Kraków, Wieliczka and Auschwitz 2009

Maria and I took a train from Warsaw to Krakow, in the south of Poland. This was the second time I was in the south of Poland.

The first time was during my trip to Bieszczady, where I enjoyed hiking in the company of new good friends thanks to an AEGEE Summer University event. During that trip, Simon and I loved a delicious Polish dish called "placek po wegiersku" (we called it Shabo) so Maria took me to a very nice hidden restaurant where they prepared it. It was awesome!

Of course Polish food has more dishes and they are really tasty in my opinion. Maria had the already famous around the world Pierogi.

Krakow is a nice city with many interesting places to see. When we were there everything was covered by snow which made it even more beautiful.

There were many stands selling a bread called obwazanki. And many pigeons!. We also noticed the presence of many kebabs hehe

Not far from Krakow, in a town called Wieliczka, there is a very famous and old salt mine. So famous that it is included in the Unesco world heritage list. And I can confirm that it deserves to be visited. The most beautiful part of the salt mine, in my opinion, was a huge cavity that was converted into a cathedral with numerous figures sculpted on the salt. Actually, Maria's ancestors participated in creating such a piece of art!

Another famous place that we visited, near Krakow, is the Auschwitz former concentration camp. Although a few weeks before going, the sign at the entrance saying "Arbeit macht frei" (work makes you free) had been stolen, by the time we arrived the police had recovered it already.

Watching Auschwitz concentration camp in person was impressing. Although we all have seen it in the movies, when you are there somehow you realize that it is something real, that happened and could happen again. You can enter to the houses where people were kept, see their clothes, luggage, photos, information about the war..

And of course you can also see in person places where people were hanged, a wall where they used to shoot them down, or a room where they used to kill people with gas. Human beings are capable of the best and of the worst.