Blogs from Lesser Poland, Poland, Europe - page 59

Hostel Life! Staying in youth hostels can be an interesting experience. We arrived in Krakow at 9pm and appeared to be the only two people who got off the train. We were approached by an old Polish man, who wanted us to come and stay at his apartment instead of going to a hostel. He reeked of alcohol and told us he was a taxi-driver. We declined his offer and so he started swearing at us. He later approached us again and when we declined a second time, he swore even more profusely at us! We walked to the hostel of our choice and booked into a 12-bed mixed dorm. I settled down to what I hoped would be a good night's rest. One older man had gone to sleep and left his radio on, and ... read more

We left Krakow for a day trip to Auschwitz to take in all the history. It was cold again and some light snow had fallen the night before. I figured that this would add to the intensity of what we were about to see when we arrived in Auschwitz. I guess it would somehow make the place more real to me knowing that the people who were held there and died there had to deal with conditions like these without any protection from hunger, cold, and disease. I am glad I didn't come here in the summer to see the place while conditions were much more comfortable, fighting with much larger crowds to see for my self one of the most horrible places on earth. The first thing we did upon arriving at Auschwitz was to ... read more

Were both amazing. If you are in Krakow, do not miss these. Auschwitz because it is a very sobering experience, and it's just so surreal to be walking through the gas chambers where so many people were killed. And looking at millions of authentic pairs of shoes from the people who were at this camp. I mean some of these shoes are like 5cm long little booties, just belonging to normal people, normal kids. And there's a display of hair from the people who were kept there. Their hair was used to make cloth. And this display is several metres long. I mean it's just a huge mass of hair, some curly, some still in plaits, some dark, some blond, I was just stunned, I mean, real people had their hair cut off 60/70 odd years ... read more

We arrived in Krakow by train before dawn on the 27th. We were half asleep, it was cold, dark, and most of the streets were totally deserted. The trip from Prague through the night had taken about nine hours and I know I slept for only about one hour at most. This had been my first sleeper train trip and I think I would only do something like this again if it was absolutely necessary. We weren't wandering for too long, however, until we found our hotel and since it wasn't high season for tourists they had no problem admitting us early as most of their rooms were empty. So, we all headed up to our rooms to sleep for a few hours. At about 9:00 am we were finally well rested and we headed out ... read more

Just so I don't leave Poland blogged to death with death blogs, here are some lighter experiences and observatıons about Krakow as it is now. Krakow is a great city on the Vistula River, contemporary, artistic, trendy, but with layer after layer of intriguing history. It is superclean, efficient and easy, safe (i never once felt insecure, even late at night by myself), with abundant nightlife, unique cafes, art galleries, bookstores, museums, and restaurants. Best of all, for a city it ıs not noisy. I only really scratched the surface of Krakow, but I managed to visit some of the main sites and take in some of the culture, including a metal club (does that count as culture? yes of course!) and a live jazz cafe and a klesmer quartet in the jewish district (gotta say ... read more