the fact that it took 20 years to complete. And now it is exceedingly popular.
Next he took us around the old city which has a mix of very nice refurbished buildings such as the town hall, as well as some other buildings that are still destroyed from various wars (literally right next to each other).

We walked over the Oder (which apparently has followed us all the way from Frankfurt) on a large pink bridge dedicated to gay rights. Directly on the other side of the bridge is the central Catholic cathedral (good order) where Krzystof explained some of the old history of Glogow. In 1109 there was an invasion by the Germans who threatened to siege the city of the villagers did not give up their children as workers. So the Glogow villagers strapped the children to the ramparts surrounding the city, defying the Germans to siege them and destroy their own workers that they were threatening to take. The Germans called their bluff and, unfortunately, all of the children were killed (between 20 and 30), but in return they left the town alone.

Krzystof showing us the history of the children of 1109 in Glogow depicted on a door on the church

If all of this wasn't enough (as it was close to 11pm) we went across from the church to a physiotherapy spa retreat. Everything was locked and dark but he insisted that the inside was pretty cool. So we kind of hung around outside this wellness retreat for a couple minutes until a security guard opened the door and asked "Umm...what are you doing here?" To which he and Krzystof starting chatting in Polish. Shortly thereafter, the security guard let us in, but reminded us to whisper because, well, all of the patients are in their rooms sleeping.
So, of course, what better time to give a tour of the facilities? He showed us a monument to the center's founders, the conference room, the chapel (basically a church inside this building, from which the cathedral across the way could be seen through the picture windows), and into the gardens onto which all of the guest rooms have terraces. He even stopped to sell us some postcards from the front desk.

Afterwards, we went back home ad were treated to an excellent Polish meal of Zapiekaka Warzywna - sort of a potato/zucchini/tomato casserole topped with cheese, followed by a decadently sweet peach cheesecake. Although our host was flabbergasted by the fact that we were eating around midnight, there is no way we could have passed up such an incredible meal after a day of biking and a rich tour of the city.

Now, we have had to say our goodbyes yet again, and we are off to the next city, Lubin!

Our Host, Krzystof giving us a send-off breakfast this morning with unique spiced Glogow sausages, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, and fresh rolls