Easter Celebrations Approaching!

The most important holiday in Poland is Easter, when city-bound Poles return home to spend the long weekend with their family. While Easter is absolutely the worst time to head to Wroclaw looking for a party, there's still plenty to do in the city and you'll certainly go away with a deeper understanding of the culture of Poland.

Of course, the best thing to do on this weekend is to team up with a Polish friend and hope they'll invite you over to their mum's for an Easter Sunday meal. Failing that, look for restaurants serving Polish easter classics - żurek (sour rye) soup, eggs in all styles (especially devilled!), cold cuts of ham and sausage, and of course cakes, cakes, and more cakes!

Easter is also a great time to see Wroclaw's churches come to life - or not. Until Easter Sunday, Catholics mourn the death of Jesus, so visiting a church on Friday or even Saturday can be a quite sombre and serious experience. Sunday is a full-turnaround however. Not to spoil the surprise, but Jesus does return and so do the smiles, music, and celebration!

Easter Monday is less of a religious affair and more of a time to simply relax and have fun. Today is "Lany Poniedzalek" (Wet Monday) also known as Smingus Dyngus, where kids of all ages take delight in completely soaking family members, and unfortunately, strangers as well. If you are walking through town really try to avoid standing beneath balconies - seriously! One can only hope the offending pranksters are at street level where wet revenge is an option!

Unfortunately however, most museums will be closed for the weekend, including the National Museum which is closed from 2-5 April. Most restaurants and bars will be closed on Sunday April 4, but the other days are all usually fair game (but don't expect there to be crowds at the clubs on any of those days). Even if you are considering stocking up and cooking in your apartment, don't forget that the vast majority of shops (one might even say all shops) will be closed for the entire weekend. Make sure to stock up early, or you'll be stuck in tourist-filled restaurants!

One more thing, make sure to stop by Plac Solny until Friday April 2 when an Ecology Fair will be taking place under an Easter theme.