Poland seems to be an over-looked destination when it comes to traveling to Europe. Also, is it Eastern Europe? Western Europe? Who knows? Who knows anything about Poland? I certainly didn’t. Of course, it was on my travel list (what isn’t?). And surprisingly it’s where my postcard collecting obsession began – my friend, Brian, in middle school in 2001 sent me my first postcard from when he visited relatives there. But truth be told, I hadn’t made the effort of getting there yet, despite living in Germany for over two years. It would be the last of Germany’s boarder countries for me to visit. Little did I know that it would be one of my favorite trips yet.
Through Flixbus, Germany’s version of Megabus, I was able to get a ticket for the Polskibus (Poland’s version) from Berlin to Krakow for a meager price. As a teacher, it was no easy feat staying awake for the half past midnight departure time on a Friday evening, but passing out on the bus made the 8 hour drive go by quickly.
I awoke in Krakow and followed excellent step-by-step instructions for the Mosquito Hostel located near the Old Town. Having stayed in lots of hostels I’m always a little nervous because even hotels make me cringe thinking about how (not) clean they are. But the Mosquito Hostel would turn out to surpass my expectations in many aspects. When I arrived, the girl at the desk gave me a tour of the facility, a run-down of their evening social activities, and a map complete with many places to eat, drink, exchange money, and sightsee, as well as a list of must-eat Polish foods and the best places to find them. From the hostel, I was also able to find out about and book a tour of the Salt Mines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and arrange a visit to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
After locking up my luggage, I headed for the heart of the old town to catch a guided Free Walking Tour. If you’ve never done this, I would suggest looking it up in any city you visit. There are sometimes a couple of companies offering free tours in a city, but the premise is the same. The tour guide is working hard to give you an informative, comprehensive, and entertaining tour of their city in order to earn tips from you at the end. You get to decide how much their tour is worth. Sometimes cities have multiple tours. In Krakow, there was an Old Town tour and a tour of the Jewish Quarter. The tour definitely depends on the guide that day. Ours told several of Krakow’s legends, but I would have preferred to have had more of Krakow’s over thousand year old history.
On the tour, I met a guy traveling from England who was also staying at my hostel. Turns out we had the same itinerary and would meet up again in Warsaw and Gdansk. Traveling on your own can seem lonely or scary, but mostly I meet lots of travelers and rarely find that I’m alone. We spent the next couple days wandering and exploring the medieval Old Town of Krakow and eventually went on the tour of the Jewish Quarter as well. There we discovered (or were told about and then experienced first-hand) the wonderful Zapiekanka. Essentially a university student’s meal, the Zapikanka is an open-faced sandwich served on a long French baguette covered in cheese, mushrooms, and ketchup. I ate this cheap, vegetarian snack several times during my journey through Poland, but the ones from the Jewish Quarter in Krakow were by far the best.
My final two days in Krakow I went on tours booked through the hostel for Auschwitz and the Salt Mines. Some online tours offer both in one day if you’re really looking to save time, but it would be a really long day. It is possible to organize both on your own and to take public transit, but this option always comes with the trade-off of time and frustration versus money. To visit Auschwitz without a tour guide, you must arrive before 10am. I believe it is possible to visit the Salt Mines without a guided tour, but it is also more of a hassle to get there. Each attraction is approximately an hour away from Krakow, but both are definitely worth the visit.
Appropriately for my visit to Auschwitz, it was chilly and rainy. Some travel friends told it feels strange to visit when the weather is gorgeous knowing the horrific events which took place there. Some of the barracks have been turned into exhibits. There are old photographs to look at of people arriving in the camp, being sorted, and working; there are maps of camps and Europe and documents. There are display models of the camps and gas chambers used to execute the Jews. There are piles of cans of Zyklon B, the poison which was administered. Then there are the barracks with displays of items confiscated from the prisoners – suitcases, hairbrushes, shoes, hair. Taking pictures outside before entering the exhibits felt a little creepy and weird, but now it feels wrong.
After going through the exhibits in the barracks, through prison barracks, and through a gas chamber, you get on a bus to see that the atrociousness did not end here. Approximately 10 minutes away is Auschwitz II, a second and much larger camp. Auschwitz II does not have any exhibits to horrify you, but instead shocks you with its sheer vastness. Entering through the main gate, I followed along the railroad tracks that lead directly into the camp, designed specifically to more efficiently transport people there. At the opposite end there is a memorial and it is translated into all the languages spoken by those killed at Auschwitz. It was quite a heavy day, but certainly worthwhile in understanding more of the past and enlightening the present.
Although what I had seen was the result of hate, what I next saw gave me hope. Back in Krakow that evening, I went to a photography exhibit in the park surrounding the old city. The photos, taken by various artists, were of different cultures in many regions of the world. In describing their work, the artists touched on the themes of interaction, understanding, travel, tolerance, diversity, fear of the unknown, the environment, and solidarity. The contrast between this exhibit and the exhibits I visited in the morning made the photographs all that much more poignant. I would soon see that gaining an understanding of the past and its link to our present ever more connected yet diverse world would become the running theme of my experience in Poland.
