Experiencing Kraków (by Akseli and Billy)

Kraków, being the second largest city in Poland, was certainly unlike anything you could see in Finland. We stayed there for three days. We were lucky enough to be there during their constitution day. There was a parade in which people were dressed up as soldiers of different eras. That day everyone visited the sights of the city.

The single most memorable sight was probably Wavel Castle. It was beautiful and had a huge church inside the walls. We didn't manage to find the whale bones that were supposed to be there. First when the bones were uncovered people thought they were dragon bones. That is how dragon became an important symbol for Poles. At the bottom of the castle was a small marketplace full of food and souvenir stalls.

Street food is everywhere and really popular in Kraków. We tasted filled baguettes, bagels and soups. After Finland's cold spring many of us enjoyed the slightly warmer weather of Poland with an ice cream. The whole visit it was cloudy but luckily it didn't rain much.

Because of Kraków's excellent tram system there was no reason to make the long walk from old town back to the hotel room but if someone chose to they might wander past public gardens and riverside parks full of green grass and dandelions. Across the river in one such park is a homeless camp where the residents have even started gardens to help feed themselves.

On the contrary the Old Town is rich and full of tourists. Old buildings are nice to look at while walking on the cobblestone streets. Kraków's old Jewish Ghetto has a horrible history but nowadays it is filled with nice cafeterias and bars. The old Jewish cemetery is a calming and silent place just beside the mall. There you could have a walk around in the middle of big green trees and birds. The Catholic Churches are also magnificent and if you went in you could see beautiful statues and icons.



The first full day we were in Kraków we went to Auschwitz to learn about the legacy left by the German occupation of Poland. One can learn the details of Holocaust from a history classroom but visiting Auschwitz gave us all a better image of the horrors experienced by the victims of the Third Reich. At the end of the tour the tour guide warned us of the dangers of not learning from past mistakes and spoke of the many instances of mass killings and human rights abuses still being committed today.

Akseli and Billy

The gate of Auschwitz