Kraków, Poland

Krakow seemed like a minor stop-off to visit the larger Warsaw and the Auschwitz concentration camp. Coming from Prague, we didn't expect much from Krakow, but the city was surprisingly lively and entertaining.

Just south of the old town was Wawel Castle, which was rather mundane except for the spires.


Krakow takes pride in its Catholic tradition: nuns still wear the habit and Pope John Paul II was from Krakow. It never occurred to me before that his apology for the Church's role in the Holocaust may have been influenced by his vicinity to Auschwitz and the obvious impact among Krakow's Jewish population.

In the old Jewish district of Kazimierz only 6,000 of the 60-80,000 survived. After a long period of neglect during Communism, the area has been revived by the young and hip: relaxed bars, trendy clubs, and ethno-fusion restaurants. Someone went around the neighborhood drawing ghosts in chalk, it is the only clue of Kazimierz' history.

Another remnant in Kazimierz: an old synagogue.

Krakow's old town is surrounded by an expansive park where the moat and city wall used to be. We managed to borrow bikes for free from our hostel and spent the day exploring the Platz and outer areas of the city.

For lunch we went to a Milk Bar. After the fall of communism, local governments subsidize these old city cafeterias to provide inexpensive food for workers in all the major cities of Poland.

We were hoping for something along the lines of A Clockwork Orange... it ended up being more like a cafeteria. But the food was fresh and made on-site every day, and although Polish food is traditionally greasy and heavy, it tasted soooo good. The bike ride after wasn't so fun.


We didn't stop to take photos often, but the outer areas of Krakow were quite interesting.

Andy trying to fix the rickety old bikes. The hostel workers were amazed we made it back alive with the bikes still intact; but they were free, we weren't complainin'.