Paul Philippov
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Articles // Poland
Last week Eugenia and me had a wonderful trip to Poland, the country where my grandparents from father’s side come from. We have got a chance to visit two interesting cities — Gdansk and Krakow. Gdansk is located at the North of Poland, on the Baltic sea. While Krakow is on the very deep South of the country. Both cities has a lot of nice old buildings, churches, castles which are highlighted at night time.
Krakow (Cracow)
Krakow (or better say Kraków in Polish) is almost as old as Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad — it has received city rights under the Magdeburg Law in 1257, and this year there will 750-th anniversary of Krakow Lokacjia.
Nowadays the city is a living holiday. There are millions of places to visit and spend time with pleasure, from hilarious museums to cosy cafe and bars with cheap and tasty food. It’s a city of smiles and good mood. Though this city has seen a lot of scary things during WWII:
The Nazi German forces entered Kraków in September of that year. It became the capital of the General Government, a colonial authority under the leadership of Hans Frank. The occupation took a heavy toll, particularly on the city’s cultural heritage. On one occasion, over 150 professors and other academics of the Jagiellonian University were summoned to a meeting, arrested and dispatched to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen (see also Sonderaktion Krakau). Many relics and monuments of national culture were destroyed and looted. Major concentration camps near Kraków included Plaszow and Auschwitz, to which many Polish Jews were sent. Specific events surrounding the Jewish ghetto in Kraków and the nearby concentration camps were famously portrayed in the film Schindler’s List, itself based on a book by Thomas Keneally entitled Schindler’s Ark.
Stanisław Lem, one of the greatest science fiction writers, lived in Krakow. Such famous names as Władysław II Jagiełło, Nicolas Copernicus, Pope John Paul II are in relations with the city.
We have stayed in a very cosy place called Honey Apartment in Kazimierz district. The Honey Apartment on Miodowa Street 21 is the right place to stay with if you are going to visit Krakow. Please call Magdalena for prior booking, her number is +48-608-159-349.
Gdansk
On the way back home we had a night to spend in Gdansk waiting for a train to Kaliningrad. Being located on Baltic sea Gdansk is much more cold place than Krakow. I had a film roll left in my camera, and I thought to make some shots of great Gothic churches of former Danzig of Ostpreussen. Though it was already dark outside, and cold wind from Wisła river made my whole body tremble, I took a couple of dozen shorts. They are still in photo lab yet, but keep your eyes on my flickr photo stream to see them full size as soon as I get them developed.
I like Poland a lot. It’s a beautiful country full of friendly people, who, like we Russians, used to be under pressure of Soviets’ regime. But despites the hard times they had stepped over it and are moving forward, while Russia builds another Iron Curtain and praises Russia for Russians policy.
Hey Poland, we love ya! We’ll be back! =)
