Krakow, Poland

Old market in the biggest square in europe
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Personal Commentary

Next stop after Budapest, Hungary on our Eastern European tour was Krakow, Poland. We had a bit of trouble getting there, however. We left Krakow on our bus that we had chartered from Krakow to Prague, and everything was going fine along our supposed-to-be-8-hour bus ride. We stopped unnecessarily to get dinner at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere in Slovakia so the bus driver could take his mandatory 45 minute break. We ended up staying at the restaurant for 2 hours because of how long it took everyone to be served .Some people got sick from the potatoes, then we all piled back on the bus to tackle the remaining 4 hours.

Do they really Polka in Poland?

statue of Copernicus
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Well, about forty minutes later, the bus starts slowing down and finally stops in the middle of the road. None of us could figure out what was going on. The bus turns off, and turns back on. Turns off, and turns back on. We can hear the driver revving the engine, but we're not moving anywhere. It turns out that we blew our transmission, and it didn't surprise me because we had been inching up some pretty steep hills following a really slow truk in a double decker bus. It could not have been good on the gears.

Square in Krakow
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So we wait, and wait and wait. The bus driver tells us to get off the bus. Its 30 degrees outside and dark. We all get out and stand in the empty grocery store parking lot with nothing but Slovakian fields and mountains surrounding us. Finally we think up an old camp game to keep us entertained. We play it for three hours until we get news that we have to either wait another 3 hours for another bus to come from Budapest, 2 hours to wait for the mechanic, or  2 hours to wait for another bus to come from somewhere else to rescue us. We end up waiting the 2 hours for another bus and a mechanic who says they can't fix it. So we all get on the new bus, which is more like a tram used for pubic transportation, and ride the rest of the way back to Krakow, arriving at 3AM. Our professors were nice enough to cancel our 8AM meeting for the next day.

Cathedral on top of the mountain in Krakow, showing different eras of architecture
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So about Krakow; After having been dazzled by Budapest, I wondered if Krakow would be able to compete. We arrived late and so went to bed as soon as we got to our second Ibis Hotel of the trip. The next day, we woke up relatively early to go down and take advantage of the beautiful breakfast that all Ibises offer and then we were off to our first meeting at the Institute of Security (ISS) and a walking tour of Krakow.

The meeting was led by a relatively young man who had actually made a powerpoint presentation, which we were pleased to see, as it kept us engaged during the presentation on Poland’s involvement with the EU and its security concerns, specifically concerning its acceptance of the Missile Defense Shield agreement with the US. It was refreshing to have a younger speaker and someone who would answer our questions without dodging them, as we had gotten so used to that kind of response from most of the political speakers.

Taylor and me eating Polish peirogis!
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The walking tour was extremely enjoyable, as the tour guide was very friendly, enthusiastic, and had a refreshing sense of humor. She led us around the cobblestone streets of the city, pointing out the largest and perhaps oldest square in Europe in the center of Krakow and telling us the legends and histories of buildings and churches, mentioning particularly the involvement of the Catholic Church during the Solidarity movement against the Soviet occupation.

Recently I’ve just learned more about this in my Political Cultures class. The Catholic Church has played an extremely important role in Polish history, even before the Soviet occupation. Poland has a history of being occupied by other empires, and during the 19^th century, she was particularly divided between the Ottoman Empire, who were Protestants, and the Russians, who were Orthodox. Then next, of course, came the atheist Communists, and so over the past few hundred years Catholicism (specifically the institution of the Catholic Church) and Polish nationalism have become almost synonymous as the Poles have clung to religion and sense of community to resist their leaders. They were especially proud to have the first non-Italian Pope, John Paul II, come from Poland!

peirogis!
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Sorry for the sidenote… back to our trip: during the tour, we visited the Central European University, which is so old that Copernicus studied there. The university still has some of his tools that he used and there is a statue to honor him in one of the parks. We also learned that during Soviet occupation, some professors held secret classes so that students could still study while the communists were suppressing education. John Paul was one of the people to attend these secret classes.

where we had a meeting on security
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Next on the tour, we hiked up a hill to see the royal castle and cathedral. I have pictures of the cathedral, which I thought was the most interesting part. The cathedral was first built hundreds of years ago, and since additional chapels have been added on. From the in and outside, you can observe the different styles of architecture over the years from these little chapels. I bet Catherine can identify which eras they come from!

Later the first night, we wanted to find some traditional Polish food, so we found a restaurant near the city center that had peirogis on the menu. Meat periogis, cabbage periogis, and cheese and potato peirogis!! I have a picture of them, but in case you can’t see the detail, they are a dumpling-like food filled with the above ingredients, and very very good!

The spire where the flute plays every hour
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In general, I really liked the Central and Eastern European cuisine. It was very very fatty though. Of course in Hungary we had goulash, it was too spicy for my tastes though. A common meal included a kind of meat with a brown sauce and either fries, fried potatoes, or sliced bread dumplings. A side of white and red cabbage was also really common, which was marinated in a sweet or sour sauce. I am really craving an eastern European meal right now as I’m writing this!! That was actually one of the many things that surprised me: I really had no idea what to expect for food either and now here I am daydreaming about the meals we had. Just to add- of course you could find Italian, Asian, Indian, and just about any other kind of food your heart desired, because we were in the big cities.

The courtyard of the original building of the Central European University
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The next two days we spent going to a couple more meetings and walking around the city. We went window shopping some, and I actually bought a pair of cheap jeans from a small store. They’re cute though J

So below is my more critical reflection of Krakow. Perhaps the most interesting, besides the political analysis, is the legends and folklore section. This was something else that I was completely unaware of about Polish culture.

Analytical Reflection of Krakow, Poland:

Courtyard of the old royal family's castle on the hill
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Legend and Folklore

Just as my expectations for Budapest were disproven, so were my expectations for Krakow. Because the city had been untouched during both of the World Wars, unlike Warsaw which was almost completely destroyed, the city retained even more of its ancient history through its architecture. I have always been fascinated with Medieval History, so the legend of the shoemaker, Crak, for whom the city is named because he killed the dragon that menaced the city, gave me a glimpse into the folklore that is still preserved as part of Polish culture. The trumpet player in St. Mary’s Cathedral is another example of this preservation of legend as it is said that the trumpet player was the only warning that the townspeople had when the barbarian Tartar hordes invaded the city 800 years ago, so he plays the same legendary song on the hour to commemorate this.

Economic Situation of Poland

Economically, I could perceive the difference in Krakow from Budapest. Not only was the currency stronger, but there was a greater variety of shops, many of which were western European and even American chains and the standard of living seemed to be generally greater. This impression coincides with the fact that Poland does have one of the more stable economies of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the second lowest inflation rate of the EU’s Eastern European nations. ^[1]

Polish Politics

Politically, I was perplexed by Poland’s willingness to cooperate with the United States concerning the Missile Defense Shield, the plans for which were finalized while we were in Budapest. I was confused because one of the articles that we read before leaving stated that the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, said in his inauguration speech that in addition to leaving Iraq, he had a general desire to move away from relations with the United States.^[2] I hypothesize that Tusk made this statement in an effort to maintain neutral relations with Russia, but it seems that taking such a drastic pro-US action such as signing onto this Defense Plan is blatantly contradictory and somewhat risky for Russo-Polish relations.

[1] “A look at inflation rates across EU’s Eastern Europe nations.” International Herald Tribune . 20 February 2008. [2] “New Polish Prime Minister to Loosen Ties with US.” The Guardian . 24 November 2007.