Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Poland

  • Krakow – Gallery of Contemporary Art

    This is a quirky little modern art museum which has two temporary exhibits which regularly change. The layout wasn’t entirely obvious to me and the guide they gave me didn’t immediately make sense, although things became a little clearer later on.

    The first exhibition was surprisingly interesting, including the above video of a woman covered in balloons trying to crawl through a barbed wire fence. There was something quite mesmerising about watching the balloons slowly burst. The exhibition was created by Rebecca Moss and it was entitled ‘From Sublimity to Ridicule’.

    A large image of a fire.

    And standing in front of the image achieved this.

    I didn’t find the other exhibition (in which I didn’t take any photos) by Irena Kalicka particularly engaging, as it didn’t seem to tell a story or have much relevance to anything. I read the notes about the exhibition and the logic behind it, and it was too abstract for me to be able to grasp.

    However, the first exhibition was interesting, the staff were friendly and I liked the general quirkiness of the arrangement.

  • Krakow – Bunkier Cafe

    Cafe Bunkier is located in an interesting glass building situated outside of the modern art gallery which it is attached to.

    There were a variety of cakes on display, but they didn’t seem quite exciting enough to order, perhaps looking a little too processed. Although I’m sure they tasted lovely.

    The cafe was busy inside, with a separate smoking half further down which is segregated off. The atmosphere was quite relaxed in the cafe, despite it being busy, and the temperature was also appropriate and I imagine that’s difficult to control in a building such as this.

    A decorative element above the counter. It was slightly confusing knowing how to order given that some customers were ordering at the table and some at the counter, but I came to the conclusion that either were entirely acceptable.

    I did ponder ordering a hot meal and instead just went for fries, although what came were chips and they weren’t particularly exciting. The garlic sauce that came with them wasn’t ideal and I had a slightly excessive wait to try and get some salt from the counter. I also went for a soft drink as I didn’t feel that there was a particularly interesting range of beers, although some reviews seem delighted at what choice there was. I just have quirky tastes I think.

    The prices were reasonable and the staff were polite, although not overly attentive. I think much of the attraction of this restaurant is the location, it’s housed in a quirky building and it’s worth visiting to experience that element. I did notice someone else ordered a fish and chips, which I looked at quite jealously as a waitress walked past the table with it. All in all, worth visiting although it’s not a destination I’d probably return to.

  • Krakow – Ed Red

    I kept thinking about Ed Miliband when I visited this steak and burger restaurant in the centre of Krakow (just because of the restaurant name, as Ed Miliband isn’t usually a politician that I have much reason to think of), although they are apparently moving location soon.

    The restaurant claims that they were the first in Poland to offer dry aged beef. This is meant to increase the taste of the meat, but it’s an expensive process which takes some time to complete.

    The waiter was knowledgeable and keen to engage about the menu and I was pleased that there was a dark beer available. Having said that (written that), I couldn’t see it on the menu, so I’m not entirely sure what it was.

    I’m not really one for steak, but the dry aged beef burger sounded very tempting, so I went for that. I added chips and coleslaw to the meal and it was all well presented. The burger had a depth of flavour to it, although not so much that I would have noticed it was more expensive dry aged meat. The chips were fluffy on the interior and firm on the exterior, and had a decent taste to them. The coleslaw was quite chunky and although everything was perfectly acceptable, the whole combination seemed just a little dry. I’d have liked the burger to have been more tender, it was lacking in moistness.

    Also, I was surprised that the staff didn’t ask how I wanted the burger cooked. I prefer burgers to be cooked medium, but no-one asked me, although I was pleased to note that the burger came served medium anyway. However, some people do prefer a well done burger, so asking customers seems more sensible.

    The dessert of creme brulee, and this was excellent, with a decent amount of surface area. A firm crust belied the soft and custardy interior. The cookie ice cream was smooth and free from ice crystals, although a plainer ice cream would have worked just as well.

    All in all, this was a well managed restaurant and I was comfortable throughout. The interior was modern and the restaurant was sizeable, although it was relatively empty when I visited. It’s not the cheapest option in the city centre, but it’s well reviewed and the staff were professional and helpful throughout.

  • Katowice – Galeria Katowicka Toilets

    I can’t imagine I’ll make many posts about shopping centre toilets, but there seems to be some gallows humour at the urinals….

  • Krakow – Płaszów Concentration Camp

    There’s not much left of Płaszów concentration camp now, although it remains today almost in the same state as the Soviets found it in when they entered the city in January 1945. Many visitors to Krakow travel some distance to Auschwitz Birkenau when they visit the city, but this camp is located within walking distance of Krakow city centre.

    I’ve been to this site before in 2016, although it was pouring with rain when I got there and so I didn’t spend as much time as I’d wanted. Since my last visit a number of large information boards have been placed around the site and these have made it easier to interpret what remains.

    The Germans led most of the camp’s occupants on a death march to concentration camps in mid-1944, although the last prisoners left in early January 1945. Panicked by what the Soviets might find the Nazis quickly destroyed as much evidence as they could in the time they had, meaning that the Soviets found just empty fields.

    I think the two photos above are taken from around the same place.

    The scale of the camp.

    Halina Nelken was born in Krakow in September 1943 and spent time at Płaszów, Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps amongst numerous others. She, somehow, managed to survive the war and wrote an account of her time in the camps.

    An overhead plan of the site.

    There were no gas chambers at the camp but a large number of inmates died due to illness and many were also summarily executed. Many people were killed and buried nearby, but the Nazis had to quickly exhume and burn the bodies in January 1945 before they fled.

    The remains of the funeral building used by the Jews for preparing bodies before burial.

    This is the headstone of Sarah Schenirer, a Krakow lady who established a network of schools. Her original burial stone was destroyed when the Nazis wrecked the cemetery, but this replacement was added to the site in 2005.

    This is the grey house which was originally the administrative office for the Jewish cemetery, which the Germans destroyed when they built the camp. It was from here that the infamous camp commandant Amon Goeth fired shots from his balcony at Jewish prisoners. The house was fitted out with cells and there are plans to turn the property into a museum.

    The site as it is now, which is primarily a nature reserve. There’s something quite raw about visiting such a barren site, but personally I think that a proper museum and even more signs around the site would be useful to help visitors interpret the camp.

     

  • Wieliczka – World War Two Photo

    There was an external display in Wieliczka about the Second World War, and this photo was shown on it. I’ve seen this photo of a boy in the Warsaw ghetto in numerous places and I think it is one of the most harrowing taken during the conflict.

    The photo was presented proudly by Jürgen Stroop as part of a book length report, now known as the Stroop Report, he wrote of how he had liquidated the Warsaw ghetto. Stroop was confused about how bravely the Jews in the ghetto had fought back, it didn’t meet his prejudices about how the Jews wouldn’t fight.

    Stroop destroyed nearly every part of the Warsaw ghetto after the liquidation, a process that killed 50,000 people. He then ensured nearly every building was demolished and he personally oversaw the demolition by explosives of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw.

    Stroop was sentenced to death in the war crimes trials but he hoped that he would be able to get his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, despite his crimes. He was handed over to Poland who commenced a new trial in July 1951, which led to his execution on 6 March 1952. His execution took place in Warsaw, the city which he had tried to destroy.

    Anyway, back to the photo. The man of the right of the photo is Josef Blösche and he managed to get away with his crimes because he went unidentified after the war. He was able to settle down and he had two children, but when the photos of him came to light in the 1960s he was identified. He was sent to trial and was executed in Leipzig on 29 July 1969.

    Despite some false identifications, the scared boy in the photo with his hands in the air has never been identified. Given no-one has been able to identify him, it’s likely that he died at a concentration camp, probably Majdanek or Treblinka. The boy will likely never be identified, but the image represents the horror that hundreds of thousands of children went through.

    The photo of this boy was originally taken proudly by a German officer, but instead it now remains as one of the abiding and enduring images of the horror that was the Holocaust.

  • Wieliczka – Independence Memorial

    The tablet on the memorial was mostly covered by wreathes, but I think that this is a memorial to those who died in fighting for Polish independence. Poland regained its independence on 11 November 1918 with the advent of the Second Polish Republic.

    Marking eighty years since independence, this tablet on the reverse of the memorial dates to 11/11/1998. It’s all nicely looked after and I do like the country’s national symbol of the eagle.

  • Krakow – Train to Wieliczka Salt Mine

    There are a lot of companies offering tours to the salt mines at Wieliczka and some of them appear to be rather expensive. I opted to go by train and the ticket cost the grand total of 3.50zl (which is about 75p) to get there, which puts into perspective how much more expensive the tour companies are.

    The train takes forty minutes and it’s the service which comes from (and to) Krakow airport. It’s nice and shiny both internally and externally.

    The train was modern inside and there were power points available at the seats. I bought my ticket at the ticket office at Krakow’s main railway station, although you can buy the ticket at machines at both Krakow and Wieliczka. There’s also a ticket machine inside the train carriage, making this one of the smoothest ticket purchasing options possible, with cards and cash both accepted. It certainly puts some cities, not least Turin, to shame.

    There are also numerous bus services which go to the mines, but for sheer convenience and low fares, I personally think that the train is the most efficient and comfortable way to go.

  • Krakow – Ghetto Wall

    There are, to my knowledge, two intact sections of ghetto wall left in Krakow, and this is the longest section which is located at ulica Limanowskiego. Looking at this remnant now, it is a sobering juxtaposition having a children’s playground located next to the wall.

    The wall was deliberately built to look like Jewish tombstones, and effectively the ghetto was established as a holding area to use people as free labour before their transportation to concentration camps. The ghetto was deliberately packed, so that there were four families placed in every apartment, with some not even fortunate enough to be able to live inside.

  • Krakow – Cytat Cafe

    This cafe is located in the Jewish area of Krakow and I was attracted by the tempting signage offering coffee in an environment full of books. It sounded rather lovely.

    Internally the cafe looked welcoming, the book arch was an interesting feature, although I fear that at some point someone will take a book away from a key structural position.

    So many books…. There are also inspirational messages of various sorts which have been placed on walls around the cafe.

    The cafe was relatively large in size and there were numerous different areas. I opted for the seat by the window which looked out onto a border collie, my most favourite breed of dog.

    The latte and cake, all of a perfectly good quality. The service in the cafe was polite, although at times it seemed slightly confused, although I normally add to the chaos on such occasions. Cleanliness wasn’t great, the cafe’s toilet probably needed cleaning a matter of hours before my visit rather than minutes, and the staff didn’t seem particularly pro-active in cleaning away empty plates on tables.

    However, the environment was comfortable and welcoming, with the interior perhaps bigger than it looks from the outside. There was a decent choice of cakes for customers and the coffees were clearly written up on a large board behind the counter area. The prices weren’t unreasonable and there were also some cooked food options available for those who wanted that.