Category Archives: Poland

Warsaw

Global Traveller Blog Posted on June 20, 2014 by

June 5 The first Pole I met was a rather dour taxi driver who shepherded me to the Hotel Hetman in the Praga district slightly northeast of the town center and across the Vistula river. Are Poles dour, I wondered? That’s the first thing people want to know about any country: are the people friendly? I don’t like to generalize about entire populations but I can note that Poles have not acquired the habit of grinning at strangers even in the “service professions” probably because of years of Communism. Their initial presentation tends to be sober but invariably I found that they responded instantly and warmly to the slightest hint of a smile. As my trip progressed and I was forced to rely on locals to untangle language difficulties and the inevitable travel dilemmas, I found everyone I ran across patient and helpful. The Hotel Hetman is an elegant Art-Deco style hotel initially built in 1898 when the Praga neighborhood was a lively part of central Warsaw. Bombing at the end of WWII eviscerated historic Praga. Rebuilt in a colorless style, only a few interesting streets remain but the Hotel Hetman was not on one of them. Nevertheless it was … Continue reading →

Bialowieza Forest and Park

Global Traveller Blog Posted on June 21, 2014 by

June 7 Got an early start for the three-hour train trip to Bialystok, arriving at the train station around noon to catch the bus for Bialowieza National Park. But where was the bus, or the bus station for that matter? I had a feeling it would be not too far from the train station which proved to be the case. A ticket seller in the train station waved her arms to direct me to the bus station where another ticket seller waved in the direction of the bus which was just boarding. After discovering that the room I reserved but couldn’t find was operated by a woman who spoke not a single word of English, I blew off the reservation and expanded my budget to include the glorious four-star Hotel Zubrowka  at the edge of the park entrance. Good move! Bialowieza National Park is part of Bialowieza Forest, the last primeval forest remaining in Europe. The forest extends across the border with Belarus and comprises 370,000 acres. On the Polish side, the forest includes 154,000 acres of which 25,989 is fenced off as a strictly protected reserve and National Park. That area can only be entered with a guide and … Continue reading →

Krakow

Global Traveller Blog Posted on June 22, 2014 by

A cabaret owner immortalized in stone sits on Krakow’s main square June 11 Woke up in the Hotel Cristal, Bialystok and enjoyed yet another splendid breakfast buffet replete with fish patés, herring, potato pancakes and more. Diet be damned! I knew it was going to be a long day. Caught an early train for the day-long trip to Krakow which involved several hours  in Warsaw. Arduous. Arrived in early evening at the Tulip Hostel where I had booked a twin with private bath. Spacious, cool and super well-located, I wasn’t disappointed. I brushed off the manager who immediately launched into a sales pitch for a tour the following day and headed outside to orient myself and find food. In a few minutes I entered Krakow’s glorious main square, Rynek Glowny. By that time, the outdoor cafes and restaurants were filling up as evening fell. Even though the architectural details were in shadows, I was entranced by the liveliness and sophistication of the swirling crowds. A jazz quartet drew crowds outside one café in the center of the square while one of the churches advertised a string quartet and a restaurant touted a Chopin concert. I immediately decided that it was … Continue reading →

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Global Traveller Blog Posted on June 22, 2014 by

June 13 This was a new feeling. What was it? Our guide was sober, restrained. Facts and statistics rolled forth gravely with just the proper emphasis and enlivened by the details she gleaned from survivors’ memoirs. The ugly, squat buildings that contained the unspeakable speckled the flat landscape like fecal matter. The towers with the extinguished spotlights. The barbed wire. Was it depressing? Not exactly. The New Jersey Turnpike around Elizabeth is depressing. African poverty is depressing. Depression is a numb and blunting hopelessness. No, the death camps are different. This emotion existed in some space where the  profoundest shock and horror collide and create something new that approaches awe. Awe in the face of massive, unfathomable evil. It’s like traveling to another cosmos of evil. Like the billion-year-old stars flickering above, you knew it was out there someplace, just not in a place you could touch and smell. And then suddenly there it was. Reality. This place is not a “learning experience”. “And then when I saw a ton of  human hair in a vast case, I realized. . .” Yes, you see the details. “And so many shoes in that case! Childrens” shoes! Fashionable ladies’ shoes of good … Continue reading →

Gdansk

Global Traveller Blog Posted on June 29, 2014 by

June 16 After a last longing look at Krakow’s central square, I hopped my train for the 8-hour trip to Gdansk. I booked a private apartment, Best Stay Old Town Center on a residential street that ran just parallel to Dluga or Long street, Gdansk’s historic center. I immediately headed for dinner of course. The western bank of the Motlowa river had been carefully reconstructed and turned into a promenade lined with shops and restaurants. The eastern bank was a construction site and looked hardly touched since Gdansk was bombed to smithereens in WWII. Smithereens! As Gdansk had been immediately occupied by the Germans and its port used to supply the war effort, the Allies were merciless in their bombing raids. In what must have been a mammoth project, the Poles rebuilt the historic city stone by stone after the war. It was only completed in 1954. The result is quite extraordinary, at least in the core of the old town along Dluga and its side streets. Outside of the historic core, the construction is very post-war and uninteresting. June 17 I picked up a local guidebook and got an early start exploring the lovingly recreated old town. As Gdansk … Continue reading →