Day 2- Part 1 Kraków, Poland (28 June 2019)

What a day!  It really felt like three days rolled into one. So, I’m breaking up today’s blog post into two:  morning and evening, and then afternoon (Auschwitz-Birkenau) will have it’s own post. 

We knew that we would spend the morning in Kazimierz (the Jewish quarter), and that the old Jewish cemetery opened at 9:00 a.m., so we set out around 8:30 a.m, walking through the park that surrounds Old Town. 

It was interesting to note the differences in architecture once you left the Old Town and walked towards Kazimierz. 

When we found the start of the walking tour from our book, it was on a long square where I instantly felt like I walked into a different culture. 

There was a lot to see, so we got started right away, while we waited for the Old Synagogue and cemetery to open. We learned that 65,000 Poles from the Kraków area lost their lives to the Holocaust. 

After paying our 10 zł each (about $2.50), we walked around the cemetery. They place small stones in remembrance and as prayers on the headstones of their loved ones and members of their community. 

It was also interesting to see the written prayers folded on pieces of paper and tucked under some of the small stones. This cemetery had small roofs on some of the headstones, which I had never seen before. 

When the Nazis invaded this part of Kraków, they desecrated the graves and broke the headstones from here. They were later incorporated into the walls that surround it. 

We walked in to the Old Synagogue for a few minutes before continuing on our walking tour. 

Back in the long square, we were able to see several important places and glimpse the store fronts. 

At the end of the square, there is a Synagogue that needed to be below street level, according to the law. 

We left the square to look at more interesting sites in the quarter. 

From here, we crossed the bridge and headed towards Schindler’s factory with a stop at Ghetto Hero’s Square on the way. There are 68 chairs in the square, that represent the 68,000 people who were deported from here. 

Just a few minutes from the square is Schindler’s factory. You can book a tour in advance (which probably would have been preferable, due to the crowds), or you can purchase a self-guided ticket at the entrance. 

We weaved our way through the different groups who were with tour guides. The information is displayed in a great manner, but sometimes the areas were so congested, that we glanced at the information as we navigated the groups of people. 

I was impressed with Schindler’s bravery and the 1,200 people he cared for, and employed.

We walked back to Old Town and went to a small bakery to pick up some lunch, which we took back to the park that rings the town to sit on a bench and enjoy our lunch. 

After lunch, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau. To read about our experience, see Part 2 for today.  Here is some of the Polish countryside on our way home from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Here’s a candy bar that I saw in several grocery stores. It tasted kind of like vanilla wafers covered in chocolate. I evidently bought the XXL size. 

After our trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau, we were dropped off outside the Best Western Old Town, where we were picked up for the tour. Thankfully, we weren’t very far from Wawel Hill.  

After sitting on the bus for more than an hour, it took my joints a few minutes to want to start working again, but we walked over to the area and started the climb up to the top of the hill. 

As it was after 7:00 p.m., the cathedral, castle, and museums were all closed.  However, it was still worth the trek to the top!

We explored as much as we could with our guide book, and even learned that Wawel Hill is one of the seven points of the most concentrated areas of chakra on the surface of the earth from the Hindu religion. Of course we tried to absorb some of the good vibes from this chakra spot!

I’m pretty sure it helped. 😊

I loved that we weren’t rushed off Wawel Hill and could take our time to see all there was without going in the buildings. 

We walked back into the Old Town area and were serenaded by first a lady singing, and then other musicians playing. We decided to eat in a café so we could enjoy the ambiance at Mary Magdalene square. 

We topped off the evening with ice cream and walked into the Market Square to see all of the buildings lit up for the evening!

I think I felt all of the emotions today. Every. Last. One. I’m grateful that we had the experiences and took the time and resources to have a girls’ trip to this area of Poland.  Kraków is a hidden gem. It was wonderful to experience some of the facets that makes it sparkle with one of my favorite humans. 💕