Highlights from Krakow

Krakow, Poland - How time flies when you're having fun. It's hard to believe that I am in my final days in Krakow. One week from today, I will be home in the pink house.
Instead of trying to write a separate post about everything I have been up to, I decided to offer a list of highlights. A greatest hits, if you will.
 1 - Wawel Castle. The number one tourist attraction in Krakow (as evidenced by the hordes of school groups running around). The grounds are gorgeous, as is the magnificent Wawel Cathedral, burial place of all of Poland's most prestigious leaders.
Here, you will also find the den of the dragon Smok. Legend has it that during the days of Prince Krak (the founder of Krakow), this dragon used to terrorize the town, his favorite feast being beautiful young virgins. The joke is that he starved to death.
But the more traditional legend is that Prince Krak foiled him by feeding him a sheep stuffed with sulfur. That must have been some explosion!
2 - Podgorze. Formerly an independent city, this neighborhood on the south shore of the Vistula River is a gem. It is starting to attract some attention, as it is the site of Schindler's Factory, where Oskar Schindler saved the lives of so many people during WWII. A long-awaited museum is set to open in the factory this fall, which will certainly draw the tourists. But for now, Podgorze is definitely off the beaten track.
We spent a day wandering. On the southern fringe of the city, we climbed Krak's mound, the legendary burial place of Prince Krak. (There are a lot of legends in Krakow.)
To the north, it offers a wonderful panorama of Krakow. To the south, it overlooks the vast, unkempt terrain of the former Plaszow concentration camp. The Nazis destroyed the camp as they retreated, but the grounds remain mostly untouched as a memorial to the many people who died here.
3 - Nowa Huta. This massive steel works was built by the communists during the 1950s, apparently in attempt to counter Krakow's intellectual tendencies. It's about 10km east of Krakow, but it feels like a different world. Actually, it feels like Russia, with the wide avenues and socialist realist architecture.
Nowa Huta was always disparaged by Krakovians, but it was here that workers' strikes and artist movements and pro-church demonstrations were most vociferous.
After several attempts at destruction, the statue of Lenin was finally removed in 1989. The ultimate insult: this central square is now named after Ronald Reagan. Ouch!





4 - Camaldolese Monastery - The Camaldolese monks are renowned for being hermits. Really. Their motto is Memento Mori: "Remember you must die". And just to make sure they remember, they sleep with the skulls of their predecessors in their cells.
The Camaldolese Monks live in seclusion. They pray together, but that's about it. There are five days a year that they might contact the outside world - if they wish.
The monastery is open to the public, but only to males of the species. Anyway, it's rare to come into contact with a monk. You might see him praying in the church, but he probably won't talk to you.
I visited the monastery on one of 12 days that it is open to women. There was one bushy-bearded monk entertaining a group of nun, but otherwise the place was pretty quiet.
5 - Auschwitz-Birkenau. It seems wrong to put these notorious camps on a list of highlights. The place is disturbing - no, distressing - but it's an essential part of Poland. As many as two million people died at this camp. Two million people.
I was disappointed with the museum at Auschwitz, which tends toward gruesome photos, without a lot of factual information or analysis (at least not in English). But it's very clear about explaining what different buildings were used for, what daily life entailed for the prisoners and the many many ways in which they were killed. And really, I guess that is the point.
While many people died at Auschwitz, it was primarily a concentration camp. By contrast, nearby Birkenau was a death camp, where people were herded off the trains and straight into the gas chamber. The place is vast. Most of the buildings were destroyed by the Nazis, but the grounds stretch out for miles. All that is left are the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, as well as a few barracks - a chilling reminder of the tragedy that took place here.
   
6 - Tyniec Monastery. Nobody is going to confuse the Benedictines with the Camaldolese Monks. These guys are making beer and honey to entice visitors up to their monastery, which overlooks the Vistula about 12km west of Krakow. I even saw one guy going into mass wearing Tevas with his kassock. (I was wondering if he noticed that we had the same shoes.)
There is a bike trail that follows the river all the way from Krakow to Tyniec and beyond. One sign said that it goes all the way to Budapest, but I figured that's an expedition for another day.