Krakow is vibrant, beautiful, exciting, relaxed but I was in a rush!
Town Square.
It’s been a long time between drinks, but after my first visit all the way back in June, (thanks, Schengen) I have returned to Poland to see the beautiful and highly recommended Krakow (pronounced Krak-ov). This place has the largest town square in Europe, a fun party scene, history and lovely people.
He’s everywhere!
On the way from Moravia into Poland, we stopped at infamous Nazi death camps Auchwitz and Birkenau for a tour with an employee of the museum that exists on the site. I don’t quite now how to discuss what I saw on this day. I spent most of the day near tears, walking silently and reflecting on what happened there. It is horrifying and upsetting, but strangely necessary. The day started by walking under the infamous and cruel sign over the gates ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’. Here I was already nervous about what was ahead, but I was perplexed by the people getting photos under the sign, smiling and pointing upwards. The say you would under the Eiffel Tower or another iconic tourist attraction. I had an overwhelming urge to go and yell at them, but decided against it. Maybe I am getting soft in my old age. I just found it so disrespectful. Auschwitz is a cemetery. Many of the barracks are now exhibits of the museum covering the processes the Nazis used from discrimination to liquidation of the ghettos and the so-called ‘final solution’. Walking through the rooms a lot of the personal items of the victims of the camp were on display in glass cases. Piles of suitcases, glasses, shoes and even human hair, to the roof. This was so overwhelming. It gave the statistics a face; a person owned those shoes, wore those glasses and even wrote their names on their suitcases in the hopes of having their belongings returned to them. That made the impact that much stronger. As the tour continued we walked through places I had read about in books like Elie Weisel’s ‘Night’ or Livinia Bitton-Jackson’s ‘Elli’, like the gallows, the prisons and the crematorium. I feel like my writing can’t really convey the emotions here. I’ll just say I had goosebumps and hope you understand. Auschwitz was actually in 3 parts, I was able to see two of them on this day. One, called Auschwitz I, was the concentration camp built in old Polish army barracks. The other was the Auschwitz II–Birkenau which was both a combination concentration and extermination camp. Much of Birkenau was destroyed by fleeing Nazis at the time of liberation, so much of it lies in ruin. The sheer vastness of the space is overwhelming, as is the methodical way the genocide happened. Going here was upsetting, but I think it was necessary and worthwhile to keep the memories of these people and the horrible things that happen here alive. I know it is a cliché, but we cannot forget our past, no matter how horrifying. Going here and continuing to learn about what happened is important, so hopefully there are less people taking selfies and acting disrespectfully in the future.
The railway into Auschwitz-Birkenau.
From an emotionally draining day, I arrived in lovely Krakow to explore and see the most talked about city in Poland. Krakow came highly recommended to me by several travellers whose opinions I trust, so I was looking forward to arriving. The town square was enormous and grand. It was gorgeous! Around the outside the giant tower, pretty pastel buildings, the huge ‘cloth market’ in the middle of the square and the Gothic masterpiece St Mary’s church. Every day at around midday, I bugle player performs from the tower of the church, re-enacting the death of one of his predecessors who was playing his bugle before he was shot with an arrow through the throat by some pesky Mongols. These days, the player goes to each window, plays his tune, stops suddenly and then waves to his adoring fans (like me) below the tower.
St. Mary’s
I didn’t have as much time in Krakow as I would like. It is an exciting city and unfortunately I felt like I missed out on a few things because I was rushing. Luckily I was able to get a handle on the city quite quickly on its trams which took me from one side of the city to the other. I began my first full day by visiting Oskar Schindler’s factory, to learn more about the Nazi party member who saved the lives of 1,200 Jewish factory workers. The factory has been turned into a museum, so now people can go to learn about Schindler, but mostly about how the lives of the Polish people were effected by Nazi occupation. Surprisingly, I have new seen to Spielberg film that gave Schindler his fame in the 90s, but I didn’t learn to much about him that I didn’t already know. The museum lures you in with pictures of the people saved by Schindler and the actor chosen to portray him, Liam Neeson, on its walls, but the place itself has little to do with Schindler besides residing in his factory at number 4 Lipowa street and showing a film with eye-witness accounts of working in the factory. That being said, it didn’t really matter because the museum itself is a very interesting place. The exhibitions are interactive and use lights, multimedia, sound and text to explain information. Much like its distant cousin the uprising museum in Warsaw, the place is filled with information and intricate detail. From this I can only conclude Poland knows how to museum!
The faces of the list.
One of the main draws of the town, besides its beautiful sqaure, is Wawel castle. Built in the 1300s and sitting on fortifications on top of a hill in the middle of town, it has great views of the city and has lovely gardens. The buildings of the castle are a strange mish-mash and look like they have been taken from independent buildings and just chucked together. I also hit the Jewish quarter with its grungy buildings, graffiti and delicious food.
Wawel Castle.
Speaking of food. I love Polish food. It is hearty, warm and delicious. I had too many delicious meals here to discuss, but the stand out was when I found a little hole in the wall that specialised in perogies, cheese and potato-filled dumplings that are wonderful, I enjoyed a beetroot soup on the side (or bascht as the locals call it) and washed it down with a cinnamon cydr. Heaven. The perfect thing for dealing with yet another pub crawl.
I also got out of the city, The Wieliczka Salt Mine sits in just outside Krakow’s metro area, but are about 30 minutes from the city. The mines have been open since the 13th century and only closed 7 years ago to become a full-time tourist attraction. We went around with a hilarious guide. A man in his 70s, with a dead-pan voice, some excellent turns of phrase and just the right amount of sarcasm. He was awesome. The salt mines were quite an experience. At one stage we were over 1000 meters down, but what we found was chapels, ballrooms, light shows, of course, gift shops. It was quite surreal. There was a replica of the last supper, carved into the salt, floor tiles and even statues of Poland’s number 1 favourite person, Pope John Paul II created from the salt in the mine. It was strange, kitsch and I’m really glad I did it.
JP II, salt edition.
I got a nice overview of Krakow on my visit, but I feel there is much more to the city that I got to see in my short time there. Looks like I’ll have to go back.
Ali's adventure 