It's been a while I haven't put my shoes on to set out for solo exploration of new cities and countries. For last few months, I have been going through a tough and arduous phase in my academic life. Literally, I was pushed to the pinnacle of extreme frustration and exasperation due to some unwanted situation. To get rid of this, I needed a break. Fortunately, the opportunity came through my professional life itself. I was given a chance to participate in a workshop in Poland for couple of days. That's it. I just needed it at that time. I knew that given a tiny opportunity to travel, I will make full use of it somehow. This time, I did the same.
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| Beautiful city of Prague! |
The workshop will held at Jozefow, Poland. It's about one hour of train journey from the capital city Warsaw. First I tried to make a rough plan of what can I see in 7-10 days or so. If I leave couple of days in advance, make use of the weekends & manage few extra days, I will be able to get a full span of more than a week to explore around. Although Poland is not a typical destination for mainstream travellers, but if you are fond of historical incidents in the context of second world war, Poland has many treasures to find out. Especially after watching the movies like 'The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas' and 'The Pianist', I really wanted to visit the Nazi concentration camps in Poland, namely the notorious Auschwitz.
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| "Arbeit Macht Frei" |
One advantage of being in Europe is that, you can visit multiple countries just by travelling few hundred kilometers. Poland is surrounded by Germany, Czech Republic, Ukraine and other interesting countries to travel around. As I will be travelling to the south of Poland, I thought of travelling to the famous city of Prague. I can take overnight bus/train to save time & explore one of the most beautiful city of Europe.
As usual, I packed stuff for 10 days in my backpack. Printed out some map directions, so that I don't need to rely on electronic devices (& my phone internet wasn't working anyway). Converted some cash in local currency (Polish Zloty and Czech Koruna) and carried my bank cards. I'm set to start exploring.
Day 1, September 8th, 2018: I am flying with Polish Airlines from Stockholm to Warsaw. The flight was on time, it took about 1.5 hours & I landed Warsaw around 9 PM. I always avoid taking taxi from the airport, and prefer using public transports. I headed towards the train station, which is accessible from the airport by few minutes of walking. The train basically runs in between the airport and the city. I got into the train & was trying to get a ticket from the machine inside. But the machine takes only coins, which I didn't have. Fortunately, a local lady helped me to exchange some coins from another passenger and buy the ticket from the machine. Well, probably I had to travel without ticket if I didn't get help with the coins (nobody actually checked it).
I got off at Warszawa Centralna, the main train station at the city center of Warsaw. It was about 10 PM. I had to get dinner first and then locate the place where I will be staying. Got couple of big Sandwiches from the station and went outside. I will be staying at Warsaw Hostel Centrum, which is about 5-10 minutes of walking from the station. Although it was pretty easy to locate the address, but I was having hard time to locate the hostel inside the building premise. Finally I went inside & checked in. Pretty big hostel & was very cheap actually. I will be here for one night only. I was damn tired by then. Had dinner with the ham & cheese sandwiches, called home & went to bed immediately.
Day 2: The hostel had check-out time of 10 AM. I got freshened up & ready by 9.30. Collected a local map from the hostel reception & asked them for some suggestions of exploring Warsaw. After having breakfast with an apple and the remaining sandwich from last night, I checked out of the hostel.
A cloudy day, it was drizzling a bit too. I just hate this type of weather, especially when I am travelling. But I had to explore, as I didn't have much slack time. With a bit of reluctance, I started walking slowly, and followed the map.
Initially I was walking towards the Place of Culture and Science, the tallest building of Poland. You can see the building from literally anywhere in Warsaw.
I didn't enter in the building, but I guess there are some museums & cultural heritages to see inside. By the time I was walking around, the weather got improved a bit. As I saw a glimpse of blue sky, that was enough to accelerate my motivation to start exploring the city.
I headed towards the old town of Warsaw. I could have taken metro or tram, but decided to walk. It's always better to walk around in a new city, if you really want to feel the atmosphere. Following the map of the city, I walked to the old town in half an hour or so.
Being a touristy area, Warsaw old town is pretty crowded. This is also a designated UNESCO world heritage site.
I was just walking around through the old cobble stone streets. Lots of cafe and food stalls. I tried a type of street food, a long piece of baked bread along with cheese and salami. I don't remember the name, but it was delicious and also cheap (Poland is cheap in general, compared to the other European countries). Some people were taking a ride of horse driven car to explore the old town.
You can see the remnants of the old brick buildings around. I was wondering how horrible this place was looking like at the time of second world war...
The old town market place was full of souvenir shops and restaurants. I bought a piece of magnet as a memory. Walked to the other side near the river while having a cup of coffee.
I have already explored for couple of hours. Now its time to move on and have lunch. I was just walking through the crowded street and was trying to follow the map to get back to the central station. I took a tram on my way that was going towards the central station. In Warsaw, it's hard to get lost if you keep track of the iconic tall building of science and museum.
You literally have tons of options to eat near the central station. I was looking for something local & cheap, and found a self service restaurant 'Mleczarina Jerozolimska'. I ordered rice, chicken, salad, soup and packed water. All total it cost less than 20 Zloty!
Having my appetite filled, I was feeling a bit drowsy. Ignoring that, I pushed myself forward to explore other parts of the city. I had to take a train in the afternoon, & I had few hours to hang around. It was a Sunday & according to my 'research', the famous Warsaw Uprising museum has free entry today. I started walking towards the museum by following the map in my hand.
Lots of skyscrapers around, pretty clean city. I was passing by some wall paintings showing the situation from second world war.
I was trying to locate the Ghetto wall fragment, but could not locate it ultimately. One fact I realized, you will feel the historical context of the country just by walking around. Although sometimes I was over-imagining. Just by looking at an abandoned or destroyed house, I was expecting it to be a memory from second world war ;)
The museum is about 2 Km from the central station. Because of Sunday, they were distributing free tickets. The museum has actually many things to see, and all of them are related to the Polish condition during the world war.
The most interesting item in the museum was a replica of a bombing plane that was used during the second world war.
By the time I went out of the museum, it was late noon. I headed back towards the train station. Actually I was feeling very tired, I had already walked about 8/9 Km from the morning. I have to take a train to Jozefow. The train to Jozefow leaves from Warszawa Srodmiescie station, just beside the central train station.
By asking people, I found the way to the station and got my ticket. The train journey was indeed a pleasant one. I always like taking local trains towards an unknown destination, passing by unknown towns and villages.
Not having my phone internet to be in working condition, actually made me to enjoy the moment and the journey. Although I am not an expert in taking selfies, but this time I managed to get a descent one in the train ;)
Next couple of days I was at work.
Day 3, September 12th: I am leaving Jozefow. Arrived Warsaw by train around 10 AM. I will be taking a train to Krakow at 3 PM (I had already booked the ticket). Next few hours I explored more in Warsaw, mostly markets and shopping malls.
I am not a big fan of museums, so there wasn't much things to see around. After having lunch, I headed towards the train station. The train came on time, I will be taking the intercity express that will take about 2 hours to reach Krakow.
Krakow is one of the oldest cities of Poland. Lots of histories. I will be staying at Hostel Centrum Sabot, about 10 minutes of walk from the train station.
I have to say that I don't have a good impression about the hostel. First of all, the behavior of the reception lady was very rude. Moreover, the rooms and other facilities are not good at all. The only good part was the location. But you can find other hostels near that area too. Anyway, I was there only for a night & just ignored everything.
Just after checking in, I met a local guy named Damian. He joined me in exploring around. It's always nice to know some local in exploring a place. We decided to walk by foot and see as much as possible till it gets dark.
We entered the old town of Krakow through the Barbican.
Quite touristy place, I grabbed a type of local food comprising of bread, cheese and chicken from a food stall.
We were walking slowly through the cobble stone street of the old town.
Damian speaks good English, compared to the other Polish people. He was saying that Krakow is called the city of church. I also felt it, since I came across plenty of churches on our way. Spent some time at the central church area, took some photos with Damian.
Just after we came out of the old town square area, the castle was visible. We walked towards the castle. Damian was explaining some historical facts and local life in Poland. We explored the castle area and were walking beside the river.
Came cross the famous dragon of Krakow just at the river side. It has some mythological stories. The dragon was emitting smoky fire from its mouth! ;)
It was almost 8, I decided to call it a day. Bought some food for dinner, came back to the hostel, packed my bag for tomorrow, & went to bed by 10.
Day 4: This is going to be a day with goosebumps. I will be visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau today. After checking out of the hostel, I walked to the bus station, which is adjacent to the Krakow Glowny train station. Asking at the inquiry, they told that the tickets can be obtained from the bus driver, there is no need to book a ticket. The buses for Auschwitz runs every half an hour or so (the frequency is a bit less at evening). There are plenty of tour operators in Krakow that runs "Full Auschwitz tour", which are pretty expensive. There is no point in booking a tour with them, you can comfortably visit by means of public transport.
The bus took about 40 minutes to reach Auschwitz. You will see lots of tourist buses at the parking lot of the Auschwitz museum. This is a huge area, and is divided into two parts: Auschwitz-1 and Auschwitz-2 (or the Birkenau). The first one is mostly the museum which is in the same premise where the bus drops you, while the second one (Birkenau) is few kilometers away and has more remnants of camps including a real barrack that has not been renovated.
At the entrance, the first thing I noticed is a big queue for the ticket and lots of tourists around. You won't be able to see the campus until you enter in the actual premise. I stood in the queue, probably after 20 people or so. You need to book tours, which are available in different languages. Otherwise you can't enter Auschwitz-1 until 5 PM or so. You can still visit Auschwitz-2 by your own, but you will miss a lot of things if you don't explore the whole area. The queue was moving very slowly, and I could see that there are very few slots remaining in the English tour at 2.30 PM. Luckily, only 2 slots were remaining when I reached the counter. I got my ticket finally, but I had to wait for almost 2 hours. I strongly recommend to book the tickets online, that will save lot of time.
I was was passing the time by exploring the souvenir shop and looking around. Had lunch in the restaurant attached to the museum. The food was good, I had some local food with potato and finely chopped bacon mixed together along with some spices.
Finally the waiting time was over & we were about to enter in the actual Auschwitz area. It was a rigorous security checking at the entrance. We were a group of about 10 people, & all of were given headphones to listen to the voice of our tour guide. We entered the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp area through the gate, known as the "Arbeit macht frei" gate.
Literally I was having goosebumps just by being present in the area. The main camps were fenced by high concentration electric wires, so that the prisoners couldn't escape from the camps. It was indeed a horrible site.
The camps were divided into different blocks, each of which had different purposes to torture the prisoners.
We visited the museums, the guide was explaining in details the historical background.
Finally we came to the museum where the used things of the prisoners were kept. A room was literally full of used shoes..
used pots & utensils..
& even the shaved hair of the prisoners were dumped in a room (we were requested not to take photograph of the room to show some respect for those people). Unbelievable! A lady in front of me actually was wiping her tiers while passing by the room. I can't even describe the feelings I was undergoing at that moment. One showcase demonstrated the cans of the Zyklon B, which were used in the gas chambers to kill the Jews.
Finally we visited a gas chamber, which was restored from the remnants. It was horrible to be inside the chamber! I can't believe that hundreds of Jews were forced to congest in this room & were suffocated to death by dropping Zyklon from a hole at the room of the room!
It took about 1-1.5 hours to explore Auschwitz-1 camps. Now we will go to the second camp, also known as Birkenau concentration camps. Buses run in every 10 minutes within the two campuses.
Birkenau is even way bigger than the Auschwitz, & has camps in their almost primitive conditions. The entrance was known as the "gate of death".
The train line actually goes through the gate, directly to the camps. These trains used to carry thousands of Jews & directly carried them inside the premise. There used to be a so called doctor, who used to split the incoming Jews into two groups: one group was comprised of people who are physically fit & can work in camp building & other works. The other group was comprised of people who were physically unfit & were directed directly to the gas chamber. The following coach is a remnant from the original train & the group sorting used to be done exactly at this place.
The guide showed us the remnants of the actual gas chambers, & there were multiple of these.
Plenty of barracks around, & electrified fences at the border.
Finally we visited a barrack which is still now almost in the same condition as before. It's one of the horrible place to live that one can ever imagine. The barrack is full of dormitory style racks, where 3-4 people used to sleep in a congested way. Sometimes people died, & other people had to spend the night with the dead body!
The floors were exactly like this; dusty, muddy & unhygienic. No toilet facility, no blanket in cold freezing nights. Hard to imagine how did people actually survive here.
Finally the tour was over. I was almost blank to express my emotions. Don't know what type of psycho was Hitler, this is beyond the imagination of normal people..
I took the same bus to come back to Krakow. Had dinner at the train station area. I will be taking a night bus that will drop me to the city of Prague tomorrow.
Day 5: I had spent almost a sleepless night yesterday. I took the Flix bus to travel from Krakow to Prague overnight. It's one of the cheapest way to travel in Europe. Actually I was trying to get the night train ticket, but ultimately found that in order to get the ticket, you have to get the hard copy. Either you have to give your hotel address in that area, or you have to pay the courier charges to your address in somewhere else. So I had to choose the option for bus.
Its 6 AM, still dark around & raining a bit. The bus dropped me at the main train station of Prague, Hlavni Nadrazi. After a almost sleepless night at the crowded bus, I was kind of perplexed for the moment about what to do now. I have to locate my hostel first, although they have check in time at 2 PM! But at least I can keep my bag & get freshened up in the common room. Initially I couldn't locate the area from my printed map, so I decided to freshen up a bit & then start searching. After getting freshened up at the train station washroom, I went out & asked some locals about the street I was looking for. They showed me the direction & I started walking towards the hostel, following the printed Google map directions.
A beautiful city! Nice sculptures all around the buildings at the roadside. Through the narrow cobblestone covered alleys, finally I reached the hostel, Prague Tyn.
Beautiful location of the hostel, just 2/3 minutes walking distance from the old town square!
I put my luggage into the locker & rested for a while in the common room. My plan for the day was to explore around by walking, so I went out after an hour or so. It's really a beautiful city, you will feel a touch of artistry almost everywhere. I walked to the old town square, which is almost the heart of the town & is very touristy.
Unfortunately, the famous astronomical clock was under renovation, so I couldn't see it. But the area was full of people with entertaining activities like showing magic, playing instruments, fooling people by being a clown statue, etc.
I started waking through one of the streets emanating from the town square. I think the best way to explore Prague is by walking around.
Went to the area of old Jewish cemetery. It was very crowded at that time & decided not to go inside. Visited some souvenir shops around & walked around for sometimes.
Being a touristy place, people speak good English in Prague. The city has some free wifi spots too! I found one near the Starometska metro station (at the bus stop at the other side of the street).
There are plenty of churches to see in Prague. I peeped into the St. Nicholas church located at the old town square area. I was more interested in the architecture of the church buildings than the interiors actually. That's why I decide not to go inside all the churches. Another beautiful one, Church of our Lady before Tyn, is located just beside the hostel. I was just enjoying being in that area. It's really a city of dream :)
By then I was feeling hungry. A nearby Kebab place at Kaprova street was a budget one to have lunch. Being a touristy city, food is costly here in general. After getting filled in, I went back to the hostel to do the official check in formalities to my room. I got a nice room at 3rd floor. The only problem I faced was that, the internet was very poor in my room, & I had to come to the reception area to access the wifi. Otherwise it was really a beautiful hostel.
I resumed my exploration again. I was walking past the Starometska metro station & crossed the bridge to reach the other side of the river. Cobblestone covered streets & tramlines, picturesque city made me feel to be in the movies.
I tried to walk towards Letna park. Following the city map, it took about half an hour to reach that area. But I realized that there is nothing to see there actually. But the walk was worth to see different parts of the city. One of the most beautiful part of the city is the similar structured & coloured red houses. I wish I had a house in this city ;)
Walking beside the river & exploring the narrow alleys made me lost in the charm of the city of Praha.
Following the narrow lanes & hidden treasures of the city, I ended up near the Charles bridge area, another top touristy area of the city.
Tons of people, literally a place where you will see congestion all the time. But it was beautiful. I really liked the local painters & handcraft artists selling their products on the bridge. Every single statues on the bridge, is a piece of excellent artistry. You need time to actually look at all of these. I was enjoying the time walking over the bridge.
Musicians were playing their instruments to attract people & have some donations. Typical local Czech music.
Coming to the other end of the Charle's bridge, I started walking towards the "Dancing house" of Prague. This is a very funny building which looks like as if the whole building is getting squeezed & will be falling apart. This type of art had been created to demonstrate the 'falling of communism' of the country.
Rest of the afternoon I hanged around the local streets of Prague & was getting overwhelmed by the artistic charisma of the city.
I was trying to get dinner at the famous Cafe Louvre, but it was too crowded & I decided to go somewhere else. This cafe is very famous because some well famous people visited here, including Einstein.
Finally I had my dinner with pasta at Mistral cafe, which was close to my hostel.
Day 6:
Today is fully reserved for the famous Prague castle. A sunny beautiful day. I started walking slowly from the hostel & was following the map. By crossing the bridge, I reached the other side of the river & entered the "castle town" area.
The road started getting inclined & I realized that I am in the right path. What is beautiful city! I was enjoying every bit of Prague!
I reached at the entrance of the castle area. There was a big queue through the security. I realized that I need to get heavy food here, otherwise there might not be any place to eat inside & I have plan for several hours. Local street side stalls were selling good breakfast/lunch food. I got a plate with potato & bacon. It was very filling actually.
After the security area, I got a ticket that covers access to all areas inside the castle, except the South tower climb. Once I entered inside, a majestically beautiful huge church came into the scenario. This is the famous St. Vitus Cathedral. Unbelievable, what an architecture!!
Too many people made me to wait to get into the cathedral. But it was worth the wait. I was overwhelmed by the architecture inside & especially the outside.
I spent some time just by looking around it & taking photos.
I hanged around different areas of the castle & realized how beautiful is it. Finally I ended up to the famous South tower of the castle.
You need to pay separate ticket for this tower. If you are physically fit to climb the 297 steps & if you are not claustrophobic, then without visiting this tower, your Prague visit will remain incomplete for sure.
The view from the top of the tower is just amazing! You will see a spectacular panorama of the beautiful city from the tower top. In fact, most of the postcard pictures of the city are usually taken from that tower.
I spent more than half an hour, & then decided to get down.
It was afternoon when I came out of the castle area. Some roadside stalls were selling a type of local food called "Trdelnik". I tried one, & it was very delicious. Basically they grill a ring shaped dough made up of flower & then put sugar coating on it.
Rest of the afternoon I hanged around the tiny cobble stone streets & was just "absorbing" the city.
I bumped into the "Lennon wall" of Prague.
Discovered more fascinating sculptures & statues around the city & local food items.
Day 7:
My last day at Prague. I had to leave by afternoon. For the whole day, I explored more of the city by foot. Visited a local market that sells handcrafted items (nice dolls & clocks replicating the astronomical clock at the town square). This time I wasn't following any map, was just exploring blindly.
Finally it was time to leave. Bid adieu to the beautiful city. Took a metro & reached the bus stop. The overnight Flix bus took me to Warsaw. From there, by taking another flight I reached Stockholm.
A memorable journey.. sometimes a very bad phase of life brings you to the other side of the tunnel which is far better than your previous place. So just keep going & see where you end up. Oh btw, do enjoy your whole journey of this transition. May be you will realize that the bad phase actually was helpful to experience your beautiful journeys! :)
As usual, I packed stuff for 10 days in my backpack. Printed out some map directions, so that I don't need to rely on electronic devices (& my phone internet wasn't working anyway). Converted some cash in local currency (Polish Zloty and Czech Koruna) and carried my bank cards. I'm set to start exploring.
Day 1, September 8th, 2018: I am flying with Polish Airlines from Stockholm to Warsaw. The flight was on time, it took about 1.5 hours & I landed Warsaw around 9 PM. I always avoid taking taxi from the airport, and prefer using public transports. I headed towards the train station, which is accessible from the airport by few minutes of walking. The train basically runs in between the airport and the city. I got into the train & was trying to get a ticket from the machine inside. But the machine takes only coins, which I didn't have. Fortunately, a local lady helped me to exchange some coins from another passenger and buy the ticket from the machine. Well, probably I had to travel without ticket if I didn't get help with the coins (nobody actually checked it).
I got off at Warszawa Centralna, the main train station at the city center of Warsaw. It was about 10 PM. I had to get dinner first and then locate the place where I will be staying. Got couple of big Sandwiches from the station and went outside. I will be staying at Warsaw Hostel Centrum, which is about 5-10 minutes of walking from the station. Although it was pretty easy to locate the address, but I was having hard time to locate the hostel inside the building premise. Finally I went inside & checked in. Pretty big hostel & was very cheap actually. I will be here for one night only. I was damn tired by then. Had dinner with the ham & cheese sandwiches, called home & went to bed immediately.
Day 2: The hostel had check-out time of 10 AM. I got freshened up & ready by 9.30. Collected a local map from the hostel reception & asked them for some suggestions of exploring Warsaw. After having breakfast with an apple and the remaining sandwich from last night, I checked out of the hostel.
A cloudy day, it was drizzling a bit too. I just hate this type of weather, especially when I am travelling. But I had to explore, as I didn't have much slack time. With a bit of reluctance, I started walking slowly, and followed the map.
Initially I was walking towards the Place of Culture and Science, the tallest building of Poland. You can see the building from literally anywhere in Warsaw.
I didn't enter in the building, but I guess there are some museums & cultural heritages to see inside. By the time I was walking around, the weather got improved a bit. As I saw a glimpse of blue sky, that was enough to accelerate my motivation to start exploring the city.
I headed towards the old town of Warsaw. I could have taken metro or tram, but decided to walk. It's always better to walk around in a new city, if you really want to feel the atmosphere. Following the map of the city, I walked to the old town in half an hour or so.
Being a touristy area, Warsaw old town is pretty crowded. This is also a designated UNESCO world heritage site.
I was just walking around through the old cobble stone streets. Lots of cafe and food stalls. I tried a type of street food, a long piece of baked bread along with cheese and salami. I don't remember the name, but it was delicious and also cheap (Poland is cheap in general, compared to the other European countries). Some people were taking a ride of horse driven car to explore the old town.
You can see the remnants of the old brick buildings around. I was wondering how horrible this place was looking like at the time of second world war...
The old town market place was full of souvenir shops and restaurants. I bought a piece of magnet as a memory. Walked to the other side near the river while having a cup of coffee.
I have already explored for couple of hours. Now its time to move on and have lunch. I was just walking through the crowded street and was trying to follow the map to get back to the central station. I took a tram on my way that was going towards the central station. In Warsaw, it's hard to get lost if you keep track of the iconic tall building of science and museum.
You literally have tons of options to eat near the central station. I was looking for something local & cheap, and found a self service restaurant 'Mleczarina Jerozolimska'. I ordered rice, chicken, salad, soup and packed water. All total it cost less than 20 Zloty!
Having my appetite filled, I was feeling a bit drowsy. Ignoring that, I pushed myself forward to explore other parts of the city. I had to take a train in the afternoon, & I had few hours to hang around. It was a Sunday & according to my 'research', the famous Warsaw Uprising museum has free entry today. I started walking towards the museum by following the map in my hand.
Lots of skyscrapers around, pretty clean city. I was passing by some wall paintings showing the situation from second world war.
I was trying to locate the Ghetto wall fragment, but could not locate it ultimately. One fact I realized, you will feel the historical context of the country just by walking around. Although sometimes I was over-imagining. Just by looking at an abandoned or destroyed house, I was expecting it to be a memory from second world war ;)
The museum is about 2 Km from the central station. Because of Sunday, they were distributing free tickets. The museum has actually many things to see, and all of them are related to the Polish condition during the world war.
The most interesting item in the museum was a replica of a bombing plane that was used during the second world war.
By the time I went out of the museum, it was late noon. I headed back towards the train station. Actually I was feeling very tired, I had already walked about 8/9 Km from the morning. I have to take a train to Jozefow. The train to Jozefow leaves from Warszawa Srodmiescie station, just beside the central train station.
By asking people, I found the way to the station and got my ticket. The train journey was indeed a pleasant one. I always like taking local trains towards an unknown destination, passing by unknown towns and villages.
Not having my phone internet to be in working condition, actually made me to enjoy the moment and the journey. Although I am not an expert in taking selfies, but this time I managed to get a descent one in the train ;)
Next couple of days I was at work.
Day 3, September 12th: I am leaving Jozefow. Arrived Warsaw by train around 10 AM. I will be taking a train to Krakow at 3 PM (I had already booked the ticket). Next few hours I explored more in Warsaw, mostly markets and shopping malls.
I am not a big fan of museums, so there wasn't much things to see around. After having lunch, I headed towards the train station. The train came on time, I will be taking the intercity express that will take about 2 hours to reach Krakow.
Krakow is one of the oldest cities of Poland. Lots of histories. I will be staying at Hostel Centrum Sabot, about 10 minutes of walk from the train station.
I have to say that I don't have a good impression about the hostel. First of all, the behavior of the reception lady was very rude. Moreover, the rooms and other facilities are not good at all. The only good part was the location. But you can find other hostels near that area too. Anyway, I was there only for a night & just ignored everything.
Just after checking in, I met a local guy named Damian. He joined me in exploring around. It's always nice to know some local in exploring a place. We decided to walk by foot and see as much as possible till it gets dark.
We entered the old town of Krakow through the Barbican.
Quite touristy place, I grabbed a type of local food comprising of bread, cheese and chicken from a food stall.
We were walking slowly through the cobble stone street of the old town.
Damian speaks good English, compared to the other Polish people. He was saying that Krakow is called the city of church. I also felt it, since I came across plenty of churches on our way. Spent some time at the central church area, took some photos with Damian.
Just after we came out of the old town square area, the castle was visible. We walked towards the castle. Damian was explaining some historical facts and local life in Poland. We explored the castle area and were walking beside the river.
Came cross the famous dragon of Krakow just at the river side. It has some mythological stories. The dragon was emitting smoky fire from its mouth! ;)
It was almost 8, I decided to call it a day. Bought some food for dinner, came back to the hostel, packed my bag for tomorrow, & went to bed by 10.
Day 4: This is going to be a day with goosebumps. I will be visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau today. After checking out of the hostel, I walked to the bus station, which is adjacent to the Krakow Glowny train station. Asking at the inquiry, they told that the tickets can be obtained from the bus driver, there is no need to book a ticket. The buses for Auschwitz runs every half an hour or so (the frequency is a bit less at evening). There are plenty of tour operators in Krakow that runs "Full Auschwitz tour", which are pretty expensive. There is no point in booking a tour with them, you can comfortably visit by means of public transport.
The bus took about 40 minutes to reach Auschwitz. You will see lots of tourist buses at the parking lot of the Auschwitz museum. This is a huge area, and is divided into two parts: Auschwitz-1 and Auschwitz-2 (or the Birkenau). The first one is mostly the museum which is in the same premise where the bus drops you, while the second one (Birkenau) is few kilometers away and has more remnants of camps including a real barrack that has not been renovated.
At the entrance, the first thing I noticed is a big queue for the ticket and lots of tourists around. You won't be able to see the campus until you enter in the actual premise. I stood in the queue, probably after 20 people or so. You need to book tours, which are available in different languages. Otherwise you can't enter Auschwitz-1 until 5 PM or so. You can still visit Auschwitz-2 by your own, but you will miss a lot of things if you don't explore the whole area. The queue was moving very slowly, and I could see that there are very few slots remaining in the English tour at 2.30 PM. Luckily, only 2 slots were remaining when I reached the counter. I got my ticket finally, but I had to wait for almost 2 hours. I strongly recommend to book the tickets online, that will save lot of time.
I was was passing the time by exploring the souvenir shop and looking around. Had lunch in the restaurant attached to the museum. The food was good, I had some local food with potato and finely chopped bacon mixed together along with some spices.
Finally the waiting time was over & we were about to enter in the actual Auschwitz area. It was a rigorous security checking at the entrance. We were a group of about 10 people, & all of were given headphones to listen to the voice of our tour guide. We entered the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp area through the gate, known as the "Arbeit macht frei" gate.
Literally I was having goosebumps just by being present in the area. The main camps were fenced by high concentration electric wires, so that the prisoners couldn't escape from the camps. It was indeed a horrible site.
The camps were divided into different blocks, each of which had different purposes to torture the prisoners.
We visited the museums, the guide was explaining in details the historical background.
Finally we came to the museum where the used things of the prisoners were kept. A room was literally full of used shoes..
used pots & utensils..
& even the shaved hair of the prisoners were dumped in a room (we were requested not to take photograph of the room to show some respect for those people). Unbelievable! A lady in front of me actually was wiping her tiers while passing by the room. I can't even describe the feelings I was undergoing at that moment. One showcase demonstrated the cans of the Zyklon B, which were used in the gas chambers to kill the Jews.
Finally we visited a gas chamber, which was restored from the remnants. It was horrible to be inside the chamber! I can't believe that hundreds of Jews were forced to congest in this room & were suffocated to death by dropping Zyklon from a hole at the room of the room!
It took about 1-1.5 hours to explore Auschwitz-1 camps. Now we will go to the second camp, also known as Birkenau concentration camps. Buses run in every 10 minutes within the two campuses.
Birkenau is even way bigger than the Auschwitz, & has camps in their almost primitive conditions. The entrance was known as the "gate of death".
The train line actually goes through the gate, directly to the camps. These trains used to carry thousands of Jews & directly carried them inside the premise. There used to be a so called doctor, who used to split the incoming Jews into two groups: one group was comprised of people who are physically fit & can work in camp building & other works. The other group was comprised of people who were physically unfit & were directed directly to the gas chamber. The following coach is a remnant from the original train & the group sorting used to be done exactly at this place.
The guide showed us the remnants of the actual gas chambers, & there were multiple of these.
Plenty of barracks around, & electrified fences at the border.
Finally we visited a barrack which is still now almost in the same condition as before. It's one of the horrible place to live that one can ever imagine. The barrack is full of dormitory style racks, where 3-4 people used to sleep in a congested way. Sometimes people died, & other people had to spend the night with the dead body!
The floors were exactly like this; dusty, muddy & unhygienic. No toilet facility, no blanket in cold freezing nights. Hard to imagine how did people actually survive here.
Finally the tour was over. I was almost blank to express my emotions. Don't know what type of psycho was Hitler, this is beyond the imagination of normal people..
I took the same bus to come back to Krakow. Had dinner at the train station area. I will be taking a night bus that will drop me to the city of Prague tomorrow.
Day 5: I had spent almost a sleepless night yesterday. I took the Flix bus to travel from Krakow to Prague overnight. It's one of the cheapest way to travel in Europe. Actually I was trying to get the night train ticket, but ultimately found that in order to get the ticket, you have to get the hard copy. Either you have to give your hotel address in that area, or you have to pay the courier charges to your address in somewhere else. So I had to choose the option for bus.
Its 6 AM, still dark around & raining a bit. The bus dropped me at the main train station of Prague, Hlavni Nadrazi. After a almost sleepless night at the crowded bus, I was kind of perplexed for the moment about what to do now. I have to locate my hostel first, although they have check in time at 2 PM! But at least I can keep my bag & get freshened up in the common room. Initially I couldn't locate the area from my printed map, so I decided to freshen up a bit & then start searching. After getting freshened up at the train station washroom, I went out & asked some locals about the street I was looking for. They showed me the direction & I started walking towards the hostel, following the printed Google map directions.
A beautiful city! Nice sculptures all around the buildings at the roadside. Through the narrow cobblestone covered alleys, finally I reached the hostel, Prague Tyn.
Beautiful location of the hostel, just 2/3 minutes walking distance from the old town square!
I put my luggage into the locker & rested for a while in the common room. My plan for the day was to explore around by walking, so I went out after an hour or so. It's really a beautiful city, you will feel a touch of artistry almost everywhere. I walked to the old town square, which is almost the heart of the town & is very touristy.
Unfortunately, the famous astronomical clock was under renovation, so I couldn't see it. But the area was full of people with entertaining activities like showing magic, playing instruments, fooling people by being a clown statue, etc.
I started waking through one of the streets emanating from the town square. I think the best way to explore Prague is by walking around.
Went to the area of old Jewish cemetery. It was very crowded at that time & decided not to go inside. Visited some souvenir shops around & walked around for sometimes.
Being a touristy place, people speak good English in Prague. The city has some free wifi spots too! I found one near the Starometska metro station (at the bus stop at the other side of the street).
There are plenty of churches to see in Prague. I peeped into the St. Nicholas church located at the old town square area. I was more interested in the architecture of the church buildings than the interiors actually. That's why I decide not to go inside all the churches. Another beautiful one, Church of our Lady before Tyn, is located just beside the hostel. I was just enjoying being in that area. It's really a city of dream :)
By then I was feeling hungry. A nearby Kebab place at Kaprova street was a budget one to have lunch. Being a touristy city, food is costly here in general. After getting filled in, I went back to the hostel to do the official check in formalities to my room. I got a nice room at 3rd floor. The only problem I faced was that, the internet was very poor in my room, & I had to come to the reception area to access the wifi. Otherwise it was really a beautiful hostel.
I resumed my exploration again. I was walking past the Starometska metro station & crossed the bridge to reach the other side of the river. Cobblestone covered streets & tramlines, picturesque city made me feel to be in the movies.
I tried to walk towards Letna park. Following the city map, it took about half an hour to reach that area. But I realized that there is nothing to see there actually. But the walk was worth to see different parts of the city. One of the most beautiful part of the city is the similar structured & coloured red houses. I wish I had a house in this city ;)
Walking beside the river & exploring the narrow alleys made me lost in the charm of the city of Praha.
Following the narrow lanes & hidden treasures of the city, I ended up near the Charles bridge area, another top touristy area of the city.
Tons of people, literally a place where you will see congestion all the time. But it was beautiful. I really liked the local painters & handcraft artists selling their products on the bridge. Every single statues on the bridge, is a piece of excellent artistry. You need time to actually look at all of these. I was enjoying the time walking over the bridge.
Musicians were playing their instruments to attract people & have some donations. Typical local Czech music.
Coming to the other end of the Charle's bridge, I started walking towards the "Dancing house" of Prague. This is a very funny building which looks like as if the whole building is getting squeezed & will be falling apart. This type of art had been created to demonstrate the 'falling of communism' of the country.
Rest of the afternoon I hanged around the local streets of Prague & was getting overwhelmed by the artistic charisma of the city.
I was trying to get dinner at the famous Cafe Louvre, but it was too crowded & I decided to go somewhere else. This cafe is very famous because some well famous people visited here, including Einstein.
Finally I had my dinner with pasta at Mistral cafe, which was close to my hostel.
Day 6:
Today is fully reserved for the famous Prague castle. A sunny beautiful day. I started walking slowly from the hostel & was following the map. By crossing the bridge, I reached the other side of the river & entered the "castle town" area.
The road started getting inclined & I realized that I am in the right path. What is beautiful city! I was enjoying every bit of Prague!
I reached at the entrance of the castle area. There was a big queue through the security. I realized that I need to get heavy food here, otherwise there might not be any place to eat inside & I have plan for several hours. Local street side stalls were selling good breakfast/lunch food. I got a plate with potato & bacon. It was very filling actually.
After the security area, I got a ticket that covers access to all areas inside the castle, except the South tower climb. Once I entered inside, a majestically beautiful huge church came into the scenario. This is the famous St. Vitus Cathedral. Unbelievable, what an architecture!!
Too many people made me to wait to get into the cathedral. But it was worth the wait. I was overwhelmed by the architecture inside & especially the outside.
I spent some time just by looking around it & taking photos.
I hanged around different areas of the castle & realized how beautiful is it. Finally I ended up to the famous South tower of the castle.
You need to pay separate ticket for this tower. If you are physically fit to climb the 297 steps & if you are not claustrophobic, then without visiting this tower, your Prague visit will remain incomplete for sure.
The view from the top of the tower is just amazing! You will see a spectacular panorama of the beautiful city from the tower top. In fact, most of the postcard pictures of the city are usually taken from that tower.
I spent more than half an hour, & then decided to get down.
It was afternoon when I came out of the castle area. Some roadside stalls were selling a type of local food called "Trdelnik". I tried one, & it was very delicious. Basically they grill a ring shaped dough made up of flower & then put sugar coating on it.
Rest of the afternoon I hanged around the tiny cobble stone streets & was just "absorbing" the city.
I bumped into the "Lennon wall" of Prague.
Discovered more fascinating sculptures & statues around the city & local food items.
Day 7:
My last day at Prague. I had to leave by afternoon. For the whole day, I explored more of the city by foot. Visited a local market that sells handcrafted items (nice dolls & clocks replicating the astronomical clock at the town square). This time I wasn't following any map, was just exploring blindly.
Finally it was time to leave. Bid adieu to the beautiful city. Took a metro & reached the bus stop. The overnight Flix bus took me to Warsaw. From there, by taking another flight I reached Stockholm.
A memorable journey.. sometimes a very bad phase of life brings you to the other side of the tunnel which is far better than your previous place. So just keep going & see where you end up. Oh btw, do enjoy your whole journey of this transition. May be you will realize that the bad phase actually was helpful to experience your beautiful journeys! :)
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