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Keri's Travel Blog
Krakow
On arrival, we tried to figure out the tram system to get to our hotel. But it transpired this was only a 15 minute waddle from the station so waddle we did. We were right on the edge of the historic old town which is stunning. Medieval towers and cathedrals built around a huge town square lined with again, great restaurants, bars and cafes. Charming cobbled side streets and a massive castle at one end. We checked in - great hotel - and cheap, and headed off to explore.
The sun god was in top form and this added to the buoyant atmosphere around us. We walked, gawped and (me) took loads of photos. The crowds were large. There were a lot of weekend visitors in town and the place was really jumping. Accents from all over Europe. I heard few if any Aussie twangs though or flat Kiwi vowels. I've posted a range of photos so please take a look.
The Old Jewish Quarter
Like with Warsaw we were keen to visit the old Jewish Quarter. The key difference with Krakow however is that the Jewish Quarter is still intact albeit no longer inhabited by Jews. Less than 1,000 of the town's 60,000 survived the war. The area fell into disrepair after the war and throughout the communist era which ended in 1990.
In 1993 Steven Spielberg came to town to make the movie Schindler's List, based on a true story which took place in Krakow and the Jewish Quarter during the war. The movie was shot in the area and as we all know it was a massive international hit. One of the flow on affects from this was that it helped kick start a revitalisation of the precinct.
Nowadays the area is home to vintage shops, amazing edgy bars and cafes and loads of really great restaurants. The inhabitants are by and large artists, musicians and trendy hipsters. There are still a number of synagogues however most of these are now museums or places of pilgrimage. The whole place has an air of faded glory but it kind of works that the buildings are less than pristine and showing their age and past.
We took a free walking tour with a group of others. The guide was excellent and gave us a full history of the area and the horrors of the Jewish annihilation. He took us to a square where the Jews were assembled for transporting to the death camps. Around 2,500 people were actually executed there including hundreds of children. Just horrific. Following that we visited Oscar Schindler's factory the site where he was able to save over 1,000 Jews from certain death.
We were thoroughly exhausted after the 2.5 hour tour but felt very lucky to have gained the knowledge we had.
After a nice dinner in yet another stylish but incredibly inexpensive restaurant we headed back to our hotel to get a good night's rest in preparation for our visit to Auschwitz and Burkenau the next day.
On arrival, we tried to figure out the tram system to get to our hotel. But it transpired this was only a 15 minute waddle from the station so waddle we did. We were right on the edge of the historic old town which is stunning. Medieval towers and cathedrals built around a huge town square lined with again, great restaurants, bars and cafes. Charming cobbled side streets and a massive castle at one end. We checked in - great hotel - and cheap, and headed off to explore.
The sun god was in top form and this added to the buoyant atmosphere around us. We walked, gawped and (me) took loads of photos. The crowds were large. There were a lot of weekend visitors in town and the place was really jumping. Accents from all over Europe. I heard few if any Aussie twangs though or flat Kiwi vowels. I've posted a range of photos so please take a look.
The Old Jewish Quarter
Like with Warsaw we were keen to visit the old Jewish Quarter. The key difference with Krakow however is that the Jewish Quarter is still intact albeit no longer inhabited by Jews. Less than 1,000 of the town's 60,000 survived the war. The area fell into disrepair after the war and throughout the communist era which ended in 1990.
In 1993 Steven Spielberg came to town to make the movie Schindler's List, based on a true story which took place in Krakow and the Jewish Quarter during the war. The movie was shot in the area and as we all know it was a massive international hit. One of the flow on affects from this was that it helped kick start a revitalisation of the precinct.
Nowadays the area is home to vintage shops, amazing edgy bars and cafes and loads of really great restaurants. The inhabitants are by and large artists, musicians and trendy hipsters. There are still a number of synagogues however most of these are now museums or places of pilgrimage. The whole place has an air of faded glory but it kind of works that the buildings are less than pristine and showing their age and past.
We took a free walking tour with a group of others. The guide was excellent and gave us a full history of the area and the horrors of the Jewish annihilation. He took us to a square where the Jews were assembled for transporting to the death camps. Around 2,500 people were actually executed there including hundreds of children. Just horrific. Following that we visited Oscar Schindler's factory the site where he was able to save over 1,000 Jews from certain death.
We were thoroughly exhausted after the 2.5 hour tour but felt very lucky to have gained the knowledge we had.
After a nice dinner in yet another stylish but incredibly inexpensive restaurant we headed back to our hotel to get a good night's rest in preparation for our visit to Auschwitz and Burkenau the next day.
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