Athens was a stoppover on the way to Turkey - no we dıdnt do the ıslands - just more ruıns. (btw ı cannot fınd a few punctuatıon marks on hte keyboard - sorry)
Anyways - we were doıng a 2 day power tour of Athens... turns out thıs ıs probably all you need to see the maın sıtes. We hıked up the acropolıs and were devastated to see the Parthenon (or Pantheon... ı get confused between the one ın Rome and the one here) covered ın scaffoldıng - oh well plenty of other temples to see. Luckıly we have also been to the Brıtısh museum earlıer ın our travels so we could recall some of the mıssıng pıeces that should be back ın Athens.
We also managed to see the orıgınal Olympıc stadıum whıch was small but ımpressıve ın all ıts marble.
That was Greece for us. Dean wıll put ın some photos at some stage....
Friday, June 23, 2006
Is this Italy?
Napoli is cool. Dean and I instantly took a liking to it. This is probably because it reminded us so much of SE Asia. Street stalls, motorbikes riding on foot paths, groups of locals getting together, ahhh we like this place:)
Napoli is surrounded by steephills so we took a furnicular to check out the views. A little hazy, but still pretty cool. We saw Capri from here too.
For the next few days we did day trips and then came back to Naples to enjoy the atmosphere. On one evening, we joined the locals hoarded into a cafe with a big screen to watch Italy draw with U.S.A. The body language and the 'what was that's ' was brilliant. Loved the place:)
Pompeii - Feeling tired of audioguides we opted for an ageıng archeologıcal tour guide.... after tellıng everyone to ask many questıons we soon learnt not to do thıs. He seemed to get offended at every question. Lıked his tangents too put stıull gave us a good pıcture of what happened ın 79A.D and what lıfe ın Pompeıı was lıke before the whole town was covered ın Pumice stone and gas.
After Pompeii a vısıt to another 'uncovered' cıty was ın order - the Herculeon was also covered ın 79A.D. I actually preferred these ruıns because you could stıll see some of the wall paıntıngs that they used to have paınted all over theır walls - ınsıde and out. These guys were serıous home decorators. Many floors also stıll had theır mosaıcs floorıng. Thıs place was defınately worth it.
Now food. The pizza, which Napoli claims it invented, was delicious. Typical of Italian pizza, there are few ingredients on top, the tomato paste is just crushed tomato and the herbs and selected topping or two add the extra flavour. Dean will still say Australia has the best pizza,but we both enjoyed the pizzas of Napoli, and yes, there was plenty had:).
The pasta was also good, and I was amused when I heard a 4 year old eat her pasta and say 'al dente', hehe.
Gelati - Dean took my advise and had at least one a day, I was sulky because I missed it:(
Back in Roma, Dean did learn to ask how much a Gelati was. On receiving a 3-scooper, he was told 'that will be 6 euro' (approx. $AU10), gawking Dean went to the counter to pay. Fairly typical of Italian service, the counter guy, busy chatting on his mobile, took Dean's 20 euro, and then gave him change as if Dean had given him 50 euro. Dean came out, told me this, considered going in and telling them, then remembered the robbery price... he kept walking, happy to be paid to eat Gelati.
Karma has it's way though. On leaving Napoli, the metro machines were broken and Dean and I received a fine for not a having a ticket (34 euro). We then ran to our train enroute to Brindisi... the wrong one to the middle of nowhere. Ended up on our route though (whew).
Sick of trains, we skipped our connection to Brindisi and caught a ferry from Bari to Patras, Greece instead.
Napoli is surrounded by steephills so we took a furnicular to check out the views. A little hazy, but still pretty cool. We saw Capri from here too.
For the next few days we did day trips and then came back to Naples to enjoy the atmosphere. On one evening, we joined the locals hoarded into a cafe with a big screen to watch Italy draw with U.S.A. The body language and the 'what was that's ' was brilliant. Loved the place:)
Pompeii - Feeling tired of audioguides we opted for an ageıng archeologıcal tour guide.... after tellıng everyone to ask many questıons we soon learnt not to do thıs. He seemed to get offended at every question. Lıked his tangents too put stıull gave us a good pıcture of what happened ın 79A.D and what lıfe ın Pompeıı was lıke before the whole town was covered ın Pumice stone and gas.
After Pompeii a vısıt to another 'uncovered' cıty was ın order - the Herculeon was also covered ın 79A.D. I actually preferred these ruıns because you could stıll see some of the wall paıntıngs that they used to have paınted all over theır walls - ınsıde and out. These guys were serıous home decorators. Many floors also stıll had theır mosaıcs floorıng. Thıs place was defınately worth it.
Now food. The pizza, which Napoli claims it invented, was delicious. Typical of Italian pizza, there are few ingredients on top, the tomato paste is just crushed tomato and the herbs and selected topping or two add the extra flavour. Dean will still say Australia has the best pizza,but we both enjoyed the pizzas of Napoli, and yes, there was plenty had:).
The pasta was also good, and I was amused when I heard a 4 year old eat her pasta and say 'al dente', hehe.
Gelati - Dean took my advise and had at least one a day, I was sulky because I missed it:(
Back in Roma, Dean did learn to ask how much a Gelati was. On receiving a 3-scooper, he was told 'that will be 6 euro' (approx. $AU10), gawking Dean went to the counter to pay. Fairly typical of Italian service, the counter guy, busy chatting on his mobile, took Dean's 20 euro, and then gave him change as if Dean had given him 50 euro. Dean came out, told me this, considered going in and telling them, then remembered the robbery price... he kept walking, happy to be paid to eat Gelati.
Karma has it's way though. On leaving Napoli, the metro machines were broken and Dean and I received a fine for not a having a ticket (34 euro). We then ran to our train enroute to Brindisi... the wrong one to the middle of nowhere. Ended up on our route though (whew).
Sick of trains, we skipped our connection to Brindisi and caught a ferry from Bari to Patras, Greece instead.
Roma
Glaring sun, baking concrete, scores of guys trying to sell handbags, dodgy CDs, oh and massive, stunning marble buildings around every corner... si, it is Roma.
Even after a long day of transfers from Budapest to Rome, the pull of the Colosseum was too much for us. Well-lit at night, it's still impressive. Were returned the next day to checkout the inside. It is certainly a ruin inside, some due to decay, but also to 'recyclers' wanting to use the marble from the great stadium to build the Vatican and the Pantheon.
As you can see (ın the future when Dean has tıme to put ın pıcs...), you can still get a pretty good picture, especially when you have seen the Gladiator. One of the impressive things about it was that they had lifts to lift the poor animals up into the stadium - this is in 84 A.D (very impressive, especially when staff at hostels tell you it is not possible to have a lift in a 16th century building, so yes you do have to carry that pack five flights!!!).
Our sightseeing took a little detour here, it was the 12th of June and coming up to 3pm. I had seen the Colosseum before but not Aus v. Japan, so we escaped the searing heat and headed for the pub. Needless to say, Dean and I left the pub 90 minutes later, pretty excited. Being in Rome, it was straight back to sightseeing (So much to see). So we headed to the Palatine Hill - it was the 'Toorak' (rich bit) of the Roman Forum. Great views and very cool. Dean will also want me to add that I was a little hypo on the hill after the win, so I have to admit I wasn't paying too much attention to exactly what everything was or exactly which year B.C/A.D everything was built.
Tuesday 13th was the one day we didn't have to visit the Indian embassy in search for a visa. Having a whole day free, we headed to the Vatican, wearing clothes to cover our shoulders and poor Dean in jeans, just to meet the dress code (is this really just penance for tourists in the blazing 35 degree heat????).
Seeing a crazy-long line for the Sistine Chapel, we headed to St Pieter's Square and Basilica. Both very impressive. Saw all the marble from the Colosseum made into many columns in the square and then awed at the Basilica - lots of impressive scultures, especially from Bernini. We then joined the que for the crypt, saw JPII's crypt then joined the que to walk around the Basilica's dome - 551 steps. Our tower-walking over the last two months has certainly prepared us for this one - even in our masses of clothes! The mosaics at the top were certainly worth it. Afterall this queing though, the Sistine had closed. So we would come back.
Now it was time to see some of Rome's fountains before spending a couple of hours people-watching on the Spanish steps - one of the highlights of Rome. Lots of locals and lots of tourists.
Apologies for the length of this entry, but afterall, this is Rome and nothing is small:)
Two more sites were the Pantheon and a massive soldier monument that I had somehow never seen on my previous trip. This monument was built in the last couple of hundred years but is in the old Roman style, it is so imposing and impressive.
15th June - headed back to the Vatican to see the Sistine... bugger it was shut that day!!!! Will come back another day. What to do instead... see some Catacombs. This is where the Christians used to bury their dead (saves the above ground space for more buildings). Pretty cool. No skeletons but we did find out that the Christians would have annual feast down there, hmm.
End of day and after three visits (involving at least an hour of queing per vısıt) in four days, we pick up our India tourist visas, yay!!!!
16th June - Our last day in Rome. We have tickets to Napoli on a train leaving at12:27, we have to see the Sistine.We get up early and arrive at the Vatican at 8:45 - the time the chapel opens. We walk around 1km to the end of queue.... and wait.... we see the queue start to double over on itself.... 10am it starts to warm up and we are stuck next to an American guy trying to sound smart to his wife, questioning why this chapel is so good and why people que to see it and paintings like Van Gogh's Mona Lisa!!!!!!! At 11, we still have at least a third of the way to go..... we look at each other and I realise that I am going to have to travel to Rome a third time to see this chapel.
Now food.... yumyumyum. More on that in Naples.
Even after a long day of transfers from Budapest to Rome, the pull of the Colosseum was too much for us. Well-lit at night, it's still impressive. Were returned the next day to checkout the inside. It is certainly a ruin inside, some due to decay, but also to 'recyclers' wanting to use the marble from the great stadium to build the Vatican and the Pantheon.
As you can see (ın the future when Dean has tıme to put ın pıcs...), you can still get a pretty good picture, especially when you have seen the Gladiator. One of the impressive things about it was that they had lifts to lift the poor animals up into the stadium - this is in 84 A.D (very impressive, especially when staff at hostels tell you it is not possible to have a lift in a 16th century building, so yes you do have to carry that pack five flights!!!).
Our sightseeing took a little detour here, it was the 12th of June and coming up to 3pm. I had seen the Colosseum before but not Aus v. Japan, so we escaped the searing heat and headed for the pub. Needless to say, Dean and I left the pub 90 minutes later, pretty excited. Being in Rome, it was straight back to sightseeing (So much to see). So we headed to the Palatine Hill - it was the 'Toorak' (rich bit) of the Roman Forum. Great views and very cool. Dean will also want me to add that I was a little hypo on the hill after the win, so I have to admit I wasn't paying too much attention to exactly what everything was or exactly which year B.C/A.D everything was built.
Tuesday 13th was the one day we didn't have to visit the Indian embassy in search for a visa. Having a whole day free, we headed to the Vatican, wearing clothes to cover our shoulders and poor Dean in jeans, just to meet the dress code (is this really just penance for tourists in the blazing 35 degree heat????).
Seeing a crazy-long line for the Sistine Chapel, we headed to St Pieter's Square and Basilica. Both very impressive. Saw all the marble from the Colosseum made into many columns in the square and then awed at the Basilica - lots of impressive scultures, especially from Bernini. We then joined the que for the crypt, saw JPII's crypt then joined the que to walk around the Basilica's dome - 551 steps. Our tower-walking over the last two months has certainly prepared us for this one - even in our masses of clothes! The mosaics at the top were certainly worth it. Afterall this queing though, the Sistine had closed. So we would come back.
Now it was time to see some of Rome's fountains before spending a couple of hours people-watching on the Spanish steps - one of the highlights of Rome. Lots of locals and lots of tourists.
Apologies for the length of this entry, but afterall, this is Rome and nothing is small:)
Two more sites were the Pantheon and a massive soldier monument that I had somehow never seen on my previous trip. This monument was built in the last couple of hundred years but is in the old Roman style, it is so imposing and impressive.
15th June - headed back to the Vatican to see the Sistine... bugger it was shut that day!!!! Will come back another day. What to do instead... see some Catacombs. This is where the Christians used to bury their dead (saves the above ground space for more buildings). Pretty cool. No skeletons but we did find out that the Christians would have annual feast down there, hmm.
End of day and after three visits (involving at least an hour of queing per vısıt) in four days, we pick up our India tourist visas, yay!!!!
16th June - Our last day in Rome. We have tickets to Napoli on a train leaving at12:27, we have to see the Sistine.We get up early and arrive at the Vatican at 8:45 - the time the chapel opens. We walk around 1km to the end of queue.... and wait.... we see the queue start to double over on itself.... 10am it starts to warm up and we are stuck next to an American guy trying to sound smart to his wife, questioning why this chapel is so good and why people que to see it and paintings like Van Gogh's Mona Lisa!!!!!!! At 11, we still have at least a third of the way to go..... we look at each other and I realise that I am going to have to travel to Rome a third time to see this chapel.
Now food.... yumyumyum. More on that in Naples.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Tokaj
The wine buffs among us would have heard of Tokay, a sweet, fermented wine similar to muskat. News to us was that this wine originated in a place in Hungary called Tokaj. Tokaj became famous for it's wine in Hungary thanks to the Royalty's love of the wine. The special taste comes from letting the grapes dry a little longer on the vine and letting mould grow in the cellars where the wine is stored. Had some tastings, ate some cheese. All good.
Wine lesson over. All that rain from Slovakia was also happening in Hungary and the rivers were struggling. We saw lots of flooding during our border crossing and the rivers in Tokaj were also flooded - good to know when the hostel you are staying in is where these rivers conjoin:) and of course we were staying on the ground floor. I forgot about all this when i saw the showers. Unisex showers, no shower wall, curtain, or shower head. And Dean was so pleased at getting our cheapest accomodation... oh well. We managed to shower in between everyone else so our modesty is in-tact.
Like Zakopane, we managed a walk on our second day here. Although we had planned an organised tour (no such thing out here - this is purely relevant because I wore my casual, zero grip shoes). We followed a vague track but it was a little too slippery and full of mosquitos so we back-tracked, well-bitten. Taking on a second track, we were relieved to have found a much drier track. Half an hour in, all up hill, with yet another school group on our tails, the track got wet. And slippery. Being too slippery to turn back we kept walking. Letting the kids walk in front, as their teachers seemed to know something about this track (we had no idea how long this track went for or even where it ended up). Later in the track, up a very steep hill, Dean started slipping - teacher to the rescue. Still only half-way up the hill, because I am unfit and Dean has bigger legs, and I was slipping everywhere on my ballet shoes and feeling a bit grumpy, I admittedly enjoyed watching Speedy Big Legs dance a little. A little further on, we lost the school group and I lost my footing sliding right onto my butt in a pile of mud... hmmm, karma I suppose.
A little further on, the track was very vague (albeit drier), and all we knew was that we were high up on a hill with no sign of Tokaj and no idea of where we should be headed. So we turned back. Sticking to drier paths we took a couple of different turns, probably the ones we should have been on originally, and eventually were reassured we were on the right track back by an information sign. Breathing a sigh of relief, we read the sign. Being in Hungarian, all we could understand were the words and pictures of 'wild pigs' and 'viper snakes'. Hmm. I don't know how many of you have seen Lord of the Flies or Lost, but having seen both I am not a fan of wild pigs, especially not when we had been walking through long grass just like on Lost. Also, being an Australian, I know that one of the 9/10 deadly snakes of the world that we have, also goes by the name of Viper. I started walking a little quicker, especially through more and more long grass. I even forgot about my mud-covered butt as we walked back into town through the vineyards.
As you can probably figure, we made it through okay in Tokaj:).
Wine lesson over. All that rain from Slovakia was also happening in Hungary and the rivers were struggling. We saw lots of flooding during our border crossing and the rivers in Tokaj were also flooded - good to know when the hostel you are staying in is where these rivers conjoin:) and of course we were staying on the ground floor. I forgot about all this when i saw the showers. Unisex showers, no shower wall, curtain, or shower head. And Dean was so pleased at getting our cheapest accomodation... oh well. We managed to shower in between everyone else so our modesty is in-tact.
Like Zakopane, we managed a walk on our second day here. Although we had planned an organised tour (no such thing out here - this is purely relevant because I wore my casual, zero grip shoes). We followed a vague track but it was a little too slippery and full of mosquitos so we back-tracked, well-bitten. Taking on a second track, we were relieved to have found a much drier track. Half an hour in, all up hill, with yet another school group on our tails, the track got wet. And slippery. Being too slippery to turn back we kept walking. Letting the kids walk in front, as their teachers seemed to know something about this track (we had no idea how long this track went for or even where it ended up). Later in the track, up a very steep hill, Dean started slipping - teacher to the rescue. Still only half-way up the hill, because I am unfit and Dean has bigger legs, and I was slipping everywhere on my ballet shoes and feeling a bit grumpy, I admittedly enjoyed watching Speedy Big Legs dance a little. A little further on, we lost the school group and I lost my footing sliding right onto my butt in a pile of mud... hmmm, karma I suppose.
A little further on, the track was very vague (albeit drier), and all we knew was that we were high up on a hill with no sign of Tokaj and no idea of where we should be headed. So we turned back. Sticking to drier paths we took a couple of different turns, probably the ones we should have been on originally, and eventually were reassured we were on the right track back by an information sign. Breathing a sigh of relief, we read the sign. Being in Hungarian, all we could understand were the words and pictures of 'wild pigs' and 'viper snakes'. Hmm. I don't know how many of you have seen Lord of the Flies or Lost, but having seen both I am not a fan of wild pigs, especially not when we had been walking through long grass just like on Lost. Also, being an Australian, I know that one of the 9/10 deadly snakes of the world that we have, also goes by the name of Viper. I started walking a little quicker, especially through more and more long grass. I even forgot about my mud-covered butt as we walked back into town through the vineyards.
As you can probably figure, we made it through okay in Tokaj:).
Back to Slovakia
Hope you are are still awake:0)
Taking a bus from Zakopane to Poprad, thus going through the Tatras is highly recommended by me. Do it. It's 'Grand'.
Arriving in Poprad though, Dean and I saw only communist-era flats and a whole lot of nothing. Even the trees, big groups of them, were broken - apparently broken by a windy storm (yikes). We were meant to spend the night but easily agreed we should move onto Levoca, a walled town 20km away that was supposed to very pretty and a good base. It was as promised, although a bit on the very very quiet side. There was barely anyone there when we arrived. But we found a super cheap place to stay and headed for Spissky Hrad - Slovakia's largest Castle.
The castle was in ruin and was still massive. We were impressed. We made a friend on the way so it was nice to have some added company. Back in Levoca, we found the one restaurant open on a saturday night and had a yummy meal surrounded by locals. Nice little spot.
Next stop - Kosice.
More rain!!!!
Kosice has a very impressive water fountain synchronised to music, a nice church, and lovely town centre. After all this sight-seeing we were pretty hungry and both being tired of seeing cabbage, decided to hunt down a recommended mexican restaurant with 'good vegertarian fare and carnivorous meat dishes'. The menu read all-vegetarian but stated that on request of customers meat could be added - just not for Dean when he asked. So he decided to be a little game. He ordered bread stuffed with soy meat... even i won't eat soy meat, yuk. I ordered a vegie enchilada. Both plates arrived with 2 different types of cabbage on the side and beetroot. WRONG!!!!! Dean ate his strange dish, continually cursing the odour he swore was coming from the piles of cabbage and I ate my enchiladas - that looked like tacos and tasted like fajitas (yum). We both left behind the cabbage and beetroot....
Overlook the cabbage, enjoy your cheapest beer in Eastern Europe, enjoy the green hills of it's countryside, it's castles and friendly locals and you'll enjoy Slovakia like we did:)
Taking a bus from Zakopane to Poprad, thus going through the Tatras is highly recommended by me. Do it. It's 'Grand'.
Arriving in Poprad though, Dean and I saw only communist-era flats and a whole lot of nothing. Even the trees, big groups of them, were broken - apparently broken by a windy storm (yikes). We were meant to spend the night but easily agreed we should move onto Levoca, a walled town 20km away that was supposed to very pretty and a good base. It was as promised, although a bit on the very very quiet side. There was barely anyone there when we arrived. But we found a super cheap place to stay and headed for Spissky Hrad - Slovakia's largest Castle.
The castle was in ruin and was still massive. We were impressed. We made a friend on the way so it was nice to have some added company. Back in Levoca, we found the one restaurant open on a saturday night and had a yummy meal surrounded by locals. Nice little spot.
Next stop - Kosice.
More rain!!!!
Kosice has a very impressive water fountain synchronised to music, a nice church, and lovely town centre. After all this sight-seeing we were pretty hungry and both being tired of seeing cabbage, decided to hunt down a recommended mexican restaurant with 'good vegertarian fare and carnivorous meat dishes'. The menu read all-vegetarian but stated that on request of customers meat could be added - just not for Dean when he asked. So he decided to be a little game. He ordered bread stuffed with soy meat... even i won't eat soy meat, yuk. I ordered a vegie enchilada. Both plates arrived with 2 different types of cabbage on the side and beetroot. WRONG!!!!! Dean ate his strange dish, continually cursing the odour he swore was coming from the piles of cabbage and I ate my enchiladas - that looked like tacos and tasted like fajitas (yum). We both left behind the cabbage and beetroot....
Overlook the cabbage, enjoy your cheapest beer in Eastern Europe, enjoy the green hills of it's countryside, it's castles and friendly locals and you'll enjoy Slovakia like we did:)
More snow for me and D :)
Zakopane, in southern Poland shares the Tatra National Park with Slovakia. This is a gorgeous mountain range that I was keen to show Dean. I also knew he would like the many grill restaurants in town.
The weather had been a little sour for us lately, the sun and my tan had disappeared somewhere, replaced with lots of rain and soaked clothes. Zakopane was no exception.
On our first afternoon we glared at the downhill slopes next to town, thankful there was no snow this low, when Dean's eyes lit-up (this was after he saw the massive meat skewers). There was a toboggan ride. Watching Dean line up amongst the kids who were literally half his height was funny enough, seeing him get out with a bigger smile than the little 5 year old girl in front - priceless!!
On our second day though it held off long enough for us to hike 9km up to Morskie Oko, a lake at over 1500 metres ASL that was only discovered around 150 years ago (Aussies - remember this is a very little time ago over here). So we caught the bus with every bit of warm clothing we owned (including a wisely purchased rain jacket for myself the day before).
The track was mainly paved which was a shame but also a saver because there's no way our runners could have done the hiking needed without a lot of butt-sliding (refer to Tokaj blog, coming soon).
Soon enough, we were walking surrounded by snow. At first it was like Pro Hart had been splattering mayonnaise around the mountain, but soon enough, it was everywhere. We arrived at Morskie Oko unable to see the other side through the clouds but within minutes the cloud cleared for us to have a peak. Gorgeous. And yes, whilst we sat admiring the lake, sipping our hot chocolate surrouded by more screaming school kids, it started snowing:) ahhhh
The weather had been a little sour for us lately, the sun and my tan had disappeared somewhere, replaced with lots of rain and soaked clothes. Zakopane was no exception.
On our first afternoon we glared at the downhill slopes next to town, thankful there was no snow this low, when Dean's eyes lit-up (this was after he saw the massive meat skewers). There was a toboggan ride. Watching Dean line up amongst the kids who were literally half his height was funny enough, seeing him get out with a bigger smile than the little 5 year old girl in front - priceless!!
On our second day though it held off long enough for us to hike 9km up to Morskie Oko, a lake at over 1500 metres ASL that was only discovered around 150 years ago (Aussies - remember this is a very little time ago over here). So we caught the bus with every bit of warm clothing we owned (including a wisely purchased rain jacket for myself the day before).
The track was mainly paved which was a shame but also a saver because there's no way our runners could have done the hiking needed without a lot of butt-sliding (refer to Tokaj blog, coming soon).
Soon enough, we were walking surrounded by snow. At first it was like Pro Hart had been splattering mayonnaise around the mountain, but soon enough, it was everywhere. We arrived at Morskie Oko unable to see the other side through the clouds but within minutes the cloud cleared for us to have a peak. Gorgeous. And yes, whilst we sat admiring the lake, sipping our hot chocolate surrouded by more screaming school kids, it started snowing:) ahhhh
Krakow II
Yes, I am back in Krakow. For those who didn't know, I came here in 2001 and fell in love with it. After hearing me rave about it, as well as his many Polish friends, Dean was pretty keen to see it too.
There have been a few changes in the last four years, many can probably be attributed to Poland joining the EU in 2004. This means - no visa for Australians (yay), lots of cheap flights between Krakow and far western Europe, and lots of Poms figuring that it is a great place to drink cheap and see their money go a lot further (including stag nights of course). This, of course leads to English translations on the menu, more vegetarian food and drunken stag nights being the norm. All this makes it feel a little less like Poland.
Luckily for us, we were reminded of something very Polish on our arrival. They love Popes. I'm not sure if they liked them this much before their homegrown John Paul II, but they certainly loved him and apparently his predecessor. What is the relevance you ask...
We arrived to thousands of people at the train station, many of the nuns, priests, etc. waving Pope flags, Poland flags, all wanting to get on our carriage that we wanted to disembark from! Yes, we arrived in Krakow on the day Pope Benedict was in town. Apparently, 1 million Poles had gone to a service for young people in the park that morning - the population of Krakow is around 800,000 - so do the math of how many were trying to leave that afternoon.
The catch of having the Pope in town is that the government may want to hide the fact that the Poles can drink (thier lovely beer and vodka, yumyum). To hide this, the government banned the selling and serving of alcohol for the time the Pope was in town (2 days). Strange we thought, but oh well. Then we were chatting to our room-mates. They had just come from Warsaw, where the Pope had also been touring. So they were enjoying their 5th day of no alcohol on their week holiday in Poland. They laughed it off and shared with us their wonderings of how many English stag nights had been caught out... we saw at least two, perfectly sober groups of English lads walking the town... quietest stag nights I've ever seen. I wonder if they were enlightened by his holyness...
Oh and no, we didn't see the Pope. We'll be at his place in the Vatican next week so maybe he'll offer us some tea:)
So what did we see in Krakow? We saw the sights of Krakow (along with far too many school groups arggghhhh!). Wawel castle, the old Temple, the Salt Mine and Dean went to Auschwitz. We also caught up with our friend Gabi's sister and beau to check out some of the local spots.
Despite the rain that insisted on pouring, Krakow was still gorgeous, and yes, I would go back a third time.
Ps. Yes Gabi, Crepe Nalesniki is still there:p
There have been a few changes in the last four years, many can probably be attributed to Poland joining the EU in 2004. This means - no visa for Australians (yay), lots of cheap flights between Krakow and far western Europe, and lots of Poms figuring that it is a great place to drink cheap and see their money go a lot further (including stag nights of course). This, of course leads to English translations on the menu, more vegetarian food and drunken stag nights being the norm. All this makes it feel a little less like Poland.
Luckily for us, we were reminded of something very Polish on our arrival. They love Popes. I'm not sure if they liked them this much before their homegrown John Paul II, but they certainly loved him and apparently his predecessor. What is the relevance you ask...
We arrived to thousands of people at the train station, many of the nuns, priests, etc. waving Pope flags, Poland flags, all wanting to get on our carriage that we wanted to disembark from! Yes, we arrived in Krakow on the day Pope Benedict was in town. Apparently, 1 million Poles had gone to a service for young people in the park that morning - the population of Krakow is around 800,000 - so do the math of how many were trying to leave that afternoon.
The catch of having the Pope in town is that the government may want to hide the fact that the Poles can drink (thier lovely beer and vodka, yumyum). To hide this, the government banned the selling and serving of alcohol for the time the Pope was in town (2 days). Strange we thought, but oh well. Then we were chatting to our room-mates. They had just come from Warsaw, where the Pope had also been touring. So they were enjoying their 5th day of no alcohol on their week holiday in Poland. They laughed it off and shared with us their wonderings of how many English stag nights had been caught out... we saw at least two, perfectly sober groups of English lads walking the town... quietest stag nights I've ever seen. I wonder if they were enlightened by his holyness...
Oh and no, we didn't see the Pope. We'll be at his place in the Vatican next week so maybe he'll offer us some tea:)
So what did we see in Krakow? We saw the sights of Krakow (along with far too many school groups arggghhhh!). Wawel castle, the old Temple, the Salt Mine and Dean went to Auschwitz. We also caught up with our friend Gabi's sister and beau to check out some of the local spots.
Despite the rain that insisted on pouring, Krakow was still gorgeous, and yes, I would go back a third time.
Ps. Yes Gabi, Crepe Nalesniki is still there:p
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