Krakow and why I should listen to Piotr instead

9th to 14th February 2018

As soon as I arrived in Krakow, I noticed the difference from Warsaw. Old castles, palaces, fortifications, and other historic buildings.

I had actually booked a highly rated hostel, but for the first time I was offered a completely different hotel than the one advertised on Hostelworld. The bed was completely worn out and not "suitable for sleeping", no lobby to socialize, not even my own key. To get into the hotel, I had to ring the bell and someone ran down two floors to let me in. How inconvenient 😄🤦🏻‍♂️. But okay, I'm not at work. To make matters worse, 5 young American girls came into the room. That was the end of peaceful sleep, I thought to myself and went to have some food. I met a guy named "Biegos" and got annoyed about the waste of bread, so I ordered a large beer.

The next day, a Ukrainian girl showed me around the city and told me about the current situation in Ukraine. Why a German would never truly understand what it's like to be afraid when tanks roll by the window, and what it's like to lose friends in war. I really couldn't...

The city of Krakow is beautiful and has a great market square, a fantastic castle, and a metal dragon that breathes fire. Amazing! 😃 There is also the Jewish quarter here with many bars and clubs. And Oskar Schindler's Factory is not far away.

Funnily enough, a stereotype was confirmed. My backpack was stolen. Yes, really! In a club at night. 😄 in Poland. Not in Cambodia, Thailand, China or anywhere else, but in Poland.

Piotr had warned me about it. But I thought that these stereotypes were outdated. Think again!

So at five in the morning, I went to the pharmacy to buy contact lens solution and a toothbrush. Luckily, my backpack only contained charging cables, care products, gloves, and unfortunately also my glasses and the new contact lenses from Warsaw. But what I miss the most is my black Eastpak.

On Monday, I went to the salt mine near Krakow. You can visit it up to 100 meters deep and it has beautiful halls, amazing rock formations, and lots of salt, of course.

But the funniest thing was another story.

I booked a mine tour in German and shortly afterwards, I met other Germans from Cologne who had fled before Carnival. In small talk, I told them that my backpack had been stolen and made jokes about it. One of them replied that on Sunday morning, not far from the Jewish quarter and my club, he saw a black backpack on the sidewalk, with a contact lens case, gloves, and other items scattered around. I burst out laughing and asked where exactly it was. He sent me the Google Maps link. And indeed! After the mine, I found my little lock, contact lens case, and earplugs there 😂 ... Unfortunately, nothing more.

In the evening, we had delicious wine and good food at the Italian restaurant, and the next day we were supposed to go to Auschwitz. I didn't even know before that the concentration camp was near Krakow, but now I absolutely had to go. I was curious to see what it would be like, as I could only vaguely remember the information from my history book in 10th grade...