We were up bright and early for an excursion we had booked to Auschwitz concentration camp. It's an hours plus trip from Kraków so we decided to go for the tour rather than make our own way there and get lost somewhere in Southern Poland. We were kindly offered the free breakfast at our hostel when we booked the tour so filled up on that before the tour bus arrived. When we arrived, we were given a guide and headsets, so he could inform us as we made our way around. It was a good tour, very informative but it is quite hard to write a review about the place. Everyone is aware of what went on at places like this during World War 2 but it certainly brings it home when you are shown the piles of human hair, their shoes and suitcases and are walked through a gas chamber, where hundreds of people at a time were killed using canisters of Cyclone-B gas (the same that was made in the factory in Hamburg we passed). Auschwitz was originally only a concentration camp used to house Jews and political prisoners, until the brass had the idea to start the mass killing.. After being shown round Auschwitz we made the short journey to Birkenau, which was built, by "inmates", simply to be a death camp. We started with the iconic (if that's the right word, maybe infamous?) train tracks leading to the main entrance. The prisoners were shipped in in cattle carriages with "as many as they could fit" in each carriage. Auschwitz is Goring-By-Sea if Birkenau is London. The size difference was enourmous. Bisected by the railway tracks, the camp seems almost symmetrical when stood in the middle, with hundreds of buildings used to house the prisoners. In these buildings they would sleep 6 to a bunk, which were hardly wider than a single bed and made of wood, no mattress. Between these huts and the tracks were a series of chimneys protruding from the ground. The chambers where the bodies of all those killed were burned. At the top there is a touching memorial for all those who lost their lives, with a monument, ensriptions in 22 different languages lay infront of it. Next to this monument is an excavated mass grave, where the Nazis buried ashes of those they had burned. Because they had so much to get rid of, they had to remove it in different ways, burying it, using it as fertiliser and even dumping it in the nearby Vistula River. With that the tour was pretty much over, so we started on our way back to Kraków in what was a rather quiet car.
We got back to our room and sat on the bed trying to think of something to do to lighten the mood, so we headed into the old town to try and find ourselves a pin badge. This was easier than we had anticipated, so with night closing in and planning to see most of the old town the next day we went back to cook some dinner and as ever catch up on some admin.
The next morning we were up bright and early with a route drawn on our map in order to make the most of our day. First port of call was the Kraków Mound to the South of the city, which gave panoramic views of the whole area and was well worth the sweaty ascent. Next on the agenda was the former Jewish ghetto area of the city, where the local Polish Jews were segregated during World War 2. We stumbled across Ghetto Heroes Square where there is an installation of empty chairs, a memorial for the murdered Jews of Podgorze Ghetto in Kraków. In the need to lighten the mood again we decided to take a long stroll along the Vistula River, with people kayaking, cycling and walking, enjoying the warm Saturday morning. We veered from the river when we got to the Church on the Rock and took a walk through the grounds, trying to avoid ending up in a couples wedding photos. We moved out into the Jewish quarter, in the direction of the bustling main square but with only restaurants here we moved on pretty quickly. After a quick pit stop back at our hostel we headed for the Old Town to have a proper look round. We promised ourselves we would eat some Pierogi before we left, which is a Polish dish, traditional dumplings, which are actually more like Ravioli. So we hunted down a reasonably priced restaurant that served them and tucked in. We really enjoyed them but the serving was rather small, so maybe we should have got a side dish with them rather than just a plate of dumplings. Afterwards, we forced our way through the crowds in the Main Square, Rynek Główny. There was a huge gathering of cyclists, maybe from the local club, and what seemed to be 2 of the members getting married followed by everyone ringing their bells, it was rather strange. We browsed the market for some time but were put off buying any food due to all the flies. With that and the sun dropping rapidly we headed back to get packed up and fed before our long journey the next day.
Kraków was again, a lovely city, quite rundown and shabby in the outskirts but picturesque and bustling in the centre. Although, I'm not sure Charlotte liked it as much as I did.
Our trek through Europe continued, on to Bratislava, Slovakia
James and Charlotte
(Sorry that one took so long, it's been a busy couple of weeks)
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