Jul – Aug 2025

Krakow trip

A short but fine adventure by Dave Read more

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Trip start
July 28, 2025
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- Day 1
- Monday, July 28, 2025 at 8:04 AM
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 15 m
- Jersey St Saviour 49.180596, -2.09679349°10’50” N 2°5’48” W
Leave home
July 28 in Jersey ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
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- Day 1
- Monday, July 28, 2025 at 8:27 AM
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 91 m
- Jersey St Peter 49.205345, -2.19655349°12’19” N 2°11’48” W
Relaxing at the airport
July 28 in Jersey ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
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- Day 1
- Monday, July 28, 2025 at 1:29 PM
- ☁️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 32 m
- England London 51.46709, -0.36945951°28’2” N 0°22’10” W
Lunch and drinks in Hounslow
July 28 in England ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Our first stop after landing was a few tube stops down the way in Hounslow where we visited a Wetherspoons we'd been to previously. Good cheap food and booze was had, although I made a poor mistake leaving my jacket in there. On the bright side though it was a very very old jacket.Read more
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- Day 1–2
- July 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM - July 29, 2025
- 1 night
- ☁️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- England Longford 51.473124, -0.49132351°28’23” N 0°29’29” W
Heathrow hotel
Jul 28–29 in England ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
We went back to Heathrow to relax before dinner. Dinner was at the hotel's own restaurant although we also had a massively overpriced drink beforehand. We enjoyed the food that night although perhaps the range of food available wasn't quite as good as how I remembered it the previous time we'd been there.

We settled down (after popping over to M&S in the terminal to grab another bottle of wine) and had a peaceful night.Read more
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- Day 2
- Tuesday, July 29, 2025 at 9:41 AM
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands Hellevoetsluis 51.853336, 4.16382951°51’12” N 4°9’50” E
From the air
July 29 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
The morning gave us an unexpected level of excitement as none of us noticed we needed to transfer to Terminal 3. A spectacular level of complacency on display from us there but we still arrived at the BA lounge in Terminal 3 in very good time and early enough to grab breakfast.

We had a lovely flight to Krakow beginning the day well.Read more
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- Day 2
- Tuesday, July 29, 2025 at 12:19 PM
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 237 m
- Poland Balice 50.073692, 19.80396350°4’25” N 19°48’14” E
Arrive into Krakow
July 29 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Krakow airport was a very relaxed place to land. Quite a compact feeling airport which meant the car hire place wasn't too far away from anything and nor was the car park we got our car from.

The only wrinkle which should have really been expected was that it was a left hand drive car and quite a large-ish one at that so it was a bit daunting driving it. But I settled in to a rhythm with it quite quickly.

One weird thing though - Polish speed limits. Again, they're generally ignored but perhaps not to the extent of those in Italy, but it's more their practicality. It wasn't uncommon to have three speed limit changes in 100 metres. It just felt nit picky, unnecessary and goes to breaking up concentration a bit.Read more
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- Day 2
- Tuesday, July 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
- ☁️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 217 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.039462, 19.2191850°2’22” N 19°13’9” E
Check into Oswiecim hotel
July 29 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
After stopping off at a small shopping mall where the locals were revving and skidding cars outside, popping in to get some great value clothes at H&M and food and drink at Carrefour.

Then we went onto our hotel. Parking wasn't immediately obvious, but we were sent around the "castle" (a modern-ish looking building on a hill) to what turned out to be the hotel car park. All good in the end.Read more
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- Day 2
- Tuesday, July 29, 2025 at 6:13 PM
- ☁️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 229 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.038003, 19.22151150°2’17” N 19°13’17” E
Pub Vinyl & De Grasso
July 29 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
We walked into the centre of the town on this evening, initially looking to pick somewhere to eat but actually firstly ending up at what looked like the main town square and what I guess was a pop-up semi-permanent bar called Pub Vinyl. Beer, wine and cocktails were enjoyed.

Then our first choice restaurant told us food would take an hour so instead we went to our next choice a really nice informal pizza place where I had a yummy mushroom pasta dish. A really lovely evening all in all.Read more
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- Day 2–3
- July 29, 2025 at 7:38 PM - July 30, 2025
- 1 night
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 217 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.03946, 19.21916550°2’22” N 19°13’9” E
Hotel for the night
Jul 29–30 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Our hotel was the Hampton in Oswiecim and it was very comfortable indeed. We had a lovely stay.
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- Day 3
- Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 6:22 AM
- ☀️ 14 °C
- Altitude: 215 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.046798, 19.22259650°2’48” N 19°13’21” E
Running around Oswiecim
July 30 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
I was planning to run once on this trip but made a late decision the night before to repurpose a daytime top as a running one meaning I could add a second run. I found a nice route on Strava taking me north roughly along the line of the river although the route seemed to want me to wade across it once so a quite diversion through the foliage was necessary.

Then back to join the others for breakfast which was exceptionally enjoyable and appreciated.Read more
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- Day 3
- Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 10:49 AM
- ☀️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 225 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.027447, 19.20340550°1’39” N 19°12’12” E
Auschwitz
July 30 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
We drove along to Auschwitz which was easy to find and first impressions were along the lines of "what are all these people doing here!". It was mobbed like any other tourist site would be in the summer. I just didn't think of it as a tourist site. I should have of course, but I guess that's not how I think of it.

Don't get me wrong though it was all very respectful. There weren't cheesy souvenir shops or anything or hordes of young locals trying to sell you knocked off stuff. But it was just really unexpectedly busy and well organised.

Anyway, Auschwitz was an excellent visit. We had a guide / "educator" escort us around taking us through many of the exhibits in the buildings around the grounds, including walking through the last remaining gas chamber and crematorium. Truly sobering stuff.Read more
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- Day 3
- Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 12:39 PM
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 229 m
- Poland Brzezinka 50.034427, 19.1797150°2’4” N 19°10’47” E
Auschwitz-Birkenau
July 30 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
A shuttle bus took us across to the second camp where the same guide walked us around including through one of the dormitory buildings where it was explained to us 6 people shared this tiny bed, which themselves were stacked 3 high.

Somehow these buildings were more in keeping with what I was expecting the Auschwitz buildings to be but they seemed much more modern and "properly" built.

It was a very good visit although I can easily imagine us coming back but without the guide to allow us a slightly slower experience making a point to take in everything.Read more
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- Day 3
- Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 2:08 PM
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 240 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.038502, 19.22200150°2’19” N 19°13’19” E
Lunch in town
July 30 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
We were back at last night's pizza place at lunchtime making sure we had a good meal early on.
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- Day 3
- Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 3:11 PM
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 217 m
- Poland Oświęcim 50.039463, 19.21916450°2’22” N 19°13’9” E
Hotel for rest, dinner and drinks
July 30 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We had dinner that night in the hotel and ate very well indeed. After the mental effort of visiting the Auschwitz camps, we wanted to just relax and do nothing for a bit.
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- Day 4
- Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 12:22 PM
- ⛅ 21 °C
- Altitude: 208 m
- Poland Krakow 50.068061, 20.0147250°4’5” N 20°0’53” E
Krakow Arcade Museum
July 31 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
After another excellent breakfast, we checked out of the Hampton and had the 90 minute drive across to Krakow and our first visit of the day to the Krakow Arcade Museum.

This was an excellent place where for a very reasonable cost you could spend an hour or two with all of the machines on free play. There was pinball, many driving games and lots and lots of historic arcade machines.

I found the Manx TT bike ride really very hard work, set a daily high score on Pac-Man and generally had a fab time. This was a great start to the day.Read more
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- Day 4
- Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 2:48 PM
- ☁️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 207 m
- Poland Krakow 50.046936, 19.93189450°2’49” N 19°55’55” E
Lunch and relax
July 31 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
The original plan was to have lunch at a burger place but that was closed and it later became apparent that a fair few places were because of the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.

Where we did end up though was at Vibes, the restaurant of the Park Inn hotel around the corner from ours. We had very lovely Club sandwiches reminding us that's something we hadn't eaten in ages.Read more
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- Day 4
- Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 7:20 PM
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 220 m
- Poland Krakow 50.056889, 19.93820150°3’25” N 19°56’18” E
Creepy Krakow walking tour
July 31 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Our evening entertainment for our first night in Krakow was a Creepy Krakow tour. Our guide was really excellent entertainment with some great stories I obviously won't repeat here. Suffice to say one of my highlights was about sausages and their related crimes.Read more
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- Day 4–5
- July 31, 2025 at 9:33 PM - August 1, 2025
- 1 night
- 🌙 16 °C
- Altitude: 206 m
- Poland Krakow 50.047097, 19.93176650°2’50” N 19°55’54” E
First night in Krakow
Jul 31–Aug 1 in Poland ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
In Krakow we were staying at the Q Hotel Plus, which was a good half hour walk out of the main part of the old town, but actually pretty well located as well really. We had very comfortable rooms which featured a free bottle of wine as well which always goes down well doesn't it?!

Breakfast was another treat being a mix between cooked and continental. Something for everyone really, most of it enjoyed by me!Read more
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- Day 5
- Friday, August 1, 2025 at 6:09 AM
- ☀️ 14 °C
- Altitude: 207 m
- Poland Krakow 50.047278, 19.94782450°2’50” N 19°56’52” E
Krakow riverside run
August 1 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
I went for a run the next morning along the riverside of the Vistula. It was quite a hot day actually but I enjoyed it and had a great run.
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- Day 5
- Friday, August 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 202 m
- Poland Krakow 50.053169, 19.92523750°3’11” N 19°55’31” E
Cruising the Vistula
August 1 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
We booked a cruise along the Vistula as well which had a fairly informative backing track English guide although the boat captain also shared a couple more stories with us after he realised we were probably the only people listening to the guide. It was a lovely trip again.

From the boat cruise we walked into the town centre, had a bite to eat at what felt like a very homely traditional local café, then a couple of drinks at a bar at the edge of the main square.Read more
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- Day 5
- Friday, August 1, 2025 at 3:04 PM
- ☁️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 216 m
- Poland Krakow 50.047392, 19.96142950°2’51” N 19°57’41” E
Zablocie & Oscar Schindler's factory
August 1 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
From the main square, we got a team to the Zablocie district and before going for our afternoon tour popped into a modern looking bar named Saluté. Slightly more expensive than the bar in the town centre, but more modern and a bit nicer as a result. A rare sighting of wheat beer as well which was delicious.

Then we walked around the corner to the Oscar Schindler Enamel Factory for a tour there. Again, we had an excellent guide but it became clear quickly that the end of the war led to very little of the factory being left, and accordingly the talk did briefly touch upon what we've seen in Schindler's List but the museum there and the talk focused really on a Polish perspective on the progress of the second world war. It was really very interesting and despite not really being exactly as expected, it was great.Read more
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- Day 5–6
- August 1, 2025 at 7:04 PM - August 2, 2025
- 1 night
- ☁️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 206 m
- Poland Krakow 50.047096, 19.93179750°2’50” N 19°55’54” E
Dinner & final night in Poland
Aug 1–2 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
That night we had dinner in our hotel and it was delicious. Viener Schnitzel was very much enjoyed.
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- Day 6
- Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 9:13 AM
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Altitude: 240 m
- Poland Balice 50.072753, 19.8015950°4’22” N 19°48’6” E
Krakow airport
August 2 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
After another lovely breakfast, we had the relatively short drive back to the airport to drop off our hire car. We managed to confuse ourselves as to where the car drop was but it didn't take long and then we made our way through the airport reasonably quickly to the lounge where a very early glass of fizz was consumed.Read more
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- Day 6
- Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 12:55 PM
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- England Sipson 51.477571, -0.45026451°28’39” N 0°27’1” W
Land in London
August 2 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
The flight back to London was dead easy and enjoyable although the in-flight meal choices today weren't perhaps as well thought out as they could have been. It was possible you could have had asparagus and salad as a starter then goats cheese and asparagus salad for main. Obviously I didn't but enjoyed what I did have.

This time the transfer from Heathrow Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 went really well using the Flight Connections route which was very quick indeed. We were in the lounge less than an hour after landing which was about as good as you can do really.Read more
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- Day 6
- Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 8:36 PM
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 90 m
- Jersey St Peter 49.207996, -2.19531249°12’29” N 2°11’43” W
Land in Jersey
August 2 in Jersey ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
The final flight of the trip was a little more cramped than I'd got used to and the landing felt fairly sketchy but it was ok really.
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