Shiny ski slopes in Krynica

I can’t help myself not to react on the first logical thought of the reader - How can someone take a week vacation in the mid-February and go to Poland? In my case the reasons began to accumulate half a year before the departure. First I started to play a bit with skype finding old time friends. I found Slovakian friend Marcel whom I know from French work camp from the village of Chantelle. I learned that he worked in Warsaw. And to go back to technologies I played with Facebook recommended me by my colleague Gogas (Honza Novák). After importing contacts from Gmail it found about ten active users. Among them there was Agnieszka, Polish friend, which I know from France as a result of crazy coincidences. Nota (Agnieszka) - tecleoI think the story is interesting and you can include it( from my point of view: we met in France on one of the ski lifts in Val Cenis, we had a chance to go on the ski lift few times and share thoughts from the skiing. After three months I came to Paris for work program from the international organisation and on the orientation meeting I met you again – I was surprised from that coincidence! Than you said that you have two extra beds in your apartment and you are looking for someone to share the apartment. And from that moment we spent a Paris adventure in 7 people Checks and Poles and it was not so bad time… (Agnieszka)Agnieszka works as environmental auditor in a multinational company and she had a lot of work recently (like me) and plenty of not taken vacation. So we planned a week trip in Poland with some skiing.

Palace of Culture and Science is 232 meters tall - Warsaw

Discomfort doesn’t knock me down nor erode me psychically! Besides I like adventure. Maybe that’s the reason I bought the return ticket by bus for 1440 CZK without considering the train alternative or to consult the road map (you won’t find kilometer of highway on the way between Prague and Warsaw). I came to Želivského (bus station) before noon and the bus was just parking there. It was a very very old Neoplan – from the era, before they started to produce them – with a Belarusian license plate (Warsaw was only a stop on the way to Minsk). So we set out on the 12-hour long pilgrimage, which was to prolong even more. Nota (Agnieszka) - tecleoTrain journey from Prague to Warsaw takes about 9 hours and you can have a rest in the sleeping compatment as the train goes during the night. (Agnieszka)

Who is interested to undertake something similar, here you have some advice: 1/ Forget the Schengen. In the frontier or a few kilometers further you will look at your watch recalculating the time of arrival. 2/ Don’t fall asleep leaving your head leaning against the window if you don’t want to wake up with bad headache.

We arrived on the West bus terminal in Warsaw obviously with delay after midnight. I was lucky because Agnieszka with her brother Maciek came by car to take me out, so short after half an hour I could dinner an excellent pasta with my hosts. On the way from the terminal to Zoliborz I learned funny information about the Uefa Euro 2012 preparations, which will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Because of the fact that no construction is under way, locals start to believe that they would be the first country to concede.

Museum of Warsaw uprising 1944 - symbol of resistance

I was curious about Warsaw even because I heard quite a lot of contradictory opinions. According to ones there is nothing special there, according to the others it is a nice city. To summarize it I heard nothing concrete. The fact is that during the 2nd world war this city suffered a lot and besides the hundreds of thousands of dead people there were 84% of building lying in debris. These were being rebuilt after war based on the old plans and where the plans were missing also based on the paintings of the famous Italian painter from 18th century – Canaletto.

Royal palace - Warsaw

The recent history has left a sharp footprint on the appearance of the city and that’s the reason why the visitor will definitely not regret of going to see the Museum of Warsaw uprising, which was taking place in the end of summer 1944. It was constructed in occasion of 60th years’ anniversary of the uprising and it is the most modern one in Poland. Just behind the entrance there is a black wall, kind of the beating heart of museum. If you put your ear to the holes in the wall you would hear the sounds of that era. The other parts of museum have got similar audiovisual strength.

Old town square - Warsaw

In the afternoon we strolled with Agnieszka the city center inside out to get to the Zygmunt’s column in front of the Royal Palace at 8 p.m., where we had an appointment with Marcel. Together we headed towards the pierogerie not far from the Old town’s square. In the February’s dusk, there were only a few people in the streets of the Old Town, the more you could find them in the warmth of various pubs and restaurants.

Cheers! - Kompania Piwna - Warsaw

Marcel is working here in Warsaw for the 2nd year for the International Monetary Fund. He learned Polish spontaneously from the newspaper and TV. We all could communicate in English but why? Polish, Slovak and Czech – all are Slavonic languages, so everyone spoke his own language. I had no problem to understand Marcel and I understood Agnieszka a bit. Marcel understood us both and Agnieszka didn’t understand me, but could understand Marcel quite well. We scrutinized our languages a bit and found crazy facts, one could not believe! So for example from the Czech’s viewpoint – strawberry (jahoda in Czech) is not strawberry but blueberry (borůvka), but borůvka is not blueberry but cranberry. Peanuts (buráky) are not peanuts but turnip. April (duben) is not April but May (květen) and May (květen) is máj. We were passing by the Stinking (páchnoucí) house in the center of Warsaw, but it does not mean stinking but fragrant (voňavý).

From pierogerie we continued to the Czech brewery with the portrait of Švejk in the emblem and had a Tyskie beer, which they draw here also to one liter glasses.

Sukiennice, main square - Cracow

The train connection from Warsaw to Cracow is very comfortable and quick and in less than three hours you are here.

St. Mary's Basilica - Cracow

We have booked the hostel in Cracow (finally it wasn’t booked but we were lucky and one room was empty) in the city’s outskirts in the students dormitory. With GPS from Garmin it wasn’t a problem to find the high rise and to go about the town.

The dominating factor of the town is the Wawel fortress situated on the right bank of Wisla River. The historical center lies to the north of it and in its very center there is a Main square (Rynek Glowny), which attracts tourists for several magnets. According to the guide the “hejnal” should play the trumpet every hour and to stop in the middle (in the 13th century hejnal warned the city of the Tatar invasion but he was deadly hit by an arrow in the middle). Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that they follow the rule.

Barbakan - Cracow

Sukiennice is another attraction, a big historical building that was standing in the middle of the square as early as in 14th century. Drapery was sold here. Nowadays there are stalls with souvenirs here. On Sunday the square was full of people and street artists. Living statues are now in fashion – various figures and monsters painted metallic and standing firmly, until someone give a coin to them. Sometimes, out of fun they scare tourists passing by for the joy of others.

We criss crossed the town to end up in Dominican church for a mass. And because I don’t follow masses nearly at all, it was an experience for me here in strongly catholic Poland.

After mass we tasted zurek and other Polish specialties (see the chapter about meal below). After 10 p.m. the satellites in the orbit lead as thru the darkness towards the hostel.

Jelling salt

The morning was calmer than it should have been and that’s why we didn’t catch the train leaving for salt mines. But we managed the next one and after half an hour ride we arrived there – it is 15 km only and then 10 minutes way on foot.

St. Kinga chapel

According to the rule Salt over zloty (name of a Czech fairy tale Sůl nad zlato slightly changed) we didn’t hesitate and paid 50 zloty (PLN) per person and 10 zloty (PLN) for camera. Salt had been extracted in Wieliczka for nine centuries until 1996. Three thousands chambers had been dug out in nine floors as deep as 300 meters. Only first three floors are accessible for tourists. Thirty years ago it was enlisted in Unesco.

Twelve years old Jesus preaches in a temple - St. Kinga chapel

To reach the first chamber it is necessary to climb down the wooden staircase counting around 400 steps. Even if you hardly catch breath and your head would turn around, as soon as you enter this salty kingdom new strength will pour into you and you will feel younger. No wonder, working here in the mines does well to your respiratory system. Horses towing loaded carts were healthier here than on the surface. It is allowed to taste the salt, but three kilograms at maximum. Taste it for example from stalactites growing from the ceiling (if you reach them) and get admiration from the guide when you answer correctly her question – For how long do you think these 20 centimeters long stalactites have been growing here? – Tell: Two weeks.

Dark quarter of Kazimierz full of mysterious pubs - Cracow

Dug out chambers were often shaped by the miners into chapels containing statues of historical figures or saints. But the salt isn’t too much resistant and as a result some statues ended as deformed stubs. The most awesome masterwork here in deep underground is the cathedral of Saint Kinga from 1896. Chandeliers, reliefs, statues, paving – all is done here obviously from salt.

Besides cathedral there are other huge spaces, which are used as restaurant or concert hall. It is possible to play soccer here or practice bungee jumping. The tourist gets back to the surface in an elevator cage.

Back in Cracow we wanted to visit the old Wawel fortress, but it was closing, so we were strolling about the town and the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz. I enjoyed throwing glimpses into somber pubs like I would look into history. We ended in one of them called Absinth (but not under the table – we didn’t have absinth, Agnieszka took wine and me the beer mocne (strong) - Warka).

Dog Emi and our pension

This time we were careful and came to the bus terminal on time. There was a three hour journey to Krynica ahead of us, for skiing! I hoped a little, that the closer we come to the destination the more of snow I will see. And really! In Krynica, among the green fields with grazing saturated cows I could see the remnants of wet snow. I did a good job taking the boots to mud with tractor sole.

We had booked the accommodation at the end of Krynica and so as not to drag our baggage three kilometers, we paid for a taxi. He took us to the number 162 and went away. But something was going wrong here. The white house was closed! No, 162 was incorrect, there was 192 standing on the paper! So we had a little walk and found the accommodation at last. To tell the truth, we didn’t need to take the whole burden with us – we planned to rent the skis and we sent ski boots via Maciek, who was staying that time in the mountains nearby together with his friends.

The pension was maintained by the older nice lady with a funny dog Emi. The room with a shower and a kitchenette just next door cost 35 PLN per person. Ski resort was a little bit further but it didn’t mind. We carried the ski boots only once and then we left them in the ski rentals near the ski lift and walking light.

Shiny ski slopes in Krynica

After a lot of years of skiing in French and Italian Alps I was curious of different world. Krynica in eastern Poland promised some kind of skiing exotics. Even if the ski resort is smaller (mountains 1100 m, elevation 500 m), the flash animation on web showed enough ski slopes. At last we were bellyful of skiing, but that was also due to improving weather.

Shiny ski slopes in Krynica

So here are some observations. You can buy ski pass either for a given period of time (day, 4 hours, 2 hours…), or you can buy points, which will be subtracted from your pass when using the ski lifts, which are assessed differently based on the length. In case of beautiful weather (a lot of people ski causing queues to grow), or you are a slower skier or you enjoy simple arithmetic then you would definitely choose points. The prices are slightly lower than in the Alps. The skiers are more careful after bad experiences and a lot of them wear helmets, Agnieszka included. Besides there is a police skiing here and belonging among the quickest skiers (with my Garmin I measured them 60 kph). When you feel tired you can have a rest in one of chalets on the hill and have something from Polish specialties. When I ordered a beer I was a bit surprised by the fact that they put some raspberry syrup inside.

We had skis from the ski rentals – I was totally satisfied, Agnieszka only had to have the edges sharpen. Nonetheless, the first days of skiing on the snow of type sugar crystal were difficult. One had to ski very carefully and avoid other skiers very often. But from the 2nd to 3rd day there was snowing, and what a skiing it was then – like in the Alps!

After sport we walked on foot to the pension and evenings we were heading for culinary experiences.

Warka beer

Polish cuisine deserves an independent chapter. After all it was one of the purposes of my Polish trip, so I tried to taste as much as possible.

Smaller lunch in Greek restaurant - Cracow

Because I don’t wet liquor I tasted a beer. Polish people have got a considerable choice and their beer is of good quality. I tasted Zywiec, Tyskie, Warka, Okocim, Cechan, Lech. From them the most sold is probably Zywiec and Tyskie. I liked probably the most Okocim. Beers are sold also in option mocne (strong). It is about twice as strong as Czech 10°, so look out. In Warsaw the beer is drawn as well as into one liter glasses and is drunk with a straw.

Concerning the food, there is a process in Poland called kebabism just under way. I heard somewhere that as for the number of kebabs per capita Poland would equal Turkey in 2012, but I don’t know how much truth is in there. In every case the Polish cuisine needn’t to worry about the competition from the east. There are a lot of delicacies in restaurants. Have pierogy for sure. They are filled with whatever and they are boiled or baked. Boiled pierogy resemble Siberian pelmene. I tasted also pieces of cheese from pan with cranberries marmalade. As for soups I enjoyed zurek (some kind of sauerkraut soup with sausage and egg) and barszcz (it is not a dense soup but a broth).

Recess in Cracow

The whole Saturday was dedicated to transports. They started from the security point of view (to catch the bus Warsaw - Prague) with waking up at 6 a.m. (what a work I had with pushing thru this option ;-) ). There was such a heavy blizzard in the morning, that after coming to the bus terminal we missed only carrots to be snowmen. The way by bus was quite slow and I was happy to go so early! Nonetheless we arrived in Cracow as planned. So we had some time to buy something, go to see Wawel, find geocache (the same one it directed us to some prison a couple of days earlier) and to have a “smaller” lunch.

Wawel fortress - Cracow

We used the way by train with Agnieszka for description of photos and we were witnesses of one comical situation, when a phone of one old man rang in our compartment. He didn’t know from where and so he looked thru all his things he had, in vain, and started to knee along the space. Agnieszka kept serious face with a lot of effort. At last she rang his phone and the old man found it in the pocket of his cloak.

We came to Zoliborz in advance. I added things to my baggage I had left here previously. Agnieszka as a careful host prepared sandwiches for my way home and then took me by car on the West bus terminal after I had said good bye to the parents and Maček.

Wawel fortress - Cracow

We managed everything comfortably standing on the platform at half past eleven in a seven degrees freeze temperature. The bus was not comming. We waited for half an hour. I put on myself another sweater and balaclava on my head. The bus was still not comming. Fortunately we could hide ourselves from the cruel freeze in a car and to control the situation from here. Agnieszka tried to find out thru Maciek, where is the problem, but no information indicated that the bus wouldn’t come. I started to consider the alternative to go back and to take the train for Prague in the morning.

Wawel fortress - Cracow

When the bus doesn’t come after half an hour, the money is returned, at least according to the transportation rules. But Agnieszka was patient and that paid off! After two hours the bus from Minsk really arrived to Warsaw. The delay was obviously caused with the problems on the borders. And than on the Polish-Czech borders we were more in delay. I had to show the ID card even twice. But all finished OK at last, even I hadn’t to declare the presents.

On Sunday at half past one I was at home, prepared after one week absence on the avalanche of working duties – and there were a lot of them!...