Krakow

Due to some “problems“ with the trains, which saw us go in the wrong direction completely, we only had one full day in Krakow. Naturally I decided to spend the morning hiking out of the city to the abandoned Liban Quarry. (Note: When traveling, I find such places using http://www.atlasobscura.com, an amazing website with lesser known attractions). What was once used as a penal camp for Polish during Nazi occupation was also used by Spielberg in Schindler’s List. I talked to a local before entering the area and he told me how to enter through a gap in the fence. He said they only had three or four tourists a year come here as far as he knew, and so it was great to visit a place off the tourist trail. He also apologised for his English, although I was thinking, dude you speak better English than me.

From the hole, I stood on a ridge looking down into the sunken quarry area. A large basin lay below me, filled with trees, swamp and overgrown shrubbery. Rusted towers poked starkly out of the greenery, and I couldn’t wait to get down to them. Following a tiny path through trees and chest high grass, I finally saw the structures emerge through the foliage.

A large garage-like area on the left was covered in slightly terrifying graffiti, which added to the creepy mood. It was like being in a Stalker game, and I imagined gas-mask wearing creatures hunting me through the grass. Yet I was deliriously happy to be out here alone with my camera and these amazing rusted artifacts, so I continued exploring. The four towers ran up alongside a 6 or 7 meter high rockface, and walkways, rusted away in parts, stretched out over this drop between towers. It took me a few seconds to decide whether I should clamber over this tetanus jungle, but I thought the views from the top would be worth it. The metal “stairs“ were jagged and twisted, and it took me a few minutes to climb them. From the top I could see out over the basin

Climbing down to the base of the towers dropped me onto some swampy ground, where mosquitos buzzed around my ankles and the ground felt unstable underfoot. A lone tyre sat half submerged in the muck, its story of how it came to be there lost and discarded like the tyre itself. I spent a good hour just lurking around taking photos, and felt very lucky to have found it. At once a sad reminder of this country’s history and a beautiful place far from the touristy areas, it was one of the highlights of my trip so far.

The actual city of Krakow is quite nice, the old town a large area filled with churches and shops. Many nuns go about their business down the smaller streets, avoiding the tourist filled main walkways, and once a girl drove past on her bike singing at the top of her lungs. The royal castle sits high on a wall surrounded hill overlooking the old town. The courtyard reveals a varied collection of buildings which photograph well in the sun. One of the corner towers looked utterly very climable, given some Assassin’s Creed skills. The main square in Krakow is one of the largest in Europe, stretching some 200 meters by 200 meters, and Tara and I enjoyed a drink at night in a bar a couple of stories up. We had a great meal afterwards, of ribs and chicken with a great prune and apricot chutney.