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Published: September 17th 2007
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We arrived at Bologna airport around 9.00 am for an 11.25 am flight to Krakow with an airline that we had never heard of before (Central Wings). As we were checking the arrivals board at the airport to see where to check in we noticed that the plane had been delayed and was now showing a scheduled departure time of 5.00 pm, so we were in for a long wait. The delays were extended several times during the day and finally at 10pm we boarded the plane along with the other, mainly Polish passengers, all it might be said who were in surprisingly high spirits given the 11-hour delay. We weren't given any explanation for the delay but you have to look on the bright side as we were given a free lunch and dinner at Bologna airport. We arrived in Krakow a few minutes after midnight to find it a chilly 13 degrees and raining. We caught a taxi to our apartment near the centre where we were met by the representative from the rental agency - what a great job he has - meeting us at 12.30am on a Saturday night.
We lucked out with the weather as
Krakow
One of the streets leading into the town square for the three days we were in Krakow it was cool (12 to 15 degrees) and it rained on and off the whole time. On the first day we took it easy, recovering from the previous day and wandered aimlessly around the old town. On the 2nd day we went through Wawel, the Polish Royal Castle and the Wawel Cathedral (both worth a look) as well as taking a short walk through the 'Dragon Cave', former home to legendary Wawel Dragon (legendary I guess if you are Polish). This is another trap for gullible tourists where you pay 3 Polish Zloty (about $1.25) to walk down a hundred steps and then walk 50 metres through a damp cave. I mean it was a fun minute or two, but I'm not sure you should have to pay for the privilege. After that we had a look through the old Jewish area, which was almost deserted, possibly as a result of the weather.
The old town of Krakow is very impressive and very well preserved. This was the only major Polish city that escaped the 2nd World War relatively unscathed from the bombing that Poland was subjected to. Probably the most
impressive part of Krakow is the town square in the centre of the old town. Measuring 200 metres by 200 metres it is reputedly the largest medieval town square in all of Europe, and is lined with cafes, bars and restaurants. Due to the weather this was deserted most of the time but on the few occasions the sun came out the cafes and bars came to life. We had a drink at the square on two evenings, which was enjoyable, although it would certainly have been better had the afternoons been warm and sunny.
On our final day in Krakow we went out to visit Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi Concentration/Death camp where between 1.5 and 2.5 million people, mainly Jews, were murdered during WWII. We had intended to travel out to the camp ourselves, but due to the rain we were advised to take an organised tour as it could be difficult to travel between the station, and the 2 parts to the camp, Auschwitz and Birkenau. This turned out to be a mistake. The tour certainly made the transport side of things easy but they herded us in and out of the two camps like cattle and
Flower stall in the main square
There were lots of people carrying flowers in Krakow. Polish men like giving flowers and they are superstitious about giving an odd number of flowers. we were given no time at all to wander about on our own. We started at Auschwitz, which is where the museum is located and then were taken to Birkenau where most of the killings took place. On the tour I suppose we only saw around a quarter of what there was to seen. Despite this it was impossible not to understand and take in the shocking atrocities that had happened at the camps. The museum had a number of collections of possessions that were forcibly removed from the people arriving at the camp, including one room full of human hair that was shaved from the arrivals before they were sent to the gas chambers and then used in German manufacturing. The tour of Auschwitz finished with a visit to one of the gas chambers and crematoriums where hundreds of thousands of people were gassed. Despite the depressing nature of the camps it really is a must see for anyone visiting the area, although they do recommend that children under the age of 14 do not go. We would strongly recommend making your own way there and avoid the organised tours unless you really are time constrained. The logistics of
getting between the different sites is not as hard as we were led to believe (there is actually a bus that runs hourly between Auschwitz and Birkenau) and if the weather is ok it would only be about a 20 or 25 minute walk.
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