October 22, 2107 Krakow 2 Day 21 of the trip
We had breakfast in the apartment from the food provided by
the hosts. Eggs, sausages, bread etc.
The first activity was to go over to the very nearby train
station, Krakow Gtowny, to do a dry run for the next days train trip to Auschwitz.
It was well maintained and easy to navigate. It had lots of shops, ample ticket
counters and importantly for our last day, large luggage lockers.
We set out for old town, this time in the daylight without
any wrong turns. On the way to old town we passed through a park that was illuminated
with a carpet of fallen autumn leaves and had a memorial to Pope John II. We
then turned down Lubicz, this time the right way, walked passed a model shoot
on a pedestrian bridge, under a large overpass and along the remaining city
Defense Walls. The Barbican is a circular bastion with seven turrets that was
part of the wall structure. We toured a small museum there. It used to be
connected to the Florian Gate by a narrow passageway over a moat. Now we just
walked through the gate into the old town. I was hoping to go to an art Museum
that is along the Wall, which housed da Vinci’s painting, Lady with an Ermine,
the city’s most valuable painting, but it was closed for renovation.
We entered old town by walking down Florianska St to the
northeast corner of the square where St. Mary’s Basilica is located. Its two
red brick towers of different heights dominate the square. There has been a church
on this site since the 1220s, but construction of the current structure was begun
after the Tarter invasion 30 years later. The main church entrance can be used
only by worshippers. Tourists such as us had to enter through a side door on
the southeast side. We did not climb the towers, from the tallest of which
there is an hourly bugle call, but the interior had many stained-glass windows
and colorful wall paintings. There was a large organ.
We then crossed to middle of the square to Cloth Hall. This
building was once the center of Krakow’s medieval clothing trade. It was
created in the 14th century when a roof was put over rows of stalls.
Following fires, it was rebuilt first as a Gothic structure and then in
Renaissance style. In the 19th century exterior arcades were added.
The ground floor is now a very busy market for food, crafts and souvenirs. The outdoor area under the arcades house lots
of cafes.
When we emerged, it had begun to rain. I had planned to go
into the Rynek Underground, but contrary to the guidebook’s description it was
closed on Sunday. While we took umbrellas on the trip, we neglected to bring
them with us that day. Instead we
decided to go to the Jewish Quarter in the Kazimierz neighborhood. As we walked
down Sienna to the trolley stop it began to rain harder. We were approached by
a driver of a clear plastic, enclosed, electric powered small vehicle who offered
to provide a two-hour tour of the Jewish Quarter and Kazimierz. She agreed at
the end of the tour to cross the river and drop us off at Schindler’s Factory
so I agreed to the tour. I suspected that we were paying too much, 200 zoylets,
but it was raining and there were lots of blankets in the vehicle.
Kazimierz, formally a city, now a part of Krakow, was
founded in 1335 on the south side of Krakow by Kazimierz III Wielki one of
Poland’s greatest kings. He not only greatly expanded Poland’s territory, but
he also laid down solid legal, economic and educational foundations for the
country. Also passed laws making Poland a haven for Jews for centuries. Thanks to his patronage Kazimierz grew rapidly
to the point that it rivaled Krakow in importance. There was a plaque which
said that Kazimierz found Poland built of wood and left it built of stone.
Initially not many Jews moved to Kazimierz, but in 1492 the
Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal and many found their way to Krakow. However,
two years later they were expelled from the walls surrounding Krakow by the
then Polish king, Jan Olbracht, and tens of thousands moved to Kazimierz. They
were required to live in a proscribed area, adjacent to, but separated by a
wall, from the Christian area. Over the next few centuries Jews from all
corners of Europe settled in Kazimierz and it became one of the largest Jewish
community in Poland. When the walls were torn down in the early 19th
century Kazimierz became a predominately Jewish neighborhood.
Less than 10% of Krakow’s Jewish community survived WWII and
the Kazimierz district fell into disrepair under the communist rule. Now the
district has regained some of its Jewish character, but seemingly primarily as
a tourist attraction. On the tour we visited 4 of the 7 surviving synagogues,
but all seemed to have none or a very small membership and seemingly depended
upon entry fees by tourists to survive. The Old Synagogue is the oldest in the
country dating to 1557. It has been rebuilt several times, most recently after
WWII. Still raining, we next went to the Remuh Synagogue. This was established
in 1558, and it is the smallest, yet it is one of two that are still active
synagogues. Attached to this synagogue is a cemetery established in the mid-16th
century which contains hundreds of restored Renaissance era tombstones. Next
was the High Synagogue, so named because the ground floor is occupied by shops,
including a large bookstore, and the prayer hall is on the second (the
Europeans call it the first) floor. This was built in 1560. Klezmer concerts
are held here nightly. Finally, the Isaac Synagogue is a large building that
was constructed in 1644. It has stucco walls that are decorated with wall paintings.
There was an interesting exhibit on Polish Jews here. We drove through the ul
Szeroka, an elongated square that is rimmed by restaurants, bookshops and
tourist shops. I imagine in better weather it is busy, but today there were few
people around.
We then crossed the river Vistula into the Podgorez
neighborhood. This is still largely a working-class neighborhood, but it was
here that the Germans herded Krakow’s 60,000 Jews into a newly constructed ghetto,
before ultimately shipping most of them to death camps. The ghetto was centered
around what is now Plac Bohaterow, Ghetto Hero’s Square, a memorial park, which
has lots of empty chairs representing victims, including small chairs for
children. On the edge of the park is the Pharmacy Under the Eagle. This museum recreates
a former pharmacy whose owner, a non-Jew, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, protected Jews
during WWII and provided medications to ghetto inmates.
We were then dropped off at Schindler’s factory. This is the former enamel factory of Oskar
Schindler which is now an impressive interactive museum that covers the Nazi
occupation of Krakow from 1939 to 1945 and Schindler’s efforts to protect his
Jewish (unpaid) workers. It was a fabulous, well organized and very informative
museum that we stayed in for 6 hours until closing at 8.
When we emerged, it was till raining and cold, so we took a
cab back to the city. The driver had his wife in the front seat and we had a
running commentary about the city and its neighborhoods. We wanted to go to the
Milk Bar for dinner, but it was closed on Sunday evening, so we ended up at the
driver’s recommendation at a very small all pierogi restaurant off the main
square. Lots of locals and it was a tasty and filling meal at a small price. It
finally stopped raining so walked back to the apartment along the usual route
past the art exhibit, through the underpass, along Lubicz and through the park.
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| Park near our apartment |
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| Cloth Hall |
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| High Synagogue |
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| Ghetto Hero's Square |
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