Ashkeling 2003 Europe Trip - Poland (Poznan, Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Zakopane)

Berlin to Poznan, Poland牋牋 Last Updated: 29-Jul-03

With a quick breakfast at Honigmond under our belts, we set off for the Polish border. Along the way, we picked up some photo souvenirs for friends:

For Bill

For the neighbors

We had no idea what to expect at the Polish border, but the biggest delay was for the trainee border guard to decide whether or not to put a stamp in Scott's passport (he did not; it already was too full). The road from Berlin to Warsaw is relatively long, so we chose to stop for a break (that means food, as you know by now) in the largest city along the way, Poznan. We had no idea what to expect.

Poznan turned out to be charming, and even navigable once we related the reality to the map. Lonely Planet suggested a vegetarian restaurant, which we located without much difficulty. The bigger challenge was in the restaurant itself, where we could read and understand nothing. Knowing that we could not go wrong (a little foreshadowing here), we used the tried-and-true method of randomly pointing at the menu. It turned out to be very good.

Borscht & good bread Roswitha has her first borscht Soy cutlet and mushroom stroganoff

Recommended!

Poznan has a very cute little old town square. The symbol of the town is two goats butting heads, and the clock tower on town hall re-enacts this at noon. Unfortunately, we did not get to see this event.

Treasury Culture Hall

Cute buildings

Painted detail

Old town square City hall

City hall Gothic church

Instead, Scott had to satisfy himself with making all of the town's pigeons take off.

Poland has few true highways. Most of the main roads are one lane in each direction, each about 1.2 lanes wide. The extra width is used for passing, often at the most inappropriate times. We saw semis passing semis, with other semis oncoming. People also use the extra width for walkways, horse carts, bicycling, or roadside shops, so surprises can lie at every high-speed point.

This is clearly dangerous, and many small towns along the way have tried to minimize the problems, either through speed limits (hah!), center islands (oops - surprise - not a good time to pass!), lights, or complete bypasses. They try to dissuade speeding with fake cop cars and displays of accidents. Still, we saw numerous recent collisions.

Don't be an example

Too late

Warsaw, Poland牋牋

Street labeling in Warsaw leaves some challenge for the traveller. Fortunately, we had a GPS, and eventually made our way to the hotel Portos, one of a trio of 3-Musketeer-named sparse workers' paradise-type high-rises. After checking in, we decided to check out the Belarus Embassy in preparation for tomorrow's visa hunt. It was a good thing that we did; when Roswitha rang the bell, some confusion ensued (was it the Ambassador himself who came out?), and then they told us how to get to the visa-issuing consulate. With the location identified, we drove into Warsaw's old town for a stroll and dinner.

Central Warsaw was pretty much destroyed in the war, both by the Germans, who were looking for expansion for Lebensraum, and by the Allied bombing. Rather than rebuilding with pure modern concrete boxes, Warsaw chose to reconstruct the Medieval old city. (In numerous cases, one can see photos of the devastated buildings before reconstruction.) Although mostly new, the buildings do an effective job of evoking the past.

Emblem of the city of Warsaw

Dinner was at Pod Samsonem, a traditional Jewish restaurant. Scott wanted to see (taste) if this was just like the food he grew up with. While similar, but not exactly the same, it was not as good as Mom's (or Scott's, for that matter).

The first requirement the next day (after breakfast at the Portos) was to get the visas for Belarus. It was suggested that Warsaw was a great place to do it, since their consulate there was practically empty. We surmounted the language barrier by finding a helpful woman who spoke German. She gave us forms to fill out, and the address of a travel agent who could issue vouchers. (Like many former Soviet countries, one must either have an invitation or a voucher, ostensibly from a hotel.) We then found the recommended travel agent, who gave us some advice on travel there (driving should be OK, where to get a good map, etc.), and sold us the vouchers. Filling out the forms seemed a good excuse for coffee. We dropped everything off, paid our US$180, and went off to kill time with lunch (Turkish, around the corner, recommended by our friendly Consulate person), and a trip to Mediamarkt to get an inexpensive tripod. Our visas were ready when we got back.

Turkish Lunch

Marie (Sklowdowska) Curie was born in Warsaw, and the house where she was born has been turned into a museum. She studied and worked primarily in Paris (after not being allowed to attend the university in Warsaw), but Warsaw showed their pride in their native daughter.

Among the items on display was a series of photos from sequential Solvay physics conferences in the early 1900s. This was a period when significant developments were happening in modern (nuclear) physics, and it was exciting to see all of the well-known names of people who attended, like Einstein, Curie, Bohr, Schroedinger, Lorenz, de Broglie, Zeeman, and so on.

A long walk around the old city, including the long Royal Road, revealed many interesting buildings, monuments, and art. We wanted to see Holy Cross church where Chopin's heart is enclosed in a column, but Mass was being held.

Did that exposure come out right?

Art Deco Ugly Soviet-era blockhouse

Copernicus

Doorway Cobblestone streets Door decoration next to the White Dove Restaurant

Can we stop for coffee?

Only one of Warsaw's synagogues survived the war.

The main church had interesting architecture, and the competition next to it was austere by comparison.

Column lintel

Portions of the city wall are being restored.

We found that one ice cream joint was always busy, while others were empty. We had to sample it to find out why...although it was challenging to figure out which flavors were which.

The Warsaw skyline is dominated by the Soviet-era hall of Art and Culture, which towers over the center of the city. The Poles say that the best view of the city is from the top of the building, because it is the one place in the city where you do not see the hall of Art and Culture.

In an alley off of the Royal Road, we found a hopping, toney restaurant, Muza, and had a tasty dinner.

Bullion, pork loin in hazelnut sauce, berry shake, beer

On the map of the old town, we found a curious loop. At first we thought that this was a Lonely Planet joke, but we then found it on other maps. Of course, we had to take a look.

A loop... a bridge... ...but necessary?

From Warsaw, we drove to Brest, Belarus.

Krakow, Poland牋牋

After the Belarus/Poland border adventure, we turn South towards Krakow. Since we did not expect to make it by evening, we were going to find a random place to stay along the road - we had seen many such hotels along the way. But, first, we had to find a stork.

Storks nest throughout central Europe in the Summer. Their stick nests can be found on roofs, in chimneys, and on platforms built especially for them. The black stork is Belarus' national bird, and these, as well as white storks, may be found all over, either tending nests, or stalking fields in the trail of a plow or harvester, hunting for frogs. We found one on a platform over a power pole, tending several chicks. Villagefolk came out to watch us take pictures (it must be exciting there), and a woman on the farm came out to talk (in Polish). She communicated the idea that one of the chicks had fallen or was pushed out, so only three remained.

Before light faded, we chose to stop at hotel Marta, in the midst of farms and fields. It was a lovely place, and had a good kitchen. We ate dinner there (beet soup, tomato soup, Liver in ragout, and piroge), and met an interesting group. Kai is Polish/American, and lives in Warsaw with his Polish wife, new daughter, and huge, friendly Akita dog. His American mother seems to live in Poland, and a friend was also visiting. Kai gave us several recommendations for Krakow, and also to visit Zakopane on the Slovakian border.

Salads Sausage & pirogi

Breakfast

Throughout Poland, one could see many, many churches. It was clear that they were flourishing. However, there was one religion which we never quite understood. We saw signs of it all over, but never found an actual church. It seems to be for some sort of lollipop cult or something.

We found our way into Krakow, and to the Klezmer Houis, the hotel suggested by Kai. It is a hotel and restaurant in the middle of Krakow's old Jewish ghetto, built in the old Mikvah (Jewish ritual baths). After checking in, we ate elsewhere in the square, at restaurant Ariel. We had been seeing "Jewish Caviar" on several menus in Poland, and, as suspected, it turned out to be chopped chicken liver (and not as good as Mom's).

Potato kugel with sauce, stuffed cabbage with light tomato sauce

There are several old synagogues in the area, although most are unused. The youngest one is still active, and is also open for visits. Its style is not so different from churches built around the same time. On one plaque (for reconstruction donations), we found a reference to Aschkenasy. The woman tending the place was not impressed.

Inside Similar to many churches

Stained glass Rosette

Window donation A relative?

Krakow is dominated by Wawel castel, which sits above the city on a large hill. Like many such structures, it has seen many kings and owners, and each left his mark through construction. Romantic is built on gothic is built on Lithuanian, and so on. The castle even boasts a dragon cave, where one of the princes did battle with the local dragon and eventually killed it. The legend has now been transformed into tourist trap and detour - although the entrance is above, on the castle grounds, the exit is down at the river. We had just climbed up to the castle entrance, and suddenly found ourselves below, and had to climb again. The dragon legend has also made the city dragon crazy; one can find dragon sculptures (even a smoke-breathing one), dragon plaques, dragon shields, dragon waterspouts, dragon plush toys, and even a guy in a dragon costume.

Down, down, down, into the cave And there he is! (one of them, at least)

Waterspout Hanger

Stuffed dragons

After being duped into descending the mountain, we worked our way back up. (Fortunately, it was not as hot as it would become later in the trip.)

Defensive hole - but against things like this?

Donors who helped reconstruction...in 1921

Krakow's old town, like the others we had seen, was very cute. The central square was bustling with activity. As we had seen in other places, and would see again elsewhere in the trip, there were street performers dressed in some anachronistic or non-sequitur costume (such as a Caribbean pirate or a Viking), doing something meaningless when a passerby would drop a coin into a hat. Here, there was a guy in whiteface and flowing white gowns on a box; he was reacting to and mimicking the crowd, to much laughter. We also saw, for the first time on this trip, some people who looked like possible pickpockets working the crowd. As usual, we were attentive, and were not affected at all, but it was notable that this was the first time it seemed possible.

Church at night, when the Olympus camera failed

The first of many tight parking spaces and roads

One of the draws of the Klezmer Houis is that they have Klezmer music at dinner. We were entertained by a 3-piece band, but I would not exactly call them a Klezmer band. First of all, they did not have a clarinet, which is essential for the sound. Second, I would not call songs like "Sunrise, Sunset" or the Hora particularly klezmerish. Still, the band was good, and so was the meal.

Hamentaschen, charoset (not just for Passover any more), and chocolate cake

And, how could we end a stay without breakfast, which was served al fresco, and outside.

Finally, one could see that the Krakow art scene is a real gas.

Auschwitz牋牋

We arrived in time to wait for the next tour, so we had a quick lunch of a hamburger (?), salad, and a mushroom pizza.

Southwest of Krakow is the Polish town of Oswiecim, better known by the German name of Auschwitz. Along with its nearby sister concentration camps Birkenau and Monowitz, it was the largest death factory of World War II, used to kill between 1.5 and 2 million people, 90% of them Jewish. Auschwitz was initially designed as a work camp for Polish prisoners, but it was expanded as the plan developed for Germany's territorial expansion and genocide of several groups.

After a 15-minute film, mostly showing the state of the concentration camp and prisoners at the time of liberation, one enters through the famous gate, "ARBEIT MACHT FREI." (Work makes you free.) Much of Auschwitz remains as it was, cleaned up of course. Rows and rows of brick buildings housed up to 1000 prisoners each. Today, they contain museums and artifacts found, including copies of documents. There is a research library where one can look into names of people held and killed there. Many well-known artists, writers, and intellectuals were killed here; cells where they awaited execution are shown. Some even have art and words written on the walls. Executions in Auschwitz were on a relatively small scale, starting with firing squads (at the "Death Wall"), by hanging, and, as it was developed, with Zyklon-B gas. Furnaces were used to cremate the bodies.

Blocks of barracks It all looks so peaceful. The trees were planted by survivors
Barbed wire fences Guard tower, barbed wire, and a sign Some people committed suicide by throwing themselves at the fences, to be shot or electrocuted

The Death Wall

The gas chamber Furnaces

Much of the museum displays items that were collected from the prisoners, who had been led to believe that they were being transferred to another area, and who had arrived with their belongings. Mountains of shoes, luggage, and even hair (they were shaved before going into the "showers") are on display. There were also a number of documents on display.

Mound of luggage - from everywhere - they were told to write their names to collect bags after processing

'Final solution of the Jewish question in the Netherlands'
Individuals
Back-of-the-envelope statistics - a first (under)estimate

Some buildings are used for displays about individual countries; we visited the Austria and Poland museums. These had start chronologies of the political changes, atrocities, and resistance.

Unfortunately, the death camps were too successful, and it was decided to build a larger death factory, Birkenau, a few kilometers away. People arrived by train, and were separated into those who could be used for labor, or those who would be taken for immediate extermination. Although there was usually meticulous record-keeping, there were also loads where no sorting or recording was done, they were just killed in the massive gas chambers and incinerated. Birkenau was destroyed near the end of the war, but a small part of it was reconstructed for the memorial. One can still see the chimneys used to heat the barracks, all that remains for the majority of the death camp. This enormous expanse of chimneys seem to stand witness to the overwhelming wrongs which happened in Birkenau and Auschwitz.

Zakopane, Poland牋牋

Zakopane is a small resort town in Southern Poland, right near the Slovakian border. Kai had suggested that we visit, and it was not far out of our way back towards Austria, so we decided to stop there. After an interesting drive through rain and rolling hills (and with help of the GPS), we found the town, and started to look for a place to sleep. We checked several likely-looking hotels, only to find them full. So, we decided to try a "Rooms" in a guesthouse. We stopped at an interesting-looking one on a side street, and the landlady eventually came to the door. We spoke no Polish, and she spoke no English, but we eventually communicated that we wanted a room, and she eventually communicated the price. We agreed, and she gave us the choice of two rooms. With a bit more help from another resident (her son?), we corrected our understanding of the price, determined that breakfast was not included, and said that we were going off to dinner. We would have to knock to get back in, and would pay her in the morning. We then went off to dinner, and to explore the town.

This is a stairway - flooded in the rain

Cute town
Makes sense...

Again with the lollipop cult!

The town is cute - a typical ski town. It was hopping with early Summer tourists, and certainly had an international crowd. Most menus were in multiple languages, but we were getting to be pretty good with Polish food. We chose a traditional Polish ski town tourist restaurant, and had a fine meal of piroges and blood sausage.

Ruski pierogi, blood sausage, salad, chipys

Easy to tell what each ice cream is

We drove back to the house, and there was no answer. It was later than the 10:30 that we said (somewhat closer to midnight), so we were now stuck with finding another place. Fortunately, the first place we tried, the Fian mini-hotel (brilliantly lit) had a room for us.

Breakfast spread Watching Waldo on closed-circuit TV

The next morning, we drove up to the cable car to go up to the top of the mountain. It was not clear (Polish...) if we were even supposed to be driving up to the station, or if we could park there. We saw many people walking up the road, and some busses and taxis, but no private cars. We parked anyway, in an out-of-the-way location (we hoped).

The border follows the ridge line. It was a beautiful day - last night's rain had cleared the air, and we could see a long distance. We both stood with a foot in each country, and talked to the border guards. We then went down to see if Waldo was still parked in the same place. He was, although it was right up against where horse-drawn carriages now stood. We snuck out without incident, and headed for the border crossing.

Up, up, up A long ride Mountains in mirror may be bigger than they appear

Looks like a nice ski area - though we only saw a little snow

Standing in 2 countries... ...Slovakia and Poland
Scott has a 'chat' with the Polish border guards

No shit...
Mountain lakes I think she's going to start yodeling...
Mountain hut I really think she's going to start yodeling
A stream runs through it

Along the way, we saw more of the distinctive house architecture - tall with a very sharp roof.

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