Zloty, Zapiekanka and Zachodia bus station - my Polish adventures

Poland was one of my 'must see' countries this trip. It's a part of the budget traveller scene, I was annoyed I couldn't fit it in last time and importantly - it's not on the Euro! I was going from Ostrava to Krakow, which turned out to be slightly traumatic – I had to change trains at Katowice, and I did have a decent amount of time for the change, however my first train was rerouted through the middle of nowhere (literally – I think it took the route that the industrial trains take, I was going through Polish backyards, watching people mowing their lawn and hanging out washing) and consequently was running late. I had about seven minutes to make the change at Katowice, whittled down from my original 83 minutes, but by the time I figured out what platform I needed to be at, it was too late. It was okay though, I trudged to the information desk and found out another train was leaving in about an hour. So my original plan took hold – I had enough time to find a cash machine, get some Polish Zloty, buy some snacks and then plonk down on one of the grubbiest platforms I've seen and wait. The train was a rickety old Polish train which was kind of fun.

The view of the next platform at Katowice wasn't making me feel comfortable!

Krakow, Poland

The interesting thing was going through these peoples backyards and sitting at a gross train station and being on the oldest train on the planet and then arriving at Krakow train station, which is being renovated so you have to take this roundabout route to actually emerge – and when you follow the signs to exit at the “old town” (which I needed to do) you actually go through a brand new shopping centre. It kind of represented exactly what my whole Polish experience was – so many signs of the devastations encountered as a result of World War II and subsequent Soviet Occupation, and then this feeling that they are emerging and taking steps to make themselves cosmopolitan and accessible in the modern world.

Old town square, Krakow

Krakow itself is kind of renowned for being one of the cities which escaped any major damage in World War II, apparently the places which Hitler liked and wanted to be crowning jewels of his empire, he instructed his troops to avoid damaging/bombing/destroying. So a very high percentage of the gorgeous old town, churches, town square – is authentic. I arrived in the early evening on my first day, which afforded a bit of time for a quick wander around the town in the evening (the advantages of European summer, particularly as you head further north, include longer hours for tourists to enjoy the sights in the daylight!) and have my first ‘traditional Krakow food’ experience – lining the main drag in the old town is a series of places which sell kebabs, hot dogs and ‘Zapiekankas' which are essentially like a baguette bigger than my head with pizza toppings. The Zapiekanka looks better in the picture than it actually tastes but when it costs about two Australian dollars, you really cannot complain!

Huuuuuge!

I say that the old town is authentic – it is authentic, and now it is overflooded with tourists. I was having a conversation with someone about this, about how cities become the new “in” thing. I think that it goes in waves, where the intrepid travellers who like to go off the beaten path uncover these historical and architectural jewels, then the backpackers show up and prove that anyone can get by and next thing you know it is accessible to your average tourist. This is what has happened to Krakow – I remember when Prague was the ‘in’ place, when it was sort of exotic and made you ‘different’ if you went there. Now Prague 1 (like, the main city area) is just overrun with tourists. When I was backpacking in ’08, Prague already had this perception as being overly touristy and Krakow was the new place to be. Krakow is now taken over. There were about a dozen hostels along the main few streets of old town Krakow, bunches of souvenir stores and the usual market square fare where the immediate restaurants are overpriced, go one block away it is a cheaper and five blocks away and half the price. You can rent segways, bicycles or be driven around in these golf buggy style cars which effectively replace those ‘hop on hop off’ siteseeing buses. So yes, pretty much all of the typical tourist fare. However from a historical perspective, particularly modern history if you’re interested in World War II, Poland and in particular Jewish Poles had such an integral part in the war and there’s so much to be seen that I hope people continue to come to explore and see that side of the city.

Super touristy - yup, dress up in a costume and sell random souvenirs

My only full day spent in Krakow itself I jam packed with two walking tours – because I only had three nights in Krakow and I needed a whole day for a day trip, the best way to cram it all in without missing anything major was to be sheparded around. The first tour was old town and royal landmarks, concluding at Wawel Castle.

At the Wawel Castle

In the few hours between tours I hiked to the mall so I could grab a cheap lunch from the grocery store, and then found a bench in the mall to sit at for as long as I could afford. A quick pitstop at the hostel on the way back to the meeting point for tour #2 and me and my already in agony feet were being taken around the Jewish Quarter, which was run by a tour guide with this penchant for Schindler’s List and pointing out places that were important in the scheme of the film and of the filming of the movie.

A tribute to the Jewish quarter and to the Jews who lost their lives.

The next day I went on a day trip - I will be writing a separate entry detailing the specifics about my experience at Auschwitz – Birkenau, so you can look out for that, as most likely my next entry.

 Warsaw, Poland

When I’d booked my hostel in Warsaw I had seen references on the hostels site regarding cancellation policy changes throughout the Euro 2012. At the time I didn’t know what this was. I don’t know if this route on the train is normally packed or if it was all Euro 2012 related, but I had to sit on the floor on the aisle and mush myself up against the wall any time that someone wanted to pass through – for three and a half hours. I wasn’t happy, not when I’d been sitting waiting for this train for two hours and all these Polish people barrelled over me to rush onto the train when it arrived.

Now, turns out the Euro 2012 is a big deal football (soccer) thing, half being hosted in Warsaw and half somewhere in Ukraine. I was in town about a week before the festivities were beginning, and they were in the process of doing construction to set up a ‘fan zone’ for watching the games in public if you didn’t have tickets to attend. I’m not sure if Warsaw has always been all over their tourist information or if they ramped it up in preparation for an influx of visitors, but when I arrived at the train station there was an excellent tourist information centre and when I found my hostel, they had all of these intricate tourist brochures they’d gotten from the TIC, in many different languages. Like, there was a brochure just about the old town, one about museums, ones about particular famous Polish people and following in their footsteps and going to landmarks relevant to their story – for example, Marie Curie. You could turn up in Warsaw knowing nothing and if you are the kind of person who will go to every museum and every landmark and monument – there’s so much to see.

What I liked about Warsaw is exactly what some people don’t like – someone described Warsaw as being ‘like any other city, you could be anywhere, there’s nothing specific to Warsaw’ which I don’t entirely agree with. Warsaw is interesting because it is the capital, but Krakow used to be the capital – so the old town is tiny. The old town is also almost completely reconstructed due to being obliterated in the war, which is something that I love – that even among Soviet occupation and monetary restraints, that they’ve been able to achieve such a magical reconstruction. The city sprawls far beyond the old town, if you went to Warsaw and only really spent time in the old town you would not be having a proper Warsaw experience.  

I seriously think that Excalibur in Las Vegas is based off this!

Despite the terrible wind and overcast weather I braved a walking tour on my first day, of the old town area. It was absolutely miserable for the majority of the walking tour, although I did enjoy the content and delivery. The random highlight was when we were taken to 'warm up' - with Vodka!

Empty shot glass and a snack - fried lard on bread

Old town square; and the mermid, Warsaw's protector - see the umbrellas down? No one outside on that day!

Other than the first day, I didn't spend much time in the old town, except when passing through on the tram or on the way to the new town.

Another major highlight was on my second night where I attended a viewing of what is Warsaw's version of the Bellagio fountain/laser show, a fairly new development. It was something very different to what I've been seeing - lots of old things, history, age. This was brand new nd modern and I enjoyed it, especially because I was amazed that there were no stands with people selling souvenirs and hot dogs. It was a gorgeous experience but I got totally saturated - there was this tiny lettering in Polish on the side of the fountain where I staked my claim and I honestly thought it probably said 'don't swim' or 'please don't litter' but it actually probably said 'warning, you will get wet here!!'

Spectacular!

My time was otherwise spent in  few different areas - the new town, going to a beautiful park while there was some sort of festival on, wandering around in one of the ‘outer’ districts, checking out the bears outside the zoo (free exhibition!) and taking advantage of the exchange rate (the Zloty is quite good for Australians) and doing some shopping and I was also able to see a film which I’ve missed its release in like, every country, but finally it was out and it was subtitled in Polish with the original English soundtrack so I had a Polish film going experience. I took risks and figured out how to navigate the weird metro/tram/bus system without assistance. I kind of felt like I was half being a tourist and half being an ordinary person – doing the things that an average person in Warsaw would do. Which I actually really enjoyed, it was nice to feel ‘normal’ rather than to feel like a tourist.

Except at Zachodia bus station, where I spent three hours hanging out while waiting for my bus to Vilnius - I've never felt more like a tourist there. A local would know that it is not worth spending more than five minutes there and there's no food or drink to purchase late at night. I learnt my lesson. Never again!

Overall I really enjoyed my taste of the former capital (Krakow) and the present capital (Warsaw) of Poland. On the whole I found the people to be nice and as long as they remain on the Zloty and don’t switch over to the Euro, Poland is one of the most affordable countries for western tourists. However with the support of the EU and the movement of tourists ‘east’, it is becoming more and more accessible, which is wonderful because it is a country with such an interesting past and so much to share with the world. As long as the crazy tourists and tour buses stay in Krakow, hopefully the rest can be appreciated but remain untainted.