I pitched up at my campsite in the north of the city, both cheaper and simpler than the one in Warsaw, and headed into town. The main square is one of the biggest in Europe and houses the big Cloth Hall right in the middle, now a sort of big souvenir arcade while on either side are the Town Hall Tower and St Mary's Church. The church has two big unequal towers but is spectacular inside. Every hour, the bugal call is played from the highest tower and cuts off suddenly to signify when a lookout trumpeter was killed by an arrow in the middle of warning the towns-folk. Also in the main square, it seems as if somebody has knitted around an old BMX which was locked to a signpost. It didn't appear to be an exhibit, just an odd little curiosity.
North of the main square are the remains of the old medievil town wall and the Barbican, the only remaining defensive tower standing in front of the Florian Gate - the former entrance into the city. There is a band of green parkland, "The Parky", running either side of the gate and cutting off the Old Town from the new.
Below the main square is Wawel Hill, the city's main draw, where the Wawel Castle and Cathedral can be found at the top along with the Armoury, Treasury and Dragon' Den. The castle itself is nice enough, nothing spectacular, but the tower certainly gives a great view both inside and outside of the castle walls. Likewise, the cathedral was nice but nothing too special considering how rammed it can get with tourists.
The best part of the castle complex for me was the Armoury and Treasury. There seem to be some pretty curious items in both sides of the exhibit including a "winged" suit of armour. There is a sign outside just to remind people that no knives, firearms, hazardous chemicals or radioactive material are allowed in the museum - a more helpful sign might have been for the slightly less obvious "No cameras, bags or water bottles". The Dragon's Den is supposedly where the dragon was killed in his lair and is a large cave leading down and out of the side of the castle walls to the street below.
Later that day, I bumped into Will and Claire who I met in Vilnius and we had a great night out at the Jewish Festival celebrations in the southern Jewish region of Kazimierz. On a big outdoor stage we saw Fred Wesley (former Trombone player with James Brown) with his band and guest rapper Abraham before a great African band band called Yeman Blues.
Afterwards I was starving so I treated myself to my first proper meal out of the whole trip so far - Steak, yes please! Perfect! As the music and dancing died down on the main square, we headed to some random little hip-hop club in a basement for a drink and some impromptu street dance lessons from a guy whose face we rarely glimpsed under the big peak of his red hat. All in all, another great local festival night. Hopefully we will continue to cross paths on the road every now and then.
A little Fiat 126 in the Jewish region which I fell in love with.
The next day was spent seeing a rather more sad side of Jewish history at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. I had no idea what exactly to expect as I drove into the carpark in the drizzly rain as my knowledge on the subject isn't as good as it probably should be. There are certainly some pretty harrowing areas of the camp left exactly as they were from the second world war while other buildings have been turned into exhibitions and museums dedicated to different groups persecuted by the Nazi's.
The place was smaller than I expected so the sheer scale of what happened becomes even more daunting and it is enforced by the lines of names and photographs shown in some of the buildings. 1.1 million people were killed here, the vast majoity of which were Jewish, and mostly in groups in big gas chambers.
The outer fences are high with barbed wire and big sentry towers stand on each corner. Inside, the buildings are mostly identical with the large main gate to the south adorned with the cynical message "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Brings Freedom"). For me, the toughest area is in the north-east corner where Block 10 and Block 11 are joined by what is known as the "Wall Of Death". This tiny section of wall is where many thousands of men, women and children were lined up naked and shot.
To the left, Block 10 is where SS "doctors" (if that is the right word) would perform sterilization experiments on Jewish women. To the right, Block 11 or "Death Block", is the prison within a prison where punishments or death sentences were handed out and executions often took place.
Elsewhere in the camp are the Assembly Square (complete with gallows for extra prisoner motivation), the Gas Chambers and Crematorium (where so many lost their lives) and the Storehouse (for Cyclon B gas used in the chambers). As the sun went down and I left the camp, I saw a single red flower attached poignantly to the main gate. All that was written on the ribbon was a 5-digit number. I drove on to the Czech Replublic in silence.
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