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For a place to absolutely visit, I am referring to Auschwitz, but I consider it an example. In fact, any of the other Nazi death camps and beyond could work just as well. Countless peoples have been martyred and exterminated throughout history, and for example, the injustices that to this day the State of Israel does to the Palestinians are almost unbelievable.
Although watered down by time, a concrete trace remains of the former lagers. One can walk in them, one can touch the walls, and with a little imagination one can try to imagine what they might have been like. These places make one think and teach, or perhaps should just remind, that man, when he has too much power, almost always becomes a monster; and powerful monsters can convince whole peoples to commit monstrosities.
My first trip to Poland was an 8-day solo trip by public transportation in August 2016. While in June 2023 I returned on a weekend trip to visit a friend
These are the places I visited:
- Krakow and Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Warsaw
- Gdansk (Gdansk)
- Wroclaw (Wroclaw)
- Poznan
This is the map from my google maps from the first trip.
Krakow, it is not only the city of Pope Woytila
As soon as I arrived in Krakow I headed to the central square (Rynek Glowny) and was amazed at how beautiful it was. Immediately afterwards I regretted the fact that despite being the largest medieval square in Europe it was filled with various stalls and banquets. In general I find that this custom, which is very common now, really penalizes certain spaces. Since I was very hungry, I immediately prepared to close my mouth by chewing tasty sausages and postponing the discovery of Pierogi (a kind of very typical and delicious ravioli).
I consider Krakow one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Despite the almost suffocating memory of Pope Woytila (who studied and became a bishop here): the building where he went to school; where he lived; the place where he ate; only missing was where he peed.
On the second day I saw the central part on a walking tour where I also met a Genoese mother and daughter with whom I then went to dinner. On my own business I also visited the castle and the Jewish quarter (with a touching museum set up inside Schindler’s factory – the one in Spielberg’s film).
There are many things to see in the city, but what makes it a great destination for a long weekend are the 2 popular destinations just outside.
I didn’t have high expectations toward the Wieliczka Salt Mine and instead the 2-hour guided tour is well spent especially the incredible underground church made entirely out of salt (even the pews!).
In the place to visit absolutely I find the lovebirds
In Aushwitz, on the other hand, I knew what to expect having been to Dachau years earlier. Just as I was quite fresh on the subject of the Holocaust having been a few months earlier in Jerusalem.
It is difficult not to fall into the trivial when writing about theoretically known and well-known situations. I’m just saying that being there is very strong and emotionally it should leave a mark, but despite myself, my experience stands out this time as well.
I was walking through what used to be the camp cells, where those guilty of something in particular (who were not executed immediately) or to be isolated for some reason were kept. It was a long corridor with tiny, bare rooms on each side; there were a lot of people there, particularly a group of rather noisy young English-speaking men with little spirit of decency, as they seemed to be strolling through the fairgrounds instead of in such a terrible place. I looked out into a room where there was a couple inside who were making love in a very cheerful way.
Perhaps man cannot understand? No.
Beloved reflections of June 13, 25
In my naiveté, I remember that when I visited Auschwitz I thought that if everyone saw such a place, the world would be better off. I was dead wrong because some of the people who are trying to destroy the world today have certainly been to Auschwitz.
In the following article is the video I took in the capital of Laos, Phnom Penh. Precisely from another must-visit place, if it were closer for us Europeans, from one of the prisons used by one of the bloodiest regimes in history.
Next stage Sleeping with snakes in the house, i.e., bins and snakes
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
Countries visited in my travel stories
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