Crazy in Krakow

Awesome Architecture of Krakow

The next destination on my Eastern Europe adventure trip was Krakow, Poland.  We arrived in the evening, just in time for dinner.  Not far from our hostel we found a Mexican restaurant (a taste a Texas/California girl really starts to miss) which turned out to be surprisingly delicious and even somewhat authentic.  After dinner we hit the town and found the nightlife in Krakow to be something else.  Promotors seemed to be waiting around every corner to get the college students into their bars and clubs.  A few hours later, I bid the still lively city goodnight as once again, the following day brought with it a full agenda.

St. Mary's

The next day began with a walking tour of the city.  If I thought I had already experienced the most incredible architecture before this, I soon learned I was wrong.  Krakow's architecture presented yet another beautiful and unique style with tall, thin spires topping just about every building I passed.  The incredible thing about this city was the amount of its structures that had been left in tact and not destroyed in times of war and conflict like the buildings of so many other European countries I had seen.  History unfolded all around me and simultaneously mixed together with the

Flower Market

modern architecture.  Not far from our hostel was the Main Market Square with St. Mary's Cathedral and a beautiful flower market.  Legend has it that the two towers of St. Mary's were built by two rivaling brothers, competing to see who could make the taller tower.  The flower market we the thing that really caught my eye with it's bright colors.  Upon closer examination, I could see that

Pope John Paul II's window 

they were not all regular flowers, but many were pieces of straw and other materials made in to beautiful arrangements or some even into chickens!
Our tour guide also took the time to point out the places where the pope John Paul II grew up and spent his time in Poland.  I even saw the very window he used to look out of, which now commemorates him with a giant picture of him, as if he were still looking out the window.
Krakow has over 120 places of Catholic worship, many of which I saw on the tour.  It seemed that every street brought with it a new church, each more elaborate than the next.  I suppose I had never imagined Krakow to be such a holy city, but upon seeing the number of churches, I couldn't help but realize this fact.
Our tour guide was full of knowledge about the city but also just as full of legends which she was proud to share.  One legend told the story of a dragon who lived under a bridge.

Bones of the Wawel Dragon!

Outside one of the churches hung what our tour guide claimed to be the bones of this dragon!  After the tour, I spent the rest of the day exploring Krakow with a couple of friends.  We wandered the streets coming across even more churches and incredible architecture.  At the end of the day, I felt that I had seen so much of the city but could tell that it still had so much more to offer.
The next morning my theories were proven correct as I set off for a tour of the Jewish ghetto.  Our incredibly knowledgeable tour guide told us the tragic history of the Jews in Poland and about how they had been some of the biggest targets for Hitler
and the Nazis.  After viewing the Jewish synagogue, graveyard, and Hebrew school, the tour ended at the Schindler Museum.  The entire Schindler Factory (yes, from the movie Schindler's list) had been transformed into a museum documenting the circumstances and persecution of Jews during Hitler's rule.  I was overwhelmed by the incredible interviews of Holocaust survivors, authentic newspaper articles,

The Schindler Factory

and personal belongings shown in the museum.  I knew that this day was only a small preparation for what would come the next day on my visit to Auschwitz, but it still had an intense effect on me.  I found myself struck by the reality of the situation.  I had been learning about the Holocaust for years but had never really linked it explicitly with Poland or understood its historical context until now.
 After spending a majority of the day in the museum, we emerged emotionally drained.  We grabbed a quick dinner at a cute little place which served the Polish version of apple pancakes and then headed back to our hostel.