wandering through lublin

These are the quick snaps I took while we were trying to reach some destinations that are away from the main square and promenade, which are exceptionally beautiful and call to mind the photographs of roman vishniac although i'm not sure his were taken here in Lublin and of course my pictures are nowhere near as haunting or well composed. 

Parts of Lublin reminded me of Manayunk, not architecturally, maybe it was the setting on a hill or just the feeling of being in a rural place in the middle of the city? 

This place is definitely more mysterious than the other towns we have spent time in so far. It has its own scent that follows you (me) around. Almost like a bakery smell but with unfamiliar grains and seasonings. Also people here vape like crazy and that mingles with the other aroma making the olfactory experience here for me a little overpowering for all of my other senses and consequently difficult to fully appreciate the sights and sounds. I'm probably too sensitive but I can't seem to shake this scent that clings to everything... anyways here are some pictures of Lublin:

the view from this meh apartment:

an absndoned boxen:

posted here without comment:

more abandoned boxens:

the view from a street nearby:

i know these photos seem kind of strange, i guess this is how i orient myself to a place. below is from a walk up a hill that on one side of the street has these houses and on the other is overgrown foliage and this is the part that reminds me of Manayunk but it's hard to get that sense from this photo:

i can't remember why i took this one:

a bakery we meant to get breakfast in but it only had sweet stuff. we got a couple of coffees and some pastries - a honey cake and a horn with poppy seeds inside and dried fruit on top:

this place is very 19th century. we sat upstairs in the proper cafe. 

people walking up the promenade to the old town square:

in the old town:

a typewriter is in that window:

another abandoned boxen:

there is an election coming up here and this was a candidate's rally:

we went in search of this milk bar. i'm actually glad it was closed because it was pretty grim:

a meat store sign:

a children's clothing store:

another abandoned boxen:

a theater:

we went in search of a garden labyrinth:

by way of a canal walk:

that has a lot of pedestrian bridges:

one part of the park looking towards a large conference center:

the labyrinth was completely overgrown:

so we walked back along the canal which had a large area dedicated to well tended allotment gardens with their own little houses and people were out for May Day having parties and cookouts and gardening:

we had come here earlier to this restaurant near the apartment but there were super long lines so we ended up eating somewhere else (a chain we had eaten at in Poznan). but later we thought we'd try this place again. it was just ok. i think the lines were long because they have huge portions and it's not that expensive. i had a soup and A got this bialy with cheese and a salad on top that was enormous:

It's late and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. We're taking a train to my grandparents' town. There's a new monument with all the names of the families killed in the forest which we will probably take a walk to. I might not blog tomorrow so don't be surprised if there's no post for a day or so. Sending hugs and love to you...