Podgórze - Ghetto walls, Fort #31 Saint Benedykt, Krakus Mound, Liban Quarry - revisited 2014

I visited Podgórze a lot last summer, but decided to return for another look (and to show my husband around). Some of these places were covered in last summer's blog.

Here are fragments of the ghetto wall on Lwowska Street. A memorial plaque was mounted on the wall. Behind the wall are apartments that look run down. We saw people in them. They must be inhabited.

Near the corner of Limanowskiego street and Rękawka street is a school. In the playground area of the school are more fragments of the wall. These are better restored than those on Lwowska street.

The wall butts up to an old stone quarry.

Fort Saint Benedykt is up the hill from the school and ghetto wall featured above. It was built from 1853-1855 and was one of many Austrian style defense forts in Cracow. The fort is circular and you can see the firing positions around the top. This fort was actively used until 1912. The condition of this fort now is questionable. There is still a fence around it as was last summer. The fort is surrounded by trees so I could not see it clearly. I hope they will restore this fort.

Krakus Mound is outside of central Podgórze, off of Wielicka street. It dates from the 7th-8th century and was erected as a burial mound for prince Krak, the supposed founder of Cracow (according to legends). Here as view from the bottom of the mound.

The view from up top is spectacular. You can see a lot of Cracow including Wawel castle, St. Mary's church in the city center and a nearby abandoned stone quarry.

Wawel Castle and St. Mary's Church towers behind it.

The Liban Quarry, visible from the mound, is just below the mound. It used to be a forced labor camp during WWII. It was the site for many scenes in the movie "Schindler's List". It has been abandoned for a long time. The chimneys are still there.

A view from the mound.

A view from closer in - right on the edge of a cliff.

These places are not on a typical tourist's radar to go visit. It is worth the effort to go seek these places out.

Wawel Castle, the best zapiekanki and ice cream places in Cracow

One day when the weather was nice we walked to Wawel Castle in Cracow. Many others had the same idea. This was the location for Polish kings' and queens'coronations and funerals.

Here are some photos.

The man on horseback is Polish patriot Tadeusz Kościuszko. 

Another famous Pole, Pope (now Saint) John Paul II.

Castle and cathedral.

Hot air balloon over Grunwaldzki Bridge for rich tourists to ride in. It just goes straight up and straight down. Note the 2 birds that flew into my shot!

Tourist paddle boat and Dębnicki Bridge, Vistula River (Wisła River).

We walked over to Kazimierz (the Jewish district) and ate the best zapiekanka in town in Plac Nowy. There is a round building in the middle of the square with tons of walk up windows selling zapiekanki.

Walk by all of them until you get to the window with the sign saying "Endzior". This is the place.

For around 8-10 złoty you can get a long zapiekanka. It is street food. It is toasted French bread topped with yellow cheese and mushrooms (standard kind) plus a variety of other toppings you can choose. We got the "wiejska" which had sausage on it. We ordered the garlic sauce on it instead of ketchup (ketchup is standard on zapiekanki). Here is my mostly-eaten zapiekanka.

Go to Starowislna street #83 for the best ice cream ever. The sign just says "ice cream - traditional recipes". The place almost always has a line out front, so be prepared to wait. They usually have about 6 flavors to offer at 2.5 złoty per scoop. My favorite kind is blueberry. Raspberry is also good. The fruit flavors tend to be really intense. The chocolate with chocolate pieces and walnuts is also great. I don't think you can go wrong there with the choice of ice cream.

Underground Museum - Rynek, Cracow Poland - revisited 2014

I visited the Underground Museum in Cracow's Rynek (main square) last summer in 2013 and wrote about it in this blog. This year I returned to the museum to show my husband the exhibits. In this blog post I will present some new pictures and texts from the exhibit that were not included in last year's blog post.

The exhibit shows you several times proof of the different layers of civilization found below the current cloth hall. These layers represent civilizations over several centuries. You can see distinctive layers thanks to different kinds of roads made of cobblestones, smooth stone surfaces or wood.

These layers dated from the 12th-14th centuries and thus showed civilizations that were from that time period.

In medieval times Cracow was in the middle of a huge trade network. Goods would pass through Cracow, coming from other cities and often moving on to other locations. Some goods from elsewhere would end up staying in Cracow, but most moved on. Cracow made its money through trade in salt from the Wieliczka salt mine and through charging tolls on the trade routes running through Cracow.

Medieval trade routes going through Cracow. Various routes color-coded.

Texts about trade routes and tolls.

Here is text about the early cloth hall stalls used to trade goods.  Bolesław Wstydliwy established the first stalls (Kramy Bolesławowe). Later those stalls were replaced by the "Rich Stalls" (Kramy Bogate) where luxury goods were sold. 

Near the cloth hall was the town hall tower and its buildings. Court proceedings and judgements took place there. 

Settlements emerged around the cloth hall trading center. Here is some text about that. Read the last sentence carefully. Some poor fellow (prince) could not manage without his beer.

The settlement later burned down and was not rebuilt.

Here is a mock-up of a cabin. All that is remaining is the floor, part of the wall and a dug out wooden log to transport water.

Found around the area of the cloth hall were several graveyards of various sizes. Here is a picture of their locations, marked with the orange colored spots.

The Cloth Hall in the middle of the square was surrounded by graveyards. Smaller graveyards are spread out around it.

If someone was a little odd, he/she might be labeled as a vampire. That meant the burial position was different than a normal person. It could be that the person was buried lying on his side or stomach, sometimes with hands and legs bound with rope. The person could be in the fetal position and perhaps decapitated. Here is a text about it.

If it was determined that such a person (vampire) had not been properly buried (in the correct body position), then the person was dug up and re-buried in the vampire position. 

The bodies were consistently buried in an east-west orientation with the heads facing west.

A "vampire", for sure.

A body of a "normal" person would be buried stretched out with their arms at their sides or crossed at the wrists. Sometimes items were buried with them. Here is a regular burial of a person with an earthen vessel included. The bodies were buried either in coffins or shrouds.

Here are pictures of items found while digging around in these ruins - a blacksmith's goods (horse shoes and spurs), knives and dice (and other toys).

These are mock-ups of the "Rich Stalls". They would sell goods through the windows.

The following are photos from the excavations of the area around the current cloth hall on the main square. The digging started in 2005 and ended in 2010. Note the foundations of stalls in rows outside the cloth hall.

Water tank to the right (large rectangular hole).

I highly recommend watching the various documentaries on Polish history towards the end of the exhibit. They are in chronological order and in Polish with subtitles in English.

Reflections on conversations with native Poles

In my time here this summer I have learned many new things about Polish society from my friends. I will try to remember some of the details now.

1) A friend who owns a travel business here in Cracow told us many interesting things. He organizes tours for groups coming to visit Cracow from other countries. He will have around 220 groups of visitors coming to see Cracow this year. Many will come in the summer. He told us there are about 10 million people a year coming to visit Cracow (again mostly in the summer). Cracow is quite a popular place for tourists and conference attendees.

To maintain an office in Cracow he must pay 23% VAT (value added tax), plus rent, health insurance for his employees, unemployment taxes for his employees and pension contributions for his employees. All added up he ends up paying 50% of his gross income in taxes. That is a lot.

Many of the free guided walking tour companies in Cracow are really non for profit foundations. They can be non for profit because they are promoting Polish culture. Their funding comes from various sources. The guides survive off of tips.

His company offers tours in several different languages, but not for free.

He was talking to us about his recent wedding anniversary. Apparently civil weddings are legal here, but not recognized as legal by the Roman Catholic Church. Church weddings are legal and are obviously recognized by the church. There must be some advantage of having a church wedding, but I am not sure of the details. He had a civil marriage first, then a church wedding at a later point. During the church ceremony he and his wife were addressed as "fiancé" and "fiancée" despite the fact that they were already legally married by the state. That is because the church does not recognize civil marriages as being legal.

2) Another friend told us that during Communist times companies owned holiday cottages all over Poland and sometimes in other countries. Her father worked for a coal mine in Poland. That coal mine offered their employees the opportunity to rent those cottages cheaply during vacation times. Sometimes her family would rent one of those cottages in Zakopane during the summer. Her parents also rented such a cottage in Hungary before she was born. How nice the cottages were depended on how rich the company was. The coal mining was thriving then, so its accommodations were pretty good. Unfortunately this practice stopped when Communism left Poland.

3) Other friends were talking to us about the current educational system in Poland. Since joining the EU in 2004, Poland has changed its educational system to match what is being done in other EU countries. This means the number of years students are going to school have increased in Poland. Schools have added more grade levels to their buildings. Higher education requires more years of study. There are fewer vocational schools. Everyone now is going to school for more years, but those with advanced degrees can't find work in their field. They end up taking on some menial job. Those who want a skilled vocation end up getting more years of studies in areas that they don't need to do their profession. There has been a recent decrease in the number of children in Poland. The result is fewer students overall in Poland. Schools have shut down because of it and teachers have lost jobs too. There are fewer students so it is quite easy to get admitted to a university. In order to study at a university you must pass an end of year high school exam called the "matura". This past year 1/3 of the students did not pass this exam. They are not qualified then to apply for university studies. If they want to, they can take the matura exam again at the end of August to try to pass it. If they pass, they can still apply for university studies in the Fall. Overall my friends are disappointed with the direction the educational system is going in Poland. They thought the Polish education system was good before the EU came here. As teachers they notice more instability in their work environment. Job security is more of an issue than it has been in the past.

4) Yet another friend was talking to us about the EU, changes to the retirement system in Poland, health insurance in Poland and currency issues.  Recently legislation passed to change the age that you can retire. The old rule was women can retire at age 60 and men at 65. Now it is age 67 for both women and men. Feminist organizations were for the new retirement age for women when the idea was introduced. Surveys of women done after the bill was passed showed that most women were against the new retirement age. The new retirement age rule is being gradually phased in over 10 years. Those close to retirement now will be under the old rules. They won't be forced to work to age 67.

The retirement pension used to be based on your income and years of service. Now they have added the factor of life expectancy. The result is you will receive less money every month when you are retired. Now that people are living longer they are trying to stretch out the same amount of money over more years.

Most people in Poland want Poland to retain control of their national retirement pension and health insurance. They are part of the national budget. The fear is that if Poland goes to the Euro then they will not be able to subsidize their pension and health care systems. Right now the state budget is subsidizing those systems. Going to the Euro would mean losing their ability to subsidize those systems. That is a huge issue here. There is much resistance to accept the Euro as currency at this point. In order to change to the Euro there would have to be a referendum (public opinion poll would need to be for the change) and a vote in Parliament to change their constitution (stating a change in the national currency).

Private medical clinics do exist in Poland. You have to pay the full amount for these services. They are not subsidized by the national government. Advantages of going to these privatized clinics are better doctors and faster service. It still is such a slow process to be seen at a nationally subsidized clinic. You might have to wait up to 6 months to see a doctor if there is a medical concern. Many people cannot afford to o to private clinics.

Elections for parliament won't be for another year or so, but politicians are trying to sweeten the deal and butter up their constituents with a slight raise in the amount of retirement pension they receive. Our friend called this political move "election kielbasa". Parliament is now a left of center group. The thought is the next elections could bring the orientation more to the right (conservatives-"family values"). Changes could be in store. 

Kładka (Ojca) Bernatka Bridge - Tradition in Cracow Poland

The bridge "Kładka Bernatka", over the Wisła River in Cracow, was built within the last 4 years. It is named after a priest, Father Bernard. From the Kazimierz district side of the river looking towards the Podgórze district you can see two different lanes of the bridge. The left lane is for pedestrians; the right lane is for cyclists. No cars allowed.

Somehow a tradition got started where married couples in Cracow would hang a padlock with their names and their wedding date on this bridge. My husband and I decided we wanted to take part in this tradition. We had to find a hardware store to buy a padlock. Then we had to find magic markers so we could write our names and wedding date on the lock. Today we hung the lock on the cyclists' side of the bridge.

Here are some photos from our "lock ceremony".

Our lock.

Many locks hung already on the cyclists' side.

Here is the bridge from below.

Tradition says that you must throw away the key to the lock once you have hung the lock on the bridge.

Now we are permanently attached to Cracow!

Plac Bohaterów Getta (Heroes of the Ghetto Square) in Cracow, summer 2014

We went to the Plac Bohaterów Getta today in Podgórze. In the corner of the square is the Pharmacy Museum we previously visited.  The empty chairs on the square are there to commemorate the lives of those lost in the ghetto during WWII. This square was the site of deportations and executions during the war. The square was inside the ghetto walls.

Note the building in the background with the years 1941-43. That was the time period of all those killings and deportations in the ghetto.

There is a sign on the square that describes what happened here.

An outdoor exhibit on the square grabbed my attention. Its focus was on Jan Karski, a Polish "hero" during WWII. It is the anniversary of Karski's birth this year of 2014.  I had not heard of him before.

I took photos of the texts so you can see what it is all about.

I must look up the book he wrote about Poland from 1918-45. This man was very interesting and surely had much to tell.