Kraków
Though it’s not as popular or well known as some of the other cities I’ve been to; Kraków, Poland is easily one of my first choices I tell people to visit when they travel.
When I first arrived, I dropped off my stuff at the hostel (I stayed at the Pink Panther Hostel – https://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Pink-Panther-s-Hostel/Krakow/50385?dateFrom=2019-04-05&dateTo=2019-04-08&number_of_guests=2&sc_pos=5 – and would 100% recommend it. The hostel was clean and safe, as well as a good mixture of both party/relaxing atmosphere.) and instantly began to fall in love with the city as I walked around. The center of the city is surrounded by a gothic style wall that wraps around most of it. Inside are countless restaurants and stores. Most notably, in the main square (which happens to be the largest medieval market square in Europe) is the Cloth Hall. Here you can find dozens of vendors selling all the little souvenirs and trinkets you could imagine. One huge bonus of traveling through Poland is that they don’t use the Euro. Instead they use their own currency called Zloty, or PLN, and as of right now our dollar (USD) is stronger than theirs. So, 1 USD equals to 3.81 PLN. In other words, Poland is very cheap compared to other European countries, so you can travel and live pretty good while staying in Poland. For example, my previously mentioned hostel, was only 14 USD a night to stay there. An absolute steal.
Another reason I strongly recommend visiting Kraków, is that there’s so much to do outside the city as well. For example, a perfect trip for a rainy day, would be a visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, located about a half hour north of Kraków. Here, the tour guides will take you over four hundred feet underground (be prepared; lots of walking and stairs so wear good shoes!) to explore and give you a history of the salt mines. During your trip, you’ll see underground lakes, and even a beautiful church that’s still used to this day. All while enjoying the cool temperatures and the extremely healthy and clean air (due to all the salt). It’s definitely nothing extravagant, but it’s not too pricey, and especially worth it if one of your days there gets rained out just as mine did.
Lastly, once I knew I was going to be visiting Kraków, I made it an absolute priority to take this next day trip. And that was to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. This was a tour that I knew I had to see in my life, and I strongly suggest for you to take it as well. With all the gut-wrenching, horrific things that took place there, I feel as though it’s important for people to visit and see for themselves. Visiting keeps the memory of all the victims alive, as well as teaching us that this part of history should never repeat itself again. The tour is just as you could probably imagine, everything is very silent and eerie as they take you through multiple houses, showers, and rooms filled with items from all the victims. And though it may be hard to stomach or finish it through, you have to. Just think about it, you’re only just learning about these things, while the people who were here actually had to suffer through it. This is definitely a tour that opens up your eyes and makes you appreciate just how lucky and blessed you are.
