Krakow

This week in Bristol - the 100 year old Grand Pier at Western Super mare burnt down (so the photo of it in our blog is the last time we will see it), and I discovered that KFC don't sell mashed potato and gravy here - the alternative is baked beans! I also enjoyed the latest little gems from a travel magazine:

• when describing a trip to Queenstown the travel writer wrote 'trust kiwis to build a bridge to bungy off, cycle bungy off, canoe, white water raft or jet boat under while others would build a bridge to walk over'
• a hotel was advertising itself as the smallest hotel - only 2.5 metres wide - the travel writer said the hotel owners must not have stayed in the small hotel rooms in Paris (we can testify to that as Harry had to get out of the shower to pick up the soap when he dropped it).

Crowded House wrote a really good song

'Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you' -

and DD Smash wrote another one

'Who knows what it'll be?

A briny breeze, Collars on the upturn, a nod towards the winter.

And Monday, is a Monday,

Tuesday's a thunder day, with a wind that chills you to the bone.

Wednesday, don't mention Wednesday!Not a good one at all!

and the forecast for Thursday your guess is as good as mine'

And on Thursday we flew to Krakow. So why do I mention the weather? Well we left Bristol on the day Summer arrived - a very warm morning at 6.00 - and arrived in Krakow to a weekend full of variety rain, thunder, lightening and torrential rain (the downpipes couldn't cope and water poured out of the rusted holes and off the gutters - needless to say there were a number of very big puddles), mist, cloud and thankfully to some sunshine. Five days later we left the city sunny and in the mid - 30's arrived back in Bristol to 25 degrees and within 3 hours thunderstorms and torrential rain hit us again (drains and gutters overflowing, huge puddles). So no more about the weather - except you won't be surprised to hear we attempted all sorts of things in all sorts of weather with varying degree of success.

Our hotel, the Daisy was on the outskirts of the city - about 5 miles from the centre - easy bus ride into town (if you can manage to put the coins in the slot machine and then validate your ticket in another machine while the driver speeds along very bumpy roads - I must admit I sat laughing while Harry unintentionally did a foxtrot up and down the aisle - he never did suggest I try it - so he obviously wanted to improve his dancing technique. Others had the same problem so it wasn't just us tourists). We didn't expect much from the hotel as we had got a really good deal, but it would have been good for it to have had a restaurant as the bus stop was about a mile away and the weather meant sometimes catching taxis to get some dinner. We also couldn't find a smoke alarm or a sprinkler in the whole building - lets hope they put them in the new wing of 32 rooms they are building at the back (the workman woke us up at 6.00 in the morning starting with a morning coffee and chat session and then the machinery started at 6.30 through to the early evening. Sunday was rest day). Another interesting fact was there were hot points in the bathrooms - a no no for New Zealand buiding standards - and in England the light switches are in the ceiling and you have to pull a string. The staff were very friendly, called us taxis, booked us trips, looked on the internet for bus timetables and generally made us feel welcome - all in broken English (the Polish language is very difficult to learn (well I think so), even thank you is challenging for a language novice like me. But some of the words I could understand like Alcohole and hamburgery). I am not sure why but during the weekend I had heaps of dreams - one night a ghost tried to take me to some place I didn't want to go to (what would Freud say about that) and another Harry threw my biscuits away as a retribution to me throwing away the chocolate bars that have that ingredient that isn't good for the heart!!!

Krakow was described on one website as a 'medieval city that looks like it has fallen straight out of a fairytale book, with its bustling market square, spiralling gothic towers, castles and legends about dragons...' It is a compact little city that certainly lends itself to walking. Just as well, as we did our normal 'walk to exhaustion' activity. At one stage we were tempted to take a walking tour - but when we saw groups of 30 or so people wandering after a guide - looking bored, wet and cold we decided we would do it ourselves and save the money. We then can look and stop for coffees when we want to. So, that is what we did - looked at historical buildings and sites and sat in restaurants that served great food (living up to our expectations of Polish restaurants - dumplings with meat, or mushrooms and sauerkraut or sheep cheese and garlic - chicken soup, - apple pie - weiner schnitzel (ok not quite Polish but couldn't resist), potato pancakes, kebabs, georgian spiced dishes, icecream - shall I go on?). Oh, and Polish beer (Tyskie) is pretty good too. And we listened to some great chamber music (Chopin in St Peter and Paul's church), a brass band (playing traditional Polish music) and orchestral music (a range of tunes including some from Evita) in the square (a stage had been set up for summer I think with a different music group each night - a bit like Summer City in Wellington but no picnics).

Firstly we followed the Royal route - past a number of churches and onto the Krakow Barbican - once the main entrance to the city and the only part of the wall remaining (St Florians Gate) - there were a number of different shaped turrets and we read all about them - we didn't know there were so many types. Each one from a different era - but the only one I can remember is the Gothic one - and there were only a few still standing. The wall surrounded Krakow - a double belt of ramparts, with numerous towers and several gates. In 1810-14 most of the ramparts and towers were pulled down and the moat was filled in (you can still see the little gully the moat made and it seems it would have been a great water feature today). Instead, gardens were made and it is evident that Krakow has many green spaces (including a very large park near our hotel - which has remained a place where a royal king granted the community the right to feed their cows for ever and a day - we heard that during the communist era they didn't even dare to touch it - so it remains today a place for cows, children and sport enthusiasts).

We wandered down through the main Square. I had read that the Square is more spectacular than the Basilican Square in Venice and I think they are right. It is 2 or 3 times bigger and is the largest public square built in medieval Europe (1257). It has restaurants around all four sides - room for a large stage, markets, and a huge building currently being renovated for the museum as well as a little building that you can climb a number of stairs to the top (not many stairs but each one was higher than my knees so it took some effort). It even has a Gothic church (St Mary's church) where the bugle blows every hour and has done so for 600 years. Unfortunately we didn't time it right to climb the 239 steps to the top to see the trumpeter - he only takes 2.5 minutes to climb to the top - so he would have won the race to the top. Instead we climbed the Town Hall tower (that's the one with the steps as deep as my knees) - it is the city's leaning tower, as it bends slightly off centre by 55 cm apparently caused by the wind and not design. There was a vibrancy around the square with the outside concerts, horse and carts taking tourists around, little 6 seater electric golf carts doing the same thing, buskers (puppeteers, mimers, musicians, jugglers), market stalls (selling flowers, jewellery, wooden crafts), lots of flowers in window boxes and hanging baskets and crowds. Police vans cruised the place but the crowd was at peace so they continued to cruise and not stop. The royal route took us onto the Jewish Heritage Route. At the turn of the 15th century Kazimierz was an independent town and became the centre of the jewish and christian culture. Many of the buildings in Krakow did not suffer bomb damage and so the city is left with many of its magnificent old buildings. The Temple Synagogue was used as a stable during the war but its ceilings and decorations were virtually untouched. It was built in the latter half of the 19th century. In all, there were 7 synagogues in a very small space - once there were 30,000 practising Jews here - now there is only approximately 1,000. The area is fairly well preserved with little shops in the same style as a century before and exclusive restaurants situated in old wooden shacks and stone buildings. Then moving on to the Saint Stanislaus route we visited Wawel hill (w's are pronounced as v's in Polish as well as German) and we wandered around the cathedral and into the palace. The sun came out for the first time and we got some great views across the Wista River to the other side (enjoyed a boat trip down the River one evening as the sun set). The river flows between grassed terraces built as flood protection - and with all that rain I can understand why. Anyway, the cathedral and the palace have undergone quite a number of renovations over time, but the palace no longer houses a royal family (they still exist somewhere we were told but do not have any royal status). We didn't do the Industrial walk (which would have taken us past the tramway depot, gasworks, bridges of designed by famous polish engineers, the brewery) and only did bits of the university route which took us past many of the educational academies and one of the oldest universities in Europe of which Pope John Paul II studied as Karol Wojtyla. The Pope described Krakow as 'The City of my Life'. We wandered through the town and saw his later years as Pope depicted on boards, the fountain representing his 27 years as Pope and then remembered that we had flown into the Jana Pawla II Krakow-Balice airport. As we wandered around and later drove around in one of those little golf carts (when our feet said stop but our minds wanted to continue) we drove past the factory where Schindlers List was made (I haven't seen the film but Harry has).

We took to the Polish highlands one day visiting Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains - it started off fine but by the time we had caught the very fast cable car that not only goes up hills but around corners in real quick time the rain and the mist had settled in. Zakopane is a winter resort (skiing and ski jumping), and a summer resort (hiking, picnicking, climbing and luging) but on that day summer visitors and school children sat under sun umbrellas looking at the torrential rain, eating grilled kebabs and sausages looking at where the Tatra Mountains should have been - we joined them. So, we missed seeing the highest point of Poland - the peak of Rysy which stands 2499 metres but we knew it was out there somewhere. On the brighter side, we did see a great little wooden church built on the hillside (learnt about how buildings were built, rope is used as insulation against draughts escaping through the gaps in the wood), visited a polish museum, market (scores of sheep skins, trinkets, jewellery, linen from China and sheep cheeses in all shapes and sizes), a little church and a very unique cemetery where famous and not so famous Polish are buried.

During our visits around the country side we learnt from the tour guides a number of interesting little facts:

• Most houses are built as chalets - the bottom story for the family while the next 3 or 4 stories are for paying guests during the holiday seasons. During the communist era many of these houses were built with american money obtained through the black market (official rate was 20 Zlotis to the $ compared with the black market which offered 100 Zlotis to the $). After the collapse of communism the owners could not afford to finish the houses - hence the bottom story is complete and lived in, the upper stories are boarded up and the exterior is brick without the stucco (we saw a number just like we described).
• Traditional houses had no windows to the north and small windows elsewhere. The one on the right was usually the 'black room' (for winter use and I did wonder if it was black from all the smoke as there were no chimneys) and the one on the right the 'white room' (for summer use and no smoke?).
• Farms are very little - so a farmer might own one or two cows which are chained in a paddock- very few fences - and very few herds of sheep or cows. Farms are mainly for subsistence and all types of crops could be seen to grow. Apparently, in the hills a number of villages still exist living as they did 100 years ago - as there is no drive on access to these little villages.
• Polish roads are bumpy (look a bit like a patchwork quilt), windy and busy - it can take 12 hours to travel 100 kilometres from Zakopane to Krakow at Christmas and Easter. Drivers are now required to have their car headlights on full time - this has reduced the one of the highest death rates in Europe by 13%.
  
  

We were lucky to have our rafting trip on the Dunajec gorge in the Pieniny Moutains on one of the sunny days. The river, swollen and muddy by flood waters took us through the natural border between Poland and Slovakia. It flows through limestone mountains in the national park in the south of Poland and as we floated past we saw campers in Poland and cyclists, horse riders and trekkers in Slovakia. The Polish Gorale highlanders, dressed in their costumes of white shirts and blue embroidered waste coats (they wore jeans rather than the itchy white woollen trousers), punted us down the shallow river. Health and Safety in NZ and England would have required life jackets for everyone and safety talks but we piled into the raft and hit the water the traditional way. We enjoyed the relaxing, and sometimes wet, trip and the guide gave those who understand Polish a very entertaining talk throughout the journey (well they laughed a lot). One of the families was a Polish family now living in America and the little girl became our translator for some of it (all I found out was that the river was 80 kilometres long - but didn't hear any of the jokes - maybe they were about the 2 kiwis sitting in the front of the boat!!). At the end the little girls family gave us their photo - which you had to preorder but we didn't understand that - as they were with another family and I hope they could scan it so they both have a photo to remember the day by. Our visit to Auschwithz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum was disturbing ('If one doesn't remember history you are bound to experience it again') and it seemed to cast a shadow over our visit to Krakow until I sat on our last evening in the Square eating wonderful food and listening to the brass band and thought how fortunate we are to be able to celebrate freedom with the Polish people and to share their country and their culture if only for a long weekend. My hope is that my little tourist £ will in some way help the country to recover and I promised to go back.