To Iberia and beyond...

Monday, 15 June 2015

Postcards from... Kraków

Of all the places I wanted to see in Poland, Kraków was right at the top of the list. Nonetheless, it was quite a few weeks before I managed a trip there. Happily, it coincided with a long weekend, albeit one in which I had been roped into working the Saturday morning.

With the Kids' Club over and done with, the weekend could finally begin. After a nice cup of tea (or two) at home, I caught the 13:50 bus to Kraków. Once in Kraków I quickly located my hotel. I then forced myself to walk to the nearby supermarket where I stocked up on tea, milk and few other essentials. Back in the hotel I spent the evening reading magazines, drinking tea and making free with the WIFI while I tried to decide how best to spend my time in the Kraków area. After much to-ing and fro-ing, I decided to book a trip to Auschwitz for the Monday, which meant that I would be spending the Sunday in Kraków itself. Happy that I'd made a decision I went to bed, and as the clocks were going back, I got a much-needed extra hour of sleep.

Juliusz Słowacki Theatre

The next morning, fully refreshed, I went exploring. At 09:00 Kraków was shrouded in mist and very peaceful. I walked through the main square and followed the road down to Castle Hill.

Entering the old town

The Rynek

The Sukiennice, a vast cloth hall built in the 14th century

Under the arches of the Sukiennice

Least terrifying stone lion ever

Autumn mist at the foot of Castle Hill

Wawel Castle

Disappointed that the castle wasn't yet open I made the decision to head to Kazimierz, the war-time Jewish ghetto. By the time I got there, the place was mobbed and I tripped over yet another tour groups every time I rounded a corner.

One of the many synagogues in the Kazimierz disctrict, the former Jewish ghetto

Door to one of the synagogues

Another synagogue

Fed up I walked across the river to Oskar Schindler's factory. As soon as I reached the street I knew exactly where I was – I recognised it from Schindler's List. Inside I waited an awfully long time to get served (the staff in the factory absolutely suck!) but finally I had a ticket.

Concrete 'Auschwitz' tunnel on the way to Emalia, Oskar Schindler's factory

Schindler's office at Emalia

The factory is now a museum dedicated to the Nazi occupation from 1939-1945, and to be honest it's quite difficult to see the factory as it was. Upstairs two rooms remain almost as they were, one being Oskar Schindler's office. I spent such a long time just standing there looking that I drew the security guard's attention! Clearly I was meant to my three pictures and move on. I quickly took one last look around and moved on.

The most shocking thing was rounding a corner and suddenly coming face-to-face with three huge Nazi banners. I hadn't expected that and it sort of threw me and left me feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the tour. Outside I thought about Auschwitz, a place so closely linked to Emalia (Schindler's factory). If the factory upset me, God knows what I would make of Auschwitz...

I left the ghetto still feeling uncomfortable and made my way back to the main square, where I dived into Coffee Heaven for some lunch. Once again Polish service left a LOT to be desired but they got there in the end. After lunch I walked past the university and headed again for Castle Hill.

The królewska bazylika archikatedralna śś. Stanisława i Wacława na Wawelu (Wawel Cathedral)

The towers of Wawel Cathedral

Another look at the towers

One of the courtyards at the castle

Once there I realised it had been a mistake not to go earlier as the tickets for the Royal apartments, the bit I was most interested in, had completely sold out. I had to make do with the State rooms for 18zl (approx. £3/€4.30/US$4.80), which were fairly underwhelming. I wasn't as annoyed about missing out on the Royal apartments as I could have been, probably because I lived pretty close. I fully intended to return Kraków and make Wawel Castle a priority, but it never happened.

The towers of the Romanesque Kościół św. Andrzeja (St Andrew's Church)

The 14th century Kościół Mariacki (St Mary's Church)

The Sukiennice

Wieża ratuszowa w Krakowie (Town Hall Tower) in the main square

The Rynek from the Town Hall Tower

Views from the Town Hall Tower

Beautiful stained glass

By the time I had walked back to main square I was pretty tired – in my defence I had been sightseeing for almost seven hours – so I dived into a conveniently-located Coffee Heaven (not the same one as previously) for a muffin and some more tea, after which I went back to the hotel.

The Planty, a park that surrounds the centre of Kraków

Thursday, 11 June 2015

Postcards from... Cieszyn

Having been in Poland for a whole three weeks, it was time to go sightseeing. I was in two minds where to go though. My head said Krakow, my heart (and the weather forecast!) said Cieszyn. You can't argue with the weather forecast so it was off to Cieszyn I went. I got a bus at 08:45 (8.50zl one way) and by 09:30 was in Cieszyn.

Cieszyn is a quaint little town, slightly Viennese in style (according to Rough Guide anyway). It is literally on the Polish border, so literally in fact that the after World War I when the borders were re-drawn, half the town ended up in the then Czechoslovakia. The Poles got lucky though as they got the nice 'Olde Worlde' bit while the Czechs had to make do with a fairly ugly suburb.

Morning haze

Tea shop sign

The Rynek (main square)

Exploring the streets

Anyway, having scooted around Cieszyn proper, I decided to set foot in Český Těšín (Czech Cieszyn). It actually felt like another country! I mean, I know it is one, but having left the prettiness of Cieszyn proper behind, you really felt the oppressiveness of the suburban Český Těšín.

Unfortunately I didn't have a map so my wanderings took me to the end of the main street and back to the safety of pretty Cieszyn proper. I later located the tourist office and, map in hand, ventured back to Český Těšín. I have to say that even with a map there was little of interest there! Still, it was my first foray into the Czech Republic.

Now entering another country

I headed back across the bridge to Cieszyn, whereon I found myself at the foot of Castle Hill and the Neoclassical summer hunting palace, which was built in the 19th century on the foundations of the lower castle. Though the castle was closed, the grounds were not and so I went exploring.

The hunting lodge

On entering the grounds, I was immediately drawn to a stone rotunda. It turned out to be Kaplica św. Mikołaja, an 11th century Romanesque church dedicated to St Nicholas. The church afforded me extensive but hazy views of the surrounding countryside.

The rotunda

The view from the top

Nearby was the 14th century Wieża Piastowska (Piast Tower). Standing 29 m tall, the tower is the perfect spot for looking out over Cieszyn and Český Těšín.

One of the oldest architectural treasures in the region

Hazy views

Spires in the haze

By this time several hours had passed and I was getting hungry so I made my way back to Rynek (the main square in Cieszyn proper). Earlier I had seen two cafés so now all I had to do was choose one. I think I made the wrong decision.

I managed to use my limited Polish to order tea with milk, but that was it. Rather than accept that I couldn't speak Polish, the waitress decided to push me to order something else, saying "Ciastko?" (which is 'cake' in Polish). Now I like cake and would happily have ordered some had the menu not merely said 'Ciastke' (cakes) and something about daily specials. When you're lacking in language, menus that simply say "ask your waitress for the specials" are NOT helpful. I ended up walking to the cake cabinet and pointing at something. But would the bitch accept it? Hell, no! She had to make a mountain out of a bloody molehill, pretending that she couldn't figure out which cake I'd just pointed to. She was shrugging her shoulders and laughing about the stupid foreigner who couldn't even choose a cake. Thankfully, the Polish customers she was trying to include in her 'joke', confirmed which cake I wanted (it was obvious to them which cake I had just pointed at!) and I was free to sit down. The cake wasn't especially nice, but I ate it, mostly because I had no intention of trying to order anything else in Cieszyn!

The city's skyline

Entering the Rynek

After a quick walk in the sunshine I decided it was as good a time as any to head back to Bielsko. But on reaching the bus station another obstacle presented itself: how to read the bloody bus timetable. I understood the destinations OK, and of course the times. What I didn't understand was all the little letters beside the times. Of course there was an explanation but it was all in Polish.

Using the little Polish I had I gathered that some buses didn't run on Sundays, some didn't run on weekend nights and some didn't run on public holidays. All good but none of that applied on a regular Saturday afternoon. I soon deduced that the 14:30 only ran on weekdays. But what about the 14:40? And the 15:00? I'd got most of it figured out but there was a word I couldn't understand, just in front of 'Saturday(s)'. I looked at the growing queue of people. There had to be a bus. And, thankfully, there was. Strangely the bus back cost 8.70zl (20gr more than earlier) and it took 80 minutes instead of 45, but I didn't care because I had gone sightseeing and gotten myself back to Bielsko without too much drama. Sightseeing, done!

Monday, 8 June 2015

Postcards from... Bielsko-Biała #1

In June 2011, having turned down a job in Spain, I set about looking for other options, albeit with the same franchise. Top of my list was Poland and as good luck would have it, there were quite a few vacancies. Long story short, I applied for one and got offered it. And that October, I found myself in Bielsko-Biała ready to start the academic year.

Bielsko-Biała is a small city in the south of Poland, a 30-minute drive from the Czech border. The city comprises two former smaller towns, one each side of the rzeka Biała (White River). Interestingly, both 'Bielsko' and 'Biała' refer to the river, with the etymology deriving from biel or biała, which means 'white' in Polish.

Riverside walk

It's fair to say that Bielsko-Biała was never exactly a must-see; it was simply the place where I'd got a job. As said job turned into a living nightmare, I spent less and less time in the city, preferring to get out at every given opportunity. Thus, the few photos I have were taken within the first couple of months of my stay. I never bothered to research the history, and to this day have no interest in doing so. What follows, therefore, is simply a handful of nice enough photos, enough to pay lip-service to the city I lived in for nine months, not enough to whet anyone's appetite...