Lublin; Thursday, 26 July, 2018

The hotel was very busy so breakfast was a chaotic mess with people hunting for tables and food which wasn’t being relished at the same speed it was being consumed.

Eventually after getting breakfast I checked out of the hotel and took my luggage over to the central station and put it in a left luggage locker before catching the bus back round to the old town. I had a long wander round the walls of the old town, and stopped for a quick bit in the old town square before heading back to the bus stop and picking up the bus back to the central station to collect my luggage and wait for the train.

I’d timed it so I’d only have about 20 minutes to wait for the train, though as I arrived at the station that plan went out the window as the train was already 25 minutes late, and over the following 40 minutes kept creeping a little later every couple of minutes, so by the time it finally arrived on the station it was 35 minutes late.

The journey was over three hours long, and on an old Polish compartment train with only one opening window, which wouldn’t open more than a third of the way, it wasn’t a particularly comfortable journey. By the time I got to Lublin I was drenched in sweat so was quite glad to get off the very hot train into the slightly less hot, but still very hot station.

I caught the bus from the station round to my hotel to check-in. I’d been slightly worried that the hotel might not have air conditioning, or it might not be that good, but all doubts were swept away the moment the inner sliding doors parted and a blast of frosty air hit me.

After checking in I headed up to my room to confirm that the excellent air conditioning continued in there, and satisfied that it did I had a quick shower to freshen up and a change of clothes before heading out into town.

I caught the bus round the edge of the city centre to a stop right by the castle. I had a long wander around the castle area and then up through the narrow lanes into the heart of the old town, eventually finding myself in the market square.

The city was very busy as they had a festival of magic and circus performers on, so there were lots of people creating balloon animals on street corners, and from every window of the market hall tightropes had been strung that performers were walking across (albeit not that well as most ended up falling off – thankfully all with harnesses that stopped them plunging to the ground below!)

I had a wander round the square and found a restaurant in one of the corners that had seats outside, so I stopped there for dinner and to watch several people attempt to walk across the high wires and all fail.

Following dinner I had a bit more of a wander round the centre of the old town, past the cathedral and two of the main gates into the old town, before walking down the main shopping street to the large Lithuania Square at the opposite end of the street, where there were more performers, including more people with flaming juggling torches than I think I’ve ever seen. I watched for a short while before heading over to the bus stop and picking up a bus back to my lovely cool hotel room and bed.