Sandomierz

Sandomierz - the city which became famous thanks to the TV series Father Matthew. Kris likes the show and was very curious about traveling to the place where it was filmed. He also had a quiet hope of coming across a film crew during the visit and seeing the action live.

Some people even joke that Sandomierz is the crime capital of Poland - in every episode, various crimes happen here, which the show's priest helps to solve. In fact, this is a quiet town with a rich history.

Our walk through Sandomierz started from Żeromskiego Street where we were able to park outside the paid parking zone. Walking towards the Old Town, we went through the Gothic Opatowska Gate, built in the fourteenth century, which is part of the city walls. The tower can be accessed. Admission is ticketed. On the first floor, we found the ticket office, and on the upper floors, an exhibition of photographs from the Father Matthew series. On the roof of the tower gate, there is an observation deck, which offers a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.

Opatowska Gate has a height of 33 m. In the TV series, we can often see Father Matthew riding his bicycle through this gate.

After a visit to the gate we went further south, down Opatowska Street. After a while we got to the Market Square. Another place known from the TV show. The children were looking for buildings they recognized from the TV screen. We visited the Tourist Information Centre, where we managed to get an information leaflet about the sites used in the production of the film. We found out that the buildings actually have different purposes than in the movie (e.g. the tax office is presented as a police station in the show). Not all the scenes are shot in this city, because even the show's church is actually a church in Glinianka near Otwock and the rectory is located in Warsaw. However, there are a lot of scenes filmed in Sandomierz. In the city we've found some references to the series - you'll find, for example, accommodation at the House of Father Matthew (though apart from the name, there is no actual reference to the series), we found souvenirs and postcards with images of the actors.

During the walk we visited the “Needle’s Eye”, which is the old Dominican gate. It is the only wicket gate in the ramparts preserved in Sandomierz. Through the gate, Dominican brothers traveled between monasteries. One of these monasteries was in the middle of the city, and the other beyond its borders.

Under the Old Town is a network of underground tunnels (interconnected basements). There's also a well-organized tourist route. The walking tour of the underground is available only with a guide, is paid, and entry is at certain times.

The underground under Sandomierz was created for a simple reason - the city was surrounded by walls, and residents had no other option for building warehouses due to lack of space on the surface. Just as in Chelm, cellars were built by residents without any major plans and existed under buildings, squares, streets, and their depth reached up to 15 meters. According to legend, the tunnels under Sandomierz were used during the third Tatar invasion of the city (in the year 1287). At that time, Halina Krępianka decided to sacrifice her life by luring the enemy into the underground corridors and defending the city this way. When the enemy army, lured by Halina, tried to get through the tunnels to the city center avoiding the walls, the residents of the city blocked the entrance with stones and the enemy was defeated. Halina reportedly spoke the words “Wicked enemy, did you think I would betray my hometown? I am dying for this city in these dungeons!”

Over the years, the underground began to pose a threat to the existing surface buildings and streets. In the 1960s, thorough work was carried out to secure the loess cellars and seal the dangerous sections. But part of the cellars was left to create an attractive tourist route, 470 m long and up to 12 m deep. The underground tour begins at Oleśnicka Street and finishes in the cellars of the Town Hall. It's worth taking this underground walk.

Fun fact: the route was opened to visitors in 1977. It was created during the work that saved the Old Town from collapsing. In December 2007, it was extended with the renovated cellars under the Oleśnicki House.

We liked Sandomierz. The only downside was a traffic jam when we were leaving the city. There is a weekly market that attracts traders from all over the area. At the market, you can buy everything cheaper than in stores, and it is a very popular form of exchange of goods. Unfortunately, the road infrastructure is not prepared for this.

Near the route in the city, we found Browarny campsite. This can be an interesting place to stop for the night if you don’t mind the noise from the road located right next to that place.

Near Sandomierz, or rather near Tarnobrzeg, we found an interesting tourist destination. It is an artificial lake created by the flooding of an open-pit sulfur mine. The open-pit mine, with a depth of up to 110 m, was flooded with water from the Vistula river. The mine, closed in 1994, was prepared for flooding by reinforcing the edges. This took 15 years, and the pit was finally filled with water in 2009. Tarnobrzeg gained a water reservoir, which has a beach and is commonly used for water sports. The surface of the lake is 455 ha, and depth reaches up to 42 meters. Bike paths have been built around it. It's beautiful there.