Wroclaw - Krakow trip, May 2008

It was just a sudden idea when I realized we had three bank holidays in May. There's no way I would waste that opportunities (hehehe), especially after checking some flight tickets and I got a good price for flights to ... Poland :-) I traveled solo this time, after quite some time (the last one was Heidelberg trip almost a year ago), mostly because I did not have time to 'promote' my trip and try to find someone to join my trip.

Day 1

It was quite early when I arrived in Wroclaw, after 'not an easy' trip to Dortmund (I almost missed my train...it's only my very strong will to visit Poland that I was able to wake up at 4am that day :-P). I walked around the beautiful market square, took lunch in a vegetarian restaurant (part of my freedom of traveling alone hehe), continued walking to cathedral island, then visited the 360 deg Raklawicka panorama .. I took train to Krakow around 4pm. It was ca. 4-hour trip and I was happy to take it. It gave more opportunity to get a glimpse of Poland...

Day 2
The single room in a youth hostel that I booked was a nice one (not to mention it's cheap!!). I started the day a bit late, exhausted from the previous day trip and also because I wanted to have a relaxing holiday this time. I visited Wawel castle, and was lucky to get the free entry to its State room and Lost Wawel room. Then walked to the famous Krakow's market square (guess what, they just recently opened Hard Rock Cafe in Krakow). After a lunch in another veg resto, I decided that I should manage to get to Wieliczka salt mine before 4pm (to have an English guided tour there). I did not want to join a tour to go there, partly because it's cheaper (backpacker mode on :-)) but also because it's more adventurous to use the local public transport. I found the place where I should get the minibus to Wieliczka, and was lucky to get it soon. The minibus reminded me of the luxurious version from microlet in Indonesia. I did a stupid thing that I chose to sit at the back of the minibus (and also did not realize that Wieliczka is not the end destination of this minibus). To make the story short, I realized that I missed the Wieliczka stop after I saw a sign of Wieliczka with a strike through on it :-P At that time, I thought that I would follow the driver until the end destination and returned with him to Krakow, but I was a bit panic when after half an hour, the minibus passed through small village roads and I could not see other minibus (or car) from the opposite direction. There were only a couple people left, I looked around to find someone who could speak English, and I found the young man sat behind me. Through him, I was able to communicate with the driver who unfortunately forgot me and 'my Wieliczka destination'. It was not so long until finally we reached the end destination (forgot the name of the village) and I followed the driver to return to Krakow. He felt guilty about forgetting me, especially when I told him (I know some survival Polska) I wanted to go back to Krakow, since I knew I missed the 4pm guided tour anw..

Day 3
My first destination of the day was...Wielizcka :-), I was fully prepared from my experience the day before. Everything was smooth... the salt mine was great experience, two-hour walking trip to underground tunnel was okay..it was unbelievable that people put a lot of effort to dig that huge tunnels only to get salt. I returned to Krakow at noon and decided to go to Auschwitz, which is about 1.5 hours from Krakow. Again, I decided to take a local transport which was a very very old bus (see pic). I only managed to visit the museum in Auschwitz since it was quite late when I arrived there. But I was fully aware of it since to be honest, it was not in my top list for 'place to visit'... I have been in a concentration camp before, in Oranienburg, close to Berlin. I know how's the situation, it's a depressing feeling.. But I am glad that I made it to Auschwitz, though I need several days to get rid of what I have seen there... Even when I returned back to Duesseldorf already, I kept on imagining the hall with the victims' pictures on the both sides...
It was sad, scary, depressing, and shocking feeling altogether...

Day 4
My last day in Poland and I planned to have a relaxing day in Krakow. I walked around Kazimierz, a jewish area in Krakow. Then to Wawel castle one more time and spent some time on the market square before saying good bye to Poland. Dzikuje!