A glimpse of Poland

I am just back from a 2 night taster trip to Krakow, Poland. We were lucky to make our 5.50am flight from Stansted as it was a text from me at 3.30am that woke Shelley up. The bus from Cambridge left at 3.40am which we just caught.

My first impressions of the city were that the people were relaxed, not bustling about like Londoners or Cambridgers. Krakow is pedestrian friendly which I really liked. There was little risk of being run over, or cycled down, when you stopped to take photos as all good tourists do. We spent a lot of time just wandering the streets admiring the architecture and scouting out good eating places. Oh, and doing a little shopping.

Rynek Glowny (Old Town, Market Square)

On Thursday we found our way to Hostel Yellow by around midday. Too early to check in officially we dropped off our bags and headed out in search of lunch. Did I mention, this was a culinary tour of Krakow? Shelley is diabetic so food is pretty important. We made good travelling companions! Our first experience of Polish cuisine was pretty average. I chose a meal that consisted of fried chicken, shoestring fries and coleslaw. All much the same colour on the plate so it looked pretty unappetising. Tasted OK. Everything on the menu at this place came with Georgian spices. I still haven't quite figured out what that means. With full stomachs we headed out to explore. We went and said our prayers in St Mary's Basilica. The interior is spectacularly ornate but unfortunately you can't take photos inside. On the hour a trumpeter plays from the tower. This continues throughout the night.

St Mary's Basilica

We then headed for the Kazimierz district. There are a number of circuits you can do with varying focuses. We chose one that took us past a few of the Jewish synagogues. It was interesting to wander through the area. However, without a guide it was difficult to learn anything of the history of the area or to know what we were looking at. After only three hours sleep though we probably weren't in a state to take too much in. We finished our afternoon exploring with a meander through the Wawel Castle grounds.

Wawel Castle

Our first day ended with dinner at a Polish restaurant near to the hostel. The menu sounded fabulous. However, the food was rather disappointing. Shelley ordered Wild Boar and I chose roasted Duck. Both meats were overcooked and very dry. The meals were served very quickly which can only mean that they were re-heated. Ewww. At least the sides we ordered were edible - a creamy spinach dish, beetroot and roasted potatoes. Yum. We didn't risk trying the desserts.

On Friday we were booked in for a tour to Auschwitz (Oswiecim in Polish). Our driver collected us from the hostel at 9.30am so not too early a start. However due to dodgy alarm setting (on Shelley's part) I was woken at 4.30am anyway by buzzing in the locker by my head. Can't believe I heard it with earplugs in. No-one else seemed to be bothered or woken by the noise so I let it go for a while. Then decided it wasn't going to shut up so had to work out which bag it was in and try to turn it off. The noise was slightly louder when I opened the locker and located the bag so in fact Shelley was woken and turned it off. Pretty funny as we had joked before going to bed that I might set alarm for the wrong time as I have been known to do on school hockey trips.

Arbeit Macht Frei ("Work Brings Freedom") YEAH RIGHT!

If I were clever I would turn this photo into a Tui billboard. It is difficult to know what to say about our visit to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau. We had an excellent guide who brought to life the history of the place. The displays of 2 000 kg of human hair, thousands of pairs of glasses, suitcases, shoes and other personal possessions bring home the scale of the torture and extermination that took place. All so recently too!

Entrance to gas chamber and crematorium, Auschwitz I

The platform at Birkenau

The place where trains from all over Europe arrived, three quarters of the passengers were led from here straight to the gas chambers.

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens,

how incapable must Man be of learning from experience."

George Bernard Shaw

With our "sightseeing" quota for the day filled we relaxed in the mall for the remainder of the afternoon. We searched three floors of shops for the perfect pair of shoes for Shelley. Which, eventually we found. This required some stamina and a little Lody (ice cream) to replenish our energy stores.

Shelley's choice, Spaghetti Chocolate Deluxe

The culinary tour continues. Actually, I don't remember the proper name for this. But in true Polish style these desserts were huge! I had a much smaller sample of another Chocolate concoction with ice-cream, cream and chocolate liquer. How could you go wrong? The presentation was amazing but I put that down to it being an Italian branded shop.

We made a reservation for dinner at a place called Chlopskie Jadlo which advertised itself as Polish country style cooking. I was slightly dubious about the complimentary lard that is served at the beginning of your meal. However as part of my education I forced myself to sample it. I should mention the lard was served with beautiful bread and a soft cheese. The lard did not look appetising, a thick white glug as you'd imagine, with chunks of something a little more solid floating about. I cautiously spread a little on a piece of bread and sampled. To my surprise it was quite delicious. That's because it was warm and the floaty things most closely resembled pork crackling. Everyone knows its the fat in food that makes it taste good. As I haven't been to any other countries that serve up lard as a starter I'm not too worried that I will acquire an addiction to it. My main was equally delicious although I can't remember exactly what it was. Some kind of meat in a creamy, winey, mushroomy sauce served with buttery mashed potatoes. Let's not consider the fat content of this dinner. No dessert was necessary as our stomachs were probably still digesting the enormous helpings of ice-cream we'd eaten earlier.

Our last night involved exploring the Krakow night-life. Well, sort of. We wandered the streets and poked our heads in to a few places. This usually meant ducking down a dark alley, shuffling downstairs to a darkly lit basement and quickly assessing the atmosphere. We sampled a couple of local vodka's in a smoky cellar bar. After rejecting a few more places we settled on a cafe style bar for our nightcap. A very rich hot chocolate with a good measure of baileys. Not particularly Polish but very yummy.

On our last day we did not set out to see or do anything in particular. There was more street wandering just taking in the slightly different sights on a weekend day. People dressed in National costume playing piano accordians and the like. We bought amber jewellery at Cloth Hall, the market in Rynek Glowny. The highlight of the day was deciding we were both in need of a cheap haircut. How could you go wrong for 80 zloty (20 quid, 45 NZD)? So, we booked ourselves in at the first place we found.

By this stage any apprehension about our inability to communicate had well and truly vanished. I was less concerned about this seeing as I pretty much couldn't talk the entire time we were away due to some stupid illness. It turned out that the reception chick had pretty good English. She was used as an interpreter and we both came out with shorter hair. All round a success I think.

There was time for one last meal before we headed to the airport to catch our flight. As we had had mixed success with Polish cuisine we settled on Japanese. This was a beautifully presented and delicious meal. The perfect way to celebrate the end of our unintended culinary holiday.

Do widzenia! Anna!