Friday, September 22, 2017

艁w贸w Day 1




OK. so the weather has not been good since we've been here. Cloudy all day with occasional rains but no reason to stay inside. We started this morning with breakfast in a Greek restaurant and went to meet our guide, Andrew, for the tour of the Opera house. He was right on time and did a great job telling us the history of the place and a few stories you wouldn't normally read about in books. @h3n it was over we walked the Latin Cathedral for our first visit there. It's construction was begun in the 14th century.

We left the cathedral and walked the Boim Chapel where we just happened to run into our Opera guide. He stopped for a moment and told us thee history of the chapel and said we had to go inside. Entrance fee was 4 zl. It's a celebrated and ornate monument of the late Renaissance period. There is no similar structure anywhere else in the world. It was built by Jerzy Boim, a wealthy Hungarian merchant in 1609. He and his wife are buried there

From there we visited the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul. Then on to the Armenian Church from the 14t century. The walls are at least one and half meters thick. The inside if the church takes your breath away with it's stone carvings of crosses, unique frescoes on the walls and 20th century modern style paintings. There is still much restoration going on.

By tht time the rain was fair frequent so we decided to have lunch and do some people watching under the awning of the restaurant. It gave me a chance to take some people pictures. There was an older lady in front of the old Armenian church begging ad I gave her 5 zl. It turns out she was Polish and we had a nice little conversation. I took a picture of her and Joan.

OK. wi臋c pogoda nie jest dobra odk膮d tu przyjechali艣my. Pochmurnie ca艂y dzie艅 z przelotnymi opadami, ale nie ma powodu, aby pozosta膰 w hotelu. Rano zacz臋li艣my od 艣niadania w greckiej restauracji i poszli艣my na spotkanie z naszym przewodnikiem Andrew i zwiedzanie Opery. By艂 punktualny i 艣wietnie opowiada艂 histori臋 tego miejsca i przekaza艂 kilka innych opowie艣ci, kt贸rych normalnie nie przeczyta艂by艣 w ksi膮偶kach. Po czym poszli艣my do  艂aci艅skiej katedry na nasz膮 pierwsz膮 wizyt臋. Jej budowa rozpocz臋艂a si臋 w XIV wieku.

Kiedy wyszli艣my z katedry, poszli艣my do Kaplicy Boim, do naszego przewodnika po Operze. Zatrzyma艂 si臋 na chwil臋 i opowiedzia艂 nam histori臋 kaplicy i powiedzia艂, 偶e musimy wej艣膰 do 艣rodka. Op艂ata za wst臋p wynosi艂a 4 z艂. To s艂ynny i ozdobny zabytek z p贸藕nego okresu renesansu. Nie ma podobnej konstrukcji  gdziekolwiek indziej na 艣wiecie. Zosta艂a ona zbudowana przez Jerzego Boim, bogatego w臋gierskiego kupca w 1609 roku. Zosta艂 tam pogrzebany wraz z 偶on膮.

Stamt膮d poszli艣my odwiedzi膰 ko艣ci贸艂 rzymskokatolicki 艣w. Piotra i Paw艂a. Nast臋pnie do ko艣cio艂a ormia艅skiego z 14 wieku. 艢ciany maj膮 grubo艣膰 co najmniej p贸艂tora metra. Wn臋trze zapiera dech w piersiach z powodu  kamiennych rze藕b krzy偶y, niepowtarzalnych fresk贸w na 艣cianach i malowide艂 z lat 20. XX wieku. Nadal pozostaje wiele do renowacji.

Przez ten czas deszcz by艂 ca艂kiem spory wi臋c zdecydowali艣my si臋 na lunch i przygl膮danie si臋 niekt贸rym ludziom  pod markiz膮 restauracji. Da艂o mi to szans臋 zrobi膰 im zdj臋cia. Pod starym ormia艅skim ko艣cio艂em by艂a starsza 偶ebrz膮ca pani, kt贸rej da艂em  5 z艂. Okaza艂o si臋, 偶e by艂a Polk膮 i mieli艣my mi艂膮, ma艂膮 rozmow膮. Zrobi艂em jej zdj臋cie wraz z Joan.