Krakow, Poland & Budapest, Hungary

Greetings from the Eastern Bloc! Poland is the farthest east either of us has ever traveled. We sort of had an idea of what it was going to be like, but we really didn’t know what to expect. For the most part, our initial expectations of Poland being a bit run down were correct. Our train ride from Vienna to Krakow proved to be a challenge. There was one stop at a notoriously dodgy train station in Katowice that had us a bit worried. When we arrived at the station, nothing was in English and our connecting train information was not clearly displayed. Fortunately there was a huge group of boisterous Scottish men, clearly identified as such by their kilts, who were also on their way to Krakow. We also met a nice couple from Australia who were heading in the same direction, and we had time to converse once we boarded our run-down communist-era train. We made it safely to Krakow and were surprised by what we saw.


Krakow is a city with a lot of history; it was officially founded in 966. Our hotel was within walking distance of the train station. Poland is a generally inexpensive place, so we decided to stay in a nice hotel for a change, which was actually cheaper than many of the hostels we’ve stayed in elsewhere. As it turns out, we actually rented an apartment for our stay, and this place was as big as our last apartment in Monterey. It was so nice to have a private place to walk around and stretch out. Since it was early in the evening, we decided to head down the block to see what was nearby. Again, we picked a great place to stay as our apartment was within a few blocks of the main town square, the Rynek Główny. At night, all the buildings and the church are lit up and the sidewalk restaurants are filled. There are stalls all around selling flowers and other wares. It was the first time we were intentionally out in a city at night, and thankfully for us Krakow’s city square is really beautiful. The main focal point is the St. Mary’s Basilica which sits in a corner of the square. There are two very interesting stories regarding the church’s history. If you notice, the church spires are different styles and sizes. It’s said that during the planning, two brothers were contracted to build the spires of the church. Once they began to build, the younger brother became jealous of his brother’s spire, which was taller and more ornate. In a fit of rage, he killed his brother. Once he realized what he had done, he was so remorseful that he killed himself by jumping off of the roof of the church. The second story involves a firefighter in the thirteenth century who was standing watch over the city up in the tallest tower. It was very late at night when he spotted Tartar forces approaching, ready to storm the city. The firefighter began to blow a trumpet from the tower to wake all the residents to prepare themselves for battle. Partway through the trumpeter’s song, he was shot and killed by an arrow. Because of his valiant effort, the city was organized and staved off the challengers. So now, as a tribute, a local firefighter is in charge of playing a tune on the trumpet from the tallest tower every hour (during the daytime). And he never finishes; he always cuts out partway through the song as the original firefighter did. Right in the center of the square is the historic Cloth Hall, essentially the world’s very first shopping mall. There are booths inside selling souvenirs and such, carrying on the tradition. There are several churches in Krakow, almost all of them Catholic. The city, as I’m sure with the rest of the country, absolutely loves their native son Pope John Paul II, or as I like to call him, PJP2. There are statues and memorials dedicated to his life and work during his tenure as pope. There was one incredible picture of an aerial shot over the Rynek Główny were over two million people gathered to see PJP2 give a speech. Near the city center is the Wawel castle, home to the kings of Poland for centuries and now the resting place of many of them. The castle compound sits atop of a hill overlooking the city and is quite expansive. After checking out the church and some of the tombs (the very recently deceased president and his wife are controversially buried there) we descended into the famed Dragon’s Lair. The fabled dragon is a favorite in Krakow, but the lair itself was incredibly cheesy. At the end there is a statue of the dragon that at one point would shoot fire from its mouth whenever a text message was sent to a special number. Alas, no more.


We found out through the tourist information center about a free walking tour of the Jewish Quarter that day. The tour is run independently by a group of certified guides. Apparently, it is very difficult to become a tour guide in Poland and it requires taking state exams. According to our guide, less than ten percent pass every year (at least, that’s what he said). Our guide was pleasant but seemed a bit eccentric. We also ran into the Australian couple from the train who were taking the tour as well. Our tour started in the small area designated as a Jewish quarter and was where several scenes from “Schindler’s List” were filmed. We passed by the few remaining Synagogues and a cemetery. There are only a small percentage of Jewish people living in Krakow these days. We moved across the Vistula river to an area that was designed as a ghetto during WW2. There is a memorial set up in a large square with several statues of empty chairs. It was believed by the Nazis that Jewish people hit valuables inside of chairs. When everyone was forced out of their homes and into the ghettos, the chairs were piled in this square and searched. Our tour continued far outside of the city center to the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. The original factory is no longer standing, but the building on the grounds is now sectioned into a museum and other workspaces. As controversial as Schindler may have been, he still played a role is saving lives. Once the tour was over, we booked it back into the city center to catch a piano concert featuring mostly works by Chopin. The concert was held in the historic Wierzynek building, and the pianist was very talented. He also played a few pieces by Liszt and Mendelssohn, and it was exactly the kind of classical music experience we were looking to find while in Vienna but didn’t. It would have been neat to see a Mozart performance in Vienna, but Chopin is Mark’s favorite composer (and from Poland) and Liszt his second, so overall this was a better choice. The evening was getting on and we decided to call it a night. We knew the following day was going to be hard-hitting and emotional.


We boarded a small bus early in the morning and headed an hour and a half outside of Krakow to Auschwitz concentration camps. The former camps are now memorials and museums open to the public to either go it alone or to take a paid tour. We decided it would be best to get the most and take the tour. Out of respect, we did not take any photos inside of the camps, only of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work makes you free) gate and the train tracks leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau. I won’t go into too much detail on what we saw, other than it was not a pleasant event but rather one we felt was necessary to do. Visiting Auschwitz was the reason we decided to travel to Poland altogether. It was a harrowing experience to say the least. We were taken around to the different barracks that are now museums that house photos taken during and after the Holocaust and items that belonged to those killed there. When the war was coming to a close, the Nazis tried to destroy the gas chambers and all other evidence o f their murders. However, one gas chamber was left intact, and our tour took us through it. Once the tour finished at the main camp, a bus took us to Auschwitz-Birkenau just ten minutes away. This was the location where all prisoners arrived, and once off the train were inspected to determine whether they were fit for work or not. Those who were fit were transported to the main camp for processing, and those who were not, about seventy percent, were marched right into the gas chambers just a few yards away. On either side of the tracks are wooden barracks used as quarantine areas, penal colonies and the women’s camp. At the end of the tracks lies a bleak memorial to those who were killed there, and at either side of the tracks are the ruins of the gas chambers. The sheer size of the ruins, as well as the entire compound itself, was shocking. We left that day feeling emotionally drained and morose, but thankful to have taken the time to go to Auschwitz.


Our next stop was Budapest, but unfortunately there was not a direct route from Poland to Hungary that allowed us to use our Eurail pass. Therefore we had to go back to Vienna, stay the night and leave early the following day. We had heard and read a lot of really positive things about Budapest during our planning, but unfortunately the city did not live up to our expectations. The city is actually clean when it comes to litter, but the air is terribly polluted. I was constantly sneezing and my eyes were really affected by the smog. I suppose that’s the result of decades of heavy industrialization under communist rule. The monetary aspect of our stay was interesting: one US dollar was equal to two hundred Hungarian forints. It was a real surprise at first, but goods were actually pretty cheap. The one upside to our time in Budapest was a glitch in the computer system at the hotel-apartments where we stayed. Initially we booked a one bedroom apartment, but somehow we ended up with a three bedroom penthouse for the same price. It was spacious and clean, and best of all quiet. We had some time left in the evening to go out and see the city. Budapest is actually two cities divided by the Danube river; Buda on the west and Pest on the east. One thing we didn’t count on during our visit was how spread out all the main sites where. We were resolute to do most of our site seeing on foot, which turned out to be more of a hassle than we thought. There are several tour busses that boast the “hop on, hop off” feature, but they were really expensive and not very environmentally-friendly. We missed out on seeing a lot of sites, but after reading about all the different places to see, we felt that it just wasn’t worth it. We walked across the iconic Chain bridge and took a fair amount of pictures at the palace, parliament and a few churches. We took a few shots from the top of the palace in Buda overlooking Pest, and you can easily see how poor the air quality is there. The day was rather sunny, but the photo makes it look like it’s overcast or foggy. After wandering around and increasingly feeling ill, we decided to pack it in early and make dinner at the apartment. We had a giant flat screen TV, but the only channel that had anything in English was music videos on VH1 (not even a BBC!). It was just our luck that someone left a DVD behind. We spent the afternoon watching Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery movie “Spellbound” with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. We were really happy to have some downtime, and enjoy a classic as well. If it weren’t for the awesome apartment, we probably would have left Budapest feeling unenthusiastic about our time spent there. We can certainly check it off the list, but we feel there’s no reason to ever return.

Moving forward to: Venice and Florence, Italy


Krakow:

Budapest: