Circling through Poland - with a bit of Germany thrown in.

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The defensive walls and barbican were originally built in the 16th century







The original statue of "The little insurgent"





The view over the Vistula from just outside the walls



The Wishing Bell. Has a tragic folk tale attached to it.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-town-wishing-bell

 

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In the background is St Anne's Church






At the back of the church is a lovely little garden. It is often said to be a 'hidden' or 'secret' garden but going by the number of people visiting it when we did it is a pretty poorly kept secret. However it is still a lovely relaxing spot to visit.















The garden area from below

 

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We visited the Royal Lazienki Park three times. It was only about a 20 minutes walk from our hotel.

Warsaw's Łazienki Park

Warsaw's royal baths park-and-palace complex is one of the city's largest parks and most visited tourist attractions on the Royal Route.

www.inyourpocket.com

There are some gorgeous leafy avenues to walk down plus lakes and historic buildings













The New Guardhouse - built around 1780 as an entertainment pavilion. Converted into a guardhouse in 1830.



The Palace on the Isle - plus a bride. Completed in 1689.

Palace on the Isle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bridal Waltz

 

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Looking out from the Palace forecourt



Different views of the Palace















You can take a gondola ride

 

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More from around the park

The Piaseczyński Canal (Royal Canal) with Ujazdów Castle in the distance





Animals that inhabit the park



We saw peacocks





And squirrels



Just to showcase my outstanding abilities as a wildlife photographer. The squirrel was very close to the young child



More park structures

The Old Guardhouse - 1792

 

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Finishing off this park

The Chopin Memorial. Free Chopin recitals are held here during the summer.





The performances are very well attended. They hare held twice daily on Sunday. We passed by when the earlier performance was being held and returned for the second one. There was a different soloist for each performance.







We had an 'obstructed' view but at least we had a seat. People kept coming and standing in front of us as well. My wife had to shoosh a young American girl who was gossiping at the the top of her voice nearby - much to the gratitude of the woman sitting on the same bench as us.



Free water supply. Much better than handing out plastic bottles.



Solar powered bench that would play some Chopin.



You can see what I meant by an obstructed view. The number of people in front changed all the time. It mostly wasn't as bad as this.

 

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While we are on a park theme - on a grey and gloomy Sunday morning we went for a walk and ended up here. It is a relatively new park whose building only began 1952. It was known as "The Central Park of Culture" up until 1992 and was then renamed in honour of Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz the Commander -in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces at the start of WW2.

Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"The project of creating a new central parkland to the once-densely populated suburb was initiated in 1952. The majority of the pre-war dwellings were either completely destroyed or had to be demolished in the post-war years due to their structural vulnerability and poor design."



The park was amazingly empty. I don't know if was because 'everyone' was at church or they were just having a sleep in on the last day of the School Holidays





Remnants of the Red Palace which once stood here.



Another bride



The park avenues led down to the Vistula River





It certainly did have a 'Communist era' feel to it.









You certainly couldn't complain about a lack of seating







Towards the river there was the "Glory to Sappers Monument" erected in 1975 in honour of the Sappers who had demined Warsaw and the rest of Poland after WW2.

 

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We the walked along the Vistula River. It seemed to me that the city planners currently have made little use of the river frontage and it was pretty unkempt.

In the underpass is a memorial to the crossing of the Vistula by Polish troops attached to the Red Army - once the uprising had been successfully quelled by the naz_'s. Not an 'victory' that is looked upon with much gratitude by most of Poland these days.



While we were there Poland was in the middle of a drought and the Vistula River was at record lows. All ferries had been cancelled.



Another Sappers memorial commemorating the driving of piles to repair the bridges.









It appears that at one time the river bank had been used more often



The National Stadium



You can see how low the water level was




event

 

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We then continued walking towards the Royal Park

Passing by the stadium that is the home of Legia Waszawa who are apparently the most successful Football club in Poland



It is a multi sport venue and has large number of playing fields outside the main stadium. When we were walking past lots of kids were using it for the Sunday sports.



Nearby was The Church of Our Lady of Jerusalem in Warsaw. It was used as a hospital during the Warsaw Uprising and destroyed in an air raid.





Restoration work is still being done on the pre-war tower



The Scouts have had a troubled history in Poland with repression by both the far left and far right.





The Scout House built in 1938 in art deco style. Used as a Wehrmacht training centre in WW2 and then to house the Communist Youth Organisation. Now a youth cultural centre

 

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Some more around Warsaw

Parts of Warsaw are very modern These streets were near the Warsaw Uprising Museum





Not far away is Saxon Garden (Ogród Saski) and the Fontanna Wielka built in 1855 as a feature of Warsaw's first water supply network.







The police car in the distance had just circled around the fountain.



Just metres away is Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square named after a Polish revolutionary and statesman. Amongst other activities he "conceived and directed a manoeuvre that in August brought victory to Poland" against the Red Army in 1920.

Over the years the square has borne a number of names as political and military events have occurred - :

"Name​

• Saxon Square (1814–1928)
• Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square (1928–1940)
• Sachsenplatz (May 1940–August 31, 1940)
• Adolf-Hitler-Platz (1/09/1940–17/01/1945)
• Saxon Square (1945–6.05.1946)
• Victory Square (6.05.1946–1990)
• Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square (1990–2012)
• Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square (2012)"

It houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

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The Marshall



There is a ceremonial Changing of The Guard at the monument





Seeing the 'goosestep' always feels a bit odd.

The square used to also contain the Saski and Bruhl Palaces until the naz_'s began their destructive onslaught







The buildings that used to surround the square. The archways that are illuminated now form the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier











How it looks now



Archaeological work is being doen with the intent to rebuild some of the buildings







Some of the artefacts uncovered

 

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Finishing off Warsaw

A few minutes from our hotel is a record of courageous actions







An old brewery turned into an up-market food hall. The places here were pretty expensive for Poland so we passed on by.







Church of St. Joseph of the Visitationists. Plus one of many memorials to Pope John Paul 2 we saw across Poland.



Statue of Adam Mickiewicz - considered to be the 'National Poet of Poland'.



A selection of meals that we had in Warsaw

A surprisingly nice - and cheap - Indian meal near to our hotel.



A restaurant that specialised in Eastern Mediterranean food

It was all extremely tasty







Sweet Potato chips. We ordered far too much food.



We had a meal at a small restaurant specialising in 'stuffed' potatoes. The use of enamel plates was something we noticed at several places in Poland. I think it is a throwback to their historic use.



For the last night our travelling companion was keen to try a Czech Restaurant chain on the ground floor of our hotel









Warsaw Central Station



I enjoyed our stay in Warsaw but I wouldn't say that it is my favourite capital city in Europe. I think that its virtually complete destruction in WW2 followed by years of communist mis-rule has made it hard for a vibrant beautiful city to emerge.

 

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And then onto Krakow.

Kraków - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

While we were there our friend went to Auschwitz but we didn't. We have been to two other concentration camps Dachau in 1976 and Buchenwald in 2013. After Buchenwald we both said we would never visit another one.

We stopped in a hotel 350 metres from the Old Town that occupied an older building. It took about 15 minutes to get there by Bolt from the train station because access to the station is prioritised for public transport. The tram trip was barely 5 minutes.





Our room. It had two 'split system' A/c's. The hotel called the sitting area to the left of the big 'pillar' an orangery.



Kitchenette.



From our window



Our friend stayed in smaller room downstairs with an interesting ceiling. I presume it was once part of the cellars.



Her, fuzzy, kitchenette



For some reason she had an 'accessible' room.




Then we headed off to the Old Town. Krakow suffered relatively little damage during WW2. It was not significantly bombed by the allies and at the end of the war the naz_'s retreated from the city without causing much destruction. I felt that I could feel and see the difference walking around Krakow compared to the largely rebuilt Old Towns of other Polish cities.

"On 6th September 1939, Kraków surrendered to the German armed forces without a fight, and 6 days later it was proclaimed the capital of the General Government – a new territory created and governed by naz_ Germany."

" Moreover, Hans Frank, the newly appointed Governor-General, decided to continue some of the pre-war plans for Kraków’s development. --- the naz_s announced that Kraków was an urdeutsche Stadt (Ancient German City), and even founded a pseudo-scientific institute to prove the city's German roots through historical research."

https://culture.pl/en/article/how-krakow-made-it-unscathed-through-wwii

Mały Rynek (Little Market Square)



Rynek Główny Main Market Square - it is the largest medieval town square in Europe



St Mary's Basilica - built in the 14th century

 

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The carriages operated in day and in the evening



Town Hall Tower - built in the 14th century it is the only remnant of the early Town Hall



Kraków Cloth Hall. Erected in the 13/14th Centuries

Kraków Cloth Hall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Eros Bound



One of the street leading off the square



And at night

 

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Wawel Royal Castle - built in the 14th century and tinkered with ever since

Wawel Castle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The path up to the castle is pretty steep





Passage to the inner courtyard















Wawel Cathedral

 

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We decided that we deserved a treat



There were plenty of flowers on display







It is a bit of a running joke with us that I will talk about the view without realising that my wife might not be seeing quite the same thing.

My view over the parapet that I wanted to discuss with her



Her view



This discussion started when I was discussing a lake view at Nymphenburg Palace near Munich

What I was seeing



What she saw

 

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And now for something very silly but it amused me.

The Wawel Dragon under the walls of the castle and by the Vistula River

Wawel Dragon (statue) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its party trick



From the castle parapet

 

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And from something silly to something simply horrible

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/krakow-cracow

The Jewish Ghetto Memorial. Simple but affecting.







Map of the ghetto area



Some did their best to help





His pharmac_. We cunningly visited on the day it was closed





My wife had read about this event previously and was able to provide more terrible details



A fragment remains of the walls built to surround the ghetto. Shaped like Jewish gravestones.

 

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The Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory is preserved nearby. The museum operates as a museum of the German Occupation of Krakow of WW2 and is not purely about Oskar Schindler. In fact his story is a minor part of the displays.

https://visitkrakow.com/guide-to-oskar-schindlers-enamel-factory-museum/

Again we managed to arrive on the one day of the week it was closed. We had to come back the next day to get inside.





Photos of those workers at the factory who survived





It appears that ticket resellers are charging for services that they can't actually provide



I would suggest that you book an on-line timed ticket through the museum website. We got there early enough that we only had to wait for about 25 minutes to get in but as the day wore on the line got bigger.

 

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The displays traced a timeline from just prior to the start of WW2. The commentary was very thorough and detailed about what the occupying Germans had done. This included detailing what had happened in the ghetto to talking about them enacting some building works that had been planned before the war but delayed.

It was often hard to take photos inside because some of the rooms were very crowded. For a while we were stuck behind a group of Senior High School German Students. They were very polite and respectful. But because there were about 30 of them being shepherded through narrow passages and small rooms they unintentionally caused delays.







A tankette replica







The changing names of the market square during the occupation









Building the ghetto walls



There was a lot of reading to do. English translations were ubiquitous.



Schindler's office has been recreated. The furniture though of the right period is not original to the factory.



The map is however original





And in case you thought that the problems for the Jewish population ended after the German surrender.

"After the war, some 4,282 Jews resurfaced in Krakow. By early 1946, Polish Jews returning from the Soviet Union swelled the Jewish population of the city to approximately 10,000. Pogroms in August 1945 and throughout 1946 as well as number of murders of individual Jews led to the emigration of many of the surviving Krakow Jews. By the early 1990s, only a few hundred Jews remained.

Last Edited: Jun 22, 2021
Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC"