Krakow

On Thursday, after spending the previous night once again at the Centre for Prayer and Dialogue in Auschwitz due to an emotionally draining day, we set off on the bumpy road to Krakow. While only 50kms away, we were quickly learning that it takes much longer to travel on Polish roads than anything we have yet encountered. After successfully navigating into the city (not a POZOR! sign in sight) we arrived at our destination - Camping Smok. The lady at reception spoke enough English to say "88 złoty a night, pay on leave, leave passport here. Here map. Bus and tram to city". It's probably all the English she knew. We were one of only two motorhomes in the vast complex. Apparently POZOR! put off other tourists.

We decided against heading into the city that afternoon. This time it was my time to feel unwell, perhaps mostly due to the experience of getting into Poland and the emotions of the previous day at Auschwitz. I definitely needed some down time.

The following day we caught a bus and tram into the city. In order to buy our transport tickets for the day from the machine at the bus stop we needed 24 złoty in cash (around 7 Aussie bucks). Unfortunately the machine wouldn't take our 50 złoty note (about 15 Australian dollars) as it would only take take 10s and 20s. We crossed the street to a vendor and tried to buy a drink to get some smaller change. She wouldn't let us use the 50 note either. Determined not to be defeated we went to an ATM and withdrew 40 złoty, leaving us with two 20 notes, just as they wanted. We crossed triumphantly back across the street and tried to buy the tickets. This time it wouldn't take our two 20 notes as it refused to give us 16 złoty change. We bought the tickets separately instead of together with a 20 note each and were finally on our way. While a mundane story, this is just one example of the little challenges we come across each day.

We then spent the next part of the day exploring the old city. Walking along the old streets, enjoying a lunch outside in the main square in the now rare sunshine (which only cost $AU27 for service, meals, drinks and a tip), watching a male soprano hit the most perfect notes and strolling around the grounds of the castle.

We then headed past Wawel castle across the Vistula River to the south side of the city, most known for the Jewish ghetto that was established there during WWI. It was one of the five major Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany and used as a staging point to divide able workers from those who would be sent to concentration camps. 15,000 Jews were crammed into an area previously inhabited by 3,000 people in a walled district consisting of 30 streets, 320 residential buildings, and 3,167 rooms. As a result, one apartment was allocated to every four Jewish families, and many less fortunate lived on the street. The ghetto was later liquidated with most residents meeting their tragic end at Auschwitz.

Some however were spared this ill fate thanks to the bravery of one man - Oskar Schindler. You may know his story from Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. Schindler, a savvy German business man, utilised cheap Jewish labour from the ghetto to staff his enamelware factory which was located outside the eastern walls of the ghetto. He became appalled at the treatment of the Jews and used his charm and confidence to save 1200 Jews from the gas chambers.

We visited the factory which was located down a suspicious alley littered with old mattresses and bottles and lacking any formal sidewalk. We thought we might have been lost considering we were headed towards a well attended Schindler museum and the Krakow Centre of Contemporary Art, but this was indeed the correct path. On the wall of the museum was the following quote:

"The medal for the Righteous Among the Nations awarded to Schindler by the Yad Vashem in 1963 features a line from the Talmud: "He who saves one life, saves the world entire." And how many worlds did Oskar Schindler save? If it weren't for him, there would not be me, and there would not be my family either, nor our decendents - my daughter and my grandchildren, my brother Rysio's two sons, my cousin Olek's children... The children and grandchildren of the others saved by Schindler... How many worlds did Oskar Schindler really save then, when he saved 1200 people? They are countless..." - Bronislawa (Niusia) Horowitz-Karakulska

The next day we decided to move on to Prague but first drove to Kościuszko Mound just above our campsite, the place from which Australia's Mt Kościuszko gets it's name due to the similarities in appearance. Funnily enough, the mound is not even a real mountain (another similarity to Australia's poor attempt at a summit), having been erected by Cracovians in 1823 in commemoration of the Polish national leader Tadeusz Kościuszko.

Between 1850 – 1854 the Austrian authorities built a brick citadel around the Mound and began using it as a strategic lookout and it became an important part of Krakow's elaborate system of forts. As compensation for an earlier historical church that had been demolished, a neo-Gothic chapel was also built next to the mound. Today the old fort buildings house four radio stations, a wax museum and an exhibition on Kościuszko. Yes, it made for one very strange sight seeing experience.