When I arrived in Poland, I was realising a dream. Finally I had made it to ‘eastern’ Europe - the lands that had formally been shrouded in mystery behind the Iron Curtain. The Red countries which filled me with dread as a young boy during the Cold War. Naturally, I expected a multitude of horses and carts, long queues outside shops and middle-aged folk jumping into ice baths. My ideas were obviously a little antiquated as most of the southern Poland I saw was modern and affluent and the month was May so there wasn’t much ice around! The Poles didn’t see themselves as eastern Europeans either. They are ‘central’ Europeans as they kept telling me and eastern Europe began ‘somewhere beyond the Ukraine’.
I based myself in Krakow, a beautiful medieval city which escaped the terrible destruction suffered by most Polish cities during WWII and the most popular tourist destination. The city boasts the largest town square in Europe, ringed with cafes, where you’ll find all kinds of street artists, a gothic cathedral and a tower for a great view of the city. The old town is fascinating and is topped by the impressive Wawel castle which sits on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Vistula. It was here that the majority of the Polish Kings and Queens were crowned and buried and where you’ll find a statue of Krakow’s favourite son Pope John Paul II. It was said that a dragon used to harrass the early inhabitants of Krakow until a young shepherd-boy came up with a cunning idea. He had a sheep slaughtered and stuffed the carcass with hot spices. The sheep was then left outside the dragon’s lair. Seeing the tasty snack, the dragon gobbled up the sheep in one go. The spices slowly worked their magic and the dragon scurried down to the river which he drank until he exploded! Clever.
I visited Wawel hill a month after President Lech Kaczynski, the head of the army and a number of MP’s were killed in an airplane crash en route to a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre near Smolensk. The President’s remains were interred in Wawel Cathedral which has proved to be somewhat controversial as he wasn’t the most popular president.
Krakow is a great town for dining and drinking, the fun is searching the cellars in shadowy lanes looking for the best spot. Polish beer is great and relatively cheap, the food is quite meaty, expect breaded pork, beef, dumplings and various cabbage dishes to feature prominently. It remains to be seen how the locals take to the ban on smoking in public places written into law recently. The obvious day trip from Krakow is the concentration camps at Auschwitz. Around an hour and a half by public bus from Krakow’s centre, the camps are remarkably well preserved so the effect is more chilling than if you were viewing crumbling foundations and rusty wire.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau is where you walk past row upon row of what look like cattle sheds to the remains of the underground gas chambers. The prisoners of Auschwitz I were housed in brick buildings, formerly a Polish army barracks, but their treatment was no less horrifying. The huge collections of victim’s shoes, suitcases, even hair on display are supposed to shock and do. You are left in no doubt that this was the scene of a highly-organised attempt to exterminate an entire race of people. After that sobering experience, I needed a lift so headed down to the town of Zakopane in the Tatra mountains. The Tatras straddle the Polish/Slovakian border and are perfect territory for hiking as the highest peaks are only around 2,500 metres. The trails on the Polish side are well maintained and signposted with lakes, waterfalls or summits to visit.
What I forgot was that May is when bears wake up from their hibernation and wherever I walked I kept seeing big brown bears! I asked a representative of the Polish parks department if it was safe to go hiking and he assured me that only Slovakian bears attacked people! Zakopane is the winter capital of Poland and people flock there for holidays. Many families accommodate visitors in their traditional log houses which is a great way to get a feel for life in the mountains where skis are the primary mode of transport. Poland has alot to offer and I was pleasantly surprised at what good value for money it still is after twenty years of strong links with the west. I would like to explore more of Poland and visit the vast eastern forests with its herds of bison, the untouched beaches of the Baltic coast and even trudge through a desert – one of only five in Europe.
