You may walk straight past this stop without seeing it, which is fitting, because the locals have spent centuries trying to avoid stepping on it. This is the Stone of Misfortune, a small, scarred grey stone, embedded in the corner of a wall. It looks like nothing. Depending on who is telling you the story, it is either the unluckiest object in Lublin or the city's favourite running joke. Here is the legend. Centuries ago, the stone served as the base for the city executioner's wooden block. In a typical Lublin twist, the executioner one day brought down his axe so fiercely on the neck of an innocent man that the blow split the wooden block clean in two and chipped the stone underneath. From that moment, the stone was said to be cursed. Every misfortune in the surrounding streets was blamed on it. The list, as Lubliners tell it, is wonderfully detailed. A pack of dogs once licked spilled soup off the stone and dropped dead, which is why a small rise nearby is still called Psia Górka, Dog's Hill. A mason who tried to chip a piece off it was struck blind. A Russian soldier fell from the bell tower of the Orthodox cathedral on Litewski Square, which the locals attributed to the stone. In the early twentieth century, a powder magazine exploded in the area, blamed on the stone. During the Second World War, German bombs fell on this street more often than anywhere else nearby, and yes, the stone got the blame. By the time you add it all up, the small chipped stone is responsible for more local catastrophes than entire centuries of warfare. Now, look at the stone. Notice the visible chip on its surface. That, the lore says, is the original wound from the executioner's axe, which I told you about at Piwnica Kata. What you do at this point is up to you. The Lublin tradition is straightforward. Do not touch the stone. Do not stand on it. Do not lean against it for a photograph. People do all three of these things every day. A few of them might be unlucky later, and they will absolutely blame the stone. For my part, I would just walk past it carefully and admire it from a respectful distance. When you are ready, follow the map to a great Gothic gate that marks the entrance to the Old Town.