So last time I posted, I was on an overnight train from Budapest to Krakow. I got into Krakow at about 8am and bade farewell to Tom and Kaisey, and then went to dump my luggage at the hostel. Luggage deposited, it was time to explore the Old Town. I need to kill about 6 hours before Tash and Aniqa arrived. Luckily, much like in most other cities, there was a free walking tour that took up three hours of my time. And this guide was great. She was really knowledgeable and being pretty also helped haha. But more than that, she was just really engaging, and I actually learnt (and retained) a lot as evidenced later when I took Aniqa and Tash on a tour.
Interesting trivia learnt on the tour:
- Kosciuszko was a polish guy (also learnt the correct way to pronounce the name)
- Wawel Castle apparently contains one of seven chakra points on the globe, the others being in more appropriate religious havens such as Rome, Mecca, Jerusalem and Delphi
- The king of Poland was actually Swedish at the time and he burnt down half of his castle
Anyways, tour done, I went and abused Wi-Fi at maccas until it came time to meet Tash and Aniqa at the station. And of course they were delayed. After 40 minutes of waiting, they finally emerged. So excited!! It was a mini Alcheknights reunion!! Who would have thought that it would happen on the other side of the world?! It was so great to see them and was nice to be with friends again. After leading them back to the hostel like a pro, we headed out to explore the Jewish Quarter. It actually wasn't as interesting as we had expected and seemed quite industrial. I guess most of it had been destroyed during the war. The streets were deserted too. We ended up having dinner in a traditional Jewish restaurant, which was simply amazing. And so cheap too!! Gotta love Eastern European prices. After dinner, I led Tash and Aniqa around the (much more lively) Old Town, spouting off everything I had learnt on the tour. I am seriously a pro on Krakow now haha.
***********************************************
Day 25
Today was mainly taken up by a trip to the Wieliczka salt mines. Having realised the previous night that we were meant to book into the tour sessions days in advance, we decided to head there early and claim any spare spots. And what do you know, we were they only ones going on the tour!! Well, the only ones on the Miner's Route. The other option was the Tourist Route, which our guide later explained to us was "designed for women in high heels". Besides the Miner's Route was so much more interesting and fun. We got to don miners' equipment and clothing and descend 135m down into the darkness of the salt mines. And because it was only us three on the tour, it was so much fun and interactive because we got to do everything. We pushed wagons, pumped water, navigated ourselves through the tunnels, and even excavated some salt. It was just such an authentic experience of the mines, and we all agreed that we made the right decision to do this instead of the Tourist Route.
***********************************************
Day 26
Today was solely dedicated to going to the sites of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration/death camps. About 90 minutes from Krakow, the first site of Auschwitz loomed up ominously as we saw abandoned train tracks along the side of the road. Getting into the actual site and walking through all the buildings was quite a confronting experience. This was actually the smaller of the sites (Birkenau being called Auschwitz 2 was actually 30 times the size of Auschwitz 1). The impact was no less though. Giant rooms were filled with the possessions of those who were murdered here. Countless suitcases, shoes, glasses, clothes. And one giant room filled with human hair that had been shaved from the women. I thought that was a lot until I was informed that most of the hair shaved had been used to make things or had been transported elsewhere, so in fact what was displayed here was actually left over. It just makes you realise the massive scale of what happened back then and just how many people were affected.
What was interesting was just how many well known companies were associated with the Nazis back then. The concentration camps were run much like factories and everything was "just business". These companies were aware of the atrocities happening but still aided the Nazis. I suppose back then, it was either be with them or suffer the consequences. But what's more shocking is just how well covered up this was to the prisoners. No one was even aware of what would really happen to them at these camps, they thought they were being "resettled". It's a scary thought to know just how powerful the propaganda was such that millions of people were unknowingly led to their deaths over so many years.
What the tour guide said to us afterwards was quite poignant. He said that they could have destroyed these camps. Remove the painful memories. But then history could repeat itself as the generations forgot. These sites serve as an eternal warning about what could happen. Let's hope that history never repeats itself.
Anyways after such an emotionally intensive day, we went straight back to the hostel for a rest before going out to enjoy our last night together in Krakow. Finding a nice Polish/Georgian restaurant, we ate like we would never eat again. There was barely enough room on the table for all our food. We had zurek (sour rye soup) and pierogi (Polish dumplings), as well as our respective main meals. I was so stuffed afterwards. Definitely a great way to spend our last night together.
It seriously was so great to be able to spend some time exploring with Tash and Aniqa. Reflecting on myself, it made me realise just how much I missed social interaction. Sure I can strike up a conversation with a stranger and go travelling together but it's not at the stage where silence is comfortable. With friends, you know you can sit in silence for hours and it won't be awkward. That's what I missed. But it's ok. Like my last Europe trip, this experience will teach me to become more independent.
***********************************************
Day 27
After Aniqa left in the morning, Tash and I roamed the Old Town just to make sure that we had in fact covered everything. We actually heard about an underground museum but couldn't find it. We even went into a bell tower thinking that maybe the museum in the cellar. Wrong. Oh well, at least we got a good view of the city. Soon enough it was time to bid farewell, and I got on my train to Warsaw as Tash got a bus to the airport to fly back to Paris.
Warsaw had never been on the plan. Everyone had told me that Krakow was the place to be and that Warsaw was boring. The only reason I was going to Warsaw was because I had waited too long to book my flight out of Krakow and it had sold out, thus forcing me to fly out of Warsaw (if I wanted the ridiculously cheap fare). It ended up costing me $6AUD for my flight itself, plus $23AUD for my bag. Even when factoring in the train trip, it was so cheap.
Getting into Warsaw a few hours later, I was unimpressed. Or maybe my preconceptions had taken over. I just thought it seemed way too large and sterile, and had none of the charm of other European cities I had seen. Of course this was the area around the station. The area where I was staying was situated in the (rebuilt) Old Town which was slightly better. Getting to my hostel, my priority was laundry. And that took all night. Who knew that their dryer was that inefficient?! It took almost 4 hours and it still wasn't that dry. Exciting night I know. The joys of long term travelling. But at least it was free.
***********************************************
Day 28
Having only one full day in Warsaw, I decided to at least give it a chance and explore. During my random walking, I managed to stumble upon a movie set. Seemed like a WWII film since there were Nazi uniforms destroying a marketplace. What amazed me though was just how long it took to film a scene. I watched for about 15 minutes and in that time, they only did one take. Not as interesting or thrilling as expected.
Spent the next few hours on a walking tour of the city. It was interesting but after hearing much of the same things from the Krakow tour, this seemed quite repetitive. Nevertheless I saw a lot of the main attractions in the city as well as the remnants of the Ghetto Wall which used to surround the ghetto where all of the Jewish people were "quarantined" during the war. After the tour, I did some more exploring and ventured into the newer side of town which honestly didn't really have that much to offer, or at least what I could see. Yeah I had had enough of Warsaw. If you want yo come here, by all means do so. It's a nice city. It probably didn't help that I was here on a Monday when a lot of attractions are closed. However I think that if you see Krakow, then you can skip Warsaw. Just my opinion.
HBL signing out from Warsaw, Poland.
Up next: Meatballs, ABBA, and oh so many photos...
Previously: Not the last time I'll see Budapest...
No comments:
Post a Comment