Happy Memorial Day Everyone!
Adam and I started our day bright and early at 6:00am. We opened up the windows and had our morning coffee overlooking the fairly empty main square. With our energy brimming, we decided to head out a little early and catch the town in the early hours of the day. We walked through the main square again, past a few churches and made our way to the Jewish Quarter. This is a really nice neighborhood and was home to the majority of Krakow's Jewish population prior to WWII. There were nearly 60,000 Jewish Poles living in Krakow in 1939.
We crossed over the Vistula River and into the Podgorze neighborhood. This is the location of where the Jewish Ghetto was established during WWII. An area that housed 3,000 people comfortably was forced to fit nearly 20,000 people. Conditions were terrible, walls were built, trams would pass through the area but no one was able to get on or off. Food was rationed to just 300 calories per day and eventually, all inhabitants were sent to Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps. We were able to see some fragments of the ghetto's wall, and the ghetto's main square with a monument remembering all of the lives lost in Krakow and in all of Poland.
Our next stop was Oskar Schindler's Factory. If you are not familiar with Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, I will give you a short summary. Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist who had an enamelware factory in Krakow. He hired many Polish workers, specifically the Jewish population, to work in his factory. He was responsible for saving the lives of over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, even hiring women, children and the elderly in order to prevent them from being sent off to concentration camps. The factory itself is a museum detailing the history of WWII in Krakow. It starts off in 1939 showing pictures and newspaper clippings or happier times. Then it transitions into the German invasion or Krakow, followed by the creation of the Jewish Ghetto, nearby concentration camps, and eventually the liberation. There is also a room dedicated to Oskar Schindler which displays his desk, cabinet, and some leftover enamelware. Overall, the experience was very informative.
We left the factory and started making our way back through the Jewish Quarter towards the main square. By this point, we were extremely hungry and ready to eat just about anything that came our way. We settled on U Babci Maliny, a small restaurant tucked away behind a library. On the menu today was spinach and cheese filled pierogies, zurek soup (for Adam) and pork kutlet (breaded and fried pork yummmm). We made a serious dent in the food, but the pierogies were no match for us. That didn't stop me from ordering a local special, sernik. Sernik is cheesecake, but made with quark, a sour milk that has just the right amount of curdle. Don't let that description fool you, it was AMAZING. We left fully satiated and dare I say, a little overstuffed.
Because we had been up and walking since early this morning, we decided a quick pit stop at the apartment was in order. What we didn't account for was the 3 hour nap that quickly followed. It was much needed, apparently. After we woke up, it was time to head back into the city again. It was almost 6:00pm, which meant the clock tower of St. Mary's Basilica was about to go off, and shortly followed by the bugle player. Every hour, on the hour, the clock bells ring, and then a bugle plays the same melody it has for hundreds of years. In the 1200s, the town bugle player warned the town of invaders by playing the melody. His warning gave the town enough time to close the gates and save the city. However, he was shot in the throat mid song, so today, when the song is played, it abruptly stops in the middle to remember and honor the bugle hero.
We walked through the city and even poked our head into a few churches before decided it was time for dinner. Since we had such a good experience at lunch we decided to go to U Babci Maliny (their second location)! The meal was almost identical and included meat stuffed pierogies, and pork kutlet. No cheesecake this time...
Once again, the pierogies proved too filling for us, so we had to leave a few behind. That was ok, because some of the stands from yesterday's fair were still open. Adam grabbed a beer and I took that opportunity to eat a waffle covered in ice cream. Excellent. We tried to walk off the food as best we could, and are now comfortably back in our Airbnb for the night. Tomorrow will be an early day! So we are going to grab some shut eye. Enjoy the pictures!
Steps: 24,463
Miles: 10.4
Stairs: 26 flights
Adam and I started our day bright and early at 6:00am. We opened up the windows and had our morning coffee overlooking the fairly empty main square. With our energy brimming, we decided to head out a little early and catch the town in the early hours of the day. We walked through the main square again, past a few churches and made our way to the Jewish Quarter. This is a really nice neighborhood and was home to the majority of Krakow's Jewish population prior to WWII. There were nearly 60,000 Jewish Poles living in Krakow in 1939.
We crossed over the Vistula River and into the Podgorze neighborhood. This is the location of where the Jewish Ghetto was established during WWII. An area that housed 3,000 people comfortably was forced to fit nearly 20,000 people. Conditions were terrible, walls were built, trams would pass through the area but no one was able to get on or off. Food was rationed to just 300 calories per day and eventually, all inhabitants were sent to Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps. We were able to see some fragments of the ghetto's wall, and the ghetto's main square with a monument remembering all of the lives lost in Krakow and in all of Poland.
Our next stop was Oskar Schindler's Factory. If you are not familiar with Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, I will give you a short summary. Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist who had an enamelware factory in Krakow. He hired many Polish workers, specifically the Jewish population, to work in his factory. He was responsible for saving the lives of over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, even hiring women, children and the elderly in order to prevent them from being sent off to concentration camps. The factory itself is a museum detailing the history of WWII in Krakow. It starts off in 1939 showing pictures and newspaper clippings or happier times. Then it transitions into the German invasion or Krakow, followed by the creation of the Jewish Ghetto, nearby concentration camps, and eventually the liberation. There is also a room dedicated to Oskar Schindler which displays his desk, cabinet, and some leftover enamelware. Overall, the experience was very informative.
We left the factory and started making our way back through the Jewish Quarter towards the main square. By this point, we were extremely hungry and ready to eat just about anything that came our way. We settled on U Babci Maliny, a small restaurant tucked away behind a library. On the menu today was spinach and cheese filled pierogies, zurek soup (for Adam) and pork kutlet (breaded and fried pork yummmm). We made a serious dent in the food, but the pierogies were no match for us. That didn't stop me from ordering a local special, sernik. Sernik is cheesecake, but made with quark, a sour milk that has just the right amount of curdle. Don't let that description fool you, it was AMAZING. We left fully satiated and dare I say, a little overstuffed.
Because we had been up and walking since early this morning, we decided a quick pit stop at the apartment was in order. What we didn't account for was the 3 hour nap that quickly followed. It was much needed, apparently. After we woke up, it was time to head back into the city again. It was almost 6:00pm, which meant the clock tower of St. Mary's Basilica was about to go off, and shortly followed by the bugle player. Every hour, on the hour, the clock bells ring, and then a bugle plays the same melody it has for hundreds of years. In the 1200s, the town bugle player warned the town of invaders by playing the melody. His warning gave the town enough time to close the gates and save the city. However, he was shot in the throat mid song, so today, when the song is played, it abruptly stops in the middle to remember and honor the bugle hero.
We walked through the city and even poked our head into a few churches before decided it was time for dinner. Since we had such a good experience at lunch we decided to go to U Babci Maliny (their second location)! The meal was almost identical and included meat stuffed pierogies, and pork kutlet. No cheesecake this time...
Once again, the pierogies proved too filling for us, so we had to leave a few behind. That was ok, because some of the stands from yesterday's fair were still open. Adam grabbed a beer and I took that opportunity to eat a waffle covered in ice cream. Excellent. We tried to walk off the food as best we could, and are now comfortably back in our Airbnb for the night. Tomorrow will be an early day! So we are going to grab some shut eye. Enjoy the pictures!
Steps: 24,463
Miles: 10.4
Stairs: 26 flights
Is it a waffle or a sponge?
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