POLONIA - seconda parte
Excursions from Krakow:
- AUSCHWITZ: comfortable bus to get there in a couple of hours and then waits for a tour group in the various languages and provide you with a device with headphones where you hear exactly what he tells the guide along.
I was very undecided whether to make this visit because I knew that I was impressed and depressed, but then I did more or less for the reason that I found expressed immediately upon entry: who avoids HISTORY, FOR HOW LONG AND DESIGNED TO Repeat on their shoulders.
At the entrance is the famous written Arbeit Macht Frei, that work makes you free, written that had been stolen a few months and then they put in its place.
1.5 million Jews and only Jews but also gypsies, political dissidents, gays, etc.. were gassed in this well-organized slaughter.
There are the brown-brick huts that served as a dormitory in the prison and some have collected the artifacts found when the Nazis went after the war, not before he had burned nearly everything to hide their misdeeds.
There are mountains of human hair that were used to produce fabrics!
The cases of deportees with their names printed, their personal items, shoes, toothbrushes, glasses, razors, etc ...
And then the interrogation rooms and cells where they were to narrow punishment stand in the dark before being placed on the wall and shot.
And of course the gas chambers where they were introduced just arrived from the trains that sometimes it takes a month and already unloaded half of the unfortunate dead and the other half reduced to 30 kg because without food or water for days.
The strongest works were intended for, others were referred immediately to the gas chambers, including children under 12 years.
In front of the Auschwitz camp in Birkenau there is that you visit in succession and was the field for women, equally awful and awesome and partly burned.
The only positive that I heard in the moving story of the Polish-led: they arrived at Auschwitz in 7500 Italian Jews as Italians, good people, they did so to hide and save the majority of its Jews.
Wieliczka are the salt mines in operation for 700 years and still in use that are located on the outskirts of Krakow and reachable by bus in about half an hour from downtown.
It 's a pretty village with a beautiful park around the entrance of this protected site by Unesco
Nine levels that reach 327 meters deep and a course of over 300 km of tunnels and burrows.
You pay about 10 € and speaking guide the various languages (I chose the English as a matter of time and it was a very kind young lady who spoke excellent English Polish very understandable).
At first I was alone but even then they added two pairs of fatties Americans in Chicago and Oregon.
You go down about 350 steps, all of chalk, gray-blacks, in a cool place so it is best to bring a sweater, as the guide takes about 3 hours.
There are many tunnels, rooms with statues of miners, horses, mules, all made of salt and then the wonder of a cathedral, that is carved into a huge hall and rooms decorated with statues and bas-reliefs Bible as the "Last Supper", lamps that seem crystal and of course the statue of the Polish pope.
The biggest thrill is when you get in where you enter a room decorated according to the play of light emphasize the particularity of the bas-reliefs and then slowly comes the highlight of the great Polish composer Chopin.
It rises to the surface in a small lift after being at 200 meters and you can eat before going out in the self service that offers specialties of Polish cuisine at very low prices or you can buy the different items of salt, some other stones as amethyst el 'amber, along with Swarovski crystals (Czechoslovakia) are the main component of objects relegated to souvenir.
SCHINDLER FACTORY
is located on the outskirts of Krakow in the industrial area.
It 's the site of the real story of the Schindler Steven Spielperg which has produced perhaps his most beautiful and touching film in his long career of success.
Schindler was delivered hundreds of Polish Jews from Nazi concentration camps, of course fee, and so saved them from certain death, making them work in his factory that produced mostly vintage pots.
The museum built inside the factory itself was opened recently and strongly recommend a visit interesting and varied but the theme is always the saddest of Jewish persecution.
Less depressing Auschwitz and richest vintage items: drive on a good track through various rooms and galleries which are located in old photographs, clothing, furniture, even toys, rebuilt the living quarters of the workers, even Hairdressing salon and barber shop and then reconstruction of the Jewish ghetto.
Then there is the office room of Schindler by his desk and his pictures and many other things, but all very interesting.
The tour costs about 10 €
I DID ALL THESE VISITS ONLY TAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND PAY ONLY THE ENTRANCE IN TOTAL FOR THREE TRIPS, TRANSPORT AND ENTRANCE I spent 40 euros and if I had joined the group I spent excursions NEARLY TRIPLE |
On the final day, exhausted from the intense heat I decided to take a day of relaxation, I took the bus 292 leading to the airport Balice Krakow paying the ticket less than 1 € and then I walked half an hour before reaching the lake Kryspinow that is the beach of Krakow.
The lake is fresh water but hail from the dark green, all surrounded by birch trees, reeds and surprise, and sand the edges, but on the bottom, so that you can run barefoot without any problems and dive into the cool but not cold.
I was in the quietest and "liberal", the naturist beach, being a naturist convinced for 40 years, without prudery, nor morbidity but only for the pleasure of sunbathing and swimming as a mom made me.
I met a very nice group of young Poles with whom I conversed pleasantly. I have also offered their beer that carried by most large containers in the fridge and drink continuously alternating drinks with great swims and chats cheerfully.
It was Sunday and I am relaxed and refreshed before returning, with passage offered by Polish friends, in town and before departure the next day to Zakopane.