Krakow to Zakopane

5 January 2011 – Krakow

This morning we continued our exploration of the area immediately around Krakow's main market square.

The Basilica by day

Our first planned event for the day was a visit to Princes Czartoryski Museum. We’re on a mission to see all of the few remaining Leonardo da Vinci paintings in the world. Krakow has one and it’s in this museum. We were so excited as we made our way down the street. Excitement soon turned to disappointment as we read the sign on the door which said that the museum is currently undergoing renovation and will be closed for another month!! Perhaps we’ll have to come back to Krakow some other time – not such a bad thing!

The old town wall

Next stop was a visit to Wawel – a hilltop area with a beautiful castle and cathedral. For over 500 years, Polish monarchs were crowned here, ruled from here and were buried here. Our visit focused on the cathedral, which was consecrated in 1364. We really enjoyed climbing the bell tower to see the Sigismund Bell, which is 2m high, 2.5 m in diameter and weighs 11 tonnes.

Wawel

The cathedral

Sigismund Bell

Climbing the bell tower

From Wawel we made our way to Kazimierz – now an inner suburb or Krakow but once an independent town with its own laws. Within Kazimierz is an area which for centuries was the centre of Jewish culture – until the mass deportation and execution of Jews during WWII. In 1939 approximately 65,000 Jews lived in Krakow (mostly in Kazimierz). Only about 6000 survived the war. The architecture in this area is really beautiful.

Kazimierz

Our journey of discovery then took us across the river to Podgorze – another part of Krakow which is significant in terms of Jewish history. During WWII, approximately 15,000 Jews were forced to live here in a ghetto, and from here they were ‘selected’ to either stay or be put on a train destined for a concentration camp. Plac Bohaterow Getta is a square in the centre of this former ghetto – this is where the ‘selections’ took place. Now the area is somewhat of a memorial. It contains 70 empty chairs which represent the furniture and other possessions discarded by those destined for the camps.

While in Podgorze, we visited Oskar Schindler’s enamelware factory – which has now been turned into a museum of the occupation of Krakow. Only recently opened, this museum is very cutting edge. The exhibitions are extremely well thought out and life in Krakow has been represented very authentically. A must see.

As we had walked and walked all day – away from the centre of town – we had quite a walk back to the main market square for our evening’s entertainment – a piano recital in a beautifully restored house. The pianist was wonderful – the composer Chopin (quite appropriate for a visit to Poland, we thought) – the surroundings beautiful. A fabulous end to a fascinating day.

A quick snack (sausage on bread, of course) in the main market square - before the recital

The beautiful recital room

6 January – Auschwitz and Wieliczka

There are two ‘must see’ spots just outside of Krakow. One is Auschwitz which needs no introduction and the other is Wieliczka – a salt mine which has been in continual use for over 700 years. Today, we visited both of those sites.

A visit to Auschwitz is a life-changing experience. It has two parts – the original Auschwitz which was set up by the Germans in 1940 in pre-existing buildings (once Polish army barracks) and Birkenau (also referred to as Auschwitz II) which was purpose built 2km away in 1941 and 1942. Approximately 1.6 million people of 27 different nationalities were killed here. Of those, 1.1 million were Jews. We think the pictures below capture the mood.

Later in the afternoon we visited Wieliczka – the salt mine. This was well worth the journey. Our visit took us about 135m below ground (via nearly 400 steps) through a maze of tunnels and chambers – all carved by hand from salt. Some of the chambers have been carved into chapels, complete with statues and altarpieces. In all, we apparently walked for 2km and still only saw 1% of the total mine.

One of the many tunnels

A relief of The Last Supper - carved by a miner into the salt wall of an underground cathedral

A refreshment stop in an underground cafe carved into the salt - the 'deepest' beer Phil has ever had!

Finished our day with a great evening back in Krakow – a wonderful little café for dinner and then a visit to Piec ‘Art – a jazz club for a night cap. This has been a really enjoyable city to visit and we’d love to come back again.

7 January 2011 – Krakow to Zakopane

Today we commenced our journey into the Tatra mountains. We were up early and at Krakow’s coach station in time for our bus to Zakopane – Poland’s winter sports capital. Once a small mountain village, Zakopane became quite well known in the late 1800s when writers, composers and artists started to visit looking for inspiration.

Zakopane is about 850m above sea level. After exploring the beautiful village itself, marveling at the lovely wooden buildings and tasting the amazing food, we took the funicular to Mt Gubalowka – 300m higher. We had a great afternoon on the mountain watching the skiers and doing the usual silly things – snow-ball fights, making snow angels, building a snowman… Phil even tried one of the local specialities – hot beer with honey. Let’s just say he’s not really a fan.

Mmmm... hot beer... and drunk through a straw!!!

The funicular track

No explanation needed!

Meet Stanislaus - our Polish snowman

The beautiful 'Old Church' in Zakopane - built in 1851. A new church was built when the congregation outgrew this one.

Speaking of beer – a few friends have emailed us suggesting we should extend the original challenge of a new beer each day in England to include a new beer / drink for each country we visit while in this part of the world. Well – owing to popular demand – Phil has taken on this additional challenge. The results for Poland are:

New beers: Tyskie and Zywiec

New vodkas: Polonaise and Soplica

And so – tomorrow we head across the top of the Tatras into Slovakia! A new mountain village, a new language, new beers… We have no idea how we're going to get there - no transport arranged - no plans... Watch this space!