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Published: November 14th 2006
Last weekend, we went to Krakow, Poland. After weeks and weeks of seemingly non-stop traveling, ridiculously early sunsets, and gloomy, wet weather, I have to say that none of us were too excited to be going anywhere. The prospect of staying in bed or in a warm Czech bar was sounding increasingly more attractive, but we decided to go on one last trip before the end of the semester. Thursday night, we headed to the train station to catch the night train to Krakow. Obviously, like far more primitive species of mammals, we hadn’t learned from our experiences; the last night train we took involved switch blades and the fear of being gassed and robbed. Luckily our experience was much better this time, since we reserved our own sleeping car. The little cabins scream Marx Brothers or some 1940s screwball comedy. We had to squeeze and squish to get into our tiny beds, stacked vertically with about two or three feet between them. In the end, I actually got a good night’s sleep! Despite the rocking of the car and the knocking of the Polish passport checker, the trip was not half bad. Before actually getting to Krakow, we had to transfer trains in Katowice, an industrial Polish town that I will only remember for the freezing weather we experienced in the middle of the night.
When we finally arrived in Krakow, the first thing on our minds was breakfast. This may come as a surprise, but there is literally not one place to get breakfast along the whole major road we walked down from the station to the hostel. We decided to go to McDonald’s because it was the only place we could find, but even they didn’t serve breakfast! At about eight in the morning, we ate cheeseburgers and drank Coke because they only served their regular menu. So weird.
One of the first things you notice as a tourist in Krakow is the huge influence of the Catholic Church. While other European cities, like Prague or Copenhagen, have their fair share of churches, the society is generally very secular, as the churches serve as little more than reminders of a more religious past. You can tell from the second you leave the train that Polish society is overwhelmingly Catholic. Posters showing Pope John Paul II kissing feet are everywhere in the station. Priests and nuns can be seen walking the streets, robes poking out under thick parkas.
The first major tourist attraction we wanted to visit was the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of my tour guides during the school trip to Southern Moravia said it was his favorite place in all of Europe, so it came highly recommended. On the way to the minibus, we walked past a group of three women who looked so obviously like prostitutes that it was almost funny… crazy makeup, fish net stockings, huge black boots. Then gun shots rang out and one of them fell on the ground. People started running around and screaming, and a man with a gun ran through the crowd. Then, in a window above the square, a sniper stuck out a rifle and fired another shot. Needless to say, it was all more than a little shocking… until the director called “Cut!” in Polish. Of course, it would be just my luck to wander into the filming of a Polish action movie!
After my mini-heart attack, we found the minibus to the salt mines. Krakow has got to be the cheapest city I have been to so far, with the minibus costing less than one dollar. The salt mines don’t sound so spectacular, but let me assure you that they really are amazing. Maybe one of the most impressive places I have been to so far. The salt mines are an immense series of underground tunnels carved into solid chunks of crystal salt where the Poles have been mining salt for over 700 years. In each chamber, miners have carved statues over the centuries of famous historical figures, saints, gnomes, workers, and icons. They are seriously amazing. Even though the term “salt statues” gives the impression that they should be white and powdery (like carved sugar cubes), they actually look exactly like marble statues. The mines also include salt tiles (which also look like marble, expect that they are translucent when a flashlight is shined through them) and salt chandeliers (which look like glass and crystal).
I hate to make this blog sound like a lesson on geology, but it seemed interesting to me. Salt in the mines comes in two different forms, “cauliflower” and “stalactite,” and they look exactly like they sound. The salt ended up in the middle of Poland because there used to be a sea there in ancient times that dried up thousands (millions?) of years ago. After listening to our tour guide talk about salt (literally one of my favorite things in the world… I’m addicted), I needed to taste some. I broke off a chunk from the wall and ate it. Doesn’t sound like a half bad idea until you realize that you are ninety meters under the ground (on only the second of nine levels of the mine) with nothing to drink in sight!
The coolest part of the mines is the Saint Kinga Chapel, dedicated to the ancient queen who, according to legend, brought salt to the people of Poland. The chapel is a working Catholic church where mass is held every Sunday, hundreds of feet underground. Probably the most impressive interior space I have seen in Europe. Churches have definitely been more beautiful, but the fact that it is underground and made entirely out of salt just makes it immensely cooler. On one of the walls is a relief of “The Last Supper” made entirely out of salt. Although it is only six inches deep at its deepest point, the perspective achieved by the artist (just a normal miner) is truly unbelievable. The chapel also contains huge salt chandeliers and a life-size salt sculpture of Pope John Paul II.
After the mines, we tried to look for a really Polish lunch. I had kielbasa because it just seemed like the right thing to do. Goulash in Hungary, those open-faced sandwiches in Denmark, kielbasa in Poland… it’s a must. Even though I hate sausage, it was really good. After lunch, we went to the historic Old Town Square. Unlike Prague’s Old Town, which contains architecture from the Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance, Art Nouveau, and more modern periods, Krakow’s Old Town Square is almost exclusively Italian Renaissance in style. Lined with rows of arches and columns, I can only think to compare the architecture to the Italy pavilion in EPCOT. It is really beautiful, but I am still somewhat confused about why it looks so Italian.
By that point, about four in the afternoon, it was already dark and freezing. We went back to our hostel to check in… as usual, it was kind of an experience. In the stairwell leading up to our rooms was a drunk homeless man mumbling in Polish. When we got to our room, it was a huge dorm-style suite with five bunk beds. Of course, we have to be surrounded by weirdos, including a psychotic couple from Brno (the girl was about twenty-five and the man was about fifty), an Australian jerk who kept jumping off the top bunk and falling on the floor (and who said he liked to rob old ladies instead of doing touristy things… what?!), and a group of extremely dumb girls from Minnesota with Fargo accents. We had to get out of the room, so we went to dinner at another traditional Polish place. So delicious, and much better than Czech food. For less than ten dollars, I had borscht, a fried pierogi platter (with cabbage, potato, beef, and cheese ones), and an apple cake.
The next morning, we got up and went to Wawel Hill, Krakow’s castle complex which was right behind our hostel. We got there at about nine, just as the castle was opening for the morning. On the hill is Krakow’s cathedral. When we walked in to see the interiors, there ended up being a big group of priests and maybe even a cardinal (I couldn’t tell from the headpieces) praying on the altar. This was probably the first time I have ever actually seen a priest in a church because countries like the Czech Republic tend to treat churches more like tourist attractions than actual houses of worship. At the entrance to the cathedral is a pile of bones hung from a large black chain, meant to be the bones of Krak, a dragon that supposedly lived in Poland centuries ago. According to the guide book, they are actually made up of mammoth and rhino bones, but the legend seemed kind of interesting if a little weird. Next to the cathedral is the royal palace, which looks exactly like an Italian Renaissance palazzo. Picture the setting of that old film version of “Romeo and Juliet” and you can imagine the palace.
Coming down from Wawel Hill, we saw hundreds of Polish people walking up towards the castle, carrying flags and wearing red and white ribbons. Boy scouts, girl scouts, veterans in uniforms, women in folk costumes, old men with instruments, and tons of priests. November 11 ended up being Polish National Independence Day, and we just happened to be there! It was essentially a Polish Fourth of July with parades and folk costumes, and later that night we saw a concert of Polish folk singers in the main square. It was pretty cool.
Later that morning we went to Auschwitz and Birkenau. Needless to say, concentration camps are extremely difficult to talk or write about. It feels trivial to even call them depressing or sobering, but these are the only words that come to mind. Auschwitz was the first stop on our tour and it can only be characterized as literally nauseating. The camp is made up of brick barracks behind barbed wire fences and a gate that says “Work Makes Freedom” in German. Each of the buildings houses a different part of the museum. One of the saddest exhibits contains rooms full of personal effects, including a room full of suitcases, a room full of shoes, a room full of prosthetic body parts and crutches, and a room full of brushes and combs. The immensity of the genocide is made so much clearer when you are faced with piles upon piles of objects once owned by normal people not that long ago. By far the most depressing part of this section was the room full of hair shaved off the victims. More than anything, the exhibit made me angry. It is difficult to see. Next, we were taken to the gas chambers and crematorium. There is really nothing new to say about them that can shed any light on the magnitude of the tragedy. After Auschwitz, we drove to Birkenau, another concentration camp located about ten minutes away. While Auschwitz is definitely the more famous name, Birkenau seemed to be a much worse place. To begin with, the camp is about ten times larger than Auschwitz, and it is essentially a huge open field with primitive wooden barracks. It looks more like the conception I had in my brain of what a concentration camp would look like. I was glad to leave it.
Despite the somber tone of the second day, Krakow was a really great location offering a very different cultural experience (aka very Catholic) than I had found in other locations in Central and Eastern Europe. Needless to say, Auschwitz is life-changing. I would definitely recommend Poland as a travel destination. It will open your eyes to so much.
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Lorianne
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WOW
Sounds like Poland was amazing! Not to sound ridiculous, but the whole train/robes poking out of coats discussion at the beginning reminded me of Harry Potter! Hahaha! Can't wait till your plane ride takes you here to NY!!