Krakow, Poland

Back in September my dear college friend (Susie, who now lives outside of Boston) contacted me to tell me that she would most likely be in Krakow in January for work and would I want to meet her for a girls’ weekend?

{St. Mary’s Basilica, 14th century Gothic church, in Market Square}

She didn’t need to ask me twice. Despite her being unclear whether or not the trip would be happening for her, I went online and found very inexpensive flights to and from Krakow for that very weekend. I was booked and ready.

{The Main Square in old town Krakow dates back to the 13th century and is one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe}

She later confirmed that the trip was a go. And by the way, would I want to go to Auschwitz as well? As painful as it would be, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

{From our visit to Auschwitz – See separate post dedicated to our visit}

Dave and I had yet to visit a Nazi concentration camp, let alone the most famous extermination camp, as we felt our boys were too young. Traveling sans kiddos would allow me the freedom to experience such an excruciatingly painful and difficult place without worrying that the experience would be too much for our school aged boys.

{Stary cmentarz zydowski – Jewish cemetery in Kazmierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow}

In preparation for the trip, I listened and watched Rick Steve’s podcast and video clips of Krakow (I know, who doesn’t love Rick!), I read Questions I’ve Been Asked About the Holocaust by Heidi Fried and reflected on Elie Wiesel’s Night, which I had first read nearly twenty years before as an assignment by the Rabbi while converting to Judaism. (Heidi and Elie were coincidentally from the same Transylvanian town in Romania of Sighetu Marmatiei). I also went on YouTube to watch clips of Schindler’s List, which was filmed and based in Krakow.

I booked us a beer, vodka and food tour, found a four star restaurant for Saturday night (Krakow is quite affordable), and planned some time to go bra shopping as Poland apparently makes amazing hand sewn bras.

So I headed to Tegel via public transport on an early Thursday morning and flew to Krakow through Warsaw.

{Little airplanes like these make me nervous}

{Connection though Chopin Airport in Warsaw}

{First sight of the castle complex from below}

I picked up an envelope with a room key card in it from the Sheraton’s front desk that Susie had left for me, dropped off my bags and spent a few hours exploring Krakow by foot while Susie finished her work.

{Scenes of Krakow – the Castle complex walls, Ethnographic Museum and Corpus Christi Basilica}

I was feeling hungry and stumbled across a foot truck market. As I looked around, I found a burger cart with veg options. Despite the cashier’s warnings, I tried a sandwich with beet and chocolate mouse, pears, walnuts and blue cheese. It was ridiculously tasty.

I continued through the Kazimierz District, which was the old Jewish town before they were forced across the Vistula River to the ghetto during WWII.

{Old Synagogue}

{Kazimierz – where seven main synagogues exist}

Susie was finishing up so we met at the hotel and went out to the Old Town area for dinner at a restaurant a co-worker had recommended. Old Town was impressive. And a much larger counterpart to Kazimierz.

{Dinner at Szara Gęś with Susie}

{My First Night in Kraków}

Susie was working on Friday, so after a tasty breakfast in the hotel, I took a cab to Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory. Since the factory had been emptied towards the end of the war, the space was now used to show the history of Krakow under Nazi Occupation.

{Pictures of workers saved by Schindler}

After the factory tour, I stumbled across a cafe next door and went in for a coffee and a snack. I discovered it was a part of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Krakow. With a low admission cost, I decided to pop in for a few minutes.

It was quite special. A lot of the works centered around Krakow’s history in the 20th century. One video installation was very powerful to me. A woman had brought her father (a Holocaust survivor) and her children to several concentration and extermination camps where they all danced to the song “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.

{Exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Krakow – “Art Makes You Free”}

After the museum, I headed to a memorial in what had been in the center of the Jewish ghetto.

{Ghetto Heros Square}

It was here that in March 1941 the Germans locked up all the Krakow Jews inside the recently-built ghetto. Over 20,000 people were living within the ghetto walls, where previously only 3,000 people had lived.

The 33 chairs symbolize the tragedy of the Polish Jews. These inhabitants of Krakow were imprisoned in the Krakow Ghetto during the Second World War and the German occupation of Poland. Afterwards, they lost their lives to the Germans on the premises of the ghetto and in several German death camps.

{Old Synagogue}

Afterwards, I crossed the Vistula to return to Kazimierz and the area around the Old Synagoge. Many of the schenes from Schindler’s List were filmed here near the Old Synagogue. Being hungry, I settled into a Jewish cafe and ordered some borsch. 

{Kazimierz – Next to the Old Synagogue}

Susie was finished with work so we met in Kazimierz to buy bras. We soon found ourselves in front of a bra fitting shop that I had read about in the New York Times.

{Bra Shopping in Krakow}

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/12/25/style/polish-bras.amp.html

After an hour, we each walked out with a new bra or two, having a better idea of our true sizes. It felt great!

Afterwards, we did some exploring by foot with the goal of heading over the Vistula toward a few murals she had heard about.

Before crossing the river, we spotted some tall spires and took a side trip.

We found ourselves in front of the Church of St. Michael and a statue of Pope John Paul II, who had been the Bishop of Krakow before becoming Pope.

{St. Michael’s}

{Pope John Paul II}

We crossed the Vistula on Father Bernatek’s Bridge, which was delightful.

{Father Bernatek’s Bridge}

We found the murals Susie had read about, stumbled across Getto Hero’s Square and crossed the Vistula to meet up with our guide for the Vodka, Beer and Food tour.

{Murals in the old ghetto area}

The Food Tour was incredible. I could go into details and write an entire blog post about it. But to keep things simple, I will simply say that our native Krakowian knew his food. His passion for both traditional and modern Polish food and drink was contagious. We went to five places and kept eating this amazing food including the best latkes I’ve ever had in my life. We were stuffed by the end. Most of it was vegetarian. And I would have to say that hands down, my next culinary trip will not be to Italy, but to Poland. The pierogis alone would be worth a return trip!

{Some of the stops on our Vodka, Beer and Wine Tour}

I’m sorry to say I didn’t take any pictures inside the restaurants. We were enjoying ourselves too much to notice. One tip, try the Bison Grass Vodka.

https://youtube/RZUNUGPiKto

We headed home stuffed, but surprisingly sober. We stopped by the Krakow Dragon outside the castle complex before getting to the hotel.

{Kraków Dragon}

To learn more about the legend.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_Dragon_(statue)

The next day we went to Auschwitz (see separate post on Auschwitz).

That night, we went to a very nice restaurant for our final dinner together.

{Fine dining together – a birthday celebration for me}

The next morning, we packed up, ate our filling breakfast at the hotel and checked our bags with the front desk. We spent our last hour together before Susie left at the Castle complex, where I continued to tour alone for much of the day.

{At the Castle Complex}

{Inside the Castle complex including the detail of the ceiling in the crown room}

Afterwards, I went back to the old town for another hour of touring. I encountered a rally along with the medieval architecture.

{Town Hall Tower}

But left just enough time for one last stop for pierogi and a hearty dark Polish beer. I was already missing the Polish cuisine.

{Last Pierogi at Gospoda Koko before leaving Krakow}

I feel very fortunate to have been able to both go to Krakow and for having had so much time to spend with my dear friend. Many thanks to Dave for keeping things in order in Berlin during their bachelor weekend!