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Tag: road trip

A road trip through Poland

Approximately one hour from Prague lies Poland. We haven’t thought about taking the route North passed Poland before, but this time we did. We felt a bit anxious, but also excited, when we decided to take this way.

It is almost 800 km to Gdansk (Northern Poland) from Prague (Czech Republic), so we picked a random town along our path and booked a room for one night. It ended up being Świebodzin and what we didn’t know was that we would be sleeping next to a giant version of Jesus the King (Poland is Catholic).

We had heard that the roads in Poland were not great so we had calculated a large margin for when we had to be in Gdansk. We thought that the roads we used were good, so traveling from South to North was no problem for us. We also used the few toll roads that Poland has and they were really easy to use. You collect a ticket when driving on to them and then pay at a booth, either with cash (złoty or Euro) or card, when you drive off the toll road.

We stopped at Toruń for lunch and we still had a good margin to when we needed to check-in for our journey over the Baltic sea, so we had time to walk around in one of Polands oldest cities.


Cirka en timme från Prag ligger Polen. Vi hade inte tänkt på att ta rutten norrut genom Polen tidigare, men den här gången gjorde vi det. Vi kände oss lite oroliga, men också förväntansfulla, när vi bestämde oss för denna väg.

Det är nästan 800 km till Gdansk (norra Polen) från Prag (Tjeckien), så vi valde en slumpmässig stad längs vår väg och bokade ett rum för en natt. Det slutade med att vi hamnade i Świebodzin och vad vi inte visste var att vi skulle sova bredvid en jätteversion av kungen Jesus (Polen är katolskt).

Vi hade hört att vägarna i Polen inte var så bra så vi hade räknat med en hel del marginal till när vi var tvungna att vara i Gdansk. Vi tyckte att vägarna vi använde var bra, så att resa från söder till norr var inget problem för oss. Vi använde oss också av de få tullvägar som Polen har och de var riktigt enkla att använda. Du tar en biljett när du kör på tullvägen och betalar sedan vid ett bås, antingen med kontanter (złoty eller Euro) eller kort, när du kör av tullvägen.

Vi stannade vid Toruń för lunch. Vi hade fortfarande en god marginal till när vi behövde checka in för vår resa över Östersjön, så vi hade tid att promenera runt i en av Polands äldsta städer.

Othilia on her way and taking her parents with her through Poland.
The last thing we did before leaving Prague was to visit Othilia’s pediatrician. Then we were on the road.
We divided our journey through Poland into two days. Othilia is great during travel, but we don’t want to push it so it is better to travel more slowly with her. Our first night in Poland we found a local pizza place with great and cheap food.
We had booked a hotel in Świebodzin and without us realizing it, we were going to sleep next to a giant Jesus statue. This is biggest Jesus statue in Europe – 33 meters high.
Day 2 in Poland and we got a tip to stop in Toruń on our way North. We happened to pass Toruń around lunch time so we decided to have lunch in this old town.
Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The first settlement has been dated back to the 8th century.
Toruń wasn’t so affected by bombings during World War II. Especially, the old town was left intact so all of the important architectural monuments are originals here.
The astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born here in Toruń and he stands as a statue next to the Toruń Cathedral.
We ate lunch and tried Polish pasties. They were really good, and cheap! Othilia got potato pancakes and Ulrika ate most of them, so delicious!
We went to Nicolaus Copernicus’s house after lunch. It is a museum, but we didn’t have time to go inside today. We had a ferry to catch and we still had 180 km to drive this day.
The journey through Poland went smooth and we arrived exactly when we wanted at the check-in in Gdansk. We tried a new ferry company, Polferries, and we slept really well on their ferry. We had crossed the Baltic sea, and soon it was time for Othilia’s first flight!

Austrian vineyards and learning to love white wine

“Are you ready for a road trip and visit Austrian vineyards?” – Sussi and Tobias asked as we showed up on their doorstep in Graz. “Of course we are!” was our reply and that’s how we ended up loving Austrian white wines.  Usually, the white wine is something Ulrika avoids, she doesn’t like it and thinks it’s to sweet, but the Austrian white wines are an exception. We had a really pleasant day exploring the area south of Graz together with Sussi and Tobias and the view from the vineyards are reason enough to visit this place. We’re so thankful that we have such awesome friends that can handle a spontaneous couple traveling around the world and who take us out on new adventures!


“Är ni redo för en road trip och besöka österrikiska vingårdar?” – frågade Sussi och Tobias när vi dök upp utanför deras dörr i Graz. “Naturligtvis!” var vårt svar och det var så vi lärde oss att älska österrikiska vita viner. Vanligtvis är vitt vin något som Ulrika undviker, hon tycker inte om det och anser att det är alldeles för sött, men de österrikiska vita vinerna är nu ett undantag. Vi hade en riktigt trevlig dag med att utforska området söder om Graz tillsammans med Sussi och Tobias och utsikten från vingårdarna är tillräckligt för att besöka denna plats. Vi är så tacksamma att vi har så fantastiska vänner som kan hantera det spontana paret som reser runt om i världen och som tar oss ut på nya äventyr!

Lovely vineyards in Austria. Ulrika was never fond of white wines, but the Austrian white wines are now an exception because of their dryness and freshness.

We went by train north to get to Graz in Austria. We’re traveling through Europe without getting on an airplane. It is so nice 🙂

Our mission was to meet up with these people, our friends Sussi and Tobias. We also got the opportunity to meet their Austrian/Swiss friend Hanna before she left for Switzerland.

Sussi and Tobias had rented a car for the weekend, so they brought us to the south of Austria, sometimes balancing on the border to Slovenia, to visit Austrian vineyards. They are everywhere, and green signs mean direction to a local business here, and you can just stop for food and local wine while enjoying the fantastic view. We have a short movie from our road trip below.

We stopped at Legat vineyard for food and wine tasting. Most vineyards are family business and Legat vineyard is no exception.

We ordered a plate with cheese and charcuteries to go with our wine. This is what the local people are doing in the weekends, walking around the vineyards and having a glass of wine and eat lunch.

Legat vineyard also had a lovely garden.

Roses are planted with each row of vines to detect if they get infested with parasites. If so, the roses will quickly die and you’ll have time to rescue the other vines from death.

Sussi inspecting the vines!

We met a kind Austrian man who gave us a left over birthday cake to feed the pigs.

We continued our journey to the next vineyard, passing a lot of sun power-loving vineyards.

Ulrika and Pontus chilling on the love bench!

Mr and mrs Assander thanks for showing us the Austrian vineyards and introducing us to excellent white wine!

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