I got my main Christmas present from Hubs a little early this year and found myself being whisked off to Krakow, Poland for a long weekend in the middle of December. I love city breaks, I love Christmas so this was the perfect gift!
This might be is a long post, so go grab a cup of tea and then make yourself comfortable... Alternatively, if you're not feeling very wordy, you can just scroll through and look at the pictures!
Although this holiday was mainly lovely and magical, we did also visit Auschwitz while we were there... I've included a section on that in this post, as it was an important part of our holiday but it may be quite an upsetting read, so I've separated it from the rest of this post, should you wish to skip past it.
When we walked in to the main square and I saw the Christmas tree, I let out a little squeal of excitement - I am that crazy person.
We stayed in the Hotel Wentzl, which is situated right on the market square. We had a room on the top floor, with a balcony and this was our view...
I was impressed enough during the day but at night it literally came to life...
The square was completely packed every evening, there was a performance on the stage daily so we got ready to go out for the night with carols being sung in the background. It was truly magical.
We arrived in Krakow at about 12pm and spent the afternoon orientating ourselves. We ended up at the Wawel Castle, sort of by accident but spent a good couple of hours wandering around the grounds. We popped in to the Royal Armoury and Treasury (more of an Armoury really, so only worth a visit if you're in to weapons and things... I was a little bit disappointed!).
We stood at the top of the hill and watched the sun set over the city. It felt very romantic watching the sky change from orange to red to purple.
As we headed back down the hill we came across the 'Dragon's Den' - a statue surrounded by children, just watching. It didn't make much sense to us, until the dragon started breathing fire. The kids screamed and ran off in different directions. Obviously, we had to wait until the next fire breathing moment to get a photograph...
Not a very good one, unfortunately, as I found myself jumping out of my skin when it actually happened - such a wuss! It turns out, you can actually text the dragon to make him breathe, so we could have done it ourselves without waiting around.
We headed back to the hotel through the illuminated streets and my festive feelings went through the roof!
After a quick reset we headed back out and found a gorgeous, traditional-style Polish restaurant that served huge portions of food and stuffed ourselves. The food is so cheap - £2 for a starter and £3.50 for a main course - but the portion sizes are huge. Throughout the trip, we didn't spend more than £20 on one meal and that would get starters, mains and drinks for both of us. The quality of the food was amazing too.
The next section is the part you may want to skip...
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The next day we went to Auschwitz.
This wasn't something I was particularly looking forward to, for obvious reasons but Hubs had been before and said it was something he genuinely felt everyone should experience. That it gave a whole new perspective on life.
We decided not to go with a tour group and just caught the bus through, early in the morning. I'm pleased we did it that way, as it was nice to be able to spend time taking in the information that was available, at our own pace. We spent about 5 hours between the two camps. However, during the summer months, when things are busier, you have to join a tour if you arrive after 10am.
I honestly didn't think I would take any photographs while we were there. I thought it would feel disrespectful and be in bad taste. That changed when I arrived - the whole place is full of people's stories and I did take some photographs because it felt like doing that was acknowledging what had happened, as atrocious as it was and was marking the fact that these people, who had been through so much unimaginable horror, will never be forgotten.
The old barracks have been turned in to exhibit rooms, each giving details about the different stages of the regime and the movement to Auschwitz. The walls are lined with pictures of the prisoners, taken when they were initially held, putting faces to the '1.6 million' number that was repeatedly referenced. Some pictures had flowers tucked behind them, from people who had found a family member.
The glass cabinets, pictured above, housed just some of the suitcases, shoes and glasses that had been confiscated from the prisoners when they arrived at the camp. These pictures show less than a quarter of the total amount confiscated... There were hundreds of thousands of items in there.
After Auschwitz, we caught the free shuttle bus to Birkenau, about 5 minutes up the road.
Walking around this vast, open space it became eerily clear just how huge an operation this had been. We spent over 90 minutes walking around the camp, reading the information boards and looking at the memorials that had been erected all around.
No matter how much information I saw, or how many things I read, I couldn't comprehend how this had been allowed to happen. The rapid expansion of the Nazi operation resulted in literally millions of people being separated from their families, subjected to the most humiliating living conditions imaginable and ultimately, being murdered, just because of what they believed in and who they were.
It goes without saying, these places are filled with sadness but one of the saddest parts for me, was this; in authentic pictures, taken at the time people were being dragged from their homes or lined up for 'selection', the Nazi SS guards in the pictures are smiling. They were genuinely proud of what they were doing. They didn't realise, or didn't choose to acknowledge, the sheer devastation caused by what they were part of.
As much as the atrocities of what happened were laid out in front of us, there was some light that shone through the darkness. Stories of the survivors, the families who were reunited, the lovers who found each other again were there to be read. Stories of the sheer determination of the prisoners, of their attitude towards each other and the support they gave each other. That they never gave up hope. That they came together to try and survive.
I can't explain how visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau made me feel. There was the deep, deep sadness that I had been expecting before I went, the complete failure to comprehend how there could be such evil allowed to exist in the world and the sympathy towards the victims, their families and the futures they could have had. But there was also a feeling of faith, of belief in human nature and the ability they have to come together and help each other, no matter what hell they're going through. It made me feel thankful and fortunate for my life. It made me feel grateful.
If you ever find yourself in Krakow, I would recommend visiting Auschwitz. It may not be your usual tourist destination and yes, it is a desperately upsetting place that will make you question how people can be so evil but it does give you a different perspective on life. Suddenly that rubbish day you're having at work, won't seem quite so bad. Above all, I think it's important that we never let those people who suffered, unnecessarily, be forgotten and that we keep their memories alive.
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Okay, so back to it with Day 3... We headed to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, about half an hour from the town centre. Again, we just got the normal public bus through, it was easy to find and cheap as chips. Once we got there we did have to join in with a tour, as there are so many different chambers, corridors and passages, it would be pretty easy to get lost without a guide.
Wieliczka isn't a working mine anymore but was functioning until 2007, having been built in the 13th century. It's now a World Heritage site and a very popular tourist attraction with more than 1.2 million visitors a year.
The scene above has been completely carved out of salt! As we walked around, the Tour Guide gave us a little bit of history about the ownership of the mine, how it had expanded over the years and how the workers had lived.
Anything carved out of salt, in such detail, is pretty amazing but the most amazing room, in my opinion, was the chapel.
A fully functional chapel, carved out of salt. The floors were salt, the walls were salt... Even the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling were made out of salt. The workers had built this to use as an active place of prayer and to this day, they still hold services and conduct weddings there.
Even the religious frescos on the wall were carved out of salt...
There was also a huge carving of Pope John Paul II, in honour of his visit to the chapel.
The tour took about 2 hours in total and covered 3 floors of the mine which, given that it's actually 327 metres deep and 178 miles long, is a tiny proportion! Even so, we still finished the tour 130 metres underground, which is as far underground as I've ever been (or would ever want to go!).
When we arrived back in town the sun had gone down and this was what was waiting for us in the main square...
I got very excited about this. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it's not really Christmas until the Coca-Cola advert has been on, so seeing the truck in real life certified that it was, in fact, Christmas! The square was absolutely packed with people and the queue for one of the personalised bottles seemed to be miles long, so I resisted the urge to wait in line and was satisfied with just seeing the truck.
For our last day, we only had a few hours left before leaving for the airport, so we'd booked a 2 hour walking tour around the Old Jewish Quarter and the Jewish Ghetto.
I felt sorry for our tour guide when he found out there was actually only the 2 of us booked on the tour (we think there had been a mistake with the booking site we used and our tour wasn't actually supposed to have existed!) but he happily showed us round anyway!
When he asked us to stand for a 'group photo', as he does with all of his tour groups, it made us laugh when the 'group' looked like this...
It was good to learn the history from this side of things, as it helped piece together some of the stories we had learned in Auschwitz. Some of the places we went had been featured in the film 'Schindler's List' which helped revived the Ghetto from a run down area to a vibrant, lively and social place, which has been good for the community.
Once our tour was over we spent one last hour walking around the market and filling our faces with street food before we headed back home.
If you made it this far without falling asleep - congratulations! I didn't realise this would be quite such a long post when I set off but I guess I had a lot to say.
I love, love, loved Krakow and would recommend anyone to go, especially at Christmas time. Have you been before? Is there somewhere you would recommend we visit next?
Aimee x
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