After our quick two days in Warsaw, we hopped on a train and headed south to Kraków. Our friends, the Sigstons and Crabtrees, were waiting for us in Kraków.
We spent our first full day wandering the Old Town, wandering through the beautiful Main Market Square, and checking out the historic streets. We tried pierogi. Kraków has such a cool mix of history, architecture, restaurants, shops, and lively streets. We could easily spend weeks here exploring the city.
The most significant part of our time in Kraków was our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The night before our tour, Lucas Michael and I watched Schindler’s List. Watching the movie and then standing in the actual places where these events happened the following day made the history feel very real. Our tour guide has been giving tours for 28 years, and her experience and knowledge brought so much depth to the visit. We toured both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, learning about the concentration and extermination camp complex and the millions of people who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
There really are no words to describe what it feels like to stand there.
Seeing the belongings left behind by the victims — including enormous collections of shoes — was heartbreaking. One of the most difficult exhibits was the collection of human hair taken from women who were murdered. The Nazis used victims’ hair as raw material, including for textiles and other products. Standing in front of those exhibits makes the scale of what happened almost impossible to comprehend.
The devastation left behind should be unfathomable. Yet, it happened. And that is why places like Auschwitz matter. They preserve the evidence and the memories of the people who were there, so we can learn about what happened and remember the human beings behind the numbers. It was a difficult day, but an important one.
We also visited the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which was a completely different kind of historical experience. The mine dates back to the 13th century and produced table salt continuously for hundreds of years. It stretches for miles underground and contains an incredible network of tunnels, chambers, chapels, sculptures, and even an underground lake.
The most amazing part was seeing the enormous underground chapels carved directly into the salt. Generations of miners created sculptures and religious artwork from the rock salt, turning the mine into something that feels almost like an underground city.
We also had dinners with our friends, and Lucas and Henry squeezed in a movie night with their friends.
In true Watkins travel fashion, we managed to pack all of this into just four days.
Kraków was another quick stop, but it left a big impression. Between exploring the Old Town with our friends, learning some incredibly important history, visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, and wandering through an underground salt mine, we certainly made the most of our time.
We would come back to Kraków someday and slow down enough to really experience the city. But slowing down wasn’t exactly on the schedule this trip. Our flight out of Kraków was at 6:30 a.m., which meant a 4:00 a.m. taxi to the airport. 😴 No rest for us!
Off to the next place!
