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GÖRLIEWOOD
Manena’s
Window
Travel Anecdotes
Words and Photos: Manena Munar manena.munar@gmail.com
Those little things…” as Joan Manuel Serrat would sing, are what remain
in the memory after a journey —the ones that, when recalled, bring back
a smile, a tear, or even bursts of laughter. I would like to take a few of
them from the chest of my memories and share them with you"
Görliewood
Görliewood, they call it the
European Hollywood, for in the
palatial setting of the Saxon city
of Görlitz, renowned films have
been shot.
Goerliewood Tour
I have travelled to Germany many times, a beauti-
ful country with an extraordinary wealth of cultu-
ral and natural attractions. Yet, as happens with
everything in life, there is suddenly a person, a
work of art, a piece of music or a place that settles
in the chest of memories. For me, the city of Görlitz has
always possessed something special. Perhaps it is the
fact that its bridge over the River Neisse was chosen
as the border between Poland and Germany; perhaps
because it has more small palaces than inhabitants;
an impressive architecture —around 4,000 protected
buildings— or perhaps because others, long before
me, liked it so much that they decided to turn Görlitz (or
Zgorzelec in Polish, such a different way of naming the
same place; that is what languages do, especially when
they are so devilish…) into a vast film set.
Growing up hand in hand
with the cinema.
I, like many of my generation —I will spare you the de-
tails of which one— grew up dreaming thanks to the ci-
nema. We were explorers, missionaries, doctors, police
officers, thieves, villains and heroes in those films that
accompanied our childhood. Expressions such as “it fe-
els like a film” or “you could make a film about this” have
echoed throughout our daily lives. That is why, when I
arrived in Görlitz, seeing the trams still gliding along its
elegant streets, I turned into Kate Winslet and “drove”
the tram, eagerly awaiting the moment to meet “The
Reader”, who would teach me that life did not end on
the tracks of Görlitz, and that there was a vast world out
there. And if not, ask Jules Verne, whose Around the
World in Eighty Days became a celebrated film which,
among earlier versions, starred Jackie Chan, choosing
Görlitz’s Market Square for one of his descents from the
hot-air balloon.
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