Krakow

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So off we set on our 19 hour bus journey to Krakow. It actually went surprisingly well. I think we had tired ourselves out after Amsterdam that we slept pretty well through the night and the next morning. We got to Krakow around 4pm, somehow managed to find our way out of the bus station and to the hostel we had booked (didn't have any luck finding couchsurfers for krakow) It was called Oasis Hostel, I had persuaded Ste to book this one as it was only 3 pound a night, whereas all the others were around 5/6 pound. It turned out to be the most awful hostel. It was really old, dirty, bad location, dodgy looking area, with nobody else in the building. These 2 others were in the same room as us, they weren't there but it looked as though they had just been living there for weeks, their clothes were everywhere, old food on the floor, dirty dishes, empty old food pots...just disgusting. The kitchen was really old and also a complete mess and the computer they said they had was barely working. It was just horrific and we both needed somewhere nice to stay and have a wash so we used their computer to search for another hostel in krakow and found a much much nicer one called Goodbye Lenin Hostel...ahhhh it was heaven compare to that place. 5 pound a night, including breakfast, all new modern and clean 😊

After freshening up and brushing our teeth for the first time since yesterday (!) we wondered off into the main square in search of something cheap to eat. The main square has so many lovely outside restaurants and cafes, and compared to england the food is cheap (about 6 pound for a main course which for the location isnt bad) but considering we are supposed to be on an extremely tight budget we resisted and avoided these places. We ended up grabbing some Polish fast food - a panini and a Zapienkanka (like bread with cheese and mushrooms on top) for about 4 pound 😊 We did venture out a little and had a beer and wine on one the nice restaurants on the main square but just 1 :p Later that evening we wondered down to a bar that had been recommended on our map called Old St Nicks - its a bar in a hostel so full of other backpackers which would have been great except they were all completely smashed and me and Ste weren't. It was funny though as when we walked in it was Karaoke and this guy were completely going for it to Rage - Killing in the Name of - hilarious! Back at the hostel we met a couple of lads - an Australian and a Scottish lad, we sat up for a bit just chilling with them.

Friday day we went to Auschwitz. So many of the tour companies offer tours there for about 20 pounds, which seems cheap but you can do it yourself so so much cheaper. We had read on the auschwitz website that if you go to Auschwitz 1 after 3pm it is free to enter 😊, so that was our plan. The bus there left from Krakow at 13.50 and we got there about 15.30 - costing only about 4 pound for both of us. We wondered around Auschwitz 1 - for me it wasnt what I expected at all. The buildings all looked new and clean, and inside had all been done up and each one had an exhibition displaying lots of photos and information. We read the first few in details but after about an hour, we thought we would be best getting to Auschwitz 2 - Birkenau, as this is the site that most people would recognise, and because of the busses we were beginning to run out of time. Auschwitz 2 had much more of an impact, it was quite a foggy day and the sun was beginning to set also so there was a really strange atmosphere. We did run out of time as we had to get the last bus back to Krakow at 7.20, so we didn't get to see too much, but we saw enough - seen one of the old huts and walked around for a while. The gas chambers had all been destroyed from when they had tried to destroy the evidence of Auschwitz, think there might have been some others but we didnt have time to go to those ones.

For Friday evening we decided to head into the Jewish part of kraow - Kaziemiez, as there were meant to be a few lively bars. We went to a couple that had been recommended, it was slightly cheaper in this area even though its only 10 minutes away from the main square. It was a really nice evening though, listening to some crazy music, a couple of cheap glasses of wine and beer 😊

Saturday morning there was a free walking tour leaving at 11am that we joined in with. It was quite a good tour considering its free, bit strange though as when the guide is introducing everything he talks about how its free then says you can leave at tip at the end if you feel you were happy with the tour (Im ashamed to say we didn't :p) It was good though, told us a lot about the history of krakow and how it had completely survived being destroyed in the war (compared to 90% of Warsaws buildings being destroyed). He also took us all to a fast food counter and translated for us all to order some more Zapikanka (the bread thing). It did go on for about 4 hours though!! He offered to go for a beer with people afterwards, but we had to get back to the hostel to get our bags as we were meeting some people from Couchsurfing at 4pm to go camping 😊

So I had seen a post on couchsurfing from this girl Ania, about how a group of them were heading up to these old castle ruins (Tenczynek Castle) and were planning on staying the night (with no tents). Now I know this might sound a bit random and dodgy, but we had messaged Ania for lots of information, she had a good profile on CS with lots of references and was the moderator of one of the groups, so I figured it would be relatively safe 😊 When we met Ania there was a group of about 8 of us, one of the lads helped us to buy our trains tickets and so we set off. When we got the the nearest station to the castle a guy called Jurek who lived in the town nearby met us and guided us up to the castle. We had to hike through the woods for about 4km, which was fine to start with, even if Ste and I did have our backpacks, but the last bit was completely uphill - the steepest ever. But we made it, a little sweaty but alive. The evening was then spent just chilling around a campfire. Mark, a Canadian guy that was there had brought his guitar so we all had a few sing songs, Ste played a bit too (and got out the tamborine and harmonica that Lara had bought us :p). Ste and I didn't have any beer or drink with us, but there was this random shop there. A few houses were scatted about and one of them you knock on their front door and ask them for the shop and they have this little garage with a shop in it and will open it up for you. So we bought a few beers and some cheap polish vodka 😊 It was a really nice evening, everyone we were with was really generous. Ania gave us some polish sausage and bread she had bought with her to cook over the fire. And one of the guys had bought some honey vodka which he shared out. I (being me) fell asleep quite early (I blame the honey vodka) and sometime later everyone eventually fell asleep, it wasn't too cold (had about 5 layers, scarf hat & gloves) but around 4am it started to rain!! So we all had to get up and pack up and hike about 5km to Jurek's house where he kindly let us all crash on the floor. The next morning after very little sleep, Jurek helped us look up some train and bus times to Warsaw and then kindly invited us to stay for breakfast. It was a really good trip and we met some really nice people, but we had planned to go to Warsaw today so we had to leave.

To cut a long story short, the bus to warsaw was full and the trains got in really late and since we had hardly any sleep we just decided to spend another night in Krakow. We went back to our nice hostel - unfortunately it was full so had to spend a bit of time finding another nice one that was cheap - eventually we did. We finally showered, ate some food and got a relatively early night.

Monday we got the 11.25am train to Warsaw which was the cheapest one (8 pound). We spent the day in Warsaw wondering around which was a little tiring as we had our bags. We eventually found the old town with another main square and luckily found that one of the nice restaurants had some special offers on Mondays 😊 Ste got a 1 litre beer for around 1.50 😊 and we got some strange dinner for about 3 pound. Our bus to Vilnius, Lithuania left at 11pm, so we just took our time with our drinks and dinner so we could just wait there as long as we could before we had to leave.

Just got to Vilnius this morning at 9am, got quite a nice hostel (again no luck couchsurfing). No idea what we are going to do here yet 😊 but we will update you in a couple of days 😊

Lots of love

Layla & Ste xxx

Still cant upload photos (most of the computers Im using don't have the software and wont let me download but you should be able to view the album on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/editalbum.php?&aid=49894&add=1&created=1#/album.php?aid=49860&id=272700319

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Comments

[Lara]

Another amazing little adventure for both of you! I shall let mum see it when I next go there. Glad the tamborine and harmonica has come in use already! Lots of love to you both xxx

[Mumsy]

sounds like your having a great time dont drink to much Nicks still in hospital got blocked kidney they are deciding what to do hes just bored at mo, any enough of him carry on enjoying yourselfs take care lots of love mumsy xxxxxxxx