The Road to Budapest - Day 11

31/03/09
I had the day to myself today, to do as I please around the town of Krakow. The old town centre is bordered by parkland and pathways, and our hotel sat on the outside of this ring, so I thought it a good place to start. The town used to be the capital of Poland and used to be surrounded by a wall and fortresses, some of which are still visible. In the 12th Century the town was virtually destroyed by the Tartar invasion, so they were able to rebuild the town on basically a blank canvas. Hence, the town is very easily navigated – the streets are wide and they are set out in a grid around the central market square. On the outskirt of the Old Town is the Wawel Castle. I walked up and into the grounds of the castle and was in awe of some of the buildings that form the castle. It was also good to find out that a very important person used to reside in this town - Pope John Paul II used to be the Archbishop in Krakow. Needless to say, there is a statue of him on the grounds of the Castle and many souvenirs are dedicated to him. The other major star of the town is the Dragon ... the Castle is built upon the Wawel Hill, above the cave of the dragon. It is believed that many knights tried to kill the dragon, but it was the wit of ‘Krakus’ who finally succeeded by poisoning the food of the dragon. I love stories like these, it gives the town a bit of a twist to its history. The view from the castle was nice, it overlooks both the modern parts of the city on the other side of the river, and back over the Old Town centre towers and steeples.
I kept walking along the outskirts of the Old Town and then headed out to the Jewish Quarter. I viewed Isaac’s Synagogue, the High Synagogue and the Old Synagogue. None of which were very extravagant buildings, but the museums within are supposed to be very good – they were closed today though. The Old Jewish Cemetery was open, so I wandered inside the wall of the cemetery for a look around. Parts of the wall are actually made up of broken pieces of headstone, and the headstones all had little metal caps on them to help stop damage to the faces of them. There must have been some important people buried there, as there were five headstones under a tree that were fenced off and had boxes for the lighting of candles beneath them. Some Jewish men were standing in front of them praying and rocking back and forth. I felt kind of out of place, so I kept a distance away from that area until they were gone. Outside the entrance to the cemetery are some plaques, one of which was in English – it read: “Thou Shall Not kill; In Loving Memory of the Ferber Family; 88 Members Murdered by the Nazi’s Holocaust 1939 – 1945; May Their Souls be Eternally Blessed; Dedicated by the Survivors; Fred Ferber; Roman Ferber”. I found it quite touching, especially considering what I had seen the previous day at Auschwitz, and there must have been so many more dedication like that one, they were all in Jewish text though, so I couldn’t read them. Oskar Schindler’s Factory is in Krakow too, and they have recently turned it into a museum of the history of Krakow. Unfortunately it is a little way away from where I was and outside the bounds of my map. I passed the Temple on my way back to the Old Town, next to it is the Price of Wales Community Centre – The World Jewish Relief Krakow Jewish Community Centre. I was quite surprised to see that there; I am not sure how old it is because the building looks quite modern.
Back in the Old Town I walked to the market square and listed to the bugle player who plays a tune every hour from the top of the St Mary’s Basilica. The bugle continues to call every hour to commemorate the 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city. I stopped to listen to some Peruvian guys playing the pan flute; it was very beautiful, relaxing music – so I decided to buy one of their CD’s. While purchasing the CD one of the guys tried to ask me out, but alas – I was already busy that night and the following day (got out of that one). They have a shop dedicated to handmade Christmas decorations – most of them were very beautiful. I purchased a bauble – a red one with a scene of the Old Town on it and the name Krakow painted on the other side. I just hope I don’t break it in my future travels.
I met up with the group again for dinner, and later decided to see a movie - they were playing Gran Turino in English with Polish sub-titles. The movie was good and it was fun to see a movie in a foreign country.