borders and byways: Athens to Munich to Krakow, Oct 20-21

October 20 and 21, 2017 Final Day of the cruise, Trip days 19 and 20 Athens to Munich to Krakow

We had breakfast on the boat and then departed about 8:30. Took a cab back to the hotel. Our friends checked in and we checked our bags, we then separated as they went on a food tour (I was not interested in eating anymore) and we went to a tour of the National (formerly Royal) Gardens behind the Parliament. Nice peaceful area in the middle of Athens’ bustle. We then walked to the National Historical Museum. We caught a free day. The museum is housed at Plateia Kolokotroni in the former Parliament building on the steps of which Prime Minister Theodoros Deligiannis was assassinated in 1936 leading to a restoration of the monarchy and the installation of a right-wing military government. However, that government resisted the demands of the Italians for free passage of its troops and defeated them in a short war in 1940. However, the next year the Greeks were overwhelmed by the Germans and experienced a difficult occupation.

The museum’s exhibits are heavily focused on the War of Independence. It had an entire wind devoted to the British poet Byron who came to Greece to fight for the Christian Greeks against the Muslim Turks. He was killed in 1824 as part of a siege. There was an extensive collection of Greek royalty and heroes’ portraits including one of Laskarina Bouboulina. She was the only one whose name was not under the portrait. It was explained to me that as the only woman in the gallery and given her fame in Greece, it was not necessary to list her name. There was also a model of the ship she financed for the War.

We then walked to the Jewish Museum. The building was nondescript on the outside and locked. We were admitted through an intercom system. Its exhibits traced the history of the Jewish community in Greece back to the 3^rd century BC using a collection documents, religious artifacts, costumes and folk art. The Greeks largely participated in the Nazi roundup and deportation of the Jewish community and only about 10% survived WWII. There was a small reconstruction of a synagogue as well as information on the synagogues throughout Greece.

While there we met the tall man from Montana from the cruise. He greeted me, “so another member of the tribe?” We then walked back to the hotel and picked up our luggage which we dragged a few blocks to the airport bus stop at Plateia Syntagmatos. The bus ride was uneventful, but it provided a daylight view of the non-tourist part of Athens. It did not look bad.

We got to the airport early and went to an airport lounge. It was the worst lounge I have ever visited. The food was limited and mediocre. there were few electrical outlets, and some were broken, and the Internet service was weak.

I did not pay for bags on line, so Lufthansa charged us an excessive amount for the two checked bags. The flight took off on time and was uneventful until we landed in Munich. Then we were told that our connecting and the last flight to Krakow had been canceled. We learned that it was due to a heavy fog in Krakow. Lufthansa customer service booked us into a near airport hotel, arranged for transportation, gave us meal vouchers and rebooked us on an early afternoon flight to Krakow. That wasted a lot of time since we were too far from Munich to go into town, but the earlier flights were connections and would not have gotten us into Krakow much earlier. It was a big contrast to what a US domestic airline would do in a similar situation which would be to say, sorry we are not responsible for weather delays and send us on our way. The hotel was equivalent to a Marriott Courtyard. Had a buffet dinner, with no dessert, but beer was included with the voucher.

The breakfast was very good. I spent most of the morning on the hotel computer printing out the train tickets to Auschwitz and subsequent train trips. It was hard to get to English on the computer and the keyboard layout was different. We went out to the airport early since there was no mid-day transportation to the airport. The airport lounge was in a different terminal that we were able to walk to easily. The lounge was quiet, good food and drink and effective Internet. However, getting to our gate was a trial and we almost missed our flight. We were told that there was a bus to our terminal. We went to the waiting area for the bus indicated by the signs. The door was locked, but when the bus came passengers disembarked form the bus, entered the waiting area and the door quickly shut so we missed the bus. We go on the next bus and as it traveled to several stops we realized that we were locked into our compartment in the bus. In hindsight I think that was because the bus was passing through secured and unsecured areas of the airport but as we were on it I was wondering if we would be able to get out. When we finally were able to get out of the bus we had a long walk through the terminal past lots of shops and after we got to the gate we had to take a bus to the plane. Just made it.

We arrived in Krakow about 3:30. Poland does not use the euro, so I had to change currency. I took out too much local currency. I thought that the Airbnb had arranged airport transportation, but when none materialized we took an unlicensed taxi to the Airbnb. I realized that he was unlicensed both when he had me sit in the front seat and when he could not find the place until I gave him my GPS. (it was hard to find, and it was on a 1 block street.)

As promised, we were met at the door by a friend of the Airbnb’s owner/manager. He was on roller blades and helped carry the luggage up to the third floor on them. The apartment was good. It had a separate, spacious bedroom, a loft and separate living and kitchen areas. There were even breakfast foods for us in the refrigerator.

We left the apartment seeking dinner and intending to walk to the old Main Square. Instead I made a wrong turn and we were walking away from where we wanted to go. We visited the Krakow Opera House, a handsome and modern building. There was a performance that night, but it was sold out. After realizing my mistake, we took a tram back to the central area. It skirted the main square and we got off at Sierra Street. There were lots of upscale shops and restaurants there. We attempted to eat at one, but it is Saturday night and we did not have reservations. We walked up to and around the Main Market Square, Rynek Glówny. It is a very large open space that is the site of the Cloth Hall, a Renaissance-era trading outpost, and St. Mary’s Basilica, a 14th-century Gothic church. We stopped in at the Hard Rock cafe and purchased a tee shirt for my friend who collects such shirts.

We ate at a local restaurant on Florianska Street, a main shopping street. I had perogies. They were very filling.

We walked back to the apartment through an underpass and through a small park. Tired and went right to sleep.