5 Day, 4 Night Photography focused trip with my Father. Krakow is officially now my favourite European City!
Trip kicked off from Liverpool Airport a 3 hour flight with easyjet over to Polska.
Once landed we jumped on the shuttle bus for about 10 minutes to a local train station and caught the train into the centre of Krakow. Upon arrival we had a quick walk through the main Market Square on the way to our Hotel scoping out some of the local bars , and restaurants for the night ahead. After we dropped off our bags we made out way to a little local restaurant, the menu was in Polish there were 3/4 tables only 1 person in there and it just felt brilliant, tiny little independent place just off the back roads. Following tips from a nice bloke we met on the plane we went for soup starters (man was his tip dead on the nail if you ever go to Poland try as many different soups as you can!) and I had stewed beef for main. Food was served within a few minutes, both the starter and main at the same time which was a little unusual, but it was beautiful! After trying the local cuisine we headed for a few drinks at a couple of bars including a stop at the Tower, what can I say about this place… walked down about 3 flights of stairs into an underground shelter like pub full of little rooms and banging disturbed over the PA system! settled in for a couple here and the jukebox kept throwing out all sorts for SOAD, NIN, Killswitch just to name a few. We went back a few night during our stay I must say saturday night was the busiest but I’d make it a definite stop on your list if you go!
First proper day in Poland took us over the river into the old town and over to Schindler Factory:
Although the site looks to become a good museum, the displays at this stage are temporary and very limited. I believe I read that the full Museum will open sometime in 2010 and work was well under way with further restoration of the building by the looks of it! Just because there isn’t much to see there I would still advise that you visit this place on your trip its not far into the ‘old town’ which itself has alot to see in respect of the famous history including things such at the last remaining section of the Ghetto Walls:
a few other photos from the old town:
That evening my dad and me went out with the camera to try and capture a couple of long exposures I settled on the castle shot from the bridge across the river, then a quick walk up to the Dragon status at the castle which spouts fire every 5 minutes or so then a quick 180 degree turn and a photograph of the river from in front of the castle which turned out some nice colours on the water:
2nd full day found us trekking by train to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, established in the 13th Century the Wieliczka Salt mines were one of the worlds oldest opperating salt mines until they recently ceased commercial mining, the site now continues to cater for masses of tourists opening various parts of the 300km worth of tunnels which lay beneath the ground. Known to be one of Poland’s must see sights I can confirm it wasn’t a let down, alot of guide books advise to allow a day to see the mines but we found an afternoon was ample time starting the tour at about 3pm here’s the photos:
The 3rd and final full day was spent at Aauschwitz, and unlike the Salt mines I would recommend spending a full day with this site. As you can probably imagine the visit is a sobering experience and no matter how much you know about this place, no matter how many times you’ve seen it in books or on TV, nothing can compare to seeing the real bricks and mortar. Some of the horrors that took place in this place are just inconceivable:
Couldn’t decide which I liked best the Black & White or the colour one!
Final shot from the trip was from the last day before we went to catch the train It had been snowing all morning and it was just starting to settle…
