Historical Encounters

---

Geo: 50.0553, 19.9274

To simplify this blog, I can say that Krakow was amazing; A beautiful city, great people and a lovely culture. Done, Posted.
Ok Then, I will go in to more detail.
A country and a city with so much history, that going there for a few days doesn't do this great city any justice. But not only this city, but the areas around it also. These will be featured in upcoming blogs though. Situated in the Malopolska area lies Krakow, A town that has for the most part survived the war; A city occupied by Germans and where Jews where treated horribly; A town only kilometers away from the body shivering name of Auschwitz. Things have changed though and the city is now a thriving metropolis of students, tourists and beautiful buildings.

I took the train from Prague. After hearing all of the stories about the night train and overnight robberies, I decided to play it safe and go during the day. I got talking with a older local couple for about an hour who were really nice. The guy who is Czech is married to a Polish lady, so he speaks Czech, Polish, English, German (as he works for a German company) and Italian. Not bad.
He also told me about the train robberies and that in the Czech Republic if someone robs less than 5000 Krona ($300) then it is considered a mistake and nothing will be done. Talk about corruption.

I arrived late afternoon and checked in to my hostel, named Zodiakus hostel, situated just outside the old town. The hostel was good, pretty empty on the first few days but the staff were great, so friendly and helpful and with free dinner and Vodka shots on occasions.
As usual the sun was shining the next day as I set out to explore the Old Town. As I got closer to the main square I passed a free walking tour. So I latched on deciding that it would be infinitely better to learn about this historical city than to walk around not knowing what was what.

I can definitely recommend to do the free walking tours in Krakow. All it will cost is a small donation at the end if you wish. There were two available, the Old Town and Wavel Hill, and the second was the Jewish district of Kazimierez and the Old Jewish Ghetto with Schindlers factory.
I did the Old Town and Wavel Hill on this day. It was great to understand what the buildings were and the history behind it all. At the end I stuck around where we had finished and checked out the other areas of the Old Town.
The Old town is very nice but commercialized as usual; Rynek Glowny is also great. The Old town is littered with heaps of almost golf buggy sized carts that offer tours of areas. Good if you are lazy to walk or have limited time.

At the end of the walking tour they give you a map which gives a small discount on tours to Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt mine. So I decided to do Auschwitz the following day (refer to upcoming blog), and then spent three days in the Tatra Mountains (again refer to another upcoming blog). So fast forward 6 days and I return back to Krakow to explore the rest of the city which was Kazimierez, the old Jewish Ghetto and the former sight of Schindlers factory.
The free walking tour of these areas wasn't until 3pm so I decided to check out the areas first and meet up with them later on.
I started my walk through the Old Town to Wavel Hill and along the banks of the Wisla River. It was a Sunday and the sun was out in full force and so were the locals. During my walk to the river I passed a house Pope John Paul the 2nd use to accommodate, and being the day after his 6th anniversary of his passing, a small but moderate shrine of hundreds of candles were placed around. John Paul is a very serious topic and person in Krakow and Poland.

The banks of the river were lively, full of rollerbladers, cyclists, runners and walkers. It was nice to see the locals strutting their stuff. Krakow is also a big University city, so there are many older teenagers that float about all over.
I visited the district of Kazimierez in which I learnt in the walking tour that it is a thriving night spot with plenty of cafes and bars. I made my way across the river to Podgorze which was the area where the old Jewish Ghetto was. From there I walked to the former sight of Schindlers Factory which is now a museum of the Nazi occupation in Krakow from 39-45. This Musuem was utterly fantastic, possibly one of the best I have been to. I learnt so much and it is a big museum that you need at least 2 hours. It is free on Mondays.
Time crept up and I wandered back to find the free walking tour. The walking tour took me to all the places I had just been to, but I got some better information and it was another really good walking tour. We sat at the chair memorial for 10 minutes as we were told about the horrible injustices and acts performed in the Old Jewish Ghetto.

The next day I went to the Wieliczka Salt mine which will be included in another blog.
So overall I really enjoyed Krakow, I thought it was an amazing city and I strongly recommend going to visit. It was also the combination of the trips to the salt mine, Auschwitz and Tatra mountains that added to the great experience I had not only in Krakow but in Poland in general.
So two big thumbs up.

---