A Brief Stop Over In Poznan: Poland

On Our Way to Warsaw we stopped for a while in this beautiful town called Poznan

                                                          A nice sunny day, everyone having a good time, eating, drinking or shopping. Crowds slowly gathering near the clock

                             The window opens as the bell starts ringing

Two goats come out, Two men appear with trumpets near the tower and start playing some music

               

Two angry goats ram each other's head for about 12 times, and go back and as the window closes the two men again appear near the tower and play the trumpet. And that is the end.

Locals too were there with their kids, the little school children all look up in amazement as the men play the trumpets near the tower and the goats emerge through the small window. 

As with all other places this place too was bombed and they have been rebuilt to look the same as they were before the bombing

Ice cream or Lody (Polish) is very popular in Poland

A beautiful boutique selling wedding gowns

     

Our first stop in Poland was: Poznan
We were in the Old Market.
The biggest attraction of the Old Market is the Town Hall. This excellent example of Renaissance architecture was raised between 1550-60 on the site of a previous Gothic style house belonging to one of the city's high officials in the XIII century (the foundations can be seen in the basement).
The principal architect of the new Town Hall was Jan Baptist Quadro.
The Town Hall has not always stood proud as it does today. The Swedish invasion of Poland destroyed it and it had to be rebuilt in 1782-84 as one of the tasks of the Commission of New Order.
WWII damaged the building to a large extent. Today the Town Hall stands rebuilt and renovated (a few years ago), once again a splendid example of Renaissance architecture for all to admire.
A point of attraction of the central tower is the clock, to be precise the strange mechanism that opens up every day at noon presenting two goats who butt each other for a minute or two then retire into the clock for another day.
We arrived here about 15 minutes before 12, to witness this event.There were tourists as well as the locals: everyone, enjoying their lunch and drinks at the local restaurants, waiting for the clock to strike 12. There were school children too with their teachers all soaking up the warm sun, on a bright yet chilly day. We just had stop over there for maybe 1 and a half hour.

The creator of the clock and the mechanism was Bartlomiej Wolff who constructed it in 1551 by order of city council. With the clock and the goats comes a legend of the city...One evening in 1551 the clock master Bartlomiej Wollf finally decided to present the city council and the citizens of Poznan with his new work of art - the commissioned tower clock. For the special opening ceremony all the nobles were invited as well as the city fathers and citizens. Unfortunately the meat that was being cooked in the kitchen for the ceremonial supper fell into the fire and was burnt completely!
The assistant chef was told to find new meat immediately as the supper was just about to begin. But it was late and all the butchers were closed and there was no
place in the whole of Old Poznan to buy any meat.
Disaster loomed for all the kitchen staff, then at the last moment the young assistant saw two goats frolicking around in a green pasture nearby. He grabbed them and ran to the kitchen.
The goats understood what was happening and did not wanted to end up in the pot so they ran from the kitchen, climbed the stairs and jumped out of a window right onto the building work on the Town Hall and to the high clock tower.
When the Voivode (Warlord) saw his dinner on the top of the tower prancing about and generally feeling pleased with themselves he began to laugh, and so did the nobles around him along with the townsfolk and city fathers.
The chef was relieved that everything had turned well and everyone was in a good humour. The lack of meat at the feast was overlooked and the Voivode ordered a mechanism built to remind everyone of the funny event.
And today the 12 o'clock opening of the clock tower and the two goats always draws a crowd.
From here we proceed to Warsaw. We stopped here as it was on our way and we were in time to watch this show. Timing is perfect, as far as these tours are concerned. One must also admire the punctuality of the people who travel with these tours.

Watch this video here or in Youtube.

I hope you enjoyed the short trip with me to Poznan.