Krakow, Auschwitz & Zakopane

10/05/2007

Toni

Greetings (Part II) from Kracow!! Today we got off to a great start in our centrally located apartment. The reception girl had asked us what time we wanted breakfast and we found it in the kitchen outside our room at just the right time. We had a bag full of bread rolls, cheese, pate, yoghurts and a yummy brioche-type roll with an almond paste filling. MMMmmm!!!

Feeling very contented, we set off for a morning walk, only getting as far as the Internet Cafe! Well, otherwise we would never get this blog sent!! We then headed for The Jewish Quarter. I was really looking forward to seeing this area. I read the book (and subsequently saw the film, The Pianist) based on the true story of of a musician by the name of Spilzman. I was fascinated by his story of survival in the Jewish walled ghetto in Kracow. It was very interesting to see the history in the architecture of this area of the city and impossible to understand the persecution and danger they faced. Unfortunately, if anything remains of the walls that the Nazis' built to separate the Jewish community, we did not find any sign of it.

We then dashed back to the other side of the city to pick up the bus for our trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau. The camps are situated approx 60 Km from the centre of Kracow, just outside of a town called Oscwiecim. I find it difficult to describe the museum. They have done a very good job in preserving what was left of the camps over the last 60 years. Of course, now all that is left is technically a tourist attraction, all the buildings are intact as they originally were, and a feeling of sadness seems to permeate the whole place. The staff, including the guides seemed genuinely determined to be as reverent as possible, advising the tourists to remain silent in some areas as a mark of respect. Upon visiting the Birkenau camp, some 3 Km away, it is impossible to describe the sheer size of the place and the operation that took place there. The remains of the destroyed barracks in which the prisoners were housed stretches for as far as the eye can see. Much of it was razed by the camp commanders to try to obliterate evidence of their crimes. I left with mixed feelings; glad that I had gone to see it and yet incredible that horrors such as had occurred there happened a mere 60 years ago. How could so much have gone on without more done to stop it in a civilized world?

I know everyone will experience this place in an entirely different way, and for some it will have a more personal and direct connection, but I really feel that it is something that everyone visiting this part of the world should see, without question.

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11/05/2007

Jon

Kraokow - the new Prague. The English photographer we met said so, and judging by the reasonable amount of English groups we saw last night it is probably true. That said, it seems a little more authentic than Prague, with Wroclaw even more so. We've both decided that we would like to visit again for several days. The Jewish quarter would best be understood and appreciated with some prior research and reading and there are so many beautiful buildings that we barely had time to see.

Auschwitz was, in retrospect, about what I expected. When you turn up to a museum car park full of coaches and tourists with cameras (like me) you know that the chances of an empathetic experience are low. The guide was good and did add to the captions of the photographs on the walls inside the buildings, but there wasn't much tangible sense of suffering. I can image reading a good book on Auschwitz (or the soviet oppression in the Gulag camps, or the Muslim killings in Bosnia, or the suffering in Iraq, etc) and then going back without a guide and making the association between the buildings and locations and railway lines and the people involved. Perhaps next time.

Anyhows, time to hit the road... we're off to Zakopane, the Tatras, and the border with Slovakia - not a bad life.

(Later that day...!)

We're in Zakopane - we had a crappy start getting out of Krakow (around 1 hour to to 9 km) but once we escaped the roads got better and better. We'd programmed the GPS to take us on a detour before hitting Zakopane - and it was so worth it. After coming around one particular hairpin we suddenly saw the Tatras in the distance, still covered in snow. It reminded me of Austria, but also of the Malverns. (When you approach the Malverns you can usually see the entire range with one sweep of the eye. The same applies to the Tratras, being around 60km long by 15km wide. Not very big but apparently still classified as Alpine).

Tonight we escaped another thunderstorm, as seems to be usual on this trip, and found an excellent restaurant - full of meat! After eating and downing a couple of three beers we started talking about the plan for the second half. (Zakopane is really the end of the first half of the trip, and the only stretch we'd had given much consideration to). We talked about Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. So now Toni is sat on the hotel Internet computer (hotel - pension, Ł20 for both of us for the night - marvelous!) and is researching hotels and things to do in Budapest. I have a feeling we'll be in Hungary on Sunday - coolio!

Take it easy all,

Jon & Toni.