Görlitz Warnings Or Dangers

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Görlitz had a lot of snow during my last visit. This made walking in the old town very tiresome and often outright dangerous. Shoveling the snow from the sidewalk seems to be an art that is totally unknown to a notable part of the city's population. Then add the many empty houses where no one is responsible for anything. Have you ever dragged a trolley suitcase over a distance of 2 kilometres on mostly uncleared sidewalks through 15 centimetres of snow? Ha.

The municipality is either too poor or too careless to do much clearing in the streets. The streets are mostly even worse than the sidewalks. This included the Christmas market. After several complaints there was finaly done something about it.

Take care in the snow. The varieties of ground you'll encounter are these:
1. Totally uncleared sidewalks. Ice underneath the snow if you are unlucky. Very uneven.
2. Cleared a long while ago, new snow has fallen since then and been walked over by many people - result: solid ice.
3. At least done something but the wrong way: salt on a thick layer of snow results in the consistence of soap. Extremely slippery and more dangerous than uncleared sidewalks.
4. Totally cleared with shovel and salt but neither sand nor gravel. Worst on those smooth granite slabs they have on many sidewalks: results in an extremely slippery surface.

The only area in the old town, and I'm not exaggerating, where I could walk safely at a relaxed pace withough watching each single step was the cemetery of St Nicolai. There the snow on the path had been smoothened with a big shovel and covered with rough gravel. Perfectly done. What a relief.

Another potential danger are Dachlawinen ("roof avalanches", snow sliding from the roofs of the houses). One got me, luckily it hit me on the shoulder and not on the head.