Krakow

Meagan at the Christmas market
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Krakow was a very special and amazing place for several reasons. It was our first stop in Poland and it was absolutely nothing like what we imagined it would be. To begin with it had the most beautiful old town with a fantastic market square. To make this even better it had an awesome christmas market running with some excellent polish sausage and wonderful waffles. Krakow also has a fantastic castle area where the Kings and Queens of Poland ruled for many years. The town also has a fun myth about its origins which involves a cobbler, a dragon and a sheep filled with sulpher. To top it off the Polish people were wonderful to us and the price of things also helped.

The largest market square in Europe
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Krakow is also in close proximity to one of the most horrific places on earth - Auschwitz. Our tour leader at the camp used a quote from one of the Holocaust survivors saying "Men invented this camp, but they are unable to create words to describe how horrific it was." We feel we cannot say much more than this but are really glad we were able to show respect to the victims and can help remember the atrocities that happened here and across Europe so that they can never be repeated.

Our final day was spent doing a walking tour of the old Jewish quarter and seeing Oscar Schindlers factory. We had the best tour leader for this who gave us heaps of insights into not only the Jewish history but also Polish lifestyle.

Sky rats foraging for food
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This was going to be our only stop in Poland but after having such a memorable and enjoyable time here we dicided to continue in this country and make our way to Warsaw.