Cracking Krakow - or is it Crakow?

What`s in a name eh? You`ll see both spellings but the Poles spell it with a K ( and an accent on the o that I cannot do) so that`s the end of the story for me.
We`d originally planned a visit to Lincoln Christmas market taking in Donna Nook but given that there seemed to be no accommodation available in the Lincoln area we went there earlier and decided to do Krakow Christmas market hoping it would be a counter balance to the Auschwitz visit we knew we`d have to make. Given the deals we could get on flights and an apartment within 7 minutes walk of the main square it was an easy switch to make. Chris and Peter came with us and I even bought a furry ear flap hat ready for the severe cold in December there. Of course with bright sunshine and unseasonably mild weather I barely needed it so was glad I`d swapped the £18 Next purchase for a very similar £3.49 Aldi version given that I`ll rarely wear it. We stayed for 5 nights which helped us see just about everything we wanted to and what a great city! After settling into the apartment it was off to the main square housing a very up market Christmas market, at great prices, with great food but we ate out at a mysterious "milk bar" I found us. I say mysterious as it seemed the venue went out of it`s way to stay hidden - in a bank type door, down a corridor, over a courtyard and down the stairs! We found it and had a starter of dumplings together with huge meals of goulash on potato pancakes and pork schnitzel with side salads for £8.50 for 2 of us! Amazing value!

The market

 

U Babci Maliny - look it up if you are there for great Polish food at rock bottom prices. An example of a "milk bar" described as " a traditional throwback to days gone by where a grim old lady will take your order through a hatch or counter, bark an order to the back, give you a receipt and then clatter it on the counter when ready barking out what it is in Polish". Pretty much summed dour experience up. Little sense of when food should come together for a group of 4 but great value and a real traditional experience.
The next day we were off to Schindler`s factory which we`d been advised to see before going to Auschwitz. It details more about the German occupation of Poland than Schindler`s story and  so much to see / read. Gutted they did not have a Schindler lift though!

 Amazing to see the film and here about how Jews were desperate to work here as they were treated / fed better and felt so much better off than other camps they had heard of and yet were in dire straits themselves. Staring out as an officer in the Abwehr (Nazi intelligence service) Schindler took over the factory for sheer profit but as time went on gave bigger and bigger bribes to save Jews at his factory. When he returned to Germany after the war he was initially supported by those Jews he had saved and again when he returned to Germany after a failed business in Argentina.

Floor tiles!

Street names changed - later Adolf Hitler Square

Cafe featured scenes from the film

The ticket offered gave us a chance to see the Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow (MOSAK) next door so we took that option for what was effectively 50p. So glad we did . The art work was really good and the cafe again offered great coffee and chance to sit and muse.

 

 I loved this exhibit.

 The most unusual vending machines I`ve seen! I was not sure what order you had to have them in and then realised there were no coin slots! Art eh!

The next day we`d booked a full day tour taking in both Auschwitz and the Salt Mines. This met no 49 of my 64 Things to do before I`m 64 targets! We opted fro the door to door service / lunch with a tour firm. You can do it by public transport but we`d heard return bus times were erratic and buses could be crowded and trains not so convenient. Beside we got a lunch included and the firm we used were superb - Krakow Shuttle.

Auschwitz was all we imagined and more. People were so quiet walking around this ghost of a place - Birkenau seeming an even emptier place which had fewer things to see and read about. The personal possession elements of the displays were the most moving, especially the masses of hair taken from prisoners to be turned into wigs, socks and clothes together with the confiscated belongings. We heard how inmates referred to the warehouses storing their possessions as "Canada" as it was a place of plenty. Only one of the gas chambers survived the German destruction as they fled int he face of the Russian onslaught and it was a chilling sight.
 I know some say why go but I`m with Santayana
on this one and think people need to see  just how  cruel one people can be to another when they lose sight of what is decent in the control of fanatics. Of course we didn`t learn our lessons with this horror and have  repeated it to greater / lesser degrees in conflict since, more is the pity!

 You`re left wondering who, if any, survived from the photographs displayed

 Here the camp doctor points left to the work camp or right to the gas chambers on arrival. Horrifying disregard for human life! We`d seen a film called "Son of Saul" as part of the Leeds International Film Festival featuring a story about one of the Sonderkommandos, Jewish prisoners who lived a few extra weeks by taking on the horrific jobs of taking prisoner`s clothes as they entered the chambers and disposing of the bodies / ashes of the victims. Our guide told us of stories of those people burying written records of what went on in the camps that would be so useful later in testimony and trials. They lived perhaps another 8-10 weeks before being executed themselves but story after story told of how you just grabbed the "best" job you could to live another day or do less hard labour.

 This shot was depicted in Son of Saul

Red shoe

The gas chamber

The vent through which a 2kg container of Zyclon B would be put to kill 2,000 Jews at a time

 Arrival at Birkenau (Auschwitz 2 )

 Used to transport  half a dozen horses, 20 pigs previously but 150 Jewish prisoners. More than a quarter were dead on arrival at the camp - so bad were the conditions.

 Our guide Kristina was the oldest guide at Auschwitz having worked there for 40 years after promising her father in law she would work there. He had been an inmate after being caught giving bread to prisoners.

 The wooden huts had been burned down leaving just the chimneys of fired never used.

 After the hardships and enforced labour stories of the camps I am sure that many people think they are in for more of the same in visiting the salt mines near Krakow. You could not be more wrong. There was never any slave / forced labour at the mines - just an economic venture that operated until 1996 when low salt prices and flooding made it uneconomic. It is now a popular tourist venue and so much better than you expect. Contacts had warned me of a dangerous lift but facilities are now all you would expect from a 21st century tourist attraction and the sights are stunning. From the logged tunnels to the rock salt carvings / chapels and saline lake it is not to be missed.

 The onsite hotel at the salt mines.

 Fantastic main chamber which this photo does not do justice to.

The next day I was keen to see some sights I`d missed in the Jewish ghetto area and also wanting to see the Jewish quarter. I had not realised that they were two different areas with the ghetto being the area the Germans had moved the Jews into  after turfing them out of better to do homes / areas. We had learned that a section of the ghetto wall constructed by the Germans was still in place and that an installation of empty chairs signifying the missing, exterminated Jews and their furniture being thrown into the street had to be found. Turned out they were just around the corner from Schindler`s factory which we `d have known if we hadn`t got a taxi to the door on the 2nd day. Both were very moving and I loved the fact that of the 70 chairs half were placed on the edges of the squares near tram stops etc and people were encouraged to sit a while as they waited.

Empty Chairs

The wall

We walked on to the Jewish quarter which featured examples of old Jewish shops and areas used for filming Schindler`s List.

Liked the cafe caption

 The one thing we missed doing was to visit the Nowa Huta district of Krakow. This was in effect a new town  and steelworks (Lenin Steelworks) built to try to bring more working people to the area that might affect voting on key communist issues. As it turned out Nowa Huta became one of the most lawless parts of the Krakow district, building churches and protesting constantly. You could tour it in this old 1950s van going from the Jewish quarter though it was overpriced at £20 a head I feel.

 After all the walking / coffee bar stops our next activity was a bit of fun. I`d read of a house of horror called Lost Souls Alley and at around £3 each it seemed too good to miss, especially as it met no 53 of my 64 things to do by the time I`m 64 list! Basic premise was that in a group of 6 with one torch you were led into a first room where your task was to find a key / padlock combination getting you into the next room. Of course there was more to it than that and each room was filled with horror genre objects / sounds/ darkness and ultimately people chasing you with chainsaws / knives and the like. Sue lasted about 4 paces into the first room, a series of claustrophobic tunnels covered in dust / cobwebs before using the "I`m a celebrity get me out of here" card. The rest of us went on. Both scary and funny it was amazing how often me and or Peter used Christine to go first into the next room or as a human shield. Quite worrying how you end up doing  that and find you are not maybe hero material. My biggest shock was tapping a figure in a wheelchair repeatedly on the head until I determined it was another dummy. As we opened the next door this "dummy" came to life and wheeled straight at us with a knife. It was at this stage that a Polish guy with us ignored all rues about not touching objects and people and launched himself onto the " dummy" in the chair. Hilarious! Do check it out if you go.

 The horse and carriage ride had to be done and helped "open up" the rest of the city for us as we had missed nits thus far.

 We walked around the park that marked the position of the old town walls to get to the castle. You could walk around the castle for free but paid for elements of it in a confused range of entry charges. We were happy to pop into the cathedral and see it from the outside.

 The emphasis is always on the dragons in Krakow and I loved the drainpipes on the castle

 They say these old "dragon bones" above the cathedral entrance saved Krakow from destruction during partition and WW2 and it will be safe as long as they hand there. More likely they are old whale , rhinoceros or mammoth bones but no-one will take them down to find out!

 I loved this dragon statue which actually breathes fire ( you can just see it here) every 5 minutes or so by the Dragon`s den. We wanted to see the den but it was closed at this time of year but tells another old story and is worth a visit, especially with children.

 My favourite restaurant advertising featuring chefs holding a goose!

 Walking at night

 Of course we could not go all trip without sampling the wares of the great chocolate house. Here you had hot chocolate made literally out of melted chocolate with a dash or two of milk and accompanied by... chocolate Queues were always huge in these places which were obviously very popular with the locals and tourists alike. They stocked the best macaroons I`ve ever had too!

 pretzel stalls were the other ever- present.

 My wish to get a shot of this statue with the empty square / arches behind it were dashed when a huge group of hundreds of bikers and their kids came to the main square on St Nicholas`s day.
There was also a demonstration there against aggression and racism with a young lass telling me there had been lost of attacks on minorities, fuelled by right wing politicians, which they were protesting about. My favourite banner said "Down with those sort of things! " in Englsih.

 Santa Selfie

 Looks like Sue, Chris and Peter are waiting for an appointment with the Grim Reaper here!

 On the last day we managed to have lunch at Lenin`s favourite cafe on the main square. Afraid to say it was the grandest, dearest cafe of all so Lenin was guilty of betraying his class there!

So, all in all a great trip to Krakow.You have to see Auschwitz and Schindler`s Factory when there but there are so many other things to lift you in what is a beautiful city. Add to that cheap food and really cheap drink and it`s a no - brainer. Do avoid the weekends if you can though - it was so much busier once it got to Friday night!