By the time I got to Zamość, it was dark. Well, not so much dark as pitch black. The bus depot was most definitely not in town, in fact it was plonked on a deserted highway with only a few streetlights and lots of shadowy, sinister trees. Not a very uplifting situation. I took comfort in the fact I had very reduced choices regarding what to do at this point - Zamość was either to the left, or to the right. The downside? I had no idea how far the town was, and I didn't particularly like the idea of trudging up the highway alone in the dark for an undetermined amount of time, only to give up and have to go back the other way. My trusty Lonely Planet was of no help, as although it featured a very detailed map of the town square, it was quite useless when trying to locate said square. After floundering for a while, I finally spotted a taxi about twenty metres away and ran like blazes to catch up to it (not that easy with my very large backpack). I reached the door, peered inside...damn! It was full of giggling post-pubescent girls seemingly on the way to a very fun party. So I was surprised when the driver (slightly older girl, probably the older sister of one of the gigglers) rolled down the window and asked me something in Polish. I assumed, from lack of contradictory evidence, that she was asking me my destination. I tried not to sound too lost and ventured "Stary Rynek?". The driver turned to the gigglers and started to say something, I am guessing along the lines of "This poor clueless tourist looks totally lost - we can't leave her here in the dark. Should we take her to the town?" which thankfully was met whith a chorus of "Tak tak tak tak!"s. She motioned for me to get in the taxi, which I did, gratefully.
The girls gabbled and giggled and generally constructed an air of pre-nightlife expectation, while we drove down to Zamość town. Finally, the taxi stopped and I asked, "Stary Rynek?" to which the driver answered, "Tak". Awesome. Extremely relieved at having arrived to civilisation without encoutering bears, serial killers, or other wildlife, I asked "Ceny?", to which the driver answered, "Nie.". No price. She flat out refused to take any money from me. I was astounded and said a million dziękujęs, and the girls smiled, giggled, and drove off into the night.
I checked into the hotel, which further increased my fluency in Polsklish, and went to find some nutrition. My hopes were not high, it was almost 22:00 so my only prerequisite for dinner was "something open". Luckily I found a medieval-type cellar serving "typical Polish food" (yeah right, but unless you get invited to a Polish grandmother's house, this is the most typical you're gonna get). I had a delicious meal and headed off to my suite (yes, after the depressing accommodations of Lublin I needed a bit of a change) for some battery recharging.
Next morning, bright and early, I was up and ready to take in what Zamość had to offer.
The girls gabbled and giggled and generally constructed an air of pre-nightlife expectation, while we drove down to Zamość town. Finally, the taxi stopped and I asked, "Stary Rynek?" to which the driver answered, "Tak". Awesome. Extremely relieved at having arrived to civilisation without encoutering bears, serial killers, or other wildlife, I asked "Ceny?", to which the driver answered, "Nie.". No price. She flat out refused to take any money from me. I was astounded and said a million dziękujęs, and the girls smiled, giggled, and drove off into the night.
I checked into the hotel, which further increased my fluency in Polsklish, and went to find some nutrition. My hopes were not high, it was almost 22:00 so my only prerequisite for dinner was "something open". Luckily I found a medieval-type cellar serving "typical Polish food" (yeah right, but unless you get invited to a Polish grandmother's house, this is the most typical you're gonna get). I had a delicious meal and headed off to my suite (yes, after the depressing accommodations of Lublin I needed a bit of a change) for some battery recharging.
Next morning, bright and early, I was up and ready to take in what Zamość had to offer.
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