Poland was a revelation

We arrived late one Thursday evening (19th April) in Wroclaw courtesy of Ryanair. Excellent flight but I do wonder if Ryanair send all of their staff on a course just to ensure that they are as rude as possible to their passengers/customers! However, it did not spoil our mood and having checked into our enormous suite (and I mean enormous) at the Dwor Polski hotel we headed off to explore the main square (Rynek) at night.

All beautifully lit by spotlights and overall quite stunning. However, the lovely lady wife decided that one beer was enough so after an hour of wandering around we headed back to the hotel. I should explain here that we were encouraged to visit Wroclaw by a Polish barrista at the Eat near Rosemary's office whose home city it is. Next morning dawned bright, clear and warm; quite a contrast to the weather in the UK. We marvelled at the Rynek in daylight, really magnificent, very large and with buildings including the stunning 14th century town hall in the centre of the square. We realised later that having buildings in the centre of the square seems to be a Polish trait.

We walked miles around the old town with many memorable sites including covered markets, parks, theatres and museums but most of the time we were happy just to wander, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the beautiful architecture. By and large everyone seemed cheerful and there was no sense of the rather dour expressions of the Soviet era.

As you might imagine the Jacksons found an excellent restaurant on the Rynek and enjoyed a very good lunch al fresco. After a while we crossed the river Odra and entered into the religious area with wall to wall churches (mostly made of brick) and the standard eastern european bridge covered in padlocks which apparently signify undying love between a young couple. This area was lovely and reminded us a lot of Prague.

Next morning we looked in the interiors of the town hall and some churches. All very impressive and what struck us about the churches was how full they were with devotees. Clearly catholicism is alive and well in Poland and John Paul II has become a national hero. Early afternoon we headed off to the the railway station to catch our train to Krakow and having consulted our guide book and the oracles on Poland (David & Laina Storey), well in advance, we had decided to book on line which was very simple and tickets arrived in good time. How glad we were that we had done this. Wroclaw station was having a major makeover with no sign of a ticket office and crowds of bemused locals staring intently at the departures board. Eventually our train appeared on the board and we settled in to our first class accommodation (costing 50% less that two cattle class returns from Pulborough to London) and enjoyed a comfortable but very slow journey to Krakow. The countryside between the two was flat fairly uninteresting and quite industrial at times, although it became prettier the nearer we got to Krakow. Arrived in Krakow pretty much on time and exiting the station towards the taxi rank we were directed through a huge shopping mall - capitalism has well and truly reached Poland. The Best Western Krakow Old Town looked very impressive from the outside and in an excellent location. The smiling receptionist proudly announced that we were being upgraded to a superior room and we had visions of something as large as that in Wroclaw but perhaps even with satellite TV so I would be allowed to watch the Barcelona vs Chelsea game. No such luck! On arriving in our "superior" room we found it had a single bed rather that the promised king size and was decorated in a hideous black and mauve! After much consternation we were redirected to a standard room which did indeed have the promised king size bed but certainly did not have enough room to swing the proverbial cat. In addition, exiting the bed from my perspective required considerable acrobatics (not attempted for many years) and caused much grumbling and complaining from the lovely lady wife. However, we slept well, the breakfast was good and off we went to explore the old town. Quite stunning! Huge central square (Rynek Glowny) with a central renaissance cloth hall (Sukiennice) and wonderful medieval architecture all around the square. Add to this a plethora of restaurants and bars, horse drawn carriages (which we tried) wonderful warm sunny weather and we could have been in the Mediterranean. Except I've never seen a square as magnificent as this anywhere in the Mediterranean!

Just stunning and to cap it all the Krakow marathon was taking place that day and we enjoyed being part of the crowds watching the race. We then headed south of the old town to the Wawel which is the hill top castle and burial place of the Polish kings. Very reminscent of Prague Castle; slightly smaller but no less beautiful and complete with a number of magnolia trees in full bloom. The cathedral is within the walls of the Wawel and no surprise to find it full of worshippers.

By this time we were ready for a rest and you've guessed it - dinner al fresco in Rynek Glowny - and very good it was too. Next day an entirely different experience. I had decided (not sure the lovely lady wife entirely agreed - yes I did) that I wanted to (felt I should) visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and off we went with 6 other visitors. The coach driver showed us a DVD of archived coverage which was horrific and the experience of walking around Auschwitz and being in the execution yard and then underground in one of the gas chambers was chilling. However, I knew that and sort of expected it. What I did not expect was discovering the huge size of Birkenau when we arrived there and walked though the arch where the trains arrived. Acres upon acres of dormitories, toilet and washing facilities ( Really stretching the definition to call them that) and yes gas chambers. If you ever want to convince someone of the horrors of war, the threat of extremism and how unspeakably awful people can be to their fellow human beings, send them to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Those of us born after the war and particularly in the late 40s and 50s have really have been very lucky. We returned to Krakow and headed for a neighbourhood restaurant called Pod Baranem which had been highly recommended. Very good food and my first taste of pierogi which are described as "dumplings of unleavened dough stuffed with various fillings". However, I think this description does them a disservice and I think they are a delicious Polish version of ravioli with more generous and tastier fillings! Also I have failed to mention so far that the Poles are not wine drinkers, they are beer drinkers - you really do need to understand this as wine is quite simply not the norm! However, in Pod Baranem we did have a truly excellent bottle of Argentinian Malbec - how small our world has become. The next day which was our final day in Krakow was spend very much revisiting the sites. A couple of the museums we had earmarked to visit were closed for renovation but in a way this did not matter. Krakow is not about museums or galleries it is quite simply one of the most beautiful, unspoilt medieval cities in Europe. Yes it is busy because it is now rightly famous, but that just makes it feel "buzzy" rather that overcrowded. It is a credit to the Poles that they have thrown off the shackles of the dreary life they must have had under Soviet "supervision" and have embraced everything that the world has to offer. Overall, a fantastic experience and highly recommended.