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Published: July 17th 2009
From the moment we arrived at the station in Budapest to head to Krakow, the problems started. For some reason we didn’t have a night car reservation (meaning a cabin); don’t ask why; we thought we did, but somehow the whole thing got lost in translation. The Hungarian train attendants were not impressed and we got dumped into ordinary run-of-the-mill 3rd class. This is a carriage with no beds - just seats. There were six of us in this small shoebox, and it was a tight fit. We were supposed to leave at 8pm, however the train didn’t leave until nearly 10pm! No one seemed to know why. What we did know was that the driver turned off the engine and the temperature soared towards 30’, without the little bit of air con there was in the first place. This might seem nice sitting in the Bahamas holding a fruity drink with an umbrella in it, but NOT so nice on a sweaty dirty train in Eastern Europe!
One issue led to the next. No one seemed to be able to explain to us if we were on the right train; the train actually seemed to be going to Berlin.
Well that’s what one German guy told me, and he was pretty confident he knew what he was talking about. I finally found a girl who spoke broken English and she informed me that this train was going to Poland, but perhaps not through Krakow… Hmm the plot thickens!
Anyway there was nothing we could do for the moment, so we headed off into the night. One good thing was that this train seemed to go faster than a lot of other trains we had been on previously; a good sign; things were looking up. The conductor came around and we just handed him our ticket and he mumbled something back in Polish; who knew what; not us nor anyone else in the carriage understood. The next thing we realised we were in Slovakia and an hour later we were in Czech Republic. This jolted us out of our complacency as this didn’t seem right at all. Another conductor joined the train when we crossed the Czech border and thankfully she could speak a little English. She informed us that not only was this train not going to Krakow but that we were going to miss our connecting train
Main square in Krakow
Lights, Camera, ACTION!in Ostrava (a city at the edge of Czech Republic) due to the late take off of the train from Hungary.
This didn’t bode well as she kinda implied we had to get off the train regardless at 3am in the morning. Things were going from bad to worse when she told us the next connecting train wasn’t until 18:30pm the following day. 15hrs hanging around the station waiting for a connection wasn’t the train journey I signed up for…
After sitting there looking pale for a few minutes, we sat up and took notice, trying to squint in the dark at our well-battered InterRail map looking for some inspiration. We decided the best thing to do was panic!! - No, not really! - HAHA, that’s what we would have done a few weeks ago, if this had happened at the start of our journey, but after a while you just get used to your plan being turned on its head.
Suddenly we heard the patter of Czech feet and the conductor lady bust into the cabin with a big smile. Through a mixture of broken English and German (which Nicola has knowledge of) we managed to
get that she had rang ahead and discovered our connecting train was waiting for us at the station (probably with a lot of grumpy passengers on-board). Finally, in the small hours of the morning, we arrived into the infamous Ostrava and we basically got off one train and hopped straight onto another. There were many passengers looking out the window with squelched up faces. “Krakow?” we asked some guy. He nodded politely and we jumped onboard.
We found what appeared to be an empty carriage for six people, but with no one in it…Nice one! This seemed cosy and we lay down on the musty seats to try and get some sleep! Trust me you would have done the same if you were as tired as we were! This luxury didn’t last long, as another conductor came around checking our tickets - he looked cross and started ranting something in a foreign tongue. His colleague kindly translated “You’re in first class, you do not have a first class ticket; please go!” - You couldn’t get any clearer than that - so we gathered our belongings and migrated down a few train carriages, and found ourselves in with a Chinese
girl and some polish dude, who seemed grumpy for being disturbed at 4am in the morning. Silence was the order of the night as we hunkered down for another 4 hour journey. Low and behold at 8am, after much clattering of train tracks during the night; the train rolled on into Krakow… we were here and we hadn’t slept a wink all night!
KRAKOW The first thing we noticed about Krakow in Poland was there were no English signs anywhere and it was a struggle to even to find the exit. We couldn’t find the Information desk, which we later discovered was hidden way off in some far away corner of the train station. We made our way upstairs and found that the train station was linked to a really great shopping centre. We easily stumbled on a McDonalds - Yes I know, but hey we had no where else… and their salads really aren’t that bad… Honest!!
As we had no accommodation booked, we headed into town and spent the next 1½ walking from hotel to hostel to try and find somewhere cheap and decent. Your confidence grows at quizzing people up on their prices after a
while, and you can get used to turning your nose up at overly priced tourist hotels, looking shocked and shaking your head!! “NO, NO! too expensive!”. Things weren’t looking good; many of the hotels were indeed expensive and the hostels seemed to be booked out. Just as we were about to give up as we hadn’t slept in 28-29 hours, we came across this lovely coffee shop & guest rooms down a little alley way. The people there were unbelievably friendly and the place was lovely and really quite reasonably priced. Halleluiah!
After getting some sleep for a few hours we wandered about the town, took in some sites and got some food. Poland is cheap (actually very cheap) and you’d eat out here for two people for €20 no problem. The town itself is lovely, quaint, and hailed as the new Prague.
The following day we did a tour of Auschwitz which is about an hour from Krakow. We got there by bus and spent a few hours getting a guided tour of the camp, as well as the nearby Birkenau camp, which was an extension.
“Arbeit Macht Frei” - “work sets you free” is ironically
iron plated over the entrance. You can’t really say Auschwitz was ‘good’ to see, as that’s very politically incorrect, but it was really interesting and eye opening to see what happened here during the war years. History buffs please reference Google!!
We took another tour whist in Krakow to a salt mine. We bumped into some fellow Irish InterRail-ers on the tour who were taking a few weeks to travel across Europe. Two teachers on summer holidays and two town planners who had recently been let go from their jobs. They gave us the full low down of the recession in Ireland, and the entire goings-on with the expected public sector pay cuts! (ouch!)
I have to say I was suspect about this salt mine tour before we went, but this lives up to your ideas of a mine. We were taken several hundred feet under ground and shown how the salt was extracted from the rock. You can literally rub your hand along the wall and taste the salt from your fingers. Incredible!
The historic salt mine in Wieliczka is the only site in the world where mining has functioned continuously since the Middle Ages. It
had been in continuous operation until 2007, producing table salt since the 13th century. Its original excavations, such as chambers, lakes, and minor and major shafts, lie on nine levels and stretch for a total of about 300 kilometres. Reaching the depth of 327 metres they illustrate all the stages of mining technology development over time. Also featured is a large chamber with walls carved to resemble wooden chapels, which was built by miners in earlier centuries; an underground lake; and exhibits on the history of salt mining. The mine is often referred to as "the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland".
We were then taken; wait for it - to one of the biggest underground churches in the world, which is about 130 meters underground in a cavern at the bottom of level-3 of the mine. The miners originally build this and everything in it (statues, wall carved pictures and even the chandeliers out of salt). This is an extraordinary site to behold, to actually see something like this is absolutely amazing. Several weddings have been held in the church. There was also a concert hall below ground in the mine at 150m (if you can believe that!). Finally,
The Last Supper
Carved in a wall of rock-salt in the mine before we returned to the surface (in an elevator thankfully…after coming down steps the whole way!) we had coffee in the shiny restaurant they have built especially for tourists. Class!!.
All in all, Krakow was lovely and after a few days we had to leave to head onto Warsaw, where we will then try and get a connecting train to Moscow. After much deliberation and walking backwards and forwards in the train station, we finally managed to get tickets for Warsaw. We boarded the train on the Friday morning and got there within 3 hours hassle free.
WARSAW - (the capital) So it’s official or as official as an internet poll can be; Warsaw is the ugliest city in Europe or so says the pollsters at Trip Advisor and not only that, it’s the third worst place to eat. Now now! - That’s cruel and harsh people. We found Warsaw to be contemporary & pleasant in many respects. Yes when you arrive out of the central train station, what some people could call eyesore buildings will impact you straight off, many of which could give some tourists a thumping headache, especially if you have just come from Paris
or Rome. However you have to overlook the cosmetic element and see what the future holds for this historic city.
We stayed in a lovely hotel across the road from the train station, which seems pretty much where it’s all happening. Plenty of nice shops to choose from, cheap food and friendly people in McDonalds, always dying to practice their English!!
And now for the next leg of the journey. MOSCOW here we come!
TO BE CONTD…
Some Trivia • With the aftermath of World War 2 Poland fell under the Soviet sphere of influence for a period that would last until 1989. Although there has been westernisation since, however the mark of four decades of communism has not yet been erased. A fine example of this would be the ‘Palace of Culture and Science’ in Warsaw. You won’t miss this beauty. It stands 237 meters tall and is still the tallest building in Poland.
• The Palace was originally commissioned by Stalin as a
gift from the Soviet people; Its design takes inspiration from the capitalist world - namely the Empire State Building!!
• 1944 saw the Warsaw Uprising with the intention of liberating Warsaw
from Nazi occupation . After eventually surrendering, an enraged Hitler sought after wiping Warsaw from the map. Anything deemed of cultural importance was destroyed. By the time liberation arrived over 90%!o(MISSING)f the city lay in total ruin.
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John Wezgrai
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I enjoyed this very much.If I was able I would visit Poland. I am 91 old and not able but my grandson may visit Poland we have ralatives in Miloszowka, Poland. will have the grandson read this