Last week I shared a picture taken from a restaurant called Cafe 22, which is at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Szczecin, Poland. This week I wanted to share a photo from the street level. This is actually one of my all time favorite pictures from Szczecin as, for me, it captures the essence of walking around in the town.
Szczecin has changed hands several times in its history. At the end of World War II, the border was moved West, and Szczecin was given to Poland from Germany. As such, many of the buildings there have a German architecture look to them. However, a good majority of the city was bombed out (literally every side in the war bombed the city at some point) during the war, and the Soviets introduced communism to the country as well as brought its architecture style. So right beside a beautiful German building, you’ll have a very drab, Russian communistic looking building. It is this contrast throughout the city that really catches my eye. You never know what will be around the corner. In addition to this, the city has been going through a beautification process since communism left in 1989, so lots of these blocky / gray buildings are now being painted really vibrant colors. On one street in fact (just around the corner from this shot), it looks like every color of the rainbow has been painted on the buildings. Its very unique looking.
–Dan Thompson