Day 5 - Bye bye Krakow

April 10, 2022 by Alison Bryan

Woke up in my lovely hotel room for the last time.

I quickly packed my case, went for breakfast and then set off for a walk of Planty. Planty is the old moat that surrounded the old town walls but is now a wonderful labyrinth of paths and greenery. This morning it was busy with dog walkers and runners enjoying the sunshine.

After about 20 minutes of walking, I saw a sign for Kościuszko Mound. Remember the mounds? As today wasn’t particularly windy, I thought I’d try a different mound. This one had looked more impressive in pictures, but was further out of the city. Google maps estimated it was a 50 minute walk, so I decided to give it a go. It was a beautiful walk through a huge park, and if it was 50 minutes, it didn’t feel that way.

This mound required an entry ticket, so I had hopes of a hand rail. Nope. It did have a museum but all in Polish, so I whizzed through that. This mound was much steeper so there was a bank of the mound always at your side as you wound up it, but the edges were a sheer drop. I got to the top, and there was a handrail there, and I marvelled at the distance I could see. I wasn’t sticking around and soon made my way back down.

Once at the bottom I decided to give my legs a rest and get the tram back to the old town. I bought a ticket from the machine at the stop and waited for Tram 2. This stop was the end and start of the line, so I got on the tram and waited for it to leave. It was very easy to find out how to buy the ticket and which stop I needed and within 11 minutes I was back at the Barbican - the edge of the Florian Gate.

Before I picked up my bags and checked out of the hotel I thought I’d pop into the station and buy my ticket to the airport. It was so busy. Then I realised - the people here are Ukrainian refugees. They were being directed by volunteers in hi-vis jackets to different areas to receive help. There were some women, all well dressed, with suitcases, and kids and dogs and cats. I looked into one open door and there were rows and rows of camping beds. It made me so upset. I had been blissfully forgetting what people were going through and here it was in front of my very eyes. Mind you, if I was a refugee, I’d be glad to arrive in Krakow where the people are so keen to help. Outside of the station there’s a huge marquee with a kitchen to get hot food.

I have absolutely loved Krakow. Everything has been just perfect. The food is wonderful, the streets are clean and green, the people are nice, the architecture is stunning, the history is interesting. I think it may actually be one of my favourite European cities now.

If you are wondering if you should visit - I say DO IT!

I have walked a total of 120.798 steps, which is a lot of walking. I could have probably caught a tram to some of the places, but the streets are so lovely, that walking was just the best way to absorb it all.

Krakow is also incredibly cheap for UK visitors. To give you an idea, a tram ride costs £1.00 for a 60 minute journey, an ice cream is around £1.00 and a two course meal in a mid price restaurant with a glass of wine costs around £23.00 per head. Most museums charge around £3.00 to get in.

I will come back here for sure - and it has given me a real interest in exploring Poland. Thank you for following along!

Day 4 - The Jewish Quarter and Schindler's Factory

April 09, 2022 by Alison Bryan

I woke up to a cold and rainy day. The temperature had really dropped. This was the forecast, so I have been incredibly lucky to have had blue skies.

After breakfast, I left the hotel to meet my guide for today, Tomasz. I found Tomasz on AirBnB - which is an excellent place to find local people offering all manner of experiences - bike rides, running groups, photo shoots, local food - you name it! Tomasz was offering a 3 hour tour of the Jewish area of Krakow and a guided tour of the Schindler Factory Museum. We met at an agreed spot at 10am. I was the only one on the tour, which was amazing.

We started with a coffee and Tomasz showing me a map of the area and giving me a brief history of the Polish Jews. Poland was ‘removed’ from Europe at the end of the 18th century. It was divided into Russia to the east, Prussia to the west and Austria to the south. Actually, it was more like a Mercedes sign with Austria being the bottom segment of the three. Lots of Jewish communities ended up under Russian rule, where they were not treated well and often lived very poor lives. They started to leave those areas and head for more urban centres like Krakow, and they settled in an area called Kazimierz (where my tour was). It was a separate town from Krakow for a long time.

The Austrians were open-minded about the Jewish communities and allowed them to freely choose where they lived. At the time a wall was built around the Jewish area, but the Jews quickly built synagogues on land that was outside of those walls and co-existed peacefully with the catholic population.

We walked around the area, with Tomasz pointing out the various synagogues and buildings and talking about how Jewish culture is now being retaught to Polish children. When the Jews were moved into the ghetto during WW2, those that escaped were often small children (smuggled out by helpful non-Jews) and were given new names and baptism certificates so many of those children would not even be aware that they were Jewish. To be considered Jewish, one has to have a Jewish mother. When the Jewish communities started to mix with the other cultures, they married outside of the faith and so fewer practising Jews live in the area now. Kazimierz fell into disrepair after the Second World War and was a slum for many years. However, it is now enjoying a period of regeneration, and there are lots of new bars and restaurants popping up.

It is estimated that there are now only 120 practising Jews in Krakow.

We walked past the older and newer synagogues and onto a small cobbled street with some beautiful houses. One of them, now a restaurant downstairs, was the birthplace of Helena (Elena) Rubenstein - of cosmetics fame.

The chairs are the an art installation that commemorate the site of the original Jewish quarter where all that was left of the Jews was their furniture

Our tour of the area ended with a tour to Schindler’s Factory - made famous by the Steven Spielberg film ‘Schindler’s List’. I have only seen part of the film once - it is a very disturbing film - but I will try again now! Tomasz showed me some of the locations where filming took place, which you might recognise.

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories in occupied Poland. He was sent to Poland by the Nazis to run a factory as he was very well connected and a good businessman. Actually, he had a change of heart (even he knows not why) and told the Nazis that he needed to employ the Jews for work.

Plaszow was a Nazi concentration camp operated by the Nazi Party in the south of Krakow, where most of the prisoners were Polish Jews. This is rather unheard of camp because it no longer survives and was not set up as an extermination camp primarily. It was constructed on the site of a former Jewish cemetery. The function of the camp was forced labour. Schindler somehow convinced the Nazi leaders that he should relocate his factory near to the camp for better labour selection. He had a list of 1,200 Jewish prisoners that he selected to work in the new factory. Schindler literally made up figures to justify the size of the factory. In fact, he only had jobs for around 400 members of staff, but he managed to somehow get away with employing far more. This meant that those on the list were saved when the camp was liberated. Worker accounts say he was a kind ‘boss’ and did not treat any of the prisoners badly.

It was great having my own guide in the museum because there was a lot of material, so Tomasz picked out the more pertinent parts to give me a whistle-stop tour of WW2 and beyond. They had a lot of Nazi propaganda films that still survive and they showed how the Germans convinced the Polish that they would be far better off under German occupation. I could not help but draw parallels with the Russian army tactics that are happening right now. There were posters showing how the Jewish people would attack their daughters and so should be destroyed at all costs. We saw Schindler’s original office. The museum was very well thought out with attention to how one feels, smells and walks through it. I loved it. The poster below was often placed in the square and on trams. It would name and shame those that went against German laws and why they were executed. This was a deterrent to any Poles thinking about revolt.

The former Hollywood movie studios are still on the site at the back of the original factory and now house a modern art collection, meaning that younger people are on-site and are drawn into the history of the war and pre-war. When I left the Auschwitz tour, the story of Poland kind of ended as you are told, and ‘then the camp was liberated. The End’ Actually, that was by far the end for the Polish as they were then subjected to communism and had a ruler in the form of Stalin. This did not end until 1989 (which sounds very recent to me) with the first free elections since the 1920s. I know we moan about politics in the UK - but imagine having no choice at all? I have to say, I am a bit lost with the political history now and I wish I had recorded some of it, but Tomasz did well to make me understand how much Poland has been through.

We had a nice walk back to the starting point of the tour, where we talked about our families and COVID and the war in Ukraine. He has two families living with him at a time that are refugees. They are usually short term whilst they get on their feet and just need help to relocate to other areas. He said that they get no financial support for this, but he says that the Polish people understand struggle and that makes them compassionate to the Ukrainians and what they are going through. He also said that he has some families coming to them that are on their way back to Ukraine as they do not want to be refugees. That’s scary isn’t it?

I found Tomasz to be very interesting and passionate about his subject. He gave me some ideas of places to eat too!

Whilst walking back to the hotel I remembered that I should really visit St Mary’s Tower. The Tower has been my landmark since Wednesday - it is at the top of the road where my hotel is, and given it’s height I have been able to navigate myself using it. So I went to the ticket office and bought a ticket to the basilica and the tower. It was beautiful inside - in that OTT church kind of way. I didn’t spend long there, and when I came out I got ready for the bugle call.

The bugle call is played every hour, on the hour, from the north, east, west and south high up in the tower. It was originally at the start and end of the day to signal the opening and closing of the city gates. It was also used to signal danger. Apparently, one fateful time that this was used, the poor bulge player was shot in the neck meaning he didn’t get to the end of the melody. So now it breaks mid-note to commemorate this. Having watched and heard the bugle call, I started my ascent to the top of the tower. It was a fair old climb, but I had some wonderful views of the square from the top, and the road that I have walked down and up many times this week.

‘My Street’ - the square to Florian Gate

After a nice long rest, I went back to the Jewish Quarter for dinner. Tomasz had spoken to me about zapiekanka, essentially Polish pizza which you can buy from Plac Nowy - you can only buy it at night, when the square comes alive! So I went back. The square is quite small, and has a round building in the middle which was an abattoir when the Jews lived here, it then became a butchers and now is the place to get that Polish Pizza. It didn’t disappoint! Delicious.

I took a nice walk back on the more major streets, the place is alive with groups of friends and families just walking around.

It is my last night tonight - I have really loved it here. So so much. What a special place.

Day 3 - The Wieliczka Salt Mine (also 'Highs and Lows')

April 08, 2022 by Alison Bryan

I had a long and restful sleep. I went to breakfast at a more civilised time today. I have a tour booked, but not until 2 pm, so seeing the blue skies from my window I decided to make the most of the weather and take a nice long walk to the Krakow Mound. All roads lead from the Market Square again, which was just getting going.

The walk took me around 50 minutes through some lovely streets - it feels quite Parisian in places here. The wind was really picking up now. I crossed the river using a lovely old iron bridge. Every corner here seems to have a church on it, but I was soon at the Rynek Podgorski, a large square with a very impressive church at the end of it.

This area was the ghetto area for the Jews during WW2. I walked up past the church on the left-hand side and crossed a major road by footbridge. I was definitely walking up a hill!

I followed the signs for the Krakus Mound. There are a total of five mounds in Kraków, making it a worldwide record holder - what an accolade! The Krakus Mound is the oldest mound dating back to the 7th century and it measures 16 m (52 ft) in height. Legend has it that it is the tomb of the pagan Prince Krak—the founder of Kraków.
As I got to the foot of the final path which spiralled around the mound the wind really started to whip up. No matter, on I went. Halfway up I realised that this really was quite a foolish act. The wind was so strong that I felt as though I was going to fly away. I talked myself into getting to the top which I did and then I just sat on the floor! Later checks showed the winds were 40mph - silly girl.

Me sitting on the floor pretending not to be scared.

The views were really amazing, and I can imagine that on a less blowy day you’d be very happy here! I talked myself into walking down again and set off back to the river. I had read a little article about the Rainbow Steps, and a check on the map told me that I was less than two minutes away from them.

The colourful stairs were painted in 2013 and were called ‘Watch Your Step’ - the two female artists wanted to give life to these forgotten steps, which really are hidden away. It was only me around, so I guess they are pretty much forgotten. I think ALL steps should be like this. They are really pretty. One man watched me sit at the bottom and take a picture and he looked at me like I was mad. Maybe he will see them in a different light now. Maybe not!

I walked over a foot bridge on the way back, which I had spotted from the blue iron one earlier. They had beautiful balancing acrobats suspended on them.

I was very hungry from the walking and the terror from my mound episode, so I stopped for a sandwich and a coffee. I have no idea what I ate, but it was delicious. Shoarma vegetable rye bun - I was assured it was vegetarian!

Next stop is the meeting point with the driver from yesterday’s tour. She met me and a couple from Wigan (who she could not understand AT ALL - even I struggled) and drove us for 35 minutes to the Wieliczka salt mines. We met our guide, Kinga (I made sure to remember this time) and we descended the 380 steps, 135m underground (442 feet). The salt mines have been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1978. We walked through tunnels that were head height until we reached a huge chamber with the first carving from salt.

Everything in this area is carved from salt - even the floor tiles. Kinga was a stern, but excellent guide and she explained the history of the mine. She explained that salt production in the area is pretty much the reason that so many beautiful palaces and churches exist. It was a very valuable commodity. A third of the royal treasury’s income came from salt. The mines have been a tourist attraction since 1493. The mine now belongs to the Polish State. The mine was decommissioned in 1964 as a rock salt supplier and industrial salt production ceased in 1996.

There are still miners working there, but now it is just to keep it safe and in good condition. Visitors see around 1% of the mine’s 9 levels, which gives you an idea of its size since we took 90 minutes to see the tourist route.
Did you know that the word ‘Salary’ is derived from the word ‘salt’ - Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt instead of money.

The next stop for us was a chamber flooded by a lake which was green due to high salt content.

Finally we saw the huge Chapel of St Kinga - a chapel which was carved by four miners over 30 years (why weren’t they working I hear you ask?). It was huge, and when Kinga explained how hard it is to sculpt salt, it really did make for an impressive sight.

It was a most enjoyable tour, a LOT of walking. Our weary legs climbed back into the minibus and soon we were back in the Old Town.

There was a market on the square, so I had a little browse, bought some postcards, and went back to the room for a rest.

Dinner was a more upmarket choice tonight - an espresso martini, followed by Pierogi (dumplings), stuffed with lentils and in a forest mushroom sauce. Oh god, so filling. I looked like a dumpling myself when I finished and had to go for a walk to start to feel less uncomfortable. The restaurant was called Wesele - and apart from the waiter taking away every single side plate, knife, fork, spoon, napkin and glass from my table - leaving me with a huge expanse of white table cloth and my own place setting, it was very nice.

I’ve walked 30, 371 steps today and my little leg are fuzzing in protest. I’ve been to the highest and lowest points of Krakow today.

Sweet dreams x

Day 2 - Auschwitz-Birkenau

April 07, 2022 by Alison Bryan

The day started alarmingly early at 6:30 am. I had a tour booked which was meeting at 8 am, and the meeting point was a 30-minute walk from my hotel. So I was the first person at breakfast - in fact, I was eating with the cleaning staff. I also did a Bryan/Read thing of making myself a sandwich for lunch - I promise I was advised by my tour guide to do this, as there isn’t time to buy food on the tour.

I walked through the old town, the main square, to quite a main road which was really busy with everyone off to work. I met my guide (actually she is the driver) and four other people and we set off for the hour and 15 minute drive to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

I have been very interested in the history of the holocaust since my mother-in-law bought me The Diary of Anne Frank (The Diary of a Young Girl). It was the first book she ever bought me and I was hooked. We have visited the museum in Amsterdam on a few occasions. Auschwitz had been something I felt I ‘should’ do. I say ‘should’ as lots of people have asked me why on earth I wanted to visit, and I can’t explain entirely, but I do feel that I personally needed to be better educated. I wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to see it (my husband included). It is visited by over 2 million people a year and was actually preserved and opened as a museum along with the wishes of those that survived/were liberated.

When we arrived we were assigned a guide who was a lovely woman (sorry, I can’t remember her name - I could make one up if it helps?) and she started our tour of Auschwitz I. I knew this was going to be tough, but with her first sentence, I felt a terrible weight in my chest. We were taken to the main gate, where the sign (not the original) says ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ - a German phrase that translates to ‘Work Sets You Free’. We all had headsets on, so that we could hear our guide easily, and also so that she could talk quietly.

Auschwitz started its life as a military base. It was turned into a prison by the Germans, due to the mass arrest of Poles (anti-Nazi, politicians, and resistance members). It was designed to be a concentration camp, but it also became an extermination camp so that the Nazis could murder all European Jews (a policy known as the ‘Final Solution’). It’s position in the centre of Europe made it particularly appealing to Hitler.

Auschwitz I is the first and oldest camp, - and the number of prisoners was around 20,000 at a time. It was established on the grounds and in the buildings of prewar Polish barracks. The local area’s population, the Poles and Jews living near the camp, were evicted from them in 1940-1941 to make way for the camp’s enlargement. Around 1,000 of their homes were demolished. Other, more grand buildings were assigned to officers who came here with their whole families.

The Polish Jews that were living in the ghettos in Krakow were taken by train (which were actually cattle trucks) and were told that their lives would now be better. They packed all of their possessions and arrived in Auschwitz. They would disembark and told to leave their belongings on the platform, with the promise they would be returned to them after ‘disinfection’. A team of nazi doctors would make the selection of which line you were in - left or right. One line would be deemed ‘fit for work’ and the other line, which would be mainly young children, pregnant women, and the elderly or disabled would be in the other line. That line would be sent to the bathhouses where they stripped naked and went into the showers. Actually, those showers (even fitted with mock shower heads) were gas chambers. Once inside they were exposed to Zyklon-B gas and would die within 20 minutes. They were never officially registered, so the number that were murdered is still unknown. They then had their hair removed, along with gold teeth and jewellery and were cremated. At the height of deportations (1943-44), an average of 6,000 Jews were gassed each day.

One photo showed them all leaving the train with so much stuff - they clearly did think that they were starting a new life. So utterly sad.

Those chosen fit for work would be given a blue and white striped uniform and helped run the camp, or were sent to do manual labour in the surrounding areas. They were sent to work in a local factory, making items for the war effort.

We moved through a number of the buildings where the workers would live - sleeping on either straw or mattresses made of straw.

The hair from each of the victims was bagged up and sent to Germany to make ropes. A lot of hair was found after the camp was liberated and is now in a display case. There was much of it - all piled up in the case, a mass of brown. Apart from a few blonde plaits - I assume from children.

There were piles of shoes, piles of glasses, and piles of pots and pans. I didn’t take many photos - it just felt wrong. It was so overwhelming. Our guide kept listing lots of numbers, numbers of those that were executed, how many slept in a bed, and how little food they were given - each statistic more shocking than the last. I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer, and they started to roll down my face.

One of the blocks, block 10, was used to experiment on women. One particular doctor the infamous, Josef Mengele (the ‘Angel of Death’) performed horrific experiments on women, twins, those with dwarfism, and those with certain eye colours. I won’t go into this here, but you can read up on this if you would like.

Many of the prisoners died from starvation or poor sanitation. Some, after being imprisoned in tiny cells for breaking rules, were lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head.

To make things even more awful, many of the prisoners were ordered to work in the crematoriums. At this point, I wasn’t sure that being spared the initial extermination was a better option.

We had a small break and were then taken for the short ride to the Birkenau camp (which held over 90,000 prisoners in 1944). This camp is known as "Auschwitz II".
This was the largest part of the Auschwitz complex. It was huge. The Nazis began building it in 1941 on the site of the village of Birkenau. The Polish civilian population was evicted and their houses confiscated and demolished. The greater part of the apparatus of mass extermination was built in Birkenau and the majority of the victims were murdered here.

The Germans isolated all the camps and sub-camps from the outside world and surrounded them with barbed wire fencing. All contact with the outside world was forbidden. However, the area administered by the commandant and patrolled by the SS camp garrison went beyond the grounds enclosed by barbed wire. It included an additional area of approximately 40 square kilometres (the so-called "Interessengebiet" - the interest zone), which lay around the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps.

At the end of 1944, the defeat of Nazi Germany looked increasingly likely, so the Germans started to destroy Auschwitz and the records held there. In January 1945, the Germans marched 60,000 prisoners to a Polish town 30 miles away, for onward transportation. These marches became known as the death marches, since many died en route, due to cold and malnourishment, or were shot in the head for not being able to keep up. Those completing the march were sent on trains to concentration camps in Germany.

When the Soviet army entered Auschwitz, they found 7,600 prisoners left behind, who were then nursed back to some form of health.

Auschwitz is the largest mass murder site in history. Between 1940-1945, 1.3 million people were deported to the camp:
1,100,000 Jews
140,000-150,000 Poles
23,000 Roma/Gypsies
15,000 Soviet POWs
25,000 prisoners from other ethnic groups

1,100,000 of them died in Auschwitz, 90% of them Jews, with the majority murdered in the gas chambers.

We left the camps and drove back to Krakow - silence in the minibus as we all sat with our thoughts.

The weather had really improved and the sun was shining high in the sky. I could have easily gone back to bed, but the forecast isn’t great for the rest of the week, so I decided to get out and explore.

I walked back to the square (my main navigation point) and headed to Wawel Royal Castle. The Castle is set on a hill next to the main river (Vistula). It used to be the home of the Kings and Queens. A bit of research before I came told me that many of the staterooms are closed for refurbishment, which I wasn’t too sad about, so I just walked UP that huge hill and walked around the grounds.
I saw a small ticket office and wandered in, seeing what I might be buying, and it was a ticket to the cathedral. According to my guidebook, it is the single most important building in Poland (owing to the raft of coronations held there). It was ok. Sorry - I know I should be wowed by all the gold in there, but having just been to Auschwitz it all felt a bit too much of a contrast.

I did, however, walk up lots of tiny wooden ladders to reach The Royal Sigismund Bell. It’s a big ol’ bell! I was afforded some amazing views from the bell tower.

I climbed down another set of ladders and walked the banks of the Vistula river for a while. Lots of people enjoying the sunshine, cycling, running, walking. It really is the most beautiful city. By now, I was really very weary, so I went back to the hotel, had a lovely hot shower, talked to Andrew and Oli, and then went out for dinner.

The thing about being alone and dining out, is that you can very easily spend ages looking at menus in windows and not deciding on anything. You just have to be brave and go in one. So I checked one menu which had lots of lovely pizzas on it, and looked nice. I went in and saw it was full of men watching a football match! Oh well, I was in then. I ordered a mushroom and onion pizza and a small beer. It was delicious. Nobody cared about the middle aged woman reading her book.

Off to bed now. A little bit wiser and a little bit sadder. Sweet dreams - I will leave you with the words of none other than Mr Steven Spielberg.

Day 1 - Travel Day

April 06, 2022 by Alison Bryan

It was an early start to the day - up with the alarm at 4:30am to get to London Gatwick in good time. The airports in the UK have been in the news a fair amount the last few days. Staff shortages at security and no baggage handlers have meant some people have queued for over 4 hours to check-in for their flights.

To ease the burden, EasyJet (my chosen carrier) was cancelling lots of flights. So I wasn’t sure until I woke up this morning if I would even be travelling! Anyway, all good and I was at the airport by 6:30, breezed through security, and treated myself to a Wetherspoons Vegan breakfast and coffee. Delicious.

The flight was great - I had a spare seat next to me and I read and dozed for (what felt like) ten minutes, and we were landing in Poland! I followed the sign in the airport to the train station, and bought myself a ticket for the train to the centre of Krakow. You can’t really go wrong, as most of the trains run from the airport to the town, not beyond, so you can’t really miss the stop and end up in Warsaw.

The train terminates in a huge shopping centre. It has all the usual - Cafe Nero, Dominoes, KFC, Burger King, Zara - very few non-global chains. I sped through and within ten minutes of following my little PAPER map, I was at my hotel. The Hotel Polski Pod Bialym Orlem. It’s absolutely lovely. Inside the walls of the old town, so no traffic, and the room is beautiful. Pefect for little ol’ me for four nights.

A little history about Krakow - in bullet points

It is one of the oldest towns in Poland, dating back to the Stone Age
In 1038 Kraków became the capital of Poland, with Wawel Royal Castle becoming the residence of Polish kings
It was invaded three times by the Mongolians, so in 1287 the city was surrounded by 3 kilometres of defensive walls, towers and gates
Between 1386 and 1572 Kraków experienced its ‘golden age.’ Talented artists, humanists and scientists arrived from Renaissance Italy and Germany to create impressive new buildings, sculptures and frescos
In 1846 the city was absorbed into Austria. Under Austrian occupation, Kraków’s fortified city walls were levelled – with the notable exceptions of the section around the Floriańska Gate (where I am staying) and the Barbican – and the Planty park was created where the walls and moat once stood
When the First World War broke out, Kraków was besieged by Russian troops forcing many residents to flee the city. Kraków became the first Polish city liberated from Austrian rule on October 31st, 1918.
Twenty years later in September 1939, Nazi German forces entered Kraków, setting up command of their ‘General Government’ (the Nazi term for the occupied Polish lands slated to be purified and incorporated into the Rhineland) in Wawel Castle.
The Jewish population was ejected into a ghetto whose population fluctuated between 15,000 and 18,000
The ghetto was liquidated in 1943 with its occupants shot where they stood, sent to work in Płaszów or sent to their deaths in nearby Auschwitz.
Kraków was liberated on January 18th 1945. At this point, Warsaw became the capital of Poland - sad times
Following WWII, German occupation was almost seamlessly replaced with Soviet occupation
Almost forty-five years of communism followed, but with the Pope's support, the Solidarity independent trade union gathered enough momentum to force free elections in 1989 in which Lech Wałęsa became the first post-communist president of Poland

Lesson over. I basically wanted you to be able to picture that I am inside those old walls that have mostly lasted through all those changes.

I quickly unpacked and made my way out of the hotel to head for the cemetery.

A cemetery I hear you ask? Andrew and I first visited a cemetery on a European trip after he had read a book called ‘The Hat of Victor Noir’. Victor Noir was a real person is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, so we decided to try and find it. It was a fascinating place, they have a whole area where feral cats live. Also, Victor’s (ahem) personal areas are rubbed to quite a shine!
Anyway, I digress - since then we’ve been to a few cemeteries in other countries and they are all different. Obviously they are based around religions, but they also give an insight into the people that live in that place (and I don’t mean the dead ones).

So off I set, walking the really lovely streets, watching the trams, looking in shop windows, and 20 minutes later I was at Rakowicki Cemetery. The first burial was in 1803 after a health and safety initiative to stop inner-city churches from burying the dead in their small grounds. So one huge area was set aside for this. Oh my gosh, it is HUGE.

The Polish are predominately Roman Catholics and they take their mourning and respect for the dead very seriously indeed. There were huge gravestones, mausoleums and sort of trap doors just in case someone tries to get out! It was a very peaceful walk around for about an hour.

Next to the cemetery was..another one! Two for one! This was called Cmentarz Wojskowy.

Krakow did not always have a separate military cemetery. The fallen and deceased soldiers were buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery. After WWI there were more than 9,000 soldiers are buried there.
This situation forced the municipal and military authorities to act and in 1920, on the site of the former military exercise site a small military cemetery of 10 square metres was built. The first people buried here were the deceased soldiers and officers of the Polish Army and their family members.

After 1945, the city began to manage the cemetery, the soldiers' burials were cleaned up, exhumations were carried out and separate quarters of soldiers from various armies were created, the cemetery was expanded and civilians began to be buried there, and the numbering of the plots was a continuation of the numbering of the Rakowicki Cemetery. It did have a much more military feel - less over-the-top tombs and more simple crosses with no name.

Feeling in need of some life, I walked the long walk back to the Old Town and the main square. I just took a few pictures and took in the atmosphere, and I will be going back there once I know which buildings are which.

I had a shower and freshen up - a chat with Andrew and Oli (who are skiing in France) and then went out to a restaurant I had seen earlier called Glonojad. A VEGETARIAN restaurant. Most people that knew I was going here wished me luck finding any vegetarian food. But I proved them wrong. I’ve looked at about ten restaurants so far and they all have at least three veggie options.

I ordered vegan dumplings and a glass of house white wine. The meal came with a choice of salads, from which I could pick two. So I had cabbage and raisins alongside carrot and pine nuts. It was all absolutely delicious.

Back to my room now, after a little walk around the old town again. I saw a group of Ukrainians peacefully protesting in the square, and they had a lot of support. I have seen no evidence of refugees here, apart from the bus stops which all say ‘you have now crossed the border into Poland’

I’ve had a long day, but a very happy one. Krakow is blooming lovely.

Night night - don’t have nightmares