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Published: July 21st 2009
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Krakow, Polska - July 3rd - 12th, 2009 For the first time since leaving London, we arrived at our destination and it was not raining on us. Instead it was very hot and humid... kind of made us wish it was still raining so it would be cooler. We got to our reserved hostel only to be told that it had been double booked! Fortunately this turned out to be a good thing as they sent us to another place closer to the town square, and they paid for the first night! We ended up in a great hostel, a stones throw from the Main Square, alone in an 8 person dorm, not too shabby. The hostel staff were hosting a BBQ the first night, which quickly turned into a hardcore vodka drinking session. Most foreigners dropped out pretty quickly, and after the 4th or 5th bottle we ended up going to one of Krakow's many clubs in the Old Town. The club was pretty cool as it was in an underground cave with lots of different rooms to explore, one of them even happened to have a break dancing completion in session. We partied at the club
for quite a while sampling trays full of colourful drinks... then all of a sudden I woke up in bed, at 2pm. Needless to say, the next day was a waste, spent sleeping and recuperating. Fun night though!
On our second day, we finally got out to see some of the town. Krakow is definitely one of the nicest city's in Poland, if not all of Europe. The main square is the biggest of it's kind in Europe, and has the oldest shopping mall right in it's center. This is a place where people have been selling goods indoors for 700 years! We got a chance to go into Wawel Castle, which was once home to all the Polish Kings, and the Dragon of Wawel Hill, but today its only a museum and tourist attraction. Across the river, we went into the former Krakow Jewish ghetto, and even saw the Enamel factory of Oscar Schindler, who saved several hundred jews from the gas chambers by employing them there. It took us two days to tour the city, after which we went out on a day trip to the salt mine of Wieliczka. It reaches a depth of 327 meters
and is over 300 km long, but only about 1% is available to tourists. Entering the mines involves a long 380 stair winding descend. The chapel of the Blessed King is the undoubted show-stopper, yet it is only one of several attractions. The entire chapel is made of salt, including the chandeliers. There are a handful more smaller chapels, including the seventeenth century chapel of St. Anthony, and a huge underground salt lake. Nothing like it anywhere else in the world and definitely worth the 59 PLN each!
While in Krakow few tourists miss the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. Although, this is a day of sightseeing Andrea opted to skip and spent the day touring the old town shops. So I set out on a daytrip on my own. The camps are located about one hour east of Krakow in the town of Oswiecim. The bus stop takes you right to the front gate of the first Auschwitz camp, which is now a museum. I spent about two hours going through the various exhibits, which are each housed in one of the approx. 30 blocks that make up the camp. One exhibit in particular contains thousands of ordinary items
taken from prisoners before they were gassed, including eyeglasses, shoes, suitcases and hair brushes. The amounts of these items was enough to fill an entire room, in some cases two.
After seeing the museum in the first Auschwitz camp, I boarded the shuttle bus to the second and much larger Birkenau, about 3 miles away. This is where the majority of European jews met their end in one of two gas chambers which now lie in ruins. Seeing this place, you get a true idea as to the scale of the Nazi extermination campaign, the prisoners barracks stretch for as far as the eye can see. This was extermination on an industrial scale. I spent a few hours walking around then headed back to Krakow to my new favourite place to eat... Bar Mleczny. These are cafeteria style "restaurants" in most Polish city's where two people can get a 3 course meal for about 10 CAD. The food is just like at home, and you don't even have to wait for it. We are going to be searching these out everywhere we go.
Next stop Zakopane for some hiking in the woods.
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