Krakow, Poland

A friend asked me a seeming innocuous question which made me ponder more on the rationale behind it. The question went: Hmm...what made you decide to visit Krakow? Before you think I'm a sadist, I seek to clarify. I went there for a simple reason: We saw a Groupon deal for Radisson Blu hotel Krakow and based on our pleasurable experience at the Radisson Blu Dubrovnik recently, were enticed by it and thus, we ended up in Krakow. To be honest, I didn't know that Auschwitz was in Poland prior to planning for this trip which was like 2 weeks before travelling there; I always thought ignorantly that Auschwitz was in Germany. Having discovered the gem(Auschwitz) in Krakow, I decided to prep myself for the trip and watched Schindler's List, a Steven Spielberg wartime blockbuster filmed in Krakow. And I'm ready for the hidden history in Krakow.

We met with the city's first wintery snow when we arrived. You could say we brought snow into the city. As it was snowing, we decided to tour the city in a buggy, a form of transport similar to that found in airport, which came with blankets and heating to keep us sufficiently warm. The tour comprised of three parts, namely the Old Town where the Rynek Glowny market is, Jewish quarter Kazimierz and Podgorze across the Vistula river where the ghetto and Schindler's Factory is located.

The original facade of Schindler's Factory was well preserved and today it was converted into a museum which showcased the significant events leading to the eruption of World War II in Poland, how the terrible war evolved with particular focus to the Jews and their tortured lives in ghetto, and how the war ended to everyone's delight. We spent a good couple of hours here trying to digest history from Poles perspective.

For dinner, we helped ourselves to a fair portion of the famous beetroot soup, roast pork, goulash and some juices at Bar Grodzka (one of the cheap no frill cafeterias subsidised by state during communist era to provide simple wholesome meals for the poorest citizens) situated at the oldest street in Krakow, all at an unbelievable price! Halfway through our dinner, a suspiciously looking man came in and sat at the table beside us. Strangely, he didn't order food at the counter, but instead remain seated with his eyes fixated on us, freaking us out. We quickly finished our dinner and when we were about to leave, he pounced! We were ready to defend ourselves at this precise moment! Fortunately, he was merely after our food, which we left quite a bit behind; we were relieved that he was harmless and were overwhelmed by a tinge of melancholy after leaving the bar. Fortunately, it was quickly washed out by the pleasant saxophone jazz at Harris Piano Jazz Bar and the delicious cherry and honey vodkas!

Early next morning, we set off for Auschwitz, the highlight of this trip, via a group tour. At the concentration camps, I learned a great deal about the cruelty of the Nazis : Each and every single Jew from all over Europe were deported to Auschwitz where they were inhumanely tortured before eventually gassed. The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" engraved high on the entrance gates to Auschwitz camp I was a total irony as no one was spared from working in the camps; it was merely a tactic to manage the expectations of the prisoners. Honestly, in today's society where peace is pretty much prevalent, it is really difficult to believe that such heinous deeds were exacted on the Jews 70 years back, considering that was not too long ago. Why did Germans behave this way? And broadly speaking, winners usually write the history. Thus, it made me wondered if there was any concealed yet legitimate reason for their atrocious acts. Having spoken to a German friend, I was glad that as a country they did not sweep their unglamorous history under the carpet, instead they embraced it bravely by ensuring all future generations learned the truth. An admirable act indeed! In addition to that, there are laws enacted to favour the Jew population in the present day. Considering the amount of hardship they went through, they definitely deserved favourable treatment. On a personal note, as a fanatic German fan, my enthusiasm for anything German receded considerably after this educational visit.

On the drive back to Krakow, the roads were snowed in! Our van had difficulty negotiating uphill and we had a fabulous time pushing the van in the freezing cold. And yes, we managed to arrive at Krakow safely!

Lunch was awesome! We had polish soup (Zurek), the most delicious eastern europe soup I ever had, meat and spinach pierogi, bigos and 2 polish beers at Bar Smaki! As all attractions were closed for the day, we simply strolled along Rynek Glowny square and got a shot glass as souvenir.

There was so much to see and do at Krakow! How I wished we had more time here to check out the Wawel castle, Wielickza salt mine, cloth hall at Old Town and so on....