Now, just to bore you all for a minute, I need to give you a quick history lesson about Poland... they 've had a rough time.
Over the last two-hundred years or so, the Poles have dealt with a lot. First, an invasion and dissolution by Prussia, and then after briefly regaining independence, the concerted and simultaneous take-over by the Nazis in the West and the Soviets in the East.
This is what fascinated me about going to Krakow. While Warsaw has been the political center for nearly a hundred years, Krakow has maintained its status as Poland's cultural capital. All Polish cities bear the fingerprints of totalitarianism... whether a Nazi edifice or one of those ubiquitous Soviet era concrete housing projects... and although Krakow was preserved through the war, its history has produced a proud but wounded population. This is what led us to Krakow.
We arrived early in the morning after the aforementioned overnight train from Scezchin. Despite the unusual experience, we actually had slept pretty well and were excited to have most of the day to check out the town. After checking in to the hostel, we explored a bit. Krakow is beautiful, and is so well organized for travelers on foot. As is typical in many European cities, the town consists of a market square and a castle with everything else shoved around and in between them. In the case of Krakow, the market square happens to be the largest in Europe and the castle one of the best preserved. The Old Town extends about three blocks in each direction from the market square and then the whole package is contained by a ring of parks. We were first amazed at how beautiful the town was, then by how many cafes and restaurants lined the sidewalks on every street, and then... by how wonderful the beer was.
Yes, after a couple weeks in Scandinavia where brewers apparently actually believe the PBR deserved a blue ribbon, Poland seemed to get it right. Maybe it was the fact that we could actually taste the hops for once... or maybe it was just that they cost about eight dollars less here than in Denmark... but we were, regardless, excited.
We walked around the Old Town and then up to Wawel Castle. At the castle, there wasn't much to do without paying, so we sat around the castle grounds enjoyed the sunshine, the view, and the excitement of being in a new place. On our way back downt the hill, we visited a couple churches. Typically, when Steveyann and I visit an old church, I inevitably start to educate (read: "bore") her with a rundown on church architectural history. She gets excited to see these buildings and loves to take wonderful pictures of them, but I am sure that she doesn't quite get the same kick out of identifying transitional elements as I do. But at the Kosciol Franciscanska, a gothic church whose stone and concrete walls had been covered in intricately designed and colorful patterns, (imagine wall-paper), she got excited and had so much fun taking pictures and admiring all of the unique interior design.
On our second day in Krakow, we took a bus out of town on a day trip to Auschwitz, the infamous complex of Nazi concentration and extermination camps. This, of course, was a profoundly affecting experience. Steveyann and I talked afterwards about how odd the experience was. The day was beautiful, sunny, and warm. The grounds of the camps were covered in green grasses and flowers and, with the exception of the barbed wire and the knowledge of what had happened there, it all felt a bit idyllic.
But the experience was intense, as anyone could imagine. To see the images and walk the grounds and run through all of these tragic scenarios in our heads was a bit overwhelming.
The next day, we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines for what our Polish friends that we met in Peru promised would be "one of the top five things to see in all of Europe". Sounds enticing! We took the bait and a short bus ride later we ended up at the entrance to the salt mines. All in all, it was't quite what I was expecting, but it was interesting and impressive nonetheless. I had seen pictures from the mines of these statues in these deep caverns with the description that for the last 700 years the mine workers had been sculpting things out of pure salt. So when our tourguide took us to our first cavern and pointed out these same sculptures I had seen in the images, I got our camera ready. Then he filled us in that the sculptures, one of what looked like some sort of wizard and the other of a greedy troll, had been sculpted merely forty years ago. Impressive!
It wasn't all bad and, in fact, it got a lot better. It turns out that these mines go down over 1000 feet and that there is even an entire church, with relief sculptures, chandeliers, and an altar, carved completely out of the mine. There were even little gnomes (we took pictures for you, Katie!)
That evening, (our last before our train out the next day), we took a walk to Kasimieriz.. Here is where Fascism left its fingerprints on Krakow. This suburb was the Jewish quarter of Krakow and became the basis for the Krakow Ghetto formed by the occupying Nazi's in an attempt to control the Jewish population. This was a really great area of town that we were glad we squeezed into our schedule... definately a hub of culture and arts while its bohemian grittiness contrasted nicely with the polished feel of the Old Town.
Krakow sits at the base of the foothills of the High Tatras mountains. We had intended to make our way to see the beautiful scenery and maybe take a hike or two in the process, but apparently it is a bit more difficult and the route more circuitous to travel through Slovakia, so we ended up deciding to modify our itinerary a bit.
Next stop, Prague.
Over the last two-hundred years or so, the Poles have dealt with a lot. First, an invasion and dissolution by Prussia, and then after briefly regaining independence, the concerted and simultaneous take-over by the Nazis in the West and the Soviets in the East.
This is what fascinated me about going to Krakow. While Warsaw has been the political center for nearly a hundred years, Krakow has maintained its status as Poland's cultural capital. All Polish cities bear the fingerprints of totalitarianism... whether a Nazi edifice or one of those ubiquitous Soviet era concrete housing projects... and although Krakow was preserved through the war, its history has produced a proud but wounded population. This is what led us to Krakow.
We arrived early in the morning after the aforementioned overnight train from Scezchin. Despite the unusual experience, we actually had slept pretty well and were excited to have most of the day to check out the town. After checking in to the hostel, we explored a bit. Krakow is beautiful, and is so well organized for travelers on foot. As is typical in many European cities, the town consists of a market square and a castle with everything else shoved around and in between them. In the case of Krakow, the market square happens to be the largest in Europe and the castle one of the best preserved. The Old Town extends about three blocks in each direction from the market square and then the whole package is contained by a ring of parks. We were first amazed at how beautiful the town was, then by how many cafes and restaurants lined the sidewalks on every street, and then... by how wonderful the beer was.
Yes, after a couple weeks in Scandinavia where brewers apparently actually believe the PBR deserved a blue ribbon, Poland seemed to get it right. Maybe it was the fact that we could actually taste the hops for once... or maybe it was just that they cost about eight dollars less here than in Denmark... but we were, regardless, excited.
We walked around the Old Town and then up to Wawel Castle. At the castle, there wasn't much to do without paying, so we sat around the castle grounds enjoyed the sunshine, the view, and the excitement of being in a new place. On our way back downt the hill, we visited a couple churches. Typically, when Steveyann and I visit an old church, I inevitably start to educate (read: "bore") her with a rundown on church architectural history. She gets excited to see these buildings and loves to take wonderful pictures of them, but I am sure that she doesn't quite get the same kick out of identifying transitional elements as I do. But at the Kosciol Franciscanska, a gothic church whose stone and concrete walls had been covered in intricately designed and colorful patterns, (imagine wall-paper), she got excited and had so much fun taking pictures and admiring all of the unique interior design.
On our second day in Krakow, we took a bus out of town on a day trip to Auschwitz, the infamous complex of Nazi concentration and extermination camps. This, of course, was a profoundly affecting experience. Steveyann and I talked afterwards about how odd the experience was. The day was beautiful, sunny, and warm. The grounds of the camps were covered in green grasses and flowers and, with the exception of the barbed wire and the knowledge of what had happened there, it all felt a bit idyllic.
But the experience was intense, as anyone could imagine. To see the images and walk the grounds and run through all of these tragic scenarios in our heads was a bit overwhelming.
The next day, we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines for what our Polish friends that we met in Peru promised would be "one of the top five things to see in all of Europe". Sounds enticing! We took the bait and a short bus ride later we ended up at the entrance to the salt mines. All in all, it was't quite what I was expecting, but it was interesting and impressive nonetheless. I had seen pictures from the mines of these statues in these deep caverns with the description that for the last 700 years the mine workers had been sculpting things out of pure salt. So when our tourguide took us to our first cavern and pointed out these same sculptures I had seen in the images, I got our camera ready. Then he filled us in that the sculptures, one of what looked like some sort of wizard and the other of a greedy troll, had been sculpted merely forty years ago. Impressive!
It wasn't all bad and, in fact, it got a lot better. It turns out that these mines go down over 1000 feet and that there is even an entire church, with relief sculptures, chandeliers, and an altar, carved completely out of the mine. There were even little gnomes (we took pictures for you, Katie!)
That evening, (our last before our train out the next day), we took a walk to Kasimieriz.. Here is where Fascism left its fingerprints on Krakow. This suburb was the Jewish quarter of Krakow and became the basis for the Krakow Ghetto formed by the occupying Nazi's in an attempt to control the Jewish population. This was a really great area of town that we were glad we squeezed into our schedule... definately a hub of culture and arts while its bohemian grittiness contrasted nicely with the polished feel of the Old Town.
Krakow sits at the base of the foothills of the High Tatras mountains. We had intended to make our way to see the beautiful scenery and maybe take a hike or two in the process, but apparently it is a bit more difficult and the route more circuitous to travel through Slovakia, so we ended up deciding to modify our itinerary a bit.
Next stop, Prague.
little gnomes!!!!
ReplyDeleteI KNEW that they were hiding out in Poland!