Poland
Śródmieście

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    • Kraków i Tatry Wysokie

      September 6, 2021 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      In Zakopane, DER Winter- und Wandersportstadt Polens am Fuße der "Tatry Wysokie" (hohen Tatra) dem westlichen Ausläufer des Karpatengebirges hab' ich mir eine Auszeit gegönnt. Umgeben von viel Natur habe ich bei sehr regenreichen vier Tagen die meiste Zeit in meinem Privatzimmer verbracht. Ein Regenlauf durch Zakopane und eine ausgiebige Wanderung durch die Berge der Tatra war aber dennoch mit dabei.
      Die Reduktion der Reize und Eindrücke hat mir sehr, sehr gut getan.

      Am Donnerstag bin ich dann mit dem Bus zurück nach Krakau gefahren, wo ich mich wieder mit Claudia getroffen habe.
      Am Freitag statteten wir dem Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslager Auschwitz-Birkenau einen Besuch ab, indem während des zweiten Weltkriegs 1.500.000 Menschen aus ganz Europa systematisch und effizient getötet. Die Dimensionen dieses Orts sind unfassbar und all das was dort passiert ist, ist unglaublich schwer in Worten zu fassen. Immer wieder hatten wir aufgrund des dort stattgefundenen Schreckens Tränen in den Augen. Es zeigt ein System, dass die schrecklichsten Seiten des Menschen zum Vorschein gebracht hat und der Wunsch, dass so etwas nicht mehr stattfinden sollte ist unfassbar groß.
      Am Abend haben wir uns dann noch einen Beitrag von Jan Böhmermann über das Unternehmen Volkswagen angesehen und mit Schrecken mussten wir realisieren, wie es nach wie vor vergleichbare Orte, wie diesen in der Welt gibt, wie Volksgruppen diskriminiert, unterdrückt oder "unterzogen" werden und wie dabei noch versucht wird Profit daraus zu machen. (Für alle die sich dafür interessieren, hier der Link: https://youtu.be/hF5GYOt10Ik)

      Ein wunderbarer Beleg dafür, dass sich bei allem Grauen und Verderben immer auch Menschliches finden lässt, stellt die Emaillefabrik von Oskar Schindler dar, die sich in Krakau besichtigen lässt. Besondere Bekanntheit erlangte dieser Ort durch Steven Spielberg's "Schindlers Liste". Oskar Schindler hat als NSDAP-Mitglied und Unternehmer während des Krieges über 1000 Menschen mit jüdischem Glaubens das Leben gerettet.

      Nach all dieser Schwere haben wir am Freitag Abend ein Konzert der polnischen Band "Bass Astral X Igo Ensemble" besucht, wo wir gemeinsam mit zig-hunderten Polen unter einem klaren Nachthimmel tanzten.💃🕺🎉🤗

      In Krakau hatten wir traumhaftes Wetter - strahlender Sonnenschein und Temperaturen um die 20° machten das Spazierengehen, Laufen und E-Scooterfahren durch die Stadt zu einem echten Genuss.

      Die ehemals von Österreich besetzte und zweitgrößte Stadt Polens trägt eine hohe historische und kulturelle Vielfalt in sich. Trotz vieler Besucher bietet es wunderbar ruhige und schöne Plätze entlang der Wisla, am "Kopiec Krak" mit Blick über die Stadt oder im ehemaligen jüdischen Viertel Kazimierz.
      Wir erleben eine sehr moderne und hippe Stadt, in der wir uns rasch sehr wohl fühlen.

      Nach Gdánsk und Warschau ist Krakau nun die dritte Stadt, der wir entlang der Weichsel von Norden in Richtung Süden gefolgt sind.
      Die Stadt bildet einen wunderbaren Abschluss unserer Zeit in Polen.
      Bevor es morgen mit dem Bus nach Lviv (Lemberg) in die Ukraine weitergeht. 🚌

      So dürfen wir "Do widsenja, Polska" und "Добридень, Україна!" (Guten Tag, Ukraine) sagen!
      Mal schauen, was wir in den kommenden Tagen so beim Lesen entschlüsseln können 😉

      Ganz liebe Grüße an euch 😃
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    • Day 104

      ... in Kraków

      July 20, 2017 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

      Especially for you Ange! Don't worry, although I hadn't been particularly blogging about the food - as the 6 pic limit sometimes prevents me from doing so - we definitely weren't depriving ourselves :)

      Firstly my deep red Barscz with accompanying pastry things. have no idea what they were but tasted good! Stuart enjoyed his potato pancakes on a bed of gooey goulash... a very positive introduction to Polish food! How would believe it of a motorway services, obviously being freshly made in the kitchen, such a great little find!

      A small taster of Marta's wonderful feast.. we ate huge klobasa sausages, lamb kebabs, many types of wonderful salads, flatbreads sauces and topped off with chocolate cake with gooseberries.

      Next up me, the proud mother with my pierogi babies :)

      The one thing I failed to mention in the last post was finding a whole aisle of fresh biscuits in the huge supermarket. Would've been rude not to try at least a little selection.. chocolate orange mmmmm

      And finally a photo showing some of the wonderful food made by Sumona. Milder than traditional I think to cater just for us!! And finished off with chai tea

      Smacznego!
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    • Day 20

      Краков

      September 5, 2022 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Немного отдохнем и завтра в путь!!!

    • Day 2

      2. den

      March 14, 2019 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

      Den sme zacali neskorymi, ale o to vydatnejsimi ranajkami v malom bistre Gossip Cafe (https://m.facebook.com/gossipcafekrakow/). Nasledovala prehliadka historickej trznice Sukiennice na Hlavnom namesti a potom prehliadka Marianskeho kostola (http://mariacki.com/en/) s najvacsim drevenym oltarom v Europe od nemeckeho rezbara Veita Stossa - naozaj skvost. Este sme stihli vedlajsi jezuitsky kostol sv. Barbory (http://swietabarbara.jezuici.pl/) a uz nas cakala objednana Food Tour so sprievodkynou Kamilou. K tomuto ani neviem co napisat, iba ze to bolo super. Ochutnali sme v roznych lokalnych podnikoch vsetko od pirohov (pierogi - 4 druhy), 2 polskych polievok, 2 druhov vodiek s polskymi drobnostami na zajedanie, cez zemiakove placky s gulasom a smotanou, polske “holubky” (golabki - kapustove zavitky plnene hovadzim masom s ryzou), polske krokiety (take tenke slane palacinky plnene masovou zmesou) s cviklovym salatom, dusena sudova kapusta so slaninkou a ako bonus dezert - polske palacinky plnene jablkami poliate dressingom z lesneho ovocia. Toto sme nakoniec zapili 2 druhmi lokalneho craftoveho pivecka. Celkovo sme takto presli 5 lokalnych podnikov. Hned po rozlucke s Kamilou sme dali dlhsiu prechadzku, pocas ktorej sme stihli pozriet voskove figuriny v Polonia Wax Museum (http://www.poloniawaxmuseum.com/). Nasledovala siesta na izbe (u mna spojene s pokracovanim degustacie lokalneho vinka z predchadzajuceho dna). Ked sme nabrali sily, tak sme den zakoncili v Kamilou odporucanom podniku Miedzy Miastowa v nasom okoli (http://www.miastowa.com/), kde sme este kupodivu nasli sily na zdolanie mixu morskych potvoriek a focaccie. Ja som to este zapil zopar drinkami a spokojni sme isli na kute. Musim uznat, ze Krakov ma vyrazne prekvapil obrovskym mnozstvom super podnikov, ktore su vsade doslova jeden vedla druheho a ponukaju vyborne jedlo a pitim za skvele ceny. Klobuk dole!Read more

    • Day 2

      Krakow by Night

      March 7, 2019 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

      Enjoyable evening spent with a very lovely couple I met at the Folk Evening. Krakow's main square by night and an underground Jazz bar. A couple of Pina Coladas later and I'm ready for bed before Auschwitz tomorrow.Read more

    • Day 24

      Krakow

      August 19, 2018 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      I left with mixed feelings about Krakow. On one hand it is an undeniably beautiful city, but on the other, like so many beautiful cities further west it has been long discovered and thus overrun by hordes of tourists. This was only made worse by the fact that half of Poland was on holidays this week due to the Wednesday public holiday. If I thought the crowds in Warsaw were too much, Krakow was something else, which severely tested both my patience and reinforced my unabiding hatred hatred of organised tour groups.

      This hatred came back to bite me on my second day in Krakow as I tried to get to Auschwitz. Every second person in town was selling package tours to Auschwitz, offering the same generic overpriced package. I’ve never been a fan of tours, but especially for visiting somewhere like Auschwitz, which for me would be a deeply personal and confronting experience, being stuck with a large number of mindless drones and passionless tour guide sounded like my idea of personal hell. Instead I took the independent option and grabbed a 2 hour local bus from Krakow to Auschwitz, arriving with a sinking heart to find a huge car park full of coaches and tour groups being corralled. Things only got worse as I ventured further in and saw the line to get individual tickets. It was 10am and the line must have stretched over 500 metres and showed little sign of movement, as tour group after tour group wandered straight to the front and through the gates. A couple of enquiries later confirmed that the wait was close to 4 hours for individuals, but that if I was happy to sign up then and there for a guided tour with any one of the many touts I’d be able to skip the queue. Faced with the prospect of selling out on my principles and seeing the place I had come so far to see I chose instead to shoot myself in the foot and headed back to Krakow. To be honest, despite wasting my day, I’m happy with my choice. I’ve been to concentration camps at various locations in Europe in the past and so I knew what to expect, and the prospect of going through that experience while being jostled by crowds and rushed by guides is not how I wish to pay my respects and reflect on one of the worlds darkest periods.

      It was a similar experience back in Kraków as I was frustrated in my attempts to get into various attractions, such as Schindler’s factory and the very impressive Krakow castle. Not that all was lost though, there was a Pierogi festival on for the length of my stay, so I ate my body weight in dumplings and once I got outside of old town and the crowds started thinning I discovered another fantastically vibrant city full of parks, life, street food and the very characterful Jewish district, which has remained largely untouched.
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    • Day 4

      Il Barbacane

      January 6, 2016 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

      Il Barbacane di Cracovia è un barbacane, cioè un avamposto fortificato, che in passato collegava le mura della città di Cracovia, rappresentando la via di accesso al centro storico della città. E' uno dei pochi resti della complessa rete di fortificazioni e barriere difensive che un tempo circondava Cracovia. Oggi funge da sede di mostre.Read more

    • Day 45

      Krakow, Poland

      October 9, 2014 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      Just arrived at Greg and Tom's Hostel. Picture of the common area and the quote above my bed in the room and oh so true. The most painful part of my trip has been hearing from the many uninformed about how bad everything is in the USA. Just so everyone back home we in the U.S. are all running around shooting each other (unfortunate yes mass shootings do occur in the U.S. but account for 200 deaths a year not thousands and the USA is 319 million not 20-80 million like most euro countries so do the math people), nearly all our cities are having riots, we are all broke, our unemployment is higher than Italy's (uh...never!) and our economy is not that big anymore (wrong still #1 GDP). They receive a constant stream of negative news and feel obliged to tell me all about it. Those who have actually spent time in the USA in recent years know better. So to all those so uninformed do me a favor and keep your false beliefs about my country to yourself until you've really spent some time there and read the quote pictured a couple times until then.

      Upstairs windows of a place right down the block where I'm certain I knew what's going on...
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    • Day 2

      Stare Miasto

      June 3 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Zum Abschluss des Abends sind wir noch auf den Marktplatz. Aus unserer Sicht das Herz Krakaus, ein wunderschöner Platz mit zahlreichen Cafés, Bars und Restaurants. Dazu die Architektur.

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    Śródmieście, Srodmiescie

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