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Published: July 29th 2009
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72 Hours: 19th - 21st July 2009
We just finished an amazing sailing trip with our best mates in the Dalmatian Coast (this blog to come later) when we hit land and knew that we had a huge distance to cover in a very short time.
Now, Doug and I talked about this quite in depth before making the decision to drive from Split, Croatia to Krakow, Poland. After studying the map and swapping numerous road trip stories of youth in the states we decided that it was doable. Being Americans and used to covering vast distantances by car, it didn't seem too daunting for us. This was the first of many mistakes to come...
During our week of sailing, we had perfect weather that allowed us to sail every day for 4-6 hours (in other words, from the end of breakfast to Miller time) to the delight of the "incompentent crew", but maybe not the skipper, who was ultimately responsible for the boat, all decisions, and any consequences. To underscore our luck with the weather, the morning the boat was due back, the weather had already turned, with strong winds at 5am ("Scirocco winds", specifically), and building
Poland Dumplings that looked like Xiao Long Bao
We were a bit shocked to realize that we didn't take any photos of Krakow, minus this picture of a dumpling. I guess this gives you an insight of our state of minds at this point. in strength. After goodbyes to all of our mates we jumped into our car and started our drive north at 9 am. Within 30 mins we hit torrential downpours, to the point where we almost had to pull off the road due to poor visibility. We should of known then making the 1000+ km drive in a reasonable amount of time was not going to happen.
As much as we loved Croatia, the hour-long queue to pay the toll for the 2 hour ride on the superhighway was a test of nerves and patience. At this point I think we decided never to return to Croatia, or maybe it could of been the jammed border crossing at Croatia and Slovenia that did it for us (still manned since Croatia is not yet in the EU, and won't be until they hand over a war criminal that the Croatians consider a Hero). To be fair, driving anywhere in Europe during summer holidays can be a challenge...the number of camper vans mixed in general traffic is a testament to that.
The map book was very misleading. They should definitely have a code that indicates if the highway is under construction, because I swear we hit all of them. Happy to hear that the Europeans want to update their roads, but in the height of summer traffic? It was one lane only from - Slovenia - Austria - Slovakia - Poland. Yes this is a bit of an exaggeration, but it really did feel like it at the time.
To top of our great road trip adventure we realized that we didn't write down proper information or instructions on how to get to our apartment in Krakow. I guess we assumed we would have wi fi access. Pulling out of Hong Kong mobiles we were able to contact Karli who was able to give us the contact details of the person in charge our apartment. When we called them, they more or less said the directions were a bit tricky and just stop and ask someone. We really didn't feel warm and fuzzy about that response. Next we called my brother in law Jeff, who using google earth was able to give us much better directions that proved to be quite accurate on our 2 am arrival into Krakow.
Yes, that is right, 2 am. Just 17 hrs on the road.
Krakow, what a wonderful suprise. Our only regret was that we weren't able to stay longer. After a bit of a lie in that morning, Doug and I both realized that we were a bit under the weather. The on and off rain wasn't very encouraging either, but we put on our warmest clothes and headed out. After wandering around a bit we encountered a golf cart that was giving tours of the city. Now mind you, this isn't our regular travel modality, we quite enjoy seeing the town on our bikes. But given the situation (2 slightly run down Americans amid rainy weather with just a few more hours in Krakow), you can forgive us for taking the easy way out. So jumping into our "green" cart our very charming and chatty guide took us all around Krakow: the Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, the site of the Jewish Ghetto, and Schindler's factory. We didn't realize that the movie was filmed on site and around town. Now the factory is a museum.
I must admit, if I heard the word Krakow, genocide was my first thought, but those days are over. It's a beautiful city with nice people, good English, and - yes - a troubled past.
The next morning, we piled back into the car and drove 12 more hours to the Jerusalem of the North: Vilnius, Lithuania. Whew!
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Catherine
non-member comment
phew!
What a trip!! I would love to visit Eastern Europe someday. I will definitely keep this blog in mind whenever I plan that trip. xoxo, Catherine