Krakow - Part II

     Krakow, unlike other cities, requires a second part post. One of the main reasons we went to Krakow was because Lou's parents were born and lived in Lodz, Poland and survived the Holocaust. Krakow is the best preserved city in Poland as it was not bombed heavily during the war because the Germans used it as a regional capital and industrial base - hence Schindler's Factory. We wanted a sense of old Poland. Also, it is the closest major city to the remains of the largest and most well-know concentration camps - Auschwitz-Birkenau. We visited and toured what is left.

Tracks in Auschwitz II Birkenau

The bus drove us the 90 minutes to the site and while in transit, we watched a film that used archival footage of liberation in 1945 by the Red Army and and interview with a Red Army photographer who was present at liberation. And then we were there. Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are several kilometers apart and we began with Auschwitz I. It has the most preserved buildings a number of which are used as museums. Walking around in 95 degree heat with many, many other visitors, was an effort and contributed to the experience of actually seeing the relics (executions walls, starvation cells, "hospital" where gruesome medical experiments were performed and torture cells)  of this history which we have heard so much about. No matter what you think you know, it is shocking and revolting to see where it happened - at least in this one place. Our bus brought us from Auschwitz I to Birkenau and we toured there. There is not much left in the way of buildings, a few barracks stand reconstructed as an example. We saw remnants of the crematoriums which the Germans blew up when they knew the Red Army was about to arrive, a railway car, a guard tower, the pit of human ashes. At the end of the iconic railroad tracks past the dividing platform where those who were transported here were told to go to the gas chamber or to live a short time longer to benefit the Nazi cause there is a memorial for the victims. This was the death camp. 2/3 of those who came here died in the gas chambers immediately. Most of the others went into forced labor fed 900 calories a day. It didn't take long to die. Auschwitz I was mostly for the Poles and political prisoners. Auschwitz II or Birkenau was to kill the Jews. more efficiently than could ever be done at Auschwitz I.

Execution Wall Auschwitz I

Foundation of Crematorium Auschwitz II

Part of the Memorial

Barracks

Ashes of the victims

          All of this is surrounded by idyllic Polish countryside now dotted with villages and farms. It was a quiet ride back to Krakow. It is not the easiest place to visit but neither of us could come to this part of Europe without making the pilgrimage to honor all the victims of this genocide. I know people say we need to visit and see to remember so that this will not happen again but it seems that humans have a long and documented history where genocide happens again and again. Cambodia, Rwanda, Tutsi and Hutu, Shia and Sunni, indigenous populations on several continents including our own, Armenia, and more. I could go on; there are many, many more. It's hard to find the words. Sad? Angry? They hardly seem adequate. 

And when we woke we were in Krakow!

Krakow - Part I
     Let me just say, I have NEVER been in a place that was so Catholic. For those who know me, that is saying a lot. There is a church on every block. There are many priests and nuns walking the streets in full habits. Lots of people wear religious jewelry. Pretty much everyone you talk to is Catholic. The Church is a dominant cultural entity. Local boy Pope John Paul II (Pope from 1978-2005), newly beatified, is a hero with a museum, statues and iconography because of how he stood up to the Communists and gave hope to the opposition. However, his conservatism and lack of response on priestly pedophilia did not endear him to all.

     I understand why Lou's mother first tried to enroll him in a Catholic school when they first came to the U.S. The principal who was a nun explained that they taught religion in this school. His mother said, yes, she understood, didn't every school? Well, no, Mrs. Silberman, send little Louie to public school - no religious instruction there. I do not think it has changed much in the last 60 years in many parts of Poland.

     Our first overnight train - in separate, private compartments as in Lou in one and me in another (!) brought us to Krakow early in the morning. Our little pension was a 10 minute walk from the train station and we have become quite adept at transitioning from place to place without much fuss. 

     We are staying at a cute and very welcoming pension in Old Town right off yet another magnificent square framed by two churches, one big and one little, the Cloth Hall where the cloth sellers had their stalls in the Middle Ages and the Town Tower. Cafes and fountains surround the square along with a dozen or more beautiful white carriages drawn by two beautifully decked out horses, waiting to trot tourists around the Old Town in romantic style. 

On the hour, a bugler stationed at the top of the left tower plays the hejnat song. According to legend, during the Tartar invasion in 1241, a watchman saw the enemy approaching and sounded the alarm. Before he could finish, an arrow pierced his throat. So even today, the song stops abruptly part way through and then finishes. 

Saint Mary's Church

     This city also has a Jewish Quarter but this one has empty synagogues in various states of disrepair. It probably would have been better to take a guided walking tour of this district rather than following the one in our guidebook. Maybe we would have gotten more. There is a lot of history here, but it is a bit dusty.What we did learn is that this quarter has become sort of hipster district. This is where the cool restaurants are and the young people hang out. I guess it is hard for an area to maintain a cultural identity when so much of the population was wiped out. The guidebook says there are only about 200 Jews left in Krakow today out of a city of 750,000. What made the greatest impression on us was the Schindler Factory Museum which is across the river from the Jewish Quarter. Yes, this is where Oskar Schindler had his factory. It does tell the story of how Schindler protected Jewish workers but it broadens the story and tells what it was like in Krakow during Nazi occupation with film footage, interviews with survivors and residents of Krakow during that time, replicas of everyday places and exhibits about the Podgorze ghetto and its horrific conditions. 

 Schindler's desk 

     That night we decided to eat at a restaurant where the dinner included a performance of Klezmer music. Lou felt like he had fallen into some time warp because the food was so familiar (soup and Purim chicken). The musicians (violin/singer, stand-up base and accordion) were very good but we didn't feel it was "real" Klezmer. No regrets about hearing live music, but discounted a bit for lack of authenticity. 

     Another night we bought tickets for a Chopin concert in a small hotel venue that used to be a palace. Chopin is Poland's contribution to the classical composer pantheon. It was lovely music, not necessarily played at the highest level, but worth our time. 

     There are some iconic foods: pierogi (Poland's answer to ravioli), beer, soups, street pretzels called obvarzarnek, lots and lots of meat which we did not frequently partake of and wonderful, cheap breakfasts full of eggs. There are these Milk Bars which are cheap, cafeteria-style places to order a basic meal. They were pretty meat-centric, so we didn't partake. Also, they were not air-conditioned and did not have sidewalk seating, so going inside and eating a heavy meal in mid-90's temperatures did not seem like something we HAD to do. Food and restaurant prices are astonishingly low. Our last evening we ate at a place called Kogol Mogol (!) and had a three course meal with drinks for a total of $40 for both of us. 

     Our last day there, after a visit to Auschwitz, the temperature still hovered in the mid-90's. We decided the best thing to do was another trip out of the city to tour the Wieliczka Salt Mine. It is deep underground and COOL. We took this elevator down and then toured lower and lower eventually winding up over 400 feet under the surface. The mine has been producing salt since the 13th century and has had a couple of famous visitors over the years including Copernicus and Pope John Paul II. To while away the time, a few miners spent time carving. They carved rooms including a large chapel, statues, gnomes, a frieze of the Last Supper, You can get married here or have a big party deep underground where you don't have to worry about bad weather spoiling your celebratory plans. You can even come to hear Mass just about every day if you come early enough. Told you it was a Catholic country. It was a lovely relief to be comfortably cool underground for several hours. The Salt Mine was interesting but I might have found many, many things interesting to get out of the heat. 

Yes, it is carved out of the salt walls.

Made of salt crystals

Salty pool underground

     The last thing we walked to see in the old part of Krakow was the grounds of Wawel Castle. On the top of the prerequisite hill is the castle, a cafe and some museums surrounded by a wall. It has one little quirk that other castles don't. Apparently, a corner of the courtyard of this particular castle is one of the seven chakra points on earth along with Delhi, Delphi, Jerusalen, Mecca, Rome and Velehrad - wherever that is. Lou and I stood over there but didn't feel anything even though it is supposed to be a powerful energy field. On the edge of the grounds there is a marvelous view of the outskirts of Krakow over the Vistula River. 

     The best time of the day is the night when it finally cools down to the high 70's. That's when the whole city comes out to walk around, eat ice cream, sit in cafes, drink beer and people watch. The main square is full of people, all the main buildings and churches are lit up, horse drawn carriages clop around and street vendors try to sell little spinning devices that fly high up in the air emitting a blue light. Krakow is worth the effort. 

     

Vienna (Wein) Austria - History, music and cafes

In two hours, a lovely, modern efficient train whisked us to Vienna for the next leg of our journey and by late afternoon we checked in to our next residence located on Graben right in the heart of Old Town. The prices just doubled from The Czech Republic and Hungary. The Danube becomes the Donau and it's all bitte and danke, whipped cream and music. As we have only 2 days and nights here, again it is a matter of choosing what can be done. So, we decided to concentrate on music and the Hapsburgs with generous stops at cafes to rest our weary feet and eat and drink some of Austria's iconic offerings.

We walked a block and stopped in at Buffet Trzesniewski and grabbed a few open-faced sandwiches and a drink for a light lunch and then started orienting ourselves to Vienna.

The next day we tried to get an overview of Vienna by taking one of those Red Bus Tours. If nothing else, it did give us a sense of what lies a bit beyond the Ringstrasse including this weird house called the Hundertwasser that looked like something Gaudi could have done.

There are churches everywhere. There are music venues everywhere. There are palaces, now museums everywhere. The first night we tried to sit outside the Opera House and listen to the free live broadcast of Fidelio by Beethoven. But with the noise from the cars and horse carriages clopping by and the fact that it was not dark which made the screen difficult to see, we gave up and decided to buy tickets for our next concert.
We elected to hear the Weiner Symphoniker in same place where the Vienna Philharmonic plays. The Phil is on tour. The venue is as much of a draw as the music. It is the same arrangement as the hall where the Boston Philharmonic plays and was ornate and beautiful. We heard some Hayden, Mendelssohn, Dubussy and Ravel.

We even were able to drop into a beautiful church for its daily 30 minute organ recital. We couldn't

see the organist but were entertained by the amazing surroundings. Plus it wasn't 95 degrees inside the church - yay!

Interior of the Musikverein

We also visited a great little museum called the House of Music that highlighted all of Vienna's homeboys in a really interesting and approachable way. We learned of the big 6: Beethoven, Strauss, Hayden, Schubert, Mozart and Mahler. We even got an interactive dose of the physics of music and a bit on composition and conducting. I was tempted but did not push a bunch of young teens out of the way at the last interactive station. There was a screen with the Vienna Philarmonic musicians seated on stage and you could pick up a baton and try to conduct them playing Eine Kleine Nacht Musik. If you screwed it up, the orchestra grumbled and boo-ed you, if you did well, they clicked their batons on their music stands. It was fun to watch.

We did our own evening walking tour of Vienna to see the exteriors of all the major buildings. There is one building, the huge New Palace which lies in between the Hofburg Palace and the two major museums across the Ringstrasse, that made an impression by virtue of history. It was on the balcony of this Palace that Hitler addressed 200,000 Viennese gathered here to celebrate the Anschluss - the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938.

New Palace where Hitler spoke from the balcony

The next day we tackled the Hofburg Palace and jumped into the Hapsburgs. We saw amazing

collections of crystal, silver, china (when they progressed beyond solid silver and gold plates) but the highlight was the Sisi Museum. I don't even remember hearing about Empress Elizabeth called Sisi (1837-1898) married to Franz Josef at age 15. She was a woman who did not live easily in her age. She was an athlete and hated the constraints of the court. She was beautiful and really smart and increasingly withdrawn after the death of a son. In the end she was murdered by an Italian anarchist while she was away on one of her many trips away from Vienna. She was the Princess Diana of her age.

We also spent several hours walking through the Kunsthihistoriches Museum trying to take in masterpiece after masterpiece by Raphael, Caravaggio, Velaszquez, Rembrandt, Bruegels and more. It was a bit overwhelming but worth it. 

Before heading out on the overnight train to Krakow, we couldn't resist get standing room tickets at the Opera which we had toured that afternoon. For 3 Euro (about 4 dollars) we stood leaning against railings with the supertitle screens right in front of us and listened to the first act of Don Giovanni. Pretty great deal.

Interspersed with all this sightseeing, we did spend quality time in a number of Viennese cafes and restaurants and I must say, they are what they are cracked up to be. Sitting with a piece of Sacher torte in the city where it was invented with a lovely cup of hot chocolate or coffee, is hard to beat. 

There is still so much to see and do that we barely touched the surface of Vienna. Guess that means we will have to return some day. 

Beautiful Budapest - post bike tour

     Our first impression of this city on the Danube was solely of our hotel and it's fabulous showers. After cleaning up we met with another 6 members of our group and headed down the street to a restaurant close to our hotel for an early dinner. No one eats early here so we had the restaurant to ourselves. Lou and I decided to explore some of the city as it began to get dark and the buildings and bridges turned on their lights.  What a gorgeous city, maybe the prettiest we have seen so far - at least at night.

Parliament Building in Budapest at night

     We strolled across the Chain Bridge and looked into the magnificent lobby of the 5 star hotel in the Gresham Palace. We wandered around the streets and stood admiring St. Istvan's Basilica as the sun set. There was a festival going on in many of the squares around the city so we wandered through the crowds observing. On the spur of the moment, we decided to ride on the Prague Eye which is called the Island Eye.  It revolves high above the city so the lit buildings are spectacular. The next day we decided to visit the Jewish Quarter. There was a huge Jewish community in Hungary (450,000) and 200,000 lived in Budapest before  WW II. The Nazi's didn't start deporting the Jews until 1944. By the end of the war, the largest percentage of Jewish victims came from Hungary.  The most imposing structure connected to the Jews in this city is the Great Synagogue which actually was appropriated as the main Nazi office in this city because they knew the Allies would not bomb it.

Exterior of the Great Synagogue

Pulpit (!) in the Great Synagogue

Interior of the Great Synagogue

     It doesn't look like a traditional synagogue. The Budapest Jews wanted to be part of the larger community so they had an architect who designed it to look more like a church.  It even has a magnificent organ that was played by Franz Liszt when the building was dedicated.  There was a small homegrown festival going on in the quarter and we strolled along with a lot of locals until we had to sit at a cafe and collect ourselves and try to cool off with lemonade and hummus. It does pose a challenge to walk and walk and walk in 95 degree weather so we smartened up and started hopping on and off public transit. It helps. At night, it cools down around 9 or 10 and then it is lovely stolling around the city that is lit up light a fairy tale. 

     The city is divided by the Danube River into two parts: Buda and Pest. The castle and St. Mattias' Church are on the hill on the Buda side. The Town Center, Jewish Quarter, and Leopold Town are on the Pest side. 

     The Castle Hill area is impressive, even though it was hotter than hot. We walked from the statue of the Turul Bird past the Royal Castle and Museums to Mattias Church. We walked through this impressive structure and climbed the towers to view the Ecclesiastical art. Outside the church there is a seven pointy domed structure called the Fisherman's Bastion with an incredible view of the city. 

Turol Bird

Mattias Church

Fisherman's Bastian

     As you might imagine, food is an important part of our tour. The countries we are visiting are primarily known for meat and potatoes and beer. We love the potatoes but aren't really big meat folks or drinkers either but we are doing our best to step up to the plate on the beer part. On the bike tour, the guides provided lots of salads and fruit and when we ate out, we were able to order things that worked for our tastes. Here, we decided to jump in and see what the Food Hall scene is like. We made the pilgrimage to the Great Market Hall and walked through three levels of food and souvenir vendors. 

Market Hall

Pickled everything

We stopped to eat a freshly made Langos which is really kind of a fried bread with various toppings. We opted for the simple one with powdered sugar. 

     There was one iconic site we just didn't make it to. Budapest is known for its baths. There are several around the city and are supposed to be a must-visit. The trouble is that the temperature was 95 degrees and these are thermal baths. It just wasn't appealing. We will just have to return when it's cooler and try them then. 

     We have learned that we can't see everything a city has to offer and will just have to settle for what we can manage: touring the Opera House in all its baroque splendor, going to the New York Cafe full of gilt and mirrors built in 1894 for a drink and pastry, walking through Franz Lizst Square and along the shopping district along Andrassy Ut. We did not get to the many museums and squares chronicling Budapest's communist past. 

New York Cafe

Interior of the Opera House

Vents under each seat at the Opera.  The ducts lead to the Orchestra pit and made for great acoustics.

Budapest is a truly beautiful city with impressive architecture and culture. It's easy to see history in its squares and streets. 

     

Final Ride of the Trip - Day 7

The last day's ride was hilly but short-only about 20 miles. It began outside of Gyor in the little town of Gyorujbarat. We rode through some absolutely lovely forests in and out of the shade ending at the base of the hill leading to the magnificent abbey and school of Pannonhalma. The rabbits rode the last hill, we did not. They zipped back to join us as the guides popped the corks off a couple of bottles of champagne and we toasted ourselves and the week's journey.

The bus whisked us back up to the abbey where we toured the magnificent buildings and saw a film of its history.  The most impressive room was the stunning library with tiers of the books collected by the monks.  This was an amazing impressive collection that must have made this abbey a seat of knowledge. Even today the mission of the monks is education and they have a boys' boarding school in the same locations.  The views of the surrounding valleys were beautiful.

View from the hilltop at Pannonhalma

Library in Pannonhalma

We stopped at a restaurant for our final lunch today instead of our usual al fresco picnic in some park or on the grounds of a church or one time in a parking lot (!). I had fried cheese, really, served on top of ratatouille.  

It's hard to believe that we have ridden approximately 230 miles over the course of 7 days and we are none the worse for wear. Well, my rear end is not unhappy that we have ended this journey. It was well worth the effort, even in the heat.

The bus brought us all to our final destination on this trip, the Buda side of the river Danube in the gorgeous city of Budapest.

Sopron to Gyor, Hungary - hot, lost and found

The next day (Day 5) the bus transferred us out of Sopron to the top of a lake or see called Neuseidl am See. We actually had to drive through Austria for a bit before coming back into Hungary  The directions for today's ride were a bit confusing and unfortunately, the group got separated and a bit lost. Lou and I were OK and that meant we were able to stop and see the wonderful recreation area that was full of kite surfers and wind sailors. The lake is really large and people can rent paddle boats and take cute little ferries across the wide water. As you might guess because of the popularity of wind sports, the area was really windy. No paddleboats today.  We followed the road for a bit on a bike path through some pretty picturesque villages before we stopped for the day. We got a break today -there were not a lot of hills and it was only 38 miles . Sopron is beautiful - full of old beautiful old buildings and squares. There is a Jewish Quarter but unfortunately it just meant there were some really old  buildings but no one ever there to open them.  They had some interesting banners noting some of the residents of Sopron who perished in the Holocaust.

     We ate dinner all together at an outdoor cafe on the square near the Fire Tower.  We all were able to order from various Hungarian dishes including goulash and duck and a wonderful dessert with sponge cake, fruit and whipped cream. They are big on whipped cream here. These old towns are magical at night when they are all lit up. It was warm and lovely to walk around after dinner.

Duck with pickled cabbage and potatoes

     Then next day (Day 6) we road from a town just outside Sopron called Osli to Gyor.  The ride was relatively flat with part of it passing through the Ferto-Hansag National Forest ending in Gyor, a medium-sized Hungarian city with many beautiful buildings, churches and squares. The lunch break was on the grounds of a beautiful church that is on the route of the Santiago de Compostela through Hungary before it joins with the route in Spain. We were able to tour St. Jacob's Church and also see the community building that houses pilgrims on The Way.  The community building was modern and welcoming and had a room with explanations and artifacts from the Camino.  The ride after lunch became the only time Lou and I got lost. As usual, Lou and I were riding alone in the middle of the pack. After Lou took a pit stop and another couple of the group passed us, we headed off again. Turns out, somehow we missed the whole group stopped at a roadside cafe for a beer and they didn't see us. We kept on riding into Gyor. The problem was that the directions were not clear. We wound up in the wrong area of Gyor having gone over the wrong bridge, backtracked and then kept asking directions of people who mostly didn't speak English and we certainly did not speak Hungarian  by showing our map that indicated where our hotel was. We eventually arrived only to find that we were the first. A number of others also had trouble following the directions including one of the guides Tomas.

St. Jacob Church

Today's picnic

Gyor was a town full of squares with fountains and churches as always.  There were many small  cobbled streets to wander and see old, ornate artful designs indicating what was or had been sold in the shop below. There was even a fountain honoring the monk who invented seltzer water many hundreds of years ago, right there in Gyor. This was the only night where the hotel just didn't reach even minimum standards. It was a substitute for the one were were originally booked in which was being renovated. Other than the lobby, which was fine, the hotel looked like a relic out of the Communist Era. It was hot without air conditioning, there was not enough hot water, the rooms were teeny tiny.  But we all went across the river for a lovely last dinner on a patio next to the river.

View from our hotel room

Amazing interior of church whose exterior gave no indication that it even was a church

 fountain honoring monk who invented seltzer water

One of the business "signs" in Gyor

     With the temperatures in the 90's, one of the best moments of the day is a shower to get off the sweat and dust before emerging for dinner. My seat is beginning to question why I am on the bike for as long as I am day after day. It sure feels relieved when I dismount in the afternoon.