Krakow (15-17 February)

And so it was that, late last Thursday afternoon, I arrived in my last Polish destination, Krakow. Having been in quite a few places that were...less than populated over the preceding week, I was pleasantly surprised to find my hostel here (The excellent flamingo hostel) almost completely full, and of English speakers! We had nearly a full range actually - Aussies, Canadians, Kiwis and myself, and after a spot of socialising and getting to know each other in the common room, 18 of us went out to a club. I had a great time, it was really fun to have proper company again and get out a bit, and all round a good night was had!

Friday morning began slowly, but after a while a few of us made it outside to investigate the city. I have to say, Krakow really is an amazing place. The old town square is absolutely huge (1st biggest in Europe this time!), and there always seems to be plenty going on. In between my incessant tourist pictures takings, I even found the time to have an altercation with a knight who was knocking around! Much fun indeed.

After this we wandered to the local supermarket to pick up some traditional Polish sausage for tea that night, before relocating to a wondrous little underground cafe, where the food was cheap, delicious and inventive. I personally opted for the chicken and pineapple in nettle sauce (weird I know, but delicious), with some of the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. For about 4 Pounds. Woo! In fact, it was so good we went back the next day :)

That night was quite a quiet one for me. After the sausage, which was rather good, a few of us sat around in the common room chatting with the girls from the hostel, and I called it a night quite early on in preparation for the next day.

On Saturday 4 of us were up and out by 10 to get the coach tour to Auschwitz. I'm not sure quite how to describe this experience; amazing would imply it was positive, and interesting's not quite right either. But certainly I was glad it was something I did, as it's not really an experience that can be conveyed in pictures or words. The whole atmosphere of the place is what has the biggest effect, coupled with the sheer scale of what went on there. Certainly I think it's an important place for people to visit to realise all that, so that nothing similar ever happens again.

Upon returning to the city, I went to the station to arrange my travel out of the country for the next day, then a few of us went back to the same cafe from the day before, and ate far too much! However, after a few hours' digesting, we still managed to make it out to Kazimierz, the Jewish district, in search of the vampire club, Transylvania. This was something I'd been quite looking forward to, as it seems a pretty unique kind of idea, but unfortunately it was closed for a month. Just my luck! We still managed to make the most of the situation and try another bar though, and it was nice to see a different area of town. We didn't stay out long though, as an incredibly early rise was on the cards for me in the morning.

All in all, I'd say I quite liked Poland, though perhaps not as much as I'd expected. I much preferred the southern areas, though perhaps in summer whenthere's more people up North, they could have more to offer too. Certainly I particularly enjoyed Krakow, Wroclaw and Torun, and Malbork and Auschwitz are experiences I'm never going to forget.