Krakow Travel Diaries: Visiting Auschwitz

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In 2012, Mr Fletche and I headed to Krakow in Poland to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. These are our Krakow Travel Diaries. You can find out more about our first day in Krakow here

Contemplating history – recent and past

The alarm rings out at 7:30am and I gingerly test my feet. Yep, they still ache but walking is an ability I thankfully appear to still have. A quick kiss for Mr Fletche to remind him that four years ago today I made him the luckiest man in the world and we head down to fill up on a hearty breakfast. Today is going to be an emotional day. Today, we are visiting Auschwitz.

Our driver is Thomas K. He is punctual, friendly and interested in our life back home in Birmingham. On arrival at Auschwitz, Thomas K purchases our tickets and an information guide for us, points out the recommended route and then leaves us to our own devices.

Very little can be articulated about the emotions felt when visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. After all, this is the site where one of the biggest atrocities of the 20th century took place.  History such as this should never be forgotten; it has shaped the world that we live in today. We wandered around in our own time, paying our respects quietly to those that lost their lives. Despite media reports to the contrary, we saw nothing but respectful behaviour from our fellow visitors, young and old.

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It’s almost 2 o’clock when we wearily pile back into Thomas K’s car. it’s been an emotionally draining morning and Thomas K is astute enough to recognise that we don’t want a lot of chatter on the way back to Krakow, leaving us to quietly contemplate what we have seen. I catch forty winks on the return journey and we arrive back at the hotel an hour later. We bade goodbye and thank you to Thomas K.

A wonderful surprise awaits. Housekeeping have spied our wedding anniversary cards and have left us a celebratory bottle of red wine and two glasses in our room. What a lovely touch!  The wine must wait though as we haven’t eaten since breakfast this morning. Just one glass is likely to have us rolling around drunkenly on the floor. A zapiekanka from Plac Nowy will be the perfect snack to tide us over before a fancy anniversary meal tonight.

We’re finally experts at finding Plac Nowy. How did we have such problems two days ago? We select a window, and place our order. I order the “Carnivore”. Mr Fletche orders a “Rural”. Lost in translation, he ends up with a “Royal”. My snack arrives. It is a foot-long open-topped baguette with cheese, mushrooms, bacon, salami, ham, sausage and a generous dollop of garlic sauce. Similarly, Mr Fletche’s “Rural/Royal” is topped with chicken, bacon, sweetcorn and enough spinach to make his late lunch resemble a small garden.

I bravely attempt to tackle my feast standing up, but quickly realise that this is the quickest way for half of my food to end up on the floor. We find a recently vacated seat, which means that the food now lands on my lap instead of the floor. It seems like mission impossible, but eventually we both finish our zapiekanke.

There will be no fancy anniversary meal tonight.  We are stuffed.  So we decide to celebrate with an alcoholic beverage or two instead. Back at the hotel, Mr Fletche has a short battle with the corkscrew before our complimentary anniversary wine is finally uncorked. We enjoy a glass of red before venturing back out into the night.

My feet are still protesting, but I whisper to them to be quiet, and we wander back to Rynek Glowny. Once more the red fleecy blankets of Pod Sloncem invite us to sit down, take a break and have a beer. So we do. And another one. And a vodka. We soak up this alcohol with a pot of very moreish salt sticks. It’s a lovely way to sign off our trip to Poland, and a lovely place to celebrate our anniversary. The long day and alcohol takes its toll and we head back to the hotel for the final time.

Final thoughts

Keeping it in the family, it is Daniel’s father that picks us up for our return trip to Krakow airport. His English is limited but he is punctual and friendly. I can’t fault KrakowTrips.com in the slightest; they provided a wonderful service and were happy to accommodate our Auschwitz request at the last minute. They were possibly not the cheapest option but they took any worry out of travelling and would certainly recommend to other Krakow travellers.

We arrive at the airport two and a quarter hours before departure, and spend all of that time queuing to check-in. There is one single check-in clerk at the desk. Once our bags are finally checked in, the line for security is practically snaking out the doors of the airport. I’m now as grouchy as I was when I arrived. With minutes to spare until the gates close, passengers on our flight are finally pulled out of the security queue due to our plane’s imminent departure. Through security, to the gate. Another queue! And, then a queue for the bus! Finally, we’re homeward bound.

One day we we would like to return to Krakow. There is still so much to see. We didn’t visit Schindler’s Factory (however hard we tried), the History of Krakow museum, Wieliczka Salt Mines, Collegium Maius or St Mary’s Basilica; we didn’t climb the Old Town Towers; and we didn’t visit any of those restaurants or bars on the “must-visit” list. It’s not a “pretty” city in the way that some other cities are, but it is charming and Rynek Glowny rivals any Town Square I have visited previously. The locals were all very friendly and most had an excellent grasp of English. Which meant I didn’t have to subject anyone to my poor attempts at Polish…

Dziekuje Krakow for a wonderful break!

Many of the photographs featured here were taken by Mr Fletche. They are produced here with his permission. You can view more of his work over on Instagram – @CPF_Photography

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