Krakow and Warsaw- August 2024
Participants: Tam, Kev, India, Georgia and more.
This holiday came about while we were in Copenhagen in 2023 for a Bruce Springsteen gig. Georgia and Charlie are big Taylor swift fans and when she announced a European tour they were all over it. The way you booked tickets for this was convoluted to say the least. You had to register for each concert you were interested in and there was then a lottery to decide if you even had the chance to try for tickets. Tam and I put down a few of the UK dates without success, but Georgia, Charlie, India and a few of their friends registered for all sorts of places across Europe in the hope of getting lucky. India's friend Immy and Charlie and Georgia got the chance to try for tickets in Warsaw and so Tam, me, India and her friend Liam were sat in the ticket office at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen with the rain pouring down outside looking at our phones as the tickets went on sale. Luckily we were successful and got standing tickets for just over £100 each, which is a positive bargain compared to the silly money that VIP tickets went for.
Having never
been to Poland before some of us decided to make the most of it
and add on 4 nights in Krakow before getting the train to Warsaw.
The Krakow part of the trip was undertaken by me, Tam, India,
Georgia and Liam. We got an Airbnb in the old town that was
really nice and the perfect location to explore. This isn't going
to be a complete report, just photos and comments.
I will say that we felt right at home from the moment we arrived
in Krakow. It's such a beautiful place and most of the old town
is either pedestrian or with very limited traffic access.
This is just after we arrived. We're sat in the garden of a bar just across the road from our apartment called the English Football Club. Not an attractive name, but the bar was typical of many places in Krakow in that it had a cellar with brick ceilings that was lovely. In case you're wondering what India and Georgia are finding so funny, you are supposed to be able to put your hand up in front on the phone in order to make it take a photo. This was probably the 5th attempt to do so, the previous photos being mostly a very attractive view of somebody's palm.
The main sqare is huge with bars and restaurants all around the outside. Now most places you go to with lovely views tend to increase the prices enormously for the privilige for sitting there. This didn't seem to be the case in Krakow. Food and drink were good value by UK standards. Most places had beer for less than £4 and even cheaper with happy hour.
This was our first meal in Krakow and was very quickly followed by ......
...... our first cocktail bar, an Alice in Wonderland themed place. The many cocktail bars in Krakow are mostly lovely with excellent cocktails at reasonable prices - £7 to £10.
Yeah, don't ask.
Our first full day was spent wandering. It's a very easy city to walk around and if you want to save your feet there is a very good bus and tram system.
The dragon belches fire and smoke every now and again. I think one of the children survived.
The river Vistula runs through Krakow and there are many boat tours available as well as floating bars and restaurants.
After a few hours walking a beer seemed like a good idea.
There are just so many beautiful buildings to see and explore in Krakow.
This is the Rumour cocktail bar and we visited a couple of times.
We nicknamed the cocktail on the right the Marge Simpson.
Tam had to have this one just because you got a free lolly with it.
Georgia gets to grips with the Marge Simpson.
We took a tour to Auschwitz Birkenau. We didn't take very many photos here as it doesn't really seem appropriate.
Auschwitz was used first and was a concentration camp and Birkenau (a short distance away) was built later and was a death camp. Its sole purpose was to kill people as efficiently as possible. Bring them in on the trains, seperate those that could work and kill the rest. This usually meant old people, childern and pregnant women were among the first to be sent to the gas chambers. I can't really explain the feelings you experience while touring these camps. It's a mixture of extreme sadness, bitterness and loathing. Everybody should visit once in their lives to understand what man is capable of doing to his fellow man.
This is looking back towards the entrance of Birkenau and shows the scale of the place. There were barrack style buildings on the right and left and a few still exist to show the conditions the inmates were kept in. Out of shot on the left and right were 2 of the 5 gas chambers. These were blown up when the Germans fled as the Allies got closer and have been left in that condition.
I
kept trying to visualise one and a half million people. You
can't. It's too large to comprehend. It's harrowing, but I'm glad
we went. Some of the saddest parts are in Auschwitz where there
are display cabinets full of personal possessions. One large
cabinet has children's shoes. Another is full of human hair.
If I ever meet a Holocaust denier I think I would struggle not to
spit in their face.
On return from Auschwitz we really needed a trip to this place.
There's me, India and Georgia at the little bar. They have loads of different flavour vodkas to choose from and you pick a flight of 6.
Tam and I shared a flight. Drinking all 6 on your own might be a bit much!
Who would have thought that Krakow has a beach. It's a lake obviously, but locals go there a lot and we had a relaxing day there.
This bar is typical of many of the underground places. We stopped here for a beer before we got the train to Warsaw.
We really loved Krakow and agreed that it's the sort of place that you could enjoy in winter every bit as much as summer. With that in mind on our return to the UK, Tam and I decided to spend New Year's Eve in Krakow. We never seem to find anything to do at home as the pubs are rammed and usually just stay in. Flights and hotel are booked and we're looking forward to having a very different New Year's Eve to normal.
We caught the train to Warsaw and were pleasantly surprised at the cost and the efficiency - it was such an effortless way to travel between the two cities.
On to Warsaw. As you can see the weather in Warsaw was just as lovely as in Krakow.
This is the stadium we'll be seeing Taylor Swift in tomorrow.
This is the group attending the gig. Tam's taking the photo.
... and here we are ready for the show. I had to draw the line at sparkles.
Charlie wearing a Kansas City Chiefs shirt. Turncoat. He's wearing it because Taylor Swift's boyfriend is Travis Kelce who plays for Kansas. Still, turncoat (he's a Packers fan like me).
The show was visually amazing. The walkway was huge and goes over halway into the stadium.
The screens and sets are on a scale that I haven't seen before.
Obviously the band are incredibly tight. You wouldn't expect anything else for the biggest star on the planet at the moment.
It's called the Eras tour as she plays a few songs from each of her albums spanning her career. This is the Folklore section.
It was without doubt the most spectacular show I've seen in nearly 50 years of going to gigs. Tam loved it. In fact it was so good that Georgia managed to get tickets to see her again at Wembley as they released a few obstructed view tickets late on. The best thing of all - the price - £55! If you know anything about the prices for Taylor Swift tickets you will know that this is practically giving them away. I also discovered another big plus. With probably 75% of the audience being female and a large proportion of them being under 18, there was never a queue for the bar! Glorious.
All in all we had a fantastic time in both Krakow and Warsaw. Krakow is definitely the nicer place to visit and a few days here would be welcomed at any time.