I have never been to Italy, unfortunately. But last summer, I visited a small Polish town called Little Rome due to its location, architecture, and microclimate.
Of course, the comparison to the capital of sunny Italy is far-fetched, but the town I am talking about has its undeniable charm.
I'm talking about Sandomierz - a royal city located on the Vistula River, 160 km north of Krakow. The town is perfect for a pleasant weekend trip, and in fact, sometimes it experiences tourist invasion. The Polish TV series showing the adventures of a priest-detective (it is set in Sandomierz) brought him real popularity. Here's a curiosity - the series is based on the Italian production of Don Matteo - another connection with Italy!
Do you want more? Here you are. Sandomierz is situated on a plateau, whose loess soil and specific microclimate result in many vineyards in the region. When visiting them on a clear, sunny day, it is easy to believe that here we are in the south of Europe, among the fields of Tuscany.
The city is small, but it is full of monuments as well as charming corners and streets. Today I will show you some of the most-visited places by tourists that you can easily walk around in one day. I stayed in Sandomierz for a few days, and there were always many tourists on the streets. That's why sometimes I got up very early, before the opening of restaurants and souvenir stalls, to be able to appreciate the charm of this place entirely.
The old town can be proud of its original architecture with a medieval layout, with a rectangular market square in the center. The most characteristic building on the market square is the beautiful Town Hall built in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 16th century in the Renaissance style.
Town Hall on a cloudy morning...
in the middle of a sunny day
...and after dark - very romantic place!
Tiny, charming tenement houses surround the market square.
One of them (the Oleśnicki Tenement House) houses a branch of the Polish Post. I noticed that it was pigeons' favorite spot. They took wing every moment but always returned to that one roof.
Although they also liked to soak up the sun on the town hall :)
Another landmark of the city is the Opatowska Gate, built in the 14th century. It is the only preserved city gate; it used to be an element of the medieval defense system.
At the top of the gate, there is an observation deck. You can see the panorama of the city and the surrounding area from it. The landscape is entirely flat - here your eyes can rest :)
One of the favorite places for tourists is the Dominican Wicket, commonly known as "The Needle Eye." It's tough to find a moment when no one is around - people love to take pictures of themselves here. Wedding session in Sandomierz? Only at The Needle Eye!
Yes, it is a charming place - a narrow passage between tenement houses with steep stairs. It is the original wicket to the city, once part of the city walls. Legend has it that the gate sometimes closes abruptly, especially when someone with an unclean conscience passes by it.
Throughout my stay in Sandomierz, I wondered why there were always crowds of tourists in the vicinity of the market square, and it was enough to walk a few hundred meters away, and there was almost no one! And yet there were so many beautiful streets and nooks and crannies where you can stroll...
It enlightened me when, after returning home, I looked at photos - stairs everywhere! Of course! The historical Sandomierz is situated on seven hills (like Rome, remember?); so if you want to go somewhere further, you have to climb many, many stairs. Both ways :)
Fortunately, the stairs did not scare me away - I even liked them :) Besides, I felt drawn to look into the side streets, visit less popular places, and finally - to get away from the crowd for a moment. It seems to me that within six days, I managed to get to know Sandomierz much better than the average tourist - I made friends with this city. In terms of architecture and atmosphere, it is very similar to my Krakow. At the same time, it's much smaller and therefore friendlier. I felt at home there.
If you visit Warsaw or Krakow, you have a little more time and occasion - I encourage you to see Sandomierz (it's located roughly halfway between these two cities). And for those who will not have such an opportunity - I will show a few more or less known places of Sandomierz, for sure.
I'm the only author of the text and photos