A Step Ahead of the Pope

After having all these impressions of what Prague should be like I approaced Krakow with no pre-conceptions. Just some good words about Poland from other people and that was about it.

The ride from Prague wasn't too bad. After crossing the border from the Czech Republic I ended up meeting a fellow traveler going to Krakow from Australia. We were talking on the train when a local guy from Krakow started talking to us.

He was great and gave a lot of advice on cool places to check out in the city. When we got off the train his girlfriend met him but even after he gave directions he wanted to show us the way to go. We told him to go have fun and thanks for all the help already given.

It was a great first impression of Poland and nothing in the past three days has changed my mind. Everyone here in Krakow has been cool and really nice and more than willing to stirke up a conversation or help out in any way.

Walking from the train station to the main square was great and I was impressed with the beauty of the city. Although it was definately touristy it was much calmer then Prague, and a great number of the tourists were from Poland itself.



I ended up visiting the main square often, esepcially cause it had free wi-fi internet access so you could sit and have a drink while checking your email. It wasn't always that reliable but it was the right price.

I said goodbye to the Aussie who was staying at a different hostel and made my way to Nathan's Villa which was a really cool place to stay and had a good crowd of people there to meet and talk to, including a fellow photojournalist from Australia.

My number one reason to come to Krakow was to see Auschwitz, which was about a hour and a half outside the city proper by mini-bus. It was a sobering experience.


The tour went into great depth about how the place was basically a death factory but walking around the grounds but visiting in and seeing just how huge the concentration camp was, especially Birkinew was almost beyond belief. To walk the shortest distance from the entrance where the trains carried in the prisioners to the other side took fifteen minutes. Rows and rows of barracks stretch almost as far as the eyes could see.


It was an overwhelming experience.

At one end of the camp there were some local workers that were busy putting together a platform for the media to stand on . I had heard and the guide confirmed that the Pope was making a visit to Poland and on Sunday would be visting the camp himself.

He would also planning on making a trip to Krakow as well. And as the week went on the town was getting ready for the big event. Flags with the seal of Poland and the Pope were for sale everywhere in town.


At the big church in the town square, workers were putting up banners of likenesses of the pope and signs welcoming him to the country.


It would be cool to stay and witness the event, but my time is short here. I spent a lot of time wandering around the streets, and whenever I was hungry grabbing one of the pieces of bread, called a obwarzanki, that were being sold out of carts all over the city for the price of about 30 cents each. They were kind of like bagels but not quite as doughy. I also tried a bunch of the local food including some perogi's.


One one of my walks around I saw Mieczyslaw Jalocha who was working out of his garage grinding a tool.


I asked to take a couple of photographs of him and we ended up taking for awhile. He knew some english, and i knew absolutely no polish but we were able to talk for awhile. We talked a little bit about each other's life. He wanted to know why I was visitng and he told me with pride about his daughter who was an engineer living and working in Hong Kong. She worked on the large new airport there and he showed me a picture of her with the former president of Poland.

After saying dos-va-dan-yah i continued wandering around getting really lost and acutally finally found myself at the steps of the train station. So I went in and bought my ticket for my next stop, Budapest.

Sorry I wish I could post more often on the blog, but the internet access can costa a bit here.

So as the Pope comes I head out. Like Poland I don't know what to expect in Hungary. I just hope its as an enjoyable a place to visit.