A few weeks ago I enjoyed a merry jaunt to Poland with my dear friend Niki. I managed to get through my fear of public transport and safely (and remarkably easily) arrive in Krakow, Poland. Our days were spent wandering the city consuming delicious food and wine while enjoying museums, galleries and the streets.
Krakow is a beautiful city, full of interesting buildings, history and legends. We found ourselves in fantastic restaurants eating either hearty traditional Polish food or scrumptious Italian. We enjoyed a photo exhibition of surrealist artist Rene Magritte, took a turn around Wawel Castle, a gawk at the Dragon festival parade, a wander through the Jewish quarter, tried to go shopping (and accidentally found every second hand shop in town), entered a few churches and solemnly visited Auschwitz I - Auschwitz II Birkenau.
The downside of Krakow is that it has a lot of tourists. The upside is that there are English translations of all menus. I recommend going on one of the free walking tours if you happen to be visiting. However, take some snacks and comfy shoes. I accidentally joined this tour five minutes after it started and didn't realise it went for two hours. All in all it was a pretty great trip.
Click on the link to the right and it will take you to the web albums as usual. I've divided this album in two. One album is of Krakow city and Niki and I being silly and the other is of Auschwitz. For those of you who wish to look at the Auschwitz photos, click here Auschwitz Album.
I know visiting Auschwitz is not everyone's cup of tea and originally I wasn't going to go either but in the end I'm glad I did. I felt that I probably wouldn't get this chance again and it has certainly affected me. I think what got to me most is the shear enormity of the whole operation. Although this sounds corny, the experience of being there is grounding, incredible and unimaginable. It's not just in a movie or history book, it actually happened to real people by real people on a monstrous scale. Any description I give would not do the place nor my feelings about it justice. All I can say is that I came away with an extremely sad feeling, amongst others, and that's putting it mildly. After being at Auschwitz it was relieving and uplifting to return to Krakow. Firstly, one really needs a drink after being there and secondly, it's nice to see such a thriving city and if it's recovery and vitality is anything to go by, then visiting any part of Poland is a must.
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