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Posted On Friday, May 31, 2013 at
at
9:49 PM
by Alvin
Leaving Prague on an early train, we passed through the first major Polish city - Katowice which we found to be modern and we felt a really good vibe associated with this country. Perhaps it was the seamless, clean and efficient train services and interchanges along the way, or may be it was the exciting mix of modern facilities and the fascinating prospects of coming closer towards one of Europe's most pleasant medieval cities - Krakow. Straight off the train, we were greeted with a fantastically new, modern, airy and bright shopping complex and we thought for a moment we had disembarked at a wrong station. No - further on as we exited the mall into the sunny glare, we found Krakow, pretty much as we had expected - full of historical monuments, majestic town squares, grand and friendly. We took time to savour the magical atmosphere of the beautiful squares, churches, alleyways and of course the Wawel Castle. We had a superb Italian dinner in a restaurant on a side street, located two floors down in a cellar - we were their only customers in the cosy candle-lit dining room surrounded by huge wine barrels ! We capped the night off with an hour's stroll in the old town square centred around an elegant fountain and the square was waxed in atmospheric street lamp lightings under a clear sky.
The following morning we took a bus to Auschwitz - needless to say, the name and place you would recognise as the location where one of the worst atrocities of the (non) Human Race took place. We didn't stay long at these immense grounds, as the concentration camps, gas chambers, barbed wires etc. looked forlorn and were bleak and grey and we could almost picture the traumatic events being replayed across the fields. So, back to Krakow proper, we took a city tram to the suburb of Nowa Huta, located about 10km from Krakow, where remnants of the Communists era still stood - mirrored twin tower buildings, vast concrete apartment blocks and (missing) Lenin
statues. All in all, the sojourn into Poland was very worthwhile as
within a few days, we saw eye-catching medieval towers, desolate WWII
prison camps and Soviet-inspired and planned city suburbs !
Posted On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at
at
9:34 PM
by Alvin
The comfortable Air France flights took around 14 hours to fly us out to this beautiful city. When we decided to visit Prague, little did we know that May and June were the months for Beer Festivals and Music Concerts ! We did skip the beer tents as we had not much time and would not have liked to be walking around in a daze, after having a few litres of the famous Czech beers ! We stayed in the newer parts of town - Nove Mesto and found it perfectly enjoyable to stroll down the elegant Prague streets to Stare Mesto (Old Town) where there were the city squares and the Jewish Quarter; we walked along the Vltava River, passing many outdoor free concerts and of course, crossing Charles Bridge and up the Castle gave us a good idea of Prague's many attractions and dimensions. We also took a morning train to Kutna Hora, lying about an hour's train ride from Prague to experience the orderly and petite old town with a number of attractions including the Cathedral Of St Barbara, monastery and museums. Not bad going, consider we were jet-lagging and getting used to the longer day lights - one beautiful city !
Leaving Prague on an early train, we passed through the first major Polish city - Katowice which we found to be modern and we felt a really good vibe associated with this country. Perhaps it was the seamless, clean and efficient train services and interchanges along the way, or may be it was the exciting mix of modern facilities and the fascinating prospects of coming closer towards one of Europe's most pleasant medieval cities - Krakow. Straight off the train, we were greeted with a fantastically new, modern, airy and bright shopping complex and we thought for a moment we had disembarked at a wrong station. No - further on as we exited the mall into the sunny glare, we found Krakow, pretty much as we had expected - full of historical monuments, majestic town squares, grand and friendly. We took time to savour the magical atmosphere of the beautiful squares, churches, alleyways and of course the Wawel Castle. We had a superb Italian dinner in a restaurant on a side street, located two floors down in a cellar - we were their only customers in the cosy candle-lit dining room surrounded by huge wine barrels ! We capped the night off with an hour's stroll in the old town square centred around an elegant fountain and the square was waxed in atmospheric street lamp lightings under a clear sky.
The following morning we took a bus to Auschwitz - needless to say, the name and place you would recognise as the location where one of the worst atrocities of the (non) Human Race took place. We didn't stay long at these immense grounds, as the concentration camps, gas chambers, barbed wires etc. looked forlorn and were bleak and grey and we could almost picture the traumatic events being replayed across the fields. So, back to Krakow proper, we took a city tram to the suburb of Nowa Huta, located about 10km from Krakow, where remnants of the Communists era still stood - mirrored twin tower buildings, vast concrete apartment blocks and (missing) Lenin
statues. All in all, the sojourn into Poland was very worthwhile as
within a few days, we saw eye-catching medieval towers, desolate WWII
prison camps and Soviet-inspired and planned city suburbs !
The comfortable Air France flights took around 14 hours to fly us out to this beautiful city. When we decided to visit Prague, little did we know that May and June were the months for Beer Festivals and Music Concerts ! We did skip the beer tents as we had not much time and would not have liked to be walking around in a daze, after having a few litres of the famous Czech beers ! We stayed in the newer parts of town - Nove Mesto and found it perfectly enjoyable to stroll down the elegant Prague streets to Stare Mesto (Old Town) where there were the city squares and the Jewish Quarter; we walked along the Vltava River, passing many outdoor free concerts and of course, crossing Charles Bridge and up the Castle gave us a good idea of Prague's many attractions and dimensions. We also took a morning train to Kutna Hora, lying about an hour's train ride from Prague to experience the orderly and petite old town with a number of attractions including the Cathedral Of St Barbara, monastery and museums. Not bad going, consider we were jet-lagging and getting used to the longer day lights - one beautiful city !
