Last weekend on a spur of the moment trip, Drew and I decided to head to Bolesławiec, Poland for Pottery! On my last trip, I brought home pottery to cook with and we fell in love with how easy it was to clean. Since we are leaving soon, I knew it was now or never!
Friday, after work we made the 3.5 hour trip to Bolesławiec. We thought about just leaving early Friday morning, but driving 7 hours in one day was just way to much. If you're within driving distance, I'd suggest staying the night on Friday and having all Saturday to go shopping since all the shops are open on Saturday.
I convinced Drew to come with me, on the condition that he would get to eat Perogies! Our first night we ate at Opalkowa Chaata, the parking lot was empty, except for a tour bus, so of course the restaurant was full! Drew and I got an amazing bacon and cheese platter, potato periogies and a chicken and fries dish to share. It really hit the spot, and we were to head to the hotel.
We stayed at Pensjonat U Janiny, if you read my last post on pottery shopping you would know that it's where I stayed back in November on my girls trip. It's nothing fancy, but it really does have everything you need. The staff is very friendly, and Drew even commented about how homey it feels. It is about 5 minutes away from the shops which included Parking, WiFi and Breakfast. It was only $35 for the night! They even have rooms for 3 and 4 people!
After filling up on breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we headed to my favorite store, Manufaktura Outlet. It's my favorite because it is an outlet and I can't walk away from a great deal!
Here I found some cute souvenirs to bring back for friends and we even found more plates for our dinner set! I have to warn you that this place is a hit or miss sometimes. The first time we went in 2015, the rooms were full, things were 50-70% off, the last time I went the rooms were pretty empty. This time, I was lucky again and the rooms were pretty full, but not too full that I couldn't find anything. I have more luck in the 30% off room. Everyone loves a discount right?
Right next door is Henry's pottery shop. I just love the look of this shop. Especially because they have pottery just sitting outside!
I'm pretty sure the pieces outside are on the crappier end, but I just love the look! I've gotten great dishes from this place. They offer the best unique patterns, even though all the pottery tends to blend in at the end of the day. This tie around I didn't find anything I wanted, but it was still nice to check things out.
After price matching, we decided to head to Andy's. I told myself that this time we HAD to go to Andy's. I've heard such great things about Andy's, a lot of wives speak highly of the pottery from this store, but every time we've gone, it's been closed.
Andy's has come to the PX here, but the prices are ridiculous, they are almost triple what you would pay in Boleslasweic! Andy's was not what I was expecting. From what I heard about it, I expected a bigger shop, but it was tiny and the shop is in the middle of no where. It was the first shop where we ran into multiple groups of American's. I've heard horror stories about people fighting each other for pieces, so I geared up for a fight!
Luckily there was none of that. There were so many pieces I fell in love with. I know why a lot of spouses speak so highly of this place. If you're looking for unique pieces, definitely check this place out. I got my large serving platter set. When Andy's come to visit last year, I fell in love with the set and wanted one, but the prices were insane. Come to find out Andy's is the only place that makes them!
I sat with the piece for a long time, trying to figure out if it was worth spending all that money. The pieces are priced individually. After a while, I finally said screw it, it's my last time in Poland. I'm buying it. I must have said it out loud because one of the ladies next to me started giggling.
Another store we headed to was Sklep Shop. It's one of the stores next to the round-a-bout. They have a discount store on the outside.
Prices are great. I got an large serving platter. (Thanksgiving is going to be huge this year!) This store also sold Boleslawiec wine. I got some last time I was in town and gave some to a friend. They said it was really sweet. So if you're not into sweet wines. I wouldn't suggest picking it up. I like this store because all the pieces are arranged by patterns, but I noticed it was one of the more expensive stores.
The last few stores we went to, were the first row of stores you see when you're heading into town. We saved those for last. There are about 5 stores just on that strip.
I found some pretty cute pieces. We checked things out in all the stores before doing a second loop and figuring out what pieces I liked. It's a little over whelming, if you find a piece you like, take a picture of it, with the price tag, then make sure you take a picture of the store. Some places have similar pieces, others don't. The patterns are the same. But like I said, things get over whelming and everything seems to mesh.
One cool thing that happened was, when I was browsing and waiting to pay, someone who follows my blog stopped me and recognized me and said she liked and read my blog. I tend to forget that people actually read this. Haha. To have it happen in Poland, made my day! It was great to meet you, Cindy from Ansbach! :D
By 2:30pm, both Drew and I were done shopping. The trunk was full and I was tired of looking at pottery. Haha I picked up a piece for my friend (Polish Pottery makes perfect wedding gifts!) and we headed off to Kaufland (grocery store) to pick up frozen Preogies. In November I brought some home for Drew and he loved it, we decided to do it again this time. It was the perfect quick last trip to Poland. I'm really going to miss being driving distance to Boleslawiec, let's hope the movers don't break my pieces!
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