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Published: October 2nd 2013
DAY 1:
I flew to Gatwick on the Thursday morning for our long weekend away, I got the red eye and made my way to central London. I met Gracie in Waterloo Train Station where we sat and had a catch up for a few hours until our train to London Luton. We boarded the train to London Luton and it was very easy to get there. But we still had a few hours to kill. So we decided to change our currency. In Poland they use the Polish Zloty which we knew nothing about. I had excepted to exchange £300 to Zlotyz, however we were advised otherwise and both took out £100 which was 500 Zlotyz. We then boarded our flight about about 5pm and were on our way. Both of us had taken hand luggage only and as we were about to queue to board, we realised we only had one boarding card between us. So surprisingly Grace blamed it on me and I went running around Luton airport to find the boarding card but with no luck! We were very scared in the queue and I thought I wasn't going to be able to go. However, when we
got to the front, we explained our position and it turned out that it was Grace's boarding card that was missing! She tried to frame me! But it was fine as they let us both on. Our flight was about three hours and we arrived Krakow at around 9pm there time. We didn't really know what we were doing when we arrived as we didn't understand or recognise any Polish! We had read that a bus was a good way of getting to the city center, so we walked outside and headed for the bus stop. The bus came after about thirty minutes waiting and it was very dark and cold, but the fir trees surrounding us were very pretty and festive. We didn't have a clue where to get off the bus or what 'city center' was in Polish, so we got off after about 40 minutes to somewhere industrial. It was however, a car park! The payment system on the bus was very strange as well and you had to put in your Zloytz to pay for a ticket so we were in two minds about paying as there was no one checking and the driver didn't care.
Anyway, we got off at the car park and realised we weren't close to the city center so decided to hail down a taxi with two other tourists who had followed us off the bus at the wrong stop. We told our taxi driver we were headed for 'Mamas Hostel' and he drove us there, it was very scary in the taxi as it was very dark and his car very old and battered! He dropped us at our 'hostel' which just happened to be an old covered passageway. It was around ten o'clock and we had no idea where we were going and we could not speak Polish and we could see no sign to Mamas! We walked all the way to the back of the passageway but there was no hostel to be seen, just small pubs and a club! We kept walking and ended up down into a kitchen, where a sweaty Polish chef popped he head round the corner and started shouting at us. We were both so scared, ran out and back down the passage. On our way back to the passage entrance, we saw a 'Mamas Hostel' sign! We were so happy and ran
out the eight flights to stairs to our hostel. We were shattered. We checked in and were given an eight person dorm, shared with a mixture of boys and girls, majority australians. We decided to check out the city center as we were so close and were evry excited to be there. We walked out of the hostel, after dumping our cases and walked into the beautiful square. It was stunning and so pretty at night! (Picture 1 and 2) We walked all around and were impressed by its beauty. We then walked down to a greasy kebab shop and each bought a kebab for dinner and headed home.
DAY 2:
We were keen and eager to get up and see the beautiful city this morning, so it was an early start. We had breakfast at the hostel, which including ham and cheese and numerous kinds of bread, a very European breakfast! We decided to make our way around the square in the morning and then do a bike ride in the evening. It was very pretty. (Picture 3 and 4) And we particularly liked the beautiful church which sung every hour (Picture 5) It was a very lively
and lots going on, a little market selling lots of rubbish, including these blue pots (Picture 6) which we used to make at primary school and even a little puppet show, with puppets dancing to Michael Jackson and Celine Dion. We even met a lifesize Kinder Egg! (Picture 7) We met our tour guide at the main fountain at 12pm and he was a Canadian guy whos Polish parents had left Poland during the war. He showed us all the extras of the square I had not seen before and it was exactly how I imagined Eastern Europe to look like! (Picture 8 and 9) Exactly like a fairy tale town. We picked up our bikes and they were lovely and very easy to ride, but Grace wasn't so keen! (Picture 10) There was only Grace and I on the tour so we could cycle at our own pace and leisure which was cool. We first saw some statues explaining the history of Poland and it's monarchs it was very impressive and embraced lots of chivalry. And then we went to the University of Krakow which was very beautiful. And had singing scholars who came out every hour to sing
for us, we even made a wish in the wishing well (Picture 11 and 12) Our next stop was the Jewish Quarter which was very pretty, but extremely quiet compared to central Krakow. There was a very pretty synagog, (Picture 13) and unfortunetly you could clearly see the marks left by the Nazis in this period. This was the area in the Second World War where the Nazis had rounded up Jews and put them in this tiny ghetto and then sealed the area by building a wall around the outside. Nothing came in and no one came out, unless taken to concentration camps, so it was a breeding ground for disease and death. The next place we saw was a square, (Picture 14) which lots of metal chairs left dotted around. It was where the Germans had rounded people from the ghetto, to be taken to camps. Of course, they were told at the time they were going to be moved on so they packed all there stuff together, however they were simply packed into trains like cattle so all there stuff was left behind. The symbolism of the chairs is to show the vast amounts of furniture and
items left behind during this period by innocent people. If you have seen the movie the Pianist, it is very moving being in this spot as images of the rounding up of people. We then moved on to the next part and cycled down for about ten minutes and you could still see parts of the ghetto wall in this area, which was a realisation as to how big the ghetto actually was and how many Jews were involved. (Picture 15) The next stop was Oskar Schlinders factory, which is famous for rescuing Jews and protecting them during the war. (Picture 16) Although you could see very little from the outside, it is an important part of history. This area of Krakow was extremely run down and a bit scary, you could tell there has been a lot of emotional damage done in the area, with very few wishes to develop the area out of respect. We then entered the area of Krakow under Soviet rule, which had a very different and very concrete element to the city. The main feature was one statue (Picture 17) which was supposed to commerate times of Soviet Rule and Occupation and was covered
in Communist ideology. After being overwhelemed by history we then sat down for lunch, in the new Jewish Quarter. We were told what to order, a authentic polish dish and it was dumplings filled with an unidentified meat. Although at first, I wasn't sure, they tasted delicious! Grace had then fried and I had then boiled. (Picture 18 and 19) On the way home we saw lots of other beautiful churches and castles were recommended by our guide what to do with the rest of the day. (Picture 20 and 21) We left our guide at the city center again and gave him a big tip we had loved the tour. We went inside the church we had spied earlier and said a prayer for grandma and lit a candle, it was so beautiful! (Picture 22) On our way back to the hostel, Grace made a friend with a Polish lady in original Polish dress, how cute (Picture 23) That night we made a friend called Pru who was from Australia. She was doing a tour of Europe and was staying in our hostel. We went out for dinner with her, kebab again (Picture 24)and then had a vodka tasting.
(Picture 25) Everyone was getting involved, lots of Auzzie and Grace and I. We tasted alsorts, normal Vodka which wasn't much different to anything else we had tasted in England, Hazlenut vodka, which was mixed with milk and although it didn't go down well at first, it tasted like nutella, which was lovely and thirdly cactus vodka, which was very strong but delicious and tasted like the fizzy drink Lilt! We then had an early night, about 12am as we were heading to Auschwitz early the next morning.
DAY 3:
We woke up early, around 8am, for our bus to Auschwitz. We were both excited but a little bit scared about going there as there were so many connotations with the place, but it certainly was an experience. We went with a group from our hostel and there was an organised tour included for about 50Zloytz. At first we were surprised by the size as it was right out in the sticks, about 90 minutes from Krakow and it was so quite and calm around the area. The complex was massive and we were greeted by our German tour guide shortly after who would be taken us around Auschwitz
and Birkenhaus. We firstly saw the famous gates with the slogan 'Arbei Mach Frei' Work will set you free, (Picture 26) which hovers over the entrance of the camp. There were lots of large red brick houses, it wasn't how I imagined it at all. (Picture 27 and 28) It was almost like a little town surrounded by barbed wire and with look out poles at every turn. But then as the guide explained that thousands of people would be tied in there, it became a lot more haunting. They had turned a lot of the red brick houses into museums to display artefacts and items left at the camp when it was liberated. There were so many 'items' left by people before their murder. For example, there were hundreds of thousands of suitcases, shoes, glasses, pots and pants. And what was most freaky was hair. It filled room after room after room. Very scary. (Picture 29 and 30) What was quite scary also was all the cans of Zyclone B left on the camp, which was the gas used to kill (Picture 31). Very very scary stuff! We even got to see some the striped pyjamas so commonly assocaited
with the camp. (Picture 32) We also saw numerous mug shots of people in the camp and the look of horror on there faces was quite something and very scary. Particularly looking into the eyes of children, no one knew what was going to happen. We then saw the black wall, which is wear people were sent and lined up and all shot one by one. The forms of torture thought up by the Nazis was horrendous. Early forms of torture were the standing rooms, tiny tiny rooms, were people were locked into without food or water and just packed together and made to stand until the eventually died. Also early gas chambers were shown, and they had scratchings and graffitti on the walls which was very harrowing. You could actually see peoples struggle. We made our way around the vast grounds with the guide telling us numerous stories and we evetually entered a gas chamber, we had to be quite out of respect for those who lost their lives. However, the building spoke volumes. It was low and dim and dark and scary which again visible signs of human struggle and you could clearly see where the gas would
have leaked in. I quickly made my way in and out it was very creepy and the place stunk of death. We then exited the Auschwitz camp and made our way to Birkenhaus which is where the more common concetration camp image is created. (Picture 33) Just row after row after row after row of small wooden houses which would have been packed with people. You can see in Picture 33, the rail tracks that people would have been shipped into the camp on and then taken part in the slection process were it was decided if they were fit for work or not, if they weren't they lasted around a week before being sent to death. There was an commerative display at the bottom of the area with commeration in the native lanaguage of all those who died across Europe and a Jewish prayer that many took the time to say out of respect. (Picture 34) Our next stop was to head inside the log cabins, it was horrible, it was a bright day in September and the hut was cold and damp, one can only imagine the conditions in a harsh winter in 1943. Just horrific. You can
Synagog
Picture 13see bunk beds in (Picture 35) where four people would be sleeping on each layer with one blanket. It was shared with rats and fleas, I can only imagine the conditions. Just horrendous. The next stop was the wash rooms, (Picture 36) which were basically holes in the ground and must have absolutely stunk! Horrendous to imagine. Overall it was a worthwhile experience but very tiring and harrowing. We got a coach back to the hostel and were all quite tired and emotionally exhausted after the trip. I thought it was an amazing experience and something I would reccommend, but it is certainly not something for those with weak stomachs. We wanted a chilled afternoon at the hostel that evening, so we caught up with Pru and decided to go for a walk around the castle when we got home. Surprise surprise we had a kebab on the way home for lunch! Once again the castle was absolutely beautiful and exactly something I would imagine in a fairy tale. (Picture 37 and 38) Grace, Pru and I sat and overlooked the view of the city and the river as the sunset, it was a very nice and calm evening and
Ghetto
Picture 14 Pru was leaving us to go to Prague in the morning. Next we went out for dinner, and avoiding another kebab we went to a locally polish restaurant and decided to have Polish soup (Picture 39 and 40) and dumplings again for dinner. The soup was served in a bread roll and was very thin and watery with ham and a hard boiled egg it, although it sounds gross it was lovely! We had an early night and went back to the hostel at around 11pm.
DAY 4:
We had a lie in this morning and then caught a bus to the famous Krakow Salt Mine. We caught a local bus this time and once again had the dilemma, do we pay for it or not. So we didn't! But we arrived at the salt mine and it was not what we expected. It was in an old deserted town, but very pretty and lots of little stalls selling salt related items. (Picture 41) We queed up for our tour time and got our tickets. And we went sent down in an lift down down down into the mine. It was quite cute and was like an underground museum
into the history of salt farming and harvesting. It was very cold and dark and you could see salt crystals everywhere. Grace kept licking the walls! (Picture 42) We went down to the main room and saw the most beautiful banquet hall carved from salt where they did a tacky light show and you were able to see how beautiful the room was (Picture 43), with a picture of the Last Supper carved (Picture 44) as well as a statue of Pope John Paul II who was Polish! (Picture 45). It was a very beautiful and peaceful place and it was certainly worth a visit. Later we arrived back in the City Center and decided to do some of the museums around the center. We started in the pharmacy museum. This pharmacy was the only establishment that the Nazis kept open inside the Jewish ghetto that wasn't run by Jews so it was very significant. We paid our entrance fee and were looking around at the pictures and there was very little to it, only a few rooms. Although it is a very important part of the city of Krakow, it seems a little small to be a recognised museum.
But nontheless it was worth a trip. We then made our way to the Oskar Schlinder factory. This was one of the best Nazi Germany museums I have ever seen. It was incredible, so clear and fascinating. I loved it and particularly the swastika flooring (Picture 46) and all the Nazi artefacts and the life like ghetto, which even Grace enjoyed! (Picture 47) We then walked back to the hostel as we were tried and ready for a rest after a jam packed weekend. (Picture 48) That night we went out for dinner and managed to get some cheap tickets to see the Royal Krakow Orchestra, which was a great treat and we really enjoyed the string quartet play there music. We had another early night as we had to be up to 5am for our flight the next morning.
DAY 5:
We left our hostel at about 5:30 for our 9am flight and we had airport transfer waiting for us. We made our way to the airport and then slept all the way back to London. Once back in London, we got a McDonalds (Picture 49) Grace made her way to Southampton and I made my way to
Gatwick for my flight back to Jersey. What a fantastic city and an amazing place Krakow has been!
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