Our ride today was our first in Poland, and the road conditions were far and away the most unsuited for cycling on our European trip so far. Prior to today, almost all of the roads we cycled on have had bike lanes or good shoulders. Today, few of our roads had these features, so we found ourselves on busy two-lane roads (one lane in each direction) with cars and trucks whizzing by at high speed. They all gave us good clearance, but it was unsettling nonetheless. Furthermore, when we passed through towns the road surface was often very rough cobblestones or worse.
On a broader note than just the roads, the region we traveled through today was in far worse condition than we've seen heretofore. While we noticed a significant drop in living conditions from West to East Germany, the worsening from East Germany to Poland was even greater (at least in the northeastern part of Poland, where we were today). Many, probably most, of the buildings we saw were old and very rundown.
Fortunately, our destination town of Strzelce Krajenskie is quite picturesque (though moderately rundown). It is surrounded by an intact wall from the 14th century, has an impressive church from the same time period, and has a well-kept main square in its center. Its sole restaurant, a small pizza joint, was where we had dinner.
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| Sharing the road with cars and trucks |
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| One of many building in very poor repair that we saw today |
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| Strzelce Krajenskie's main square |
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| Part of the wall around Strzelce Krajenskie |
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| The 14th century Gothic church |
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