The Land Of Poles

OHHHHHHH MAN !!! The real nitty gritty trip is gettin' goin' once more !

Getting into eastern europe really gives me another cultural slap in the face (in reference to Morocco). Western and central europe isn't too far out of my comfort zone as it resembles North America in many regards and I could get along with the languages except of course german. With the help of Claudia I got a few german terms down and I could atleast interact for the pleases and thank yous and numbers, but oh my god !!!!!!!! Slavic languages are way out of my league.......It is so hard to remember the words until you see them written down and practice the most basic terms a good ten times before it sticks. That's why I completely love it. Morocco was a real eye opener since I felt out of my element, and as I said, eastren europe starting with Poland really got my awe + discovery juices flowin' ! I know I am gonna love the rest of "eastern" europe. I say "eastern" cause it's not really eastern cause the even more tough countries like Bosnia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, and the Russian countries are the real east, and that' ll have to be for another time.

The fundamental basics of travelling is to get out of your comfort zone and experience something new and bewildering that will mark you for life; It can be in a rough way that will make you reflect and realize how lucky you are to have what you have, or it can be in a smooth way that will make you appreciate the newly discovered culture and people on a higher level. The most amazing thing is that in these formerly "unknown" countries, you get a perfect dose of everything you need it seems. A little slap in the face, then a loving embrace, follwed by an immense visual and spiritual gift, and finish it off with a good old kick in the ass to wake you up and realize where you're at and what you have and what you really need in life.

What's also cool is that these countries are still rather unknown compared to the more "civilised" ones as less people travel there, thus there's less info on them, less mouth to ear suggestions on what to see and do, and consequently, there's so much more to discover for yourself. Tourists haven't completely killed the authenticity yet with the capitalist approach which leads to what a Backpacker is trying to avoid....COMFORT !..... It's a huge blank slate, and thus anything written on it will be wonderful!!!

Thus on that note, we may begin with

Krakow


Andre and I landed in Krakow, and took the train into the city center. We weren't sure at first where we were going to stay but had a few suggestions from our little europe hand guides. It wasn't worth the slight negative contemplation as you're invaded as soon as you step off the train by little ladies offering you a room at their house (which is totally legal and safe). Even better, there are little kiosks along the exiting platforms with people representing various hostels throughout Krakow. Talk about having choices coming out of the ying yang !

We opted for a cheaper yet appealing, and with full facilities hostel. The "Good Bye Lenin" (the name just flew out at us and stuck) hostel turned out to be amazing and was a perfect trampoline to jump into all of the goods Krakow, and Polacks have to offer. To start off, since we decided to stay for atleast 3 nights, they paid the taxi to the hostel, but it was still only about a 10 minute walk from the old town, city center. We arrived upon the door man, a bronze bust of Lenin all pimped out (pic left), staring at us with a welcoming party glare. The staff then showed us around and we were hooked. They barred off a 6 person dorm so that we could use it as our own, we had free washing machines, internet, kitchen access, breakfast, and a kickass brand new bar !!! (pic right) And that's where my love affair with Poland and the rest of the central eastern european counries kicks in...........

It's all about the beer !!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh Beer !!!! It's so friggin' cheap here that you feel like you're missing out if you don't drink atleast one with every meal. And it's really good beer. No molson or Labatt crap. It comes to about $1.50 for a liter of beer if you buy it from the grocery or from the liquor store (as the Polacks write it, pic right). Yahh baby ! The Alko-Hole !! Beautiful ! It's really nice cause going out to bars doesn't mean throwing a bunch of many away on booze. The best part was that the hostel bar was open as long as there were people, and the beer, and other drinks, were really cheap there. So.......we hung out at the bar almost every night cause the atmosphere was perfect and it was also the best way to meet the fellow hostelers. We had such a good time in Krakow, and were so well received at the hostel by the amazing staff that we stayed 5 nights finally.

Polish people are awesome and so welcoming. I was pleasantly surprised! When you approach them, there are always rather drab and neutral looking, and you think twice before bothering them, but as soon as you ask a question, they smile right back and tell you all you need. Random people always give you the important 411 and help you out. Really impressive!

Krakow is a beautiful city. The architecture is rough yet grand, and the old town is beautiful. A little too touristy, but with good reason. The main market square (pic left) has a nice open feel and you can go through the main market building to feast your eyes on nice artisan handcrafts and cool souvenirs. Not the crap you usually find but cool crap. Stuff that is really different and that is completely representative of the culture. So I couldn't help myself and got gifts for me and my family. If it wasn't enough that the city is beautiful, I have to walk around and have a great time discovering it with this little hot number (pic right). Damn is she ever easy on the eyes.

Getting back to the city, we also checked out the Wawel Castle grounds, but only entered the cathedral. It was a little different from the regular catholic churches I was used to. A little more on the dark side, but very appealing nonetheless (pic left of natural light hitting alter, and pic right of sculpted wall inside church). Quite nice, and so were the surrounding statues (pic left) and gutters (pic right). Krakow is the city of kings, and it also has an extensive folkloric history with dragons.




Of course, our first night in Poland, we had a perfect and cheap indiginous meal; Some borsch, and cabbage rolls, and then our second night, we went with the classic Polish liquid dinner (pic left) with of course, perogies (or perigloties as some people call them....inside joke).

We had so much fun checking out the city (pic right of market at night, and pic left of street worker cleaning the tram tracks), and relaxing and waking up late at the hostel. The staff was just too amazing, and we also made an awesome Aussie buddy, Matt. A well travelled dude that we partied with and checked out a few things with. A real stand up guy! I'm tellin' ya, Aussie's and Canucks just get along.


Then came a must visit, but not the most fun place in the world.......Aushwitz. It was one of the reasons to go to Krakow in the 1st place. Chucky Lepine had done this trip last summer and had given me the interest in the Krakow / Aushwitz deal. We decided to take the guided tour which was kinda worth it for all of the info, but you can't keep track of all the dates and facts the guide spits at you. We kinda rush through some of the buildings so it gives the visit more of a trivial, sort of "park" feel, and that wasn't cool. You need the time to wander around and let it all sink in cause it doesn't seem possible that torment like this actually happened, especially only about 60 years ago. It's not as if It wasn't effective, or that the tour veered you away from the point of visiting a place like this, but It was a little hurried.

This place is not cool ! It was a beautiful sunny day, you can see the green grass everywhere, and you get such a raunchy contrasting vibe when you look at the barbed wire fences (pic right) with the electric warning signs, and imagine how it must have been. Seeing the gas chambers, crematoriams, remnants of human hair by the tons, pictures of inmates, and the smells in the rooms. It's really bone chilling, and you always wonder, why? The most impressive thing is upon entry to the camp as over the archway it reads in german (pic left) "work will set you free". Quite an experience but I won't go any further into it. A little too morbid and you have to see it for yourself. Let's please move on.



Zakopane

We decided to head through the Tatra mountains in the south of Poland, on our way to the Slovak side of the Tatras. Zakopane is a cute little village that is too much on the tourist side, but it's a great hub in order to go hiking in the Tatras. We went down by bus from Krakow with our new amigo, Matt (pic right). The mountain Polish countryside and houses are surprisingly beautiful. It reminds me of Swiss, or any Alp style houses in the mountains. Made of wood with the triangle top, little balcony, and rich colours. And check out the view we had from our little hotel room (pic left). The friggin Tatras in our back yard. The hotel was perfect as Andre and I had our own room for 60 zloty a night (about 10 bucks each), private bathroom (that's a first), and the old lady that ran the place did my laundry and folded it and everything for free.

We weren't in the best shape so we did a very chill hike to the lake called the "SEA EYE", Morskie Oko. The hike was perfect to get us back into shape and it was quite beautiful as you can see from the various pics of the trail, funky plants, and mountain range. It was a perfect day in terms of weather, and it felt good to feel the old buns o' steel pumpin' again.


And then we finally got to the Morski Oko, and it was worth it. A glacial lake that was so fresh and clear.......reminded me of the Pyrenees a bit. And it was great to check it out with m'lady (pic left).

So that does it for Poland..........for now..........I loved it so much and can't wait to go back some day.

Next.........comes Slovakia..............from the southern side of the Tatras............It's all good baby!

Talk to ya soon,

Raffau (Rafael in Polish)