Travel to Poland.

Hello from Poland. Our ship docked in Gdynia Harbor, on the Gulf of Gdansk, just off the Baltic Sea. We arrived at 9:30, so we had a leisurely morning today (especially with an extra hour on the clock last night too). The view from our balcony is of a very scenic port. We had plenty of time today to go to breakfast, return to our cabin to publish the Estonia blog with pictures, and report for our tour at 10:40.

According to the ship’s description of this port:

Gdansk, previously called Danzig was recognized by many as the starting place of World War II. The city is over a thousand years old with its founding in the year 997. As member of the Hanseatic League, Gdansk was the richest port on the Baltic and became a cultural center that drew artists and intellectuals from across Europe. However, on September 1, 1939 a German warship opened fire on a garrison north of the city, launching World War II. By the end of the war, Gdansk was in ruins and Poland was occupied by Russia.

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Travel to Poland, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Torun.

We knew it was too good to be true and yes the sun of yesterday had deserted us,at least for the morning.Not that it mattered as we have a reasonable distance to travel by car south to Torun and perhaps by the time we get there the sun will be out again.

Breakfast was the same as yesterday with the three nationalities represented and conversation limited to our individual groups.We would have to say this has been the only disappointing feature of our stay here as it is always good to converse with locals and fellow travellers from afar and we have in the past been able to at least get some conversation from others around us at breakfast.

We took the R1 on a virtually direct run south travelling through countryside that has become very recognisible and repetitive which goes to demonstrate just how big Poland is and just how far we have travelled around and through it taking in at first the eastern side from south to north with a dive into the middle for Warsaw and then on our return from the three Baltic countries,a journey west and now south.

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Travel to Poland, Krakow.

Krakow is a lot prettier than I gave it credit. Although, I think I am a bit biased because we went to the older part of town which, like I have said, is always prettier. We saw many beautiful churches and went up to the Wawel Castle. It had a beautiful view of the city and was very interesting to look at because you could see the different architecture that was added throughout the different centuries. The church that was in the castle was one of the prettiest churches I have ever seen; it had amazing stain class windows that were from the 24th century. After the church we went into a museum that represented what one of the homes/ office areas of one of the king’s officials looked like. There were many beautiful tapestries hanging on the wall that were many years old.

Walking round the Jewish Quarter was really interesting because it did not look like all of the other Jewish areas we had been to. All of the others had become big name shopping centers whereas this one was still apartment buildings and still had an older, almost rundown feeling that I had been expecting when we
002visited the other areas. It was cool to see the areas where part of the movie Schindler’s List was filmed. We then crossed the river and went to the area where the ghetto was and went to the Schindler Museum. The museum was a nice change because we got to hear about some of the good that was going on at that time and be reminded that there were people that tried to help the Jews. Being in his office, it was comforting to know that 60 years ago good things were taking place and help was being done rather than hurt and awful things. One of my favorite things at the museum was walking into the area in the office that was a circle area with all of the names of the people that he had helped. Rather than it being names of people that were murdered, it was a celebration of the lives that were helped and saved. Today was a nice change of scenery after all of the death camps and was a much appreciated break before Auschwitz.

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Travel to Europe, Poland.

Auschwitz. Today was one of the hardest days of the trip. Coming into today, I had a feeling it was going to be a pretty tough day because this is the camp that I know the most about, but I was hoping that it would be touristy enough that it wouldn’t be too hard. I was wrong.

Today started off early with a three hour bus ride to the camp where we watched The Pianist. It was a good movie.

Even just pulling up to Auschwitz 1, I could tell that it was going to be a rough day. Auschwitz 1 has had many of the barracks turned into areas that show things found from the camp after its liberation and after the war. We had to wear headsets as we walked around in order to hear our guide because you are supposed to be quiet while in the camp out of respect. Walking around the camp, it had a gloomy, depressing feel to it. It was eerily quiet and you could sense that dreadful things had happened here. Walking into the camp, we walked under the Arbeit Macht Frei sign and down the path that the prisoners walked down every morning and every night on their way to and from work. I felt a small sense of guilt as I walked because I was there of my own free will, I knew my family was fine, and I knew I could leave in a few hours and most people that had walked that path before me did not have that same comfort.

The first barrack that we went into gave us the facts on the camp and the number of people that were killed there; I can’t even comprehend over 1,300,000. Seeing the pictures of the unloading’s that occurred and the models of the process to the gas chamber were unsettling. It is one thing to see the buildings, but to see recreations with people in them makes you visualize it and makes it so that you cannot distance yourself from it. Seeing the Cyclone B was not what I had expected. I had seen the canisters before and had figured that it came in gas form. It was weird to see that it was pellets that just reacted with the warmth. I think it was so weird because it reminded me of the poison that is used to kill rodents, which I guess is hoe the Nazis viewed the prisoners, but that just adds an unimaginable level to it. I don’t know that I could look at another human being as view them as nothing more than a little rodent.

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Travel to Wroclaw, Poland.

Country/Town visited: Wroclaw, Poland
Dates of stay:   Many times between 2008-Present Currently Living (2010-2011)

I sincerely believe that Wroclaw will be hot property in Europe in the coming years. Its rich history coupled with its amazing architecture already draws in tourists from all over the world, but is still not quite yet a household name. Especially considering that the name is hard to pronounce for many (actually pronounced ‘Vrotswaav’). But with so much development going into making this already great city greater, it has a huge amount of promise.

At the time of writing, I have lived in Wroclaw for the last 7 months, and the city has really sunk its teeth into me and made me appreciate what it has to offer.

The main highlight is of course the old town, and the main square (Rynek) which is actually one of the largest market squares in Europe. The mixture of architectural styles and colours that completely surround you give you the sense that you are in a rather special place. There are a number of rivers pouring through the city too. Some like to call Wroclaw a sort of ‘little Venice’, which may be over-exaggerating a bit but in all fairness the main Odra river does snake its way all around the city and there are over 90 connecting bridges.

In the market square, you are merely one of thousands of people strolling through every day. On a hot sunny day, of which there are many, the place is just bustling with people shopping, eating at one of the many outdoor restaurants with fine Polish cuisine on offer and drinking thirst quenching beer at the local brewery (Spiz) right next to the magnificent town hall. 
Ostrow Tumski is another must see area. It’s what they call Cathedral Island, and is home to several enormous gothic churches, overshadowed by the grand master of them all, the Katedrale. You can actually climb the Cathedral and get a rather spectacular view over Wroclaw too.

Wroclaw is not short of a fantastic café culture and nightlife, no doubt helped by the university and number of students in the city. Restaurants serve up many delicious Polish delicacies, and you can try many different types of vodka just about anywhere. And if sampling Polish Sausages and Vodka is your thing like it is mine, then you’ll be right at home. 

There are many things to see and do in Wroclaw, not all of which I can list here in a short blog. But I highly recommend adding Wroclaw to your itinerary while in Europe, you will not regret it. 

Visit sooner rather than later, as it is very cheap while the currency is still the Zloty, so get there while you can before prices change to Euros.

If you want to add any comments or have any questions about Wroclaw, let me know below..

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