#2: POLAND
50 hrs after returning from Germany (and one 6-page paper later) I was en route once more to mainland Europe, but this time to Krakow, Poland!!! I made this trip with three of my American friends at Swansea: Devin, Rachel, and Lauren. A month of experiences later, Krakow is still the favorite trip I have been on, and Poland is #2 on my ‘return-to-someday’ list, directly after Wales (my goodness, I love Wales so much, it’s going to be hard to leave). We shall see if this still stands true after spring break and my other travels.
I had my first experience with a hostel, and Devin picked out an amazing one called “Mosquito”, couldn’t have asked for a better stay. In our 3.5 days in Krakow we kept pretty busy: walking tour of the city, farmers market (always my favorite place and I look for one in every town I visit here), walking tour about Schindler’s List, Schindler’s Factory museum (one of the best museums I have ever seen. Holocaust & WWII-related, which have always been of immense interest to me.), Sunday morning flea market where we met a cute old man who had the sweetest personality despite the language barrier and laughed with us and cooked us sausages..they were sooo delicious. More delicious food at a restaurant whose type translates into “milk bar” – cheap Polish cuisine and most popular among university students and the homeless. Pierogies, a typcial Polish dumpling, was a frequent choice throughout our stay. Polish pottery shop – I fell in love here. Honestly I could have bought up the whole store. I will put a picture below of my beautiful jug/vase just so you can see an example of the beautifully painted designs are on the pottery. I was terrified that I couldn’t get back on the plane without checking my bag it was so full with pieces. I somehow managed to squeak by..speaking of airplanes, all these budget airlines are great (EasyJet, RyanAir, AerLingus) because they make traveling so cheap but I seriously feel nervous in those planes sometimes, like they’re going to fall apart in the air. On my flight home from Ireland the plane kept rocking side to side and I thought we were going to go down. I never get nervous on flights, but that one was a bit uncomfortable. Anyways, back to Poland: the other big thing we did one day was tour Auschwitz, a place I have read about many times but never dreamed I would get to visit. A very somber experience, so sad to see all of the hurt and pain and atrocities the people endured in the camps. The tour was very good and informative though and I recommend the trip to anyone who is interested in that history.
Words cannot express how much I loved this city and its people, history, food, pottery, and everything else it has to offer! So here are some pictures instead of more words.
presslyblackley 