The breakfast buffet was excellent. In addition to all of the usual breakfast buffet offerings, there were local specialities on offer, which Geoff decided to try. He enjoyed his pancake with a plum sauce...

Wroclaw (pronounced VROTS-wah) has an incredibly complicated history. Our guide summarised it for us, but it was only after we got home and did some research for ourselves that we really began to understand it all, summarised as follows:-

10th century: It began as a Slavic settlement and became part of the early Polish state under the Piast dynasty.
Middle Ages: The city prospered as a trading centre and later came under the rule of the Kingdom of Bohemia.
1526: Control passed to the Habsburg Monarchy when the Bohemian crown was inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs.
1741: Following the First Silesian War, it became part of Prussia and was known by its German name, Breslau.
1871–1945: Breslau was a major city in the German Empire and later Germany. During the Second World War it was declared a fortress, leading to a prolonged siege in 1945 that left much of the city destroyed.
After 1945: Under the post-war Potsdam Agreement, the city became part of Poland again and was renamed Wroclaw. Most of the German population was expelled or fled, and the city was repopulated mainly by Poles, many of whom had themselves been displaced from eastern territories annexed by the Soviet Union.
Today: Wroclaw has been painstakingly rebuilt and is now Poland's third-largest city. It is renowned for its colourful Market Square, numerous bridges and islands on the Oder River, thriving university, and vibrant cultural life. In 2016 it was named the European Capital of Culture.

Wroclaw's history is unusual because it has been ruled by Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, Germany, and Poland again, leaving a rich architectural and cultural heritage that reflects all of these influences.

After driving for around twenty minutes, we arrived at our first destination...

Afterwards, we drove back towards our hotel. The coach dropped us off before we got there and the rest of the tour was done on foot. We had arrived at what was formerly an island, Ostrów Tumski, or Cathedral Island, is the oldest part of Wroclaw, dating from the 10th century.

We walked past the Church of St. Martin.