Trip to Poland (Warsaw, Krakow and surroundings)

This is the first time i visited this beautiful country with lovely people, rich and quite sad history, at least concerning its recent past. Located between Germany and Russia, during the second world war it suffered greatly mostly from the Germans but also from the Soviets. After the end of it

Palace of culture and science

 the Soviets, which actually came as liberators, stayed and installed a communist government which lasted until 1989 when it  collapsed and free elections were proclaimed.

Since then the country has gone through a huge transformation process and the results are visible to the visitor instantly. Being a member of the EU, the Poles are quickly building a country which will soon have nothing to envy from other Northern European nations!

I flew to the Warsaw Chopin main airport with Ryanair from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Despite from what i had read about Ryanair, their service is just fine and their prices unbeatable. I even booked with my name misspelled and when i called them they changed it in 5 minutes free of charge (stating on their website that such an error costs 80euros!).

Warsaw Old town

Upon arriving at the airport there are a number of ways to reach the city center, easiest one being the train. The ticket costs less than 1 euro (4.4 zl) and can be purchased at the special machines. The trip lasts approximately 20minutes.

Warsaw was completely destroyed during the Second world war mostly by the Germans but also the Soviets so whatever the visitor sees is pretty much built after that period. Even the so called Old Town is not actually old but it was re-built after the war to resemble the original. One cannot fail to miss the combination of various architecture style dominant in the city such as soviet type apartment blocks, modern skyscrapers, baroque style etc.

Having said that, one of the most interesting attractions is the city itself. It has not yet been

Warsaw Old town

discovered by hordes of tourists and therefore even the Old Town is never crowded. The city center is not that big and actually can be enjoyed on foot. Very safe with constant presence of police i walked all over the place with my camera hanging and never felt any threat. Its worth mentioning that i never saw any beggars which is rather weird considering the large number i encountered in cities like Paris and Berlin.

The big surprise was a bike sharing system, with access point spread all over the city, easy to use and extremely cheap (1,3euros a day - 7zl). The registration process is straight forward and can be completed on site. The user enters the phone number (does not have to be a Polish one) and the credit card number. That's it! You can hit the streets of Warsaw with a bicycle which is highly recommended!

Warsaw has a number of important museums but due to limited time i had only time to visit a few.

• The Warsaw Uprising Museum which is a must for those who want to get an idea of how life was during the German occupation, the events leading to the uprising and the aftermath. One interesting fact to understand how devastating was the war for the city is that in 1939 the city had a population of 1.300.000 and in 1945 around 1000 people were living in what was left of it
• The Palace of Culture and Science a gift from the Soviet union to Poland, once dominated the skyline but now has been dwarfed by the number of skyscrapers that mushroom in Warsaw. Still worth visiting to enjoy the view of the city and some Soviet era style architecture
• The Lazienski Palace located in the park with the same name is a Baroque style palace. There

  

  Lazienski Palace

  apart from the beautiful architecture i enjoyed the quiet park and the company of many squirrels (which you can feed!)
• Finally i visited the Gestapo Headquarters, a small museum located in what is now the Polish Ministry of Education. Very interesting to understand how Nazis interrogated and tortured members of the Polish resistance

Warsaw still has plenty more to enjoy but i had plans to visit Krakow, the Wieliczka salt mines and Auschwitz concentration camp all of which are located in the south of Poland.

Krakow

The train trip from Warsaw to Krakow lasts around 3 hours and tickets can be booked online. Make sure you have the printout with you. In the train there a round of free coffee, juice and water and the ticket costs 30 euros(127 zl) one way.

Krakow escaped bombing during the Second world war and therefore it is preserved at large. Locals have done a pretty good job maintaining their city and creating a very nice atmosphere. It is much more touristic than Warsaw and there is an abundance of things to see and do.

Wieliczka salt mines are a Unesco world heritage site located 30min by bus from Krakow. Bus

Salt mines underground church!

number to take you there is 304 and it runs almost every 20minutes. The entrance to the mine is 17 euro (70zl) plus 2.5 euro (10zl) if you want to take pictures. Believe me, its worth every zloti!

I walked for almost 3 hours in a magnificent network of underground tunnels complete with sculptures made out of salt, amazing halls (up to 35m high!) and a museum displaying the history and details of the mine. This is a highly recommended site to visit but it requires some physical abilities. You will have to decent almost 150 meters into the ground using a staircase and from there it is almost 2.5km walking in the tunnels.

Hope (Auschwitz - Birkenau II)

Next morning I visited the Auschwitz concentration camp, located 1.5hr by bus from Krakow. The buses leave from the bus terminal located behind the station. For some reason there are no frequent buses and the route took us through villages, stopping at each and single one. The ticket price is 3 euros (13zl).

Arriving to Auschwitz after 10:00 and you must follow one of the guided tours. These are offered in a number of languages and are frequent. Entrance ticket is almost 10euro (40zl). From 8:00 till 10:00 you can enter the site without a guide and wonder around at your own pace. If you have plenty of days for the site, visit once with a guide and once with one as you get to see more things.  The guides have to go through extensive education and take a number of tests before they can qualify for the job so be assured that the one that will show you around has extensive knowledge of the historical facts and probably has met some of the survivors.

The tour itself is very emotional and be prepared for disturbing exhibits and images, which

Wired fence at Auschwitz I

unfortunately is history of this camp. As our guide explained, this is not a museum but rather a mass grave site, considering around 1.400.000 people were exterminated here by the Nazi regime. As in the salt mines, be prepared to walk a couple of kilometers.

And with that i concluded my trip to Poland. I was lucky cause i had a friend there who knew the whereabouts and that always makes a trip easier. Still with minimal effort one can have a pleasant stay in the country. Poland is a country of nice and very friendly people, a variety of activities and sites worth visiting which i would strongly advice to visit. I will surely do so again in the near future..