Krakow, Poland: "I have 10 Polish Money"

I had no clue what to expect when I arrived in Krakow, Poland. This was a city that I quite honestly did not know anything about, except for a lot of history around the time of World War II. We spent the entire day on Monday driving from Prague to Krakow and we finally arrived in Poland to stormy skies, chilly weather, and grey, dilapidated-looking buildings around the outskirts of the city center. Our hotel didn’t seem to be anywhere near the main part of Krakow, but we were surprised to find out that the city center was hiding just behind some trees around the corner! So we actually were very close, which was great because we were on our own to get dinner that first evening.

Eddye, Anna, Elise, Grant, Christianne, and I set off towards a restaurant called Smakołyki that we had been told had authentic Polish food at incredibly cheap prices. On the way, we stopped off at an ATM to take out some Polish złoty (pronounced zwoh-tee). Just 30 Euro gave me 150 złoty! And then my authentic chicken, rice, and potato meal cost just 17 złoty! I thought Prague was supposed to be a cheap city, but I’m starting to think that Krakow might be even less expensive!

Dinner at Smakołyki!

We walked past a huge square surrounded by gorgeous, lit up buildings and chapel-like structures, but since it was so dark, we had no idea what anything was. It was still fun to take pictures and guess, and we’d probably learn all about them the next day during our morning walking tour.

Walking through the lit up square!

The group of us, and a few others who had joined us on the walk across the large square in the chilly drizzle, skirted around some horse-drawn carriages towards what was a Soviet Pub. The entire entrance stairwell down was plastered in different newspapers and looked very retro. The underground bar had three different rooms, one of which was playing very loud 60s music. Everyone ordered drinks (one girl asked for Sangria in Polish and ended up with two small mason jars of plain Coke) and we just sat and hung out in the chill ambiance. Surprisingly, traveling all day in a bus leaves you exhausted and completely drained. Elise and I headed home around 11pm to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Enjoying the evening at a Soviet Bar!

The next morning, I discovered an amazing vanilla green tea at the hotel breakfast (and obviously snagged a few teabags to take back home to Vienna with me). It was my breakfast highlight. Outside, it was pouring with rain and really cold, so I was extremely glad to have brought my rain boots along. Most people came with incredibly small suitcases, whereas mine is quite large. However, only one other person had rain boots and I had packed for all kinds of weather. Anna had to borrow a down coat and scarf of mine because she was so cold. Sometimes it pays off to be over-prepared!

I love that I can stand in puddles

Our walking tour started at 8:30am in the hotel lobby. Our tour guide, Christina, was a very funny and personable Polish woman who definitely knew her history. The only major downside was that it poured relentlessly all morning, and so everyone was shivering and soaked, and sometimes couldn’t hear what Christina was saying; we had no CIA-style earpieces today.

Touring with umbrellas is difficult

Christina showed us the Main Market Square my friends and I had come across the day before. The large church was St. Mary's Basilica and we stopped to listen to the bugle call from the topmost tower that happens every hour. Apparently, this tradition began in 1241 when a fireman spotted invading forces coming into Krakow. He began to play the bugle, but was shot in the neck, abruptly cutting off the melody. The tune has been preserved and is still played today by firemen every hour, but cuts off abruptly at the end, just as it did the first time in 1241.

St. Mary's Basilica (the bugle-blower is in the top middle window!)

Market Square

After exploring some of the side streets branching off from the square, we came across SS Peter and Paul's Church, with the 12 disciples standing out front. It was quite an impressive church, despite some construction. 

(I actually took this the next day, when it was sunny and beautiful outside!)

As we kept walking, we came to the towering Wawel Castle and climbed up. The views were very impressive, and we got to go inside the cathedral built in 1020 AD, which was ornately decorated and had the tombs of notable Polish kings and rulers, as well as many poets. Poets were as revered as rulers and thought to have deserved a final resting place in the Wawel Cathedral crypt alongside Polish royalty! Besides the crypt, we got to climb to the top of the belltower and look over all of Krakow with a massive, 13-ton brass bell behind us. As we left, we each laid a hand on the Sigismund Bell hanging above us, the symbol of Polish nationalism, and made a wish. Who knows if the local lore is true and our wishes will be granted! I feel so lucky to be traveling around Eastern Europe that I couldn't think of what to possibly wish for!

View above Krakow. It looks a bit like Prague, but way smaller!

The Sigismund Bell

We walked around Wawel Castle for a while longer, and heard some old legends about a dragon being defeated just below the castle by the river. Apparently, some mammoth bones were found back in the day, and the Polish people believed them to be dragon bones. They still hang in front of the cathedral today. In addition, the dragon lair is still by the river, and I promised Grant we could go by it tomorrow when it wasn't raining quite so much. We were all soaked, but Christina was a good tour guide and kept us interested. And my feet were dry so I didn't mind!

Outside of the Wawel Castle Cathedral

What were thought to be dragon bones, now hanging in front of the Cathedral

After Wawel Castle, Christina took us to Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter of Krakow. Poland has a rich Jewish history that extends to far more than most people know. Kazimierz was founded by King Kazimierz the Great in 1335 and was the center of Jewish life for more than 500 years before it was destroyed during World War II. Since the 1990s, it has been rediscovered and restored, partly through the help of Stephen Spielberg with his film, "Schindler's List," which was filmed in Kazimierz. The area is now very bohemian and easily walkable, and so we passed markets, synagogues (the High, Issac, and Old), cemeteries (The New Jewish Cemetery), delis and restaurants, and a very cool Polish car parked on the sidewalk. Exploring the Jewish area was very interesting and I really liked learning more about the Jewish culture and history before World War II in Krakow. I enjoyed my morning, despite the relentless tap of raindrops on my umbrella that hindered my view of everything and the non-stop walking. Too bad all the IES meals are so heavy, otherwise we'd all be slimming down with all the walking we're doing!

Part of Kazimierz where Spielberg filmed "Schindler's List"

Artsy car in Poland (also, most cars I've seen in Poland have been very old fashioned like this one, as if the western models haven't made it over to the country yet)

Jewish Cemetery

It's a tradition to put stones, rather than flowers, at Jewish graves

On that note, we had lunch at the hotel (it was a simple pasta dish with fruit for dessert...so not too heavy for once!) and then got on the buses around 2pm to go visit Auschwitz and Birkenau, the two concentration camps in Poland from World War II. The rain had started sheeting down even harder and the temperature had dropped to 11 degrees Celsius, so we all knew this visit would be even more emotionally jarring than if it had been lovely, sunny weather.

I've seen photos of the two concentration camps in textbooks, as well as when my best friend Danielle came to Poland and visited them, but I really didn't expect what was there. Auschwitz was the largest death camp site in the Third Reich during World War II, where between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people were exterminated. As we drove up to the camp, I realized that there was a tiny, rural town nearby that we happened to be driving through. I don't understand how anybody could live so close to the camps. Who would want that constant reminder of all the death that happened there? We even passed a large shopping mall not five minutes away from Auschwitz!

At the camp, we all got headsets and followed our new tour guide through a gate underneath a replica of the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes You Free) sign (the original was stolen and destroyed in 2009) in the freezing rain. 

Entrance to Auschwitz, under the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign

Auschwitz was originally a Polish military barrack that the Nazi's transformed into a concentration camp to keep Jews and Soviet POWs. Our guide took us through several blocks, showing us how Jews were transported in cattle trains and their possessions were taken and picked through. We saw a mountain of shoes that were taken by the Nazis, as well as the disturbing display of over 7 tons of human hair once destined for German factories. We also saw the living quarters of the prisoners, and a creepy hallway with photographs of prisoners in their striped uniforms with shaved heads. It was sad and I couldn't tear my eyes away from the birth and death dates. Almost all of them were under 60. Block 11 on the tour was quite horrible as well. It was called the "Death Block." Outside, there is "The Wall of Death," against which over thousands of prisoners were shot dead. Our guide, emotionless in voice, but so suspenseful in his delivery of the facts and stories, told us about the "Wall of Death" and it was at this point that many people started to cry.

Auschwitz

Photographs of prisoners

Artistic depiction of the Wall of Death, where thousands of prisoners were shot

The last part of the tour took us to the horrifying and gruesome gas chamber and crematoria. Inside were two furnaces that could burn 350 corpses daily. We all walked into the gas chamber and just stood in complete silence for almost five minutes. None of us could move or even dare breathe. The small, low-ceilinged cement room was a dull greenish-grey, and we could see the fake "sprinklers" protruding from the ceiling. Jews thought they were to be given a bath in this room, but instead, they were gassed to death. Along the walls you could see scratch marks and nicks in the cement. It took me a minute before it hit me: the marks were people's fingernails as they struggled to get out of the gas chamber. The frantic marks were everywhere, even up to the ceilings, and I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach that such atrocities had happened in recent memory. Anybody who has visited Auschwitz can tell you how moving the experience is. As hard as it was to tour the Muzeum Auschwitz, it's something I had to do, having learned so much about WWII. I needed to see the physical space where the crimes against humanity occurred. How people can deny the Holocaust is completely beyond me, especially when proof such as Auschwitz is around.

From Auschwitz, we got back onto the bus to drive 3km to the other concentration camp, Birkenau. The bus ride was completely silent. It was a lot to handle. 

While Auschwitz had been more of a museum, with many of the former elements of the concentration camp now having displays and written guides, Birkenau was not. It was raw. Birkenau was the concentration camp, over twice as large as Auschwitz, left exactly as it was since WWII. I didn't expect for it to be so spread out nor have almost not buildings or structures. It was flat and empty and desolate. The pouring rain and freezing temperature helped us see what a terrifying and gruesome place this once was. From the dark train tracks and tall watch houses to the 8-person-per-bed collapsed bunk beds in what should have been horses' stables, Birkenau was quite truly a place out of nightmares. 

Railroad tracks leading into Birkenau

Lodging for prisoners, as well as gas chambers, and various other horrific places

It was hard to see and even harder to leave the concentration camps knowing that we were headed to eat a warm dinner and watch a lively Israeli band play for us. But now we have all experienced the horrors left behind by World War II, and it was an important experience for all of us.

Birkenau from the outside

Dinner was at a restaurant called Ariel's, and it was a cosy, cluttered Jewish restaurant with, of course, a full three course meal. As we stuffed ourselves on the heavy food (which I really wasn't a fan of, hence didn't eat much), an Israeli band came and played various tunes. I recognized some but most I didn't. It was nice to listen to an accordion, violin, and bass play together. I thoroughly enjoyed the music!

The next day in Poland was a free day for each of us. Eddye, Grant, and I had been craving a real breakfast, away from hotels, and so decided on Alchemia, in Kazimierz. We took a bit of a roundabout way to find the restaurant we had passed yesterday morning, but my sense of direction didn't steer us wrong and I managed to get us back to the restaurant the way I had passed it. It was such a cool place! It was dark and bohemian and very hipster. I got some delicious apple, honey, and cinnamon pancakes (at a low price thanks to how inexpensive Krakow is) and then we three set off to find a bus to take us to Wieliczka, where the famous Salt Mines are. 

Alchemia for breakfast!

On the way, we stumbled across an amazing pastry shop. Despite just finishing breakfast, Eddye and Grant picked a pastry each and munched happily while we walked to where the bus stop was. 

EVERYTHING LOOKED SO GOOD

We eventually found the right bus and, thirty minutes later, disembarked on a small road in the middle-of-nowhere Poland. It was already so rural and so completely different from Krakow! However, we picked our way down a grassy hill and across train tracks and finally saw the Wieliczka Salt Mines come into view. After buying our ticket and joining the 11am tour, we were headed down, deep down, into the depths of the salt mine with our guide. 

380 wooden stairs later, we were in the mine, 64 meters underground. We wandered through endless, twisting tunnels while our guide led the way and told us about the life of the miners, the work they did, how the salt came to be here and extraction techniques, and the history of the site. It was absolutely enormous! The miners even brought horses down here to lug gigantic carts of salt and timber in the underground tunnels. Some rooms were huge, as well, and even had salt-crystal chandeliers, church alters, and salt carved statues in them! A lot of the rooms had lakes as well, one even had a boat for rides!

A large chamber with salt-crystal chandeliers, more than 90m below the ground

Eddye and I in front of "The Last Supper" salt wall carving

An alter within the salt mine chambers 

The walls were all made of salt! So licking them was interesting (and encouraged, surprisingly)...

We decided to skip visiting the optional museum afterwards, because walking for 3 hours in 15 degrees Celsius underground was no easy feat. Instead, we walked past the Saltworks Castle, which serves as the administrative seat of the Cracow Saltworks Board. It was quite picturesque, and after snapping a photo, we embarked on an adventure to take a different bus from a different part of the tiny town, back to Krakow. Eventually, we managed to hop of the bus and each buy a ticket, and lucky we did! We got checked by a plainclothes ticket collector when we were nearer to Krakow! We've never experienced it in Vienna, so this was a first! 

Saltworks Castle and chapel behind the wall

Grant, Eddye, and I jumped off in the new, modern part of Krakow, and immediately bought ourselves Obwarzanecks. These have become the staple and unofficial symbol of the city. Obwarzaneck is a doughy, bagel-like ring, unevenly sprinkled with salt, poppy, and sesame seeds, and they are sold at every street corner from rolling carts fro about 1.50 złoty. They were most likely invented by Krakow Jews in 1496. So these Obwarzanecks have been around Krakow for more than 600 years! And they were very delicious!

Grant and I munching on our Obwarzanecks

We walked around the new town and made it back to the Market Square to shop for a little bit in the side streets and see the Cloth Market, which was sort of like a bazaar for touristy things. 

Grant was on the hunt for a Polish shot glass, Eddye wanted new shoes, and I had to stock up on postcards, so we set off in pursuit. Two hours later, we were happily eating gelato and reveling in our new purchases. We'd promised Grant we'd go see the dragon's lair, so we made our way back to the base of Wawel Castle by the river to take a look. There were a ton of teenage students there on a group tour, so we ended up just enjoying the sun by the river. After the pouring rain and freezing temperatures yesterday, we were glad the weather had cleared and warmed up for our day off of touring with IES!

Hanging out by the river

We met everyone for dinner (Anna and Elise had gone shopping and visited the crown jewels and state apartments today) and IES had bought us IMMENSE meat platters filled with different meats, as well as soup, salad, and a cheesecake dessert (lucky I don't like cheesecake otherwise I would have exploded with all the food). Eddye and I quickly dug out all the chicken from the meat platter, and left the pork for the others. It's annoying how often Eastern European countries eat pork...I thought Krakow's Jewish population would have changed this issue around! However, dinner was by Market Square, and not in Kazimierz, unfortunately. But at least the chicken and salad tasted good!

After dinner, Eddye, Anna, Grant, CC, Julia, Carly, and I went out to three different clubs in central Krakow. It was chilly, and started to rain a tiny bit, but we didn't mind. However, clubbing on a Wednesday night wasn't the best idea. No one goes out on a Wednesday. Most of the time, it was just the seven of us frequenting the bar area. In one club, it actually was just us on the dance floor, yet the DJ wouldn't play the songs we asked for. Ministerstwo, the first club, was very cool inside, but we left that around midnight to check out the dancing at Fever. Fever was creepy. It was full of creepy guys and men and very awkward girls, but again, I would mostly blame that on it being a Wednesday night. Mostly. The final club, Diva, was such a joke because we were the only ones in there. I felt like the Inbetweeners, where somebody outside a club persuades you to go inside, promising it is so much fun, and then when you actually go in, there's no one around...our night was JUST like the Inbetweeners movie! By 2am, we called it quits and laughed about our night as we walked back to the hotel. At least we rallied on our last night in Krakow!

Julia, CC, Carly, Anna, and I out at Diva Nightclub

I didn't expect Poland to be one of my favorite cities on this trip. I'm not sure if I would go back, but I really enjoyed visiting the country and loved learning about the history. The city is so incredibly safe and small, as well. I felt like I was on a college campus the whole time, with all the ornate structures like St. Mary's and Wawel Castle, and grassy parks by the river and dorm-like buildings. And Market Square acted as the quad, with all the "frat houses", or clubs, right around it! I liked Krakow, but living in a city that is easily walkable within an afternoon would be hard for me. For a two day visit, however, it was absolutely perfect.