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Krakow market square
A man blows a trumpet from the left hand tower every 15 minutes On the bus from Krakow to Lesko July 5 2014
Our packs are too heavy and yet we have two items we bought just before we left England that we are glad we have at the moment - namely our light weight day packs and our packet jackets.
The weather is now hot and sunny, more of that later, and a few days ago we had donned our Packet jackets, yet again, to embark on the freewalkingtours(.com) polish food tour of Krakow. This was very simple in format as the guide takes you from restaurant to restaurant for titbits/pica-pica/after-bites (that is supposed to be 'after' a shot of vodka!) which cost around 1plz/20p each. In between strolls in the rain we had sausage, bigos (a cabbage meat stew), zurek (a sweet and sour soup), pierogi (homemade filled dumplings), smoked and fresh goat's cheese, herring, smalec (think dripping crossed with rillette) and apple pancakes amongst others. It was lucky we had not had had time for lunch.
Two other visitors on the tour had just finished their A levels at Maidstone Grammar School. I reckon they were first years when Ian was in
his last year there. They seemed to be learning fast about the hostel experience having had a rampant couple in their dorm room on their first night (see '50 ways you know you are a backpacker' doing the rounds on Facebook, thanks Alex). Whatever, it is becoming apparent that most of the travellers we are meeting in Eastern Europe are younger than our sons.
We had spent the morning at the local Salt mine. You have two options; the tourist route where you see the rock salt carved into chapels etc and the miners route where you get a picture of how it was worked. As true cavers we opted for the latter. There were some fantastic raw crystals which Jane dutifully collected for Dan. Apparent it is not unhealthy to work in a salt mine as the air quality is always good. The salt preserves wood and many of the props we saw were 500 years old.
I have discovered that Jane is the average height of a Krakowian lady in the 14 century. It was me of course who needed the helmet to safely walk through some of the passages. You forget
how valuable salt was before refrigerators - at one point the mine contributed 30% of the Polish kingdom's GDP.
The salt mine and Auschwitz are the big tourist attractions in the area and yet they are not why I would recommend Krakow to any visitor. The old town despite the throng of visitors has a real charm and it was a joy to wander round the gigantic market square in the evening just people watching. It clearly helps to be a city where over 20% of the population are students and to have to depth of history from being the seat of Polish Kings and, less we forget, JP II.
Five years ago the market square was a massive archeological dig and this has now been turned into an excellent underground museum which absorbed us for 2 hours. They have unearthed the 14century market stalls as well as numerous burials from which they built up a fascinating picture of Krakow in the Middle Ages. They have also left excavations so you can see the dating profile through the layers.
On one afternoon we had a super cycle ride along the banks
of the Vistula to the Tyneic Benedictine monastery 10km up river. We came back via the Skalka Church. A great three hours for 40plz/£8 for the two bikes.
We had arrived in Krakow at 4am on the night bus from Berlin. It was damp and cool which was ideal for carrying our packs into town. We have to praise our AirBnB landlord, Bradd, because he was happy for us to call him on his mobile at 5am to be let in. After the introductory niceties we crashed for another 5 hours as we had not had much sleep on the bus between stops. The room was large and private being on the top floor and looked out over the park that has replaced the old town city wall. (See 'huge private room centre of Krakow' on Arirbnb).
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There was a good kitchen and we ate in most evenings from the supermarket a few doors down. We had an excellent lunch at the local 'milk bar' (now I understand their presence in Clockwork Orange) which offered Polish specialities at excellent prices. On our last night we treated ourselves to dinner in an Ukranian restaurant (www.ukrainska.pl/en).
The courtyard had a relaxed ambience and the beers (beware the Porter packs a punch) and food were excellent.
Friday was a scorcher and also the day we had decided to go to Auschwitz. You can get all inclusive tours to pick you up from your hostel and there really is no need. All you need to do is to get one of the many buses going from the bus station. The train is not advised by anyone (it takes longer than the bus). What you do need to know is that there are different bus companies. We got the 8.25am bus and had to make sure we got the same company bus back as I bought a return. This was not a problem. There was just no advantage for getting a return and you may have wanted more flexibility. Once at the museum you pay your money and are put in the language tour of your choice. The other key thing is to take a packed lunch.
Be prepared for crowds. Auschwitz, like the salt mine processes circa 9000 tourists a day, in peak season. Be prepared for the sheer scale of the
place particularly at the Birkenau camp. No where else has human death been processed on such a grotesque and unbelievably inhumane industrial scale. They could have focused more on the individual human stories, as they did at Checkpoint Charlie. The tour guide was excellent and her commentary came most alive when she described how her Mother had told her how she will never forget the smell of the burning bodies that she experience with her Father 7km from the camp as a seven year old. Apparently the Holocaust is the only compulsory part of the British history syllabus according to a Leeds teacher we met and a school visit to places like this should be too.
When you see the sheer number of Poles who were murdered here as well as Jews and also the years of occupation the Polish have endured under Germans, Russians and Austrians in the last two hundred years it is no wonder they are such a proud nation. At the same time they appreciate Europe, it has clearly had economic advantages over the last 12 years, and you can not help feeling that more English people should come here and start to
appreciate the things they have instead of whining about the things they haven't.
So today was our last day in Krakow. We compressed the Packet Jackets away in our packs as it was going to be another warm one. Before heading for the bus station we strolled up to the Wawel Cathedral and Castle which put Windsor in the shade. In the palace is an amazing courtyard, large and several stories high, that was being set up for a classical concert. A lady was playing a grand piano in the corner as free concert and really touch me when she started playing Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' - after all the ELP version was the first album ( sorry kids, vinyl) I ever bought and it took me right back to the upper fourth common room! Look after that album Adrian Wayne. I will have to down load it.
So with the hot walk to the bus station it has made us more focused on what Jane can take back to England when she flies back for Laura's wedding from Budapest so to reduce our packs. It won't be the Packet Jackets.
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