Just for once, the train trip to Krakow went by with no ticket issues. WIN!
I headed over there with a few folk from the hostel who were all heading on to Krakow and all staying in the Stanger hostel too, on the basis that the Stranger in Wroclaw was so good. Turns out the Stranger in Krakow is a good place, but has a weird layout. You have to walk through the big dorm to get to the bathroom and the two smaller dorms. Apparently people in the big dorm get free ear plugs, but still. Also, when you go into any of the dorms, green or red lights come on around the floor which is a bit disconcerting if you're trying to sleep (with your earplugs) and people are wandering in and out. Oh yes, and there's only one bathroom for everyone, with two shower cubicles, two toilets and two sinks. This makes showering interesting (especially if you were clever enough to bring a travel towel, as it's too small to wrap around you), as you basically have to bring your clothes into the cubicle, put them in the tiny raised strip between the door and the shower curtain, and hope they don't get wet. Hurrah for plastic bags!
On Friday 6th July, headed over to Auschwitz and Birkenau. We headed over to Birkenau first and spent a few hours walking round. It is, as you'd expect, moving, haunting, uncomfortable and utterly necessary. I think it's one of those places that everyone should go and see at least once in their life. It's something that no pictures and no words can ever really convey. It seems a little strange that the place is almost a nnature reserve now, full of wild flowers and birds, plus the odd hare running though the longer grass. Afterwards, we went over to Auschwitz. The layout and sheer numbers of people made it seem almost like a theme park after Birkenhau. The exhibitions were still utterly chilling. It was a very emotionally draining day.
Most of my time in Krakow has been spent actually in Krakow itself. I think the comparisons to Prague are unfair, as it's a different kind of city and will never be as visually stunning. It's pretty tourist-y now, but I guess that's to be expected. The market square is huge and quite pretty, and also teeming with nuns. The Jewish quarter is interesting to walk around, as is Nowa Huta - the Communist Workers' Paradise. On Wawel Hill is the Castle and Wawel Cathedral (and a nun sold me a ticket to get into that). Inside the Cathedral is beautiful and on one of the walls is an ornate wooden frame painted gold, containing the carved head of a cow with a sword through it! Could this be another connection to the Czech holy cow?
Also in the Cathedral are some crypts (rubbish), the Royal tombs (better) and King Sigismund's bell. For this you have to go up lots of windy wooden steps and duck under low beams, winding past the other smaller bells. It's all very Hunchback of Notre Dam like. After all that excitement, I went to see all the shiny things in the Armouries and Treasury, then headed to the Dragons Den. For this, you have to go down a long spiral stair case which takes a good few minutes. The lights are arranged so your shadow alternately disappears then reappears huge in front of you. At the bottom, you go through a cave for a bit then come out blinking in the sun by a statue of a dragon. I think I got my 3zl worth of excitement.
I did make one more trip out of Krakow, this time to Wielicza to see the salt mines. I caught the minibus out there, which is very much like catching a regular bus except it's smaller. I went largely on Hannah's recommendation but the mines are actually pretty cool. You do have to take a tour though, and the ones with an English guide are pretty extorionately priced. The caverns and wooden walkways and such all look very dwarven. There's lots of carvings done by miners out of the rock salt, even a huge church hewn out of the rock with chandiliers and everything.
My absolute favourite part of my stay here was riding a penny fathing round Market Square. It was much too big for me and quite difficult to steer, but I successfully avoided hitting all the tourists and nuns who strayed into my path. I think I should get some kind of prize for that.
