Poland

We spent time in Poland on the way up to the Baltics and on the way back again. There are not a lot of very touristy sights and the countryside is rather monotonous farmland. There are not many highways and the driving is slow. In the north we liked the city of Torun and the Marusian Lake District.
Coming back, we visited the Bialowieza National Park, which is an Unesco site, but nothing like what we are used to in Africa. We did see a few endangered Bison and Lynx in zoo-like enclosures, though. The forests are fantastic for cycling and walking.
I had my birthday in Warsaw, which is a great, vibey city which seems more of a place to live than a place to visit as a tourist. We celebrated Neil's birthday in Crakow, which is far more touristy and was not badly bombed in the war. The Old Town has a wonderful atmosphere day and night, with loads of restaurants, bars and live music.
We toured the famous Wieliczka salt mine, which has a whole church carved out of salt in an underground cavern and we visited Auschwitz.
Polish food was good; lots of stews and interesting soups.Drink beer rather than wine.
There are still lots of reminders,architecturally and otherwise, of the Communist era, but all over Eastern Europe, as in Poland, things forge forward at a rapid rate, towards a very uniform Europe of the 21st Century.