March 4-8
Heading off to Krakow meant the first trip to Poland for me… I didn’t know a lot about Krakow but had been a place of interest for me for a while.
I stayed at Mamas Hostel very central, just off the main market square and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone travelling to Krakow! Staff were fantastic, it was clean, comfortable, spacious and I met some very interesting people there…
Got in quite late on Saturday night, so after a quick chat I headed to bed for some kip. On Sunday I did a Jewish heritage walk, I opted for a guided tour this time due to the fact that I really wanted the knowledge on various things on this walk. My tour guide was Phil, and due to cold, non-tourist season, I was fortunate to be the only one taking the tour which allowed for us to talk a lot more about various parts of the tour, history and even good ol NZ which was of great interest to Phil. Many parts of the walk could be attributed to various scenes in the film “Schindlers List” which I found particularly interesting as I had not made the connection that Krakow was infact where this story took place. It really was such an interesting tour and I was very moved by the experience. Half way through the tour we also stopped off at a local pub and had a traditional drink in Poland warm (and spiced) beer (much better than it sounds I promise!)
After the tour I did a trip up to Wawel Castle which is set just off the centre of the city and along the river – a beautiful backdrop! Not as grand as some that I have seen but full of history and many a story to tell behind those walls I’m sure! After this it was back to the main square for a kebab (Krakow is full of kebab spots) – and it tasted fantastic!
That night Olivia (one of the girls I met at the hostel) and I went out and sampled the local booze – glass of apple juice accompanied by a very large shot a vodka! After a number of these we went to a Polish restaurant and had the most heavenly traditional Polish meal consisting of mushrooms (stroganoff style) and dumplings for starters, salmon and steak for mains and unfortunately absolutely no room for desert! Was an exceptional little restaurant…
The next day it was more walking around Krakow and after several hours of this I stopped off at a crepe place that had been recommended for lunch (very nice!) and then coffee at a local café… I then took myself back to the hostel for some afternoon R&R curled up on the couch reading a book. That night I ate at a Georgian restaurant, food was very enjoyable and so was the local Polish beer – oh and so was the gorgeous waiter that served me!!
The next day ZZ arrived early morning from Prague and after breaky at the hostel we took ourselves off for our day trip to Auschwitz. This was not the first visit to a concentration camp (the first one was Dachau in Munich) and to be really honest the first time you see and feel the horrors of such a place it is so utterly moving and emotional… something you can never forget. Given that Auschwitz was the second camp I did not suffer from shock and sheer disbelief as I had the first time. I still found it to be a very sobering and historic experience but was fortunately not left as heartbroken at the end of this visit…. I think this is an experience that everyone should do once in their lifetime… In the evening ZZ and I ate in a Medieval restaurant that served Polish food, once again the food was gorgeous and I found a new addiction with the local mushroom dish….
Next day we went to the Salt Mines – something I know very little about and they were simply fabulous – quite amazing to see these parts of our planet, incredible to think these places exist – was such a new thing for me to have seen and really enjoyed the experience.
That night, I flew back to London dreaming about what the next trip will be…. Krakow was a simple and pretty city so full of history… Polish people were lovely – so friendly… plenty of snow lay around the city and plenty of sun shone through the clear blue skies, the weather was amazing and the air so fresh!!
Loved my time at the hostel, particularly some of the interesting conversations I had with several people I met – the lovely thing about travelling and broadening your mind to new experiences…
