Poland

Other traveller reviews on Portugal

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Other traveller reviews on Poland

Lily Nguyen — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:04:00 GMT

Read Poland travel reviews by other travellers from our friends at bugbitten.

Walking in the shadows of Aucshwitz. TNT Travel Writing Awards

TNT Travel Writing & Photography Awards — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:29:00 GMT

A TNT Travel Writing Awards entrant

Author: Breanna Gietzel

"Arbeit Macht Frei." Work brings freedom. This hollow, haunting sign casts a shadow on us, as we cluster around waiting, shivering slightly on this crisp June morning. A few minutes later the tour group in front of us moves on and we enter under the signed archway, our chatter slowly stilling. A dark history looms heavy in the air here and I sense it's not just me who is feeling slightly ill at ease...

In 1940, during World War II, Poland was under German control and the Nazis evicted the residents of the small town of Oswiecim, 50 kilometres west of Krakow, to construct a concentration camp. The camp was originally built to hold the ever increasing number of prisoners of war, but time would see it become renowned as the stage where one of the most terrifying crimes in modern history - the Holocaust - would be played out. This infamous camp is of course, Auschwitz, and it is here I now find myself trailing after our tour guide.

The first surprise on entering Auschwitz I is that it is actually not as big as imagined. Auschwitz I was the original concentration camp, and consisted of 22 barracks holding 15-20,000 prisoners at the height of its capacity. It was at Auschwitz II - Birkenau, three kilometres away, that the majority of Auschwitz prisoners were held and where the major genocide of Jews was committed.

Several barracks at Auschwitz I have been converted into exhibitions and they are the first stop on our three hour tour. We make our way there, crunching along the hard path, the wind whipping through the double-cordoned barb wire fence encircling the camp, straight through the corridors between the red brick barracks. It's summer here now and I'm chilly. I hate to think how bitterly cold winter must be.

We wander through the exhibitions, listening intently to our guide as he paints a sombre picture of camp life for us. But it is when we get to the Block Five barracks that the tour suddenly becomes much more confronting, no holds barred. We are walking through rooms which have displays of thousands upon thousands of worldly goods - combs and hairbrushes, kitchen utensils, prosthetic limbs, shoes and suitcases- remnants of lives destroyed.

However, it's the room containing four tonnes of human hair that stops most of us short. This horrific sight slaps your face, wakes you up from the reverie you might slip into when you visit a museum and have been wandering through countless displays for hours on end. The colour of the hair has faded with time, mixing into a hue of greyish-brown. Our guide explains to us that it was shaved off the heads of thousands of people who died at Auschwitz and then used for the production of Nazi clothes and other war materials. We can only stare, shaking our heads in disbelief.

After viewing all the barrack exhibitions, we make the last stop on our tour of Auschwitz I - a gas chamber. This is the only gas chamber left standing in all the Auschwitz camps and it is smaller than the monstrosities which were built later at Birkenau. We filter through the doorway and into the chamber where 60,000 people died from 1941-42. The room isn't large and it's impossible not to think about how crowded, how terrifying those last few minutes would have been for those who lost their lives in here. Pain and terror will forever permeate the walls and we don't linger long before escaping back out into the daylight.

A short, five minute drive later we arrive at Auschwitz II - Birkenau. We pass through the entryway of the weathered red brick building, along the railroad tracks, tracing the trail that brought hundreds of thousands of Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Soviet POWs and anyone else who Nazi Germany deemed "unsuitable", to death's door.

Birkenau was the largest of the Auschwitz camps, opening in March 1942. It became the centre of the systematic execution of Europe's Jewish population, the place where the gas chambers stole so many lives and where the crematoriums stained the sky with their grey ash. Approximately 90 per cent of the 1.5 million people who died in the Auschwitz camps, lost their lives at Birkenau

Many of the barracks here have been destroyed, but we wander through one of the still-standing female blocks, which is reminiscent of an animal shed, before making our way to the ruins of a gas chamber. We can't make out much of it as the gas chambers at Birkenau were destroyed at the end of the war, as the fleeing Nazis tried to cover their tracks. The only remaining clear structure is the corridor the victims were herded through before entering the chambers.

In finishing the tour, we pay our respects at the Auschwitz memorial - a large stone monument, with a line of plaques in front of it. Each plaque has the same inscription, but in a different language, symbolising the various nationalities of the people who died and suffered here. At the end is an English translation and we finally discover what words mark this site of death and depravity:

"For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe."

A lot of people come to Auschwitz with questions, wondering how something like this could ever happen. After visiting Auschwitz, I find many of these questions are unanswerable, the crimes committed here incomprehensible to anyone who has an ounce of compassion or empathy. But this doesn't mean you shouldn't visit. The shadow Auschwitz has cast on history must act as a reminder, a warning about what can happen if humanity fails to protect the innocent. Auschwitz should be an essential stop on anyone's itinerary, if only to ensure you leave here swearing, "Never again shall we let this happen."

Passive Smoking in Poland. TNT Travel Writing Awards

TNT Travel Writing & Photography Awards — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:24:00 GMT

A TNT Travel Writing Awards entrant

Author: Desta Itote

Walking down the gloomy stairway into the cavernous bar beneath street level, I inhale a deep breath of dank, smoke permeated air.

The time for protecting my lungs is over.

"I'm going to get a pack of cigarettes," I say to my boyfriend through a fit of coughs. There's just no point resisting in Krakow (or Cracow), one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland. Unlike the health conscious societies of UK, Australia and the US, it is still legal and very much accepted to smoke in bars and eateries alike. This fact is celebrated and greeted with elation by my full‐time smoker, travel companions.

"There's just something so satisfying about lighting up over a meal," says one, cigarette ash coming precariously close to his goulash or gulasz as the Hungarian dish is known in Poland. For me, it's more about resigned curiosity but the old adage - When in Rome - applies even when in Eastern Europe.

The other factor counting in a smoker's favour: it's almost cheaper to smoke than to not.

Okay that's an exaggeration but tobacco products are ridiculously cheap, as is travel in general.

I ponder the rate of cancer in Poland (according the WHO, 71 billion cigarettes were sold in 2007) as I fish 10 zł (£2) from my pocket to give to the lady in the human operated ‘vending machine'; the interaction is quick and minimal. I don't speak Polish - with the exception of Dziękuję (thank you ‐ pronounced jenkooyah) - and she doesn't speak English. I can't see her face but the transaction is complete when I hand the correct change to the floating hand.

Just as well. I shove the evidence deep in my bag only to be extracted when I'm back safely in the shadowy bowels of Krakow's endless dungeons‐cum‐watering holes. Drinking vodka could be considered a national past time here. But with a rich cultural and academic legacy dating back to the 9th century, Krakow is not only about drinking and smoking. As Poland's cultural centre and home to more than 28 museums, public art galleries and festivals, the city is consumed by it's history. It wears it like a badge of honour. Not merely past events but everyday life co‐existing seamlessly with modernity. The organic, authentic evolution of a city that has struggled is apparent. Not something to be remembered like a hazy, half memory but lived and felt daily. It is this effortless symbiosis that gives the city its character, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Poland. Not to mention the unforced cool exuded by Cracovian smokers.

I still feel like an imposter buying cigarettes. Maybe a hangover from my youthful days of furtive experimentation but I feel like the world will see through my fickle habit.

Self‐consciousness momentarily discarded, we are wandering through the cobbled alleyways of Krakow's historic centre (on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1978) smoking with reckless abandon.

I might have to buy a second pack.

The post communist memory is less apparent here. Surrounded by the physical legacy of years of party doctrine and Krakow's most famous park, the Planty, this part retains its other worldly charm.

Coming to the junction of these two worlds ‐ the old and the new - at the foot of the Royal Wawel Castle, we contemplate the role history has in shaping a city. Touring the castle earlier that day left us Antipodeans feeling somewhat inadequate in terms of historical legacies. Tales of Casimir III the Great, Prince Boleslaw the Shy and Jadwiga, the only Queen who was also King captivated us as we viewed the ornate cathedral where they are buried.

Hungry, we decide to head to the famed Jewish quarter, Kazimierz for some sausage and pierogi, a traditional Polish dumpling. With our trip to Auschwitz the next day dampening joviality, we silently eat our food.

Finished, a friend goes to light a cigarette only to be told that it is non‐smoking restaurant. Seems that times are changing and the new is encroaching on the old. Despondently we head back out into the cold to try and find a more smoker friendly establishment. To be honest, it's not very hard but we find ourselves once again back in the Old Town.

There is something intangible in the air. The night is bursting at the seams although the streets are quiet. Groups laugh as they spill out of the underground letting a part of the mayhem escape into the night. Falling behind, I brace against the cold and inhale on my last cigarette. Stubbing it out on the cobbles that have seen so much, I wonder what stories a Polish stone would tell. I have a feeling that I've only scratched the surface of the true Krakow. But maybe, as a full time traveller and part‐time smoker, that was all I was ever destined to do.

You want visit Auschwitz? TNT Travel Writing Awards 2009

TNT Travel Writing & Photography Awards — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:12:00 GMT

You want visit Auschwitz?

By Louise Beech

“You want visit Auschwitz?” The man wasn’t Polish, though I couldn’t place the accent. Krakow station was cold, busy, and my husband keen to leave. “Only 290 zloty’s - I take you and wait for you.” It was barely £50 to drive us around all day in an old Mazda. Rather recklessly, we got in.

He was Russian - I couldn’t possibly spell his wonderful-sounding name. We drove through Polish villages, where head-scarfed women sold print dresses at the roadside, and in broken English he punctuated this gentle view with stories of children parting with shoes and toys before being herded into ‘showers’ and gassed.

Unpronounceable Name said he liked Dire Straits, the rock band, and sang the chorus of a familiar song for us. My husband had hidden our money in his sock – just in case.

“Here,” said our guide after an hour; I was disappointed at the uniform museum and tree-lined car-park. Auschwitz, prettied up for guests. “I wait here, take you to Bikenhau when done.” He pulled out a flask, put his feet on the dashboard.

I knew he’d be there upon our return – we’d not paid him yet.

Inside we were given booklets and steered with other curious tourists into a cinema. Lights dimmed, vintage film rolled, and hollow faces begged us to see the horrors of the death camps. The finale was attendants opening huge side-doors, spilling sunlight into the auditorium - and there it was. The real Auschwitz, its iron gates spelling “Arbeit Macht Frei.” Work brings freedom. We walked the path of those prisoners sixty years before, but with cameras and food and choice. We could leave.

But we didn’t.

Back to back, rows and rows of featureless barracks lined the gravel path. Watch towers looked on, skeletal and foreboding. I imagined dogs yapping, their icy breath smoking the night air, booted guards shouting orders, chaos and fear. In the courtyard, where prisoners were pulled from narrow cells and (if they were lucky) shot, a young girl wept as she lit a red candle. The flame wriggled as though trying to escape.

I thought I could hear Dire Straits playing, but it was just the wind.

A brick chimney demanded attention - the incinerator - and morbid curiosity drove us inside. I could smell burning. A stone oven dominated the room, its ceiling charred black. “Thousand of bodies were transferred from the gas chambers into these ovens,” the guide told a group of school children who ate sandwiches and shuffled and nudged for the best view.

Back in the car our Russian friend was singing. “I love – what you call - karaoke!” He turned down the radio, offered boiled sweets and drove three miles to the bigger camp, Birkenhau.

Jews, criminals and homosexuals arrived here on cramped trains, staggering onto the alien platform. Hated and homeless, they were separated into two groups – those that could work and those that couldn’t. The latter marched to the gas chambers; we ambled to the surprisingly guiltless and nondescript cylindrical buildings. They were forced inside; we returned to the path, to the car, our guilt at being hungry and having sandwiches to eat too much.

Volleys in Poland. TNT Travel Writing Awards 2009

TNT Travel Writing & Photography Awards — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:42:00 GMT

Volleys in Poland
By Christopher Von Wolf
I bought a pair of brand new Volleys for the trip but I couldn't wear them because of the ice and snow. They were so white, so clean and I wanted to wear them to the restaurant and get them dirty but instead I had to wear my boots. The food in Lithuania was good but the table service, like everywhere in Eastern Europe, was terrible. A hangover from communism and an economy that was not built around customer service, consumer satisfaction or receptive to supply and demand.

When we were in the Baltic's and Russia I cursed the snow and the ice, but now it was melting. It was slush and mud that stained your jeans and ruined the footpath. No one likes it and there is nothing you can do about it. We went to Poland by bus and when we woke up there was no more snow, no more ice. I missed it immediately. I missed the shades of grey and dry as a bone apart from some drizzling rain. There was no more winter wonderland, just a grey mood that seemed to be everywhere in Warsaw.

Warsaw - a city built from the rubble of its former life. Everything a synthetic echo of the past. It is wide roads, long distances between things and little more useful than a railway interchange. Just a place on the way to somewhere else.

The McDonald's in Warsaw was the same as McDonald's everywhere else with the exception of curly fries and mayonnaise. But this is Second World democracy - the freedom to sell your own culture and buy another. The same way we eat Thai food back home. These republics were communist the day before last and founded just yesterday but they feel like they've been selling Coke for generations.

We got the train to Krackow and played cards and put our heads out the window. It took longer than expected and we wondered if we were on the right train or if we had missed our stop. But we hadn't and we arrived an hour late in the dark.

It felt too normal, too familiar, too much like home outside the museums. People speaking English in the pub and on the street...Irishmen in Irish pubs, kebab shops, a tourist information board on every corner and a restaurant menu I can understand. Like I'm just a passenger, like it just belongs to you and me and everything was made for you and me - and it is. A natural response to keep tourists happy, good reviews and repeat visits. This is the new Poland, the new Eastern Europe, the new Second World. A functioning free market in equilibrium where supply always meets demand, impervious to the pressure to preserve their own culture. A whole country reduced to a speciality item on a McDonald's menu.

We took the bus to Auschwitz, bought tickets for a guide and waited for the tour to start. Auschwitz is two tonnes of human hair in a room, a room full of children's shoes, gas chambers, ovens and chimneys. But as terrifying as it is, Birkenau stays in your mind. It is the defeat of reason, an absolute zero. The neat tidy rows of crumbling barracks and the parallel lines of the railway tracks that lead all the way to the gas chambers. It was empty and efficient. It was an industry, just a factory, just numbers on paper. So I left feeling flat, my brand new Volleys stained in the mud.

Great place to stay in Poland

Jevgienijas — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:57:46 GMT

Together with my family we spent a lovely week at the polish virgin coast of the baltic sea. Traveling around eastern europe we found a peceful spit of land at the north of Poland (only 1hour drive from Gdańsk) It was hard to belive there still can be such a tranquil land in Europe. We staied in a small hotel www.zacisze.pomorze.pl in Sztutowo (famous for it's II WW nazi concentration camp) Local people very friendly despite as we found out later we was the only foriners in the village since 2005 so they looked at us bit like from the distance, but still very friendly. Realy worth seeing Jevgienijas (Latvia)

Info in English about Poland

Edi — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:45:18 GMT

Before I went to Poland I could not find more about this country in English, not to mention Greek, which I speak. And then I came across great mag Discover Poland - full of info, old issues are on the net www.discoverpl.com. I believe it it actually available in the UK as I picked it up on Oxford Street.

Budget skiing in Zakoplane, Poland

Jahn Vannisselroy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:40:00 GMT

As I look up into the clear Polish sky, I’m able to confirm those are definitely my feet making an arc through it.

Mid-cartwheel, time slows down, and I hope my instructor is still heading downhill.

Perhaps he missed this spectacular display of snowboarding incompetence? Maybe I can jump back up and he’ll be none the wiser?

Winded, I discreetly scan around me from my low-profile ground position. He’s 10m away, watching me intently.

Oh well. Luckily, Gaz is a professional, and he spares my blushes by keeping a diplomatically straight face.

I think better of claiming it was a ‘trick’, and we crack on.

I take comfort in the thought that even if I break an arm or a leg, at least I didn’t sacrifice one to get here.

This is Zakopane — as low on cost as it is on the tourist radar.

Outside the Euro-zone, the prices mean it’s very much within my low boarding budget.

Zakopane is located in a national park in the High Tatras in the very south of Poland, part of the extensive Carpathian mountain range that straddles the border with Slovakia.

We’re only a two-hour bus ride from Kraków, but despite this proximity, the town remains relatively undiscovered by foreigners.

Later, over a cheap and delicious fondue in the Little Switzerland restaurant, I ask Alan Garcia, ski holiday specialist Sunshine World founder, why the ski scene in this part of Poland isn’t more developed?

“Prior to 1989, and the fall of Communism, they had no private enterprise,” he explains.

“Compared to western Europe, they’re still relatively inexperienced here.”

Several years ago Garcia saw a niche in the market and started to bring travellers over from the UK:

“Now we bring the most foreign tourists here, but it’s still not actually that many.”

While the outside temperature creeps towards -17˚C, we twirl our pieces of meat in hot bubbling cheese, and wash it down with pints of piwo (beer) for 6 złoty (about £1.30).

It’s a welcome treat after a lunch that was filling, but plain.

The national dish is bigos, a hearty winter stew, mainly comprised of cabbage. A generous portion is only 11 złotys on the slopes but — as you might expect with a cabbage-based dish — it is a bit bland.

Back in the restaurant, we dip a platter of fruit in melted chocolate.

It’s heaven. Just when we think things can’t get any better, the bill arrives: it’s the equivalent of £12 each.

“Imagine what this would cost in the Alps!” says Garcia, who has at least £1’s worth on his face.

The only sour note comes when I mention to another guest that I’m writing about Zakopane, spreading the word.

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” she says.

After her first week as a skier she’s already feeling protective towards the town.

Everyone I talk to has some sort of Polish friend or contact who suggested Zakopane, and we all feel like we’ve stumbled across a little secret.

Post-dinner chat turns to the euro and price rises. History has been cruel to Poland, and we agree we can’t begrudge the Poles making a bit of money.

And for now, we have great food, cheap beer and good company.

Despite the afternoon’s aerial antics, both my legs are in full working order; so with 10 bar-clubs to choose from it’s dancing next.

The fondue calories justified, we waddle happily into the night.

Budget breaks

Beyond the Euro-zone

The rise of the euro means ski favourites like Andorra are becoming too expensive for many snow-lovers.

But there are other resorts where you can get that downhill rush without your savings following you.

The Slovak Tatras are worth a look, though the nightlife is quieter.

Sky Europe flies to nearby Poprad. Betony Garner of the Ski Club of Great Britain recommends Jasna (see www.travelslovakia.sk), further south in the Low Tatras.

Eastwards along the Carpathian mountains, Romania’s Poiana Brasov recently topped a Post Office value-for-money poll.

It’s a couple of hours outside the capital Bucharest, which is served by Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air.

“Bansko in Bulgaria has some hi-tech lifts now and enough terrain to keep you entertained for a week,” says Garner.

Plus, good package deals can be found here.

For other cheap deals, she also suggests Kranjska Gora in Slovenia.

It’s worth remembering that these locations are cheaper because they’re still developing, so keep your expectations realistic.

But if you still can’t bear to turn your back on the Alps, minimise overheads with cheap ski equipment rental, Ski Republic offers 2-for-1 deals when pre-booking online.

cheapest tour services in Poland

Jenny — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:25:15 GMT

Hello,

Watch out when you're travelling across Poland for ripping tour companies, as there are hundreds of them. Choose only big ones, definitely the cheapest I found was www.krakowtraveltours.com - operating in Krakow and Warsaw as well. Country is beautiful and people are fantastic. Go Poland!

Jenny, NZ

Poland accommodation

Janine Jorgensen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:43:00 GMT

Sopot

Hotel Maryla

If the idea of slumming it in another hostel makes you cringe, but the Hilton’s out of the question, head to the seaside playground of Sopot, in Poland’s far north.

For the price of a dodgy hotel room elsewhere, you can spend a night 200m from the beach at Hotel Maryla — a 40-bed Secesian villa that was once the home of Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany.

Its royal charm, comfy beds, deep bath tubs and free cooked breakfast offer a break from the usual bunk bed and won’t blow the budget.

The hotel is a 15-minute walk from Sopot’s main street, Monte Cassino — a place for people watching, sunbathing, consuming gelati or a walk along Europe’s longest wooden pier.

From £19 per night. See www.hotel.sopot.pl.

Best Hostel in Poland

Christina Travis — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:27:42 GMT

One of the best hostels I've ever stayed in was Mundo Hostel in Krakow. Super friendly staff, clean and £10 per night for a private double room. We had shared bathrooms but they were the best bathrooms I've ever seen. Plus they made us breakfast every morning and were so helpful in organising Auschwitz tour.

Definitely worth a big recommendation!

http://www.mundohostel.eu/

What to do in Poland

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Poland in 2-3 days

Fly into Krakow, spend one day at Auschwitz, one day checking out Krakow and on the third day, go to the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

In 7-9 days

As above, on day four take the train to Warsaw (three hours), on day five take a train to Malbork, on day six take a train to Gdansk for a two-day stay.

Two weeks +

Spend the first three days in Krakow, then take a train to Wroclaw for two days. Take a train to Warsaw for a day then catch a train to Bialowieza to visit the Bialowieza National Park.

Spend two days there then take a bus to the Great Masurian Lakes and stay for another two days.

Take a bus or train to Malbork to visit Malbork Castle then a train on to Gdansk and take a few days to explore the Polish Baltic Coast.

Getting Around Poland

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:26:00 GMT

Getting There

AIR

Poland’s main airports are in Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Wroclaw.

TRAIN

Poland has good train links to the rest of Europe. Check Rail Europe for timetables and maps.

Getting Around

Trains will be your best friend in Poland. It’s cheap and reliable to get around by train, except in mountainous areas, where you can get not-so-frequent but comfortable buses.

Driving in Poland is similar to driving in the rest of Europe. Drive on the right-hand side of the road.

You will find rental companies like Avis, Budget and Hertz in towns and cities.

Polish Food and Drink

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:15:00 GMT

Food

Over the years, food in Poland has been influenced Jewish, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian and German traditions. Wherever you go in Poland, you won’t go hungry. Polish fare is typically meat, potato and dumpling-heavy.
Try these:

•    Koltel schabowy (pork), potatoes, hot cabbage (traditional Polish meal)
•    Barszcz (beetroot soup)
•    Pierogi (dumplings)
•    Golabki
•    Kielbasa krakowska (sausage)

Drink

Local beers include Zywiec, Okocim and EB. Cheap wine is around but not widely drunk by Poles as they prefer vodka, the number one Polish drink, which they say they invented.

Vodka in Poland comes in all sorts of colours.