Krakow

Well yeah I know it was some time ago now, but I did make some notes with the intention of typing them in at some point. And, if I'm organised, I might add pictures.


I flew back to London for Andrew's stag do, a rather fun event. We even managed a few pints of cider at the Southwark Tavern, one of my favourite pubs - as its next door to the Borough Market. The cider day at the pub was complete with a grass floor and apple bobbing. And the potent cider? mmm yummy.

I flew into a very hot Krakow and made my way to the hostel, a lovely art deco building. We wandered into the square for a folk music gig. Enjoyed this, although the Hungarian group, who were apparently quite famous, had a brass section of the 'rip shit n bust' variety. No finesse at all, which ruined the performance somewhat for me.

Krakow is quite lovely, undamaged historic buildings, friendly (mostly) people, and flat. And cheap. I got the feel the place, although welcoming to visitors, and having a huge number of info kiosks, hasn't quite worked out how to market themselves.


Rather than the cheery comedic relief of Auchwitz I chose to explore the Art Deco display and the National Museum. I'md sure my soiled soul could have benefited from Auchwitz, but I'm less concerned with it, preferring to focus on the edification of my now. The Deco display turned out to be a modern artist working in the style of Deco. So that was crap. The National Museum was far better. Top floor had an extensive display of 20th c. Polish art, which was exactly why I wanted to do there. I loved this. There was, from my perspective, a unifying theme of darkness, frequently dispression, torment and pain. A pictorial equivalent of Sam Neill's 'Cinema of unease'? Having seen some Polish movies, I'd suggest NZs are pretty upbeat...suggesting the continual struggles, invasions, occupations etc have really damaged the Polish. But it was a wonderful exhibition, hard to single out highlights, but the comics/drawings were fascinating. The darkness of the subject matter, with the black and white drawing emphasising the starkness.


A recent donation of a major collection of 20th C art including Warhol and others provided a stark contrast with the insular Polish collection. No matter how perverse the subject matter, the pictures were all more upbeat than the Polish. I enjoyed the exhibition, but preferred the Polish.


Other floors of the museum explored the history of the Roman Catholic church in Poland. A history of Poland does, by necessity, revolve around the Church. As such many relics, finery, jewellery, stained glass windows etc were present.

For the military nutjob, a collection of Polish uniforms from the middle ages to the present day filled a sizeable area of one floor. Sadly not much musical history with only a msall corner of 'old' instruments, and none labelled very well. On the plus side they did have a hurdy-gurdy which was uber-cool.

why yes, I do want one. A hurdy-gurdy harmonium duet could be like soooo awesome dude!

the remainder of the floor consisted of jewellery, fashion, coins, furniture through the ages. Interesting, but aside from the 20th C glasswork, nothing really grabbed me.

A separate section presented and explained a number of Jewish artifacts. Not very interesting and personally I felt it lacked any context. Just seemed to be dumped there, cos they had to.

Beer in Poland wasn't very good. Which was surprising as I've had some excellent Polish beer. Sadly not on tap at any of the bars we went to. Food was, as expected, based around potatoes and cabbage. Not all that great. But in it's defence, it was cheap.

Krakow seems to like and value tourists, but isn't entirely sure how to deal with them - outside of the main square anyway. This seemed to lend the city an unspoilt effect, with traditional vibes rocking along nicely a block or two off the main area. Not too many loud Americans and not too busy. all in all, not great but I'd go back there.

Pictures to come.

B.