If you ever get the chance, you must visit……!


By Michael James


We have all had our friends or family say to us, “If you ever get the chance you must visit Barry Island” (or Torquay/Paris/Rome/New York – delete as appropriate). Well, in our case that place was Krakow, Poland. Our son and his wife have been there at least twice, and a number of our friends have also spent some time in the City and loved it. They all told us, “You must go”. Ok, I thought, I will put it on my list of places to visit if and when I get the chance, though to be honest, there are other places I would rather visit.


Then, one evening in November last year, as I was working on my computer, up popped an advert for a four-night break in Krakow in December, flying from Bristol, at what I considered to be a bargain price. Three star hotel, just off the main square where the Christmas Market was to be held, and surrounded by a large variety of restaurants. This sounded like a great opportunity for a quick educational (by which I mean shopping) break before Christmas. So I discussed it with my wife who agreed that it would be a chance to cross Krakow off our 'been there, done that' list and said I should ring up to book it first thing the next morning. Which is exactly what I did, filled with eager anticipation.


Yes, said the travel agent when I rang, there were still places available on that date from Bristol, and the price included escorted visits to either the old Jewish quarter or the notorious concentration camp at Auschwitz. Unfortunately, all the places available with the original offer had been snapped up, although, she added helpfully, places could be found for us at an additional cost of £100 each. Well that really took the gloss off


96


the trip; I wasn’t prepared to pay that extra amount. Upon hearing the disappointment in my voice, or perhaps not wanting a potential customer to slip off the hook, she offered to see what she could do and ring me back.


By now I had decided that Krakow was the place that I most wanted to visit, so when the lady rang back to say that we could have the same holiday, albeit, some twenty minutes walk from the central square but in a similar standard hotel for only £50 more per person, I snapped up the offer. As I gave her our details and paid for the holiday, she asked which of the included trips we would prefer. I decided on the visit to Auschwitz, as the hotel we would now be staying at was in the heart of the city’s Jewish quarter. When I received the flight times, to my dismay what was a four night/three day break was in effect, because of the flight times, really only two full days of sightseeing. However, everything was now in place for only a little more than the original price.


I spoke with our son and the various friends who had told us about their visits and asked what we should see and do, including finding out which restaurants they had enjoyed. They did this with great enthusiasm and I was soon armed with a list of things we shouldn't miss. I had a great time researching all of their suggestions, deciding which we would visit first.


96


We chose to visit Auschwitz, which was both amazing and disturbing. Amazing because of the scale of what had been preserved and recorded in order to document the sheer horror of what had taken place there.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100