Discovering Krakow - Present, Past and Future

Woman walking up to Wawel
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Our first impressions of Krakow was how beautiful and vibrant the city was, even as we were walking with heavy luggage to our hostel. Flowers were everywhere, families were laughing, young people were merry - people were literally dancing in the streets. The TV show "Happy Days" even came to mind. This is a strange thing to think of when you know the history of this city and the surrounding area, how a larger portion of the last 100 years have been tragic and grey. I immediately thought of how cities rebuilt themselves over and over, and how important it is to remember the history of places.

Photo of Pope John Paul II - Polish Pope from Krakow who died last year. He is very beloved in Poland.
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Emotions aside, this is a great city for tourists, and we were lucky to travel there during a week when most Polish people were on holidays (although we didn't know this beforehand). Things were busy, but the streets were exciting and just walking around was an attraction in itself. We booked a hostel beforehand, but I forgot to confirm it 24 hours in advance and we were redirected to another hostel. I'm glad though for it - the Pink Flamigo is a great hostel and it's brand new, clean, fun and close to everything. We were in Krakow for 3 days. Once we got to our hostel and were free from our luggage, we headed off in search of some great Polish food. Krakow is in no shortage of great places to eat, and you can find a variety of resturants down every street you come to off of the Rynek Glowny  (town square) and beyond. More on food later.... We had two days to explore the city. We decided to spend the first day to stroll through the town, visit the Wawel and explore the Kazimiez. The second day we decided that we would take a tguided tour of Aushwitz,  the largest former concentration camps.

Street performers
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Day 1 Although it was cloudy and slightly rainey, we had a great day exploring Wawel Hill. We learned that on nice days, this area is a popular place to have picnics and relax by the river, but today it was filled with tourists  visting the dragon staue (it breaths real fire)and the castle, cathedral and gardens up on the hill. Climbing the hill is good excercise. Once you are up there you can explore for a while and relax in a cafe before you need to climb back down. After we left the Wawel, we decided to explore Kazimierz, once one of Poland's largest Jewish neighborhoods. This neighborhood changed significantly during World War 2 when many Polish Jews were taken to Aushwitz and Birkenau. When you walk through the neighborhood now, you can see signs of it's former life - beautiful synagogues and Jewish resturants are here and can be found amongst a sea of bars, cafes and stores. Some buildings are crumbling, but you can see that the area is "up and coming." In fact, it's considered to have some of the best bars and nightlife spots in Krakow. It's a wierd thing to think of when you consider the history of the neighborhood. We spend hours here, hanging out in one of the cafes. On our way back we discovered that the square was filled with people dancing. There was a stage set up and performing artists -  fire dancing and other fire arts, people on stilts, and a band. It was a strange array of sights. We loved watching people dancing to folk music. The vibe in the air was happiness.

Elizabeth as we were walking into town
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Day 2

Today we took a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Although there are buses that travel to Aushwitz every hour, we decided to take a tour there - the tour included transportation,  a video during the 1 1/2 hour ride from Krakow, as well as a a guided tour once we were there. After we booked the tour, we realized that it would take all day (over 6 hours with transportation), so be prepared to spend the whole day. It was raining and cold when we went. We thought we'd be more emotional once we were there but in fact, it's so overwhelming that you are numb. It's the hardest thing to comprehend, that this type of horror could happen, even while you walk through the buildings and see the train tracks and the grounds. Listening to the tours guides is essential, and they allow you to walk through the some of the rooms silence.

In the Rynek Glowny (town square) in the Stare Miastro (old town)
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The buildings at Aushwitz reminded me of an  an army base. It's Birkenau that really floors you. Some of the wooden buildings were burnt down by fleeing Nazi's so just the chimneys remain. We got back into town later on that night, pretty tired but decided to go out anyway. Seems a little strange to go out drinking after such a day.... We went to a club called Frantic across the street from our hostel and enjoyed the little cave rooms with different dj's. Danced for a little while but mostly just found a lounge type room to talk in and drink Vodka. The next day we headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Zakopane.