2016-10-03, Central Europe, Day 3, Krakow & Auschwitz-Birkenau

Today’s itinerary included a morning tour of Krakow.  In the afternoon we visited Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.

Krakow was the old capital of Poland until the capital was moved to Warsaw in late 16^th century.  Krakow remains Poland’s center of culture, heritage, and academia.  It was one of the few Polish cities that were saved from major destruction during many wars which devastated the country, including both World Wars.  During WWII the city was not damaged as much as Warsaw and was able to bounce back from devastation quickly after the war.  Today Krakow is a major tourist attraction.  It attracts far more tourists than the capital Warsaw.  The medieval part of Krakow and the adjacent Wawel Hill are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This morning we started our tour by visiting Krakow’s Jewish quarter.  During Nazi Germany’s occupation, the city’s sizable Jewish population was expelled from its historic quarter and sent to a ghetto.  After the war was over, there were not many Jews left to return to the quarter.

This Old Synagogue is a Renaissance building.  The brick building in the back was built in the 15^th century.  The front building with zagged rooflines was built in the 16^th century.
(Click on each picture to get the full-size view)

In front of the synagogue is a long plaza lined with Jewish restaurants, stores, and offices.

There is a beauty shop named Rubinstein, from which Helena Rubinstein allegedly got her start.  The rivalry between her and Elizabeth Arden for the supremacy of the cosmetic market was legendary.

It rained all day on this day. It made taking photographs difficult.
Next stop is the Schindler’s factory, made famous by Steven Spielberg’s movie “Schindler’s List”. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/

We passed by the colorful St. Joseph’s Church, in Gothic Revival style.

On the ground of the Royal Castle at Wawel Hill.

Denise took this picture for us with her husband Steve.  The friendly couple is from Indiana.

Wawel Cathedral, aka Krakow Cathedral, was home to royal coronations and served as the resting place for many national heroes.  It is regarded as Poland's national sanctuary

The Krakow Cathedral is the most prominent and historic building in Krakow.  This cathedral has been rebuilt three times.  Different parts of the building are from different periods.  Its baroque spire is from the 18^th century.

We went inside the cathedral but were not allowed to take photographs.  I copied this picture from the internet to remind me how the inside of the cathedral looks.


The Renaissance-style Castle Courtyard, inside the Royal Castle, is very beautiful and imposing.

Wawel Hill has tall fortification walls, and watchtowers (not seen in this picture)

Pope John Paul II was the Krakow bishop, then cardinal, before his appointment as the first non-Italian Pope in over 400 years.

Church of St. Andrew with its two spires.  It is considered the best-preserved example of Romanesque architecture in Krakow

The townhouses along this street, one of the oldest in Krakow, used to be palaces.  Now they are used for fancy shops.  Church of St. Andrew is in the distance.

On the fashionable old street stands this Dominican Church with spiky façade.

A sweet shop with colorful candies.

A doughnut shop with a friendly staff.

We then came to the Market Square.  It is the largest medieval European square, covering roughly 40,000 square meters.  At one corner of the square is St. Mary’s Basilica, with its two asymmetric towers.

We bought the tickets to go inside the basilica.  This is the view of the altar.

There requires a separate ticket to go up the church tower.  This is the view from the top of the tower (copied from the internet).  It shows the square in its entirety, with Cloth Hall in the middle of the square, and the Town Hall Tower behind it.


Inside the Cloth Hall are stalls selling various trinkets to tourists.

Behind St. Mary’s Basilica is the modest Church of St. Barbara

Our afternoon trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau was a somber one.  The genocide and cruelty committed in these two camps were inexcusable and mind-boggling.  It was very difficult to comprehend the cold-hearted mentality that ever conceived such atrocity and inhumanity.  I felt speechless and sad.  With a heavy heart, I thank Gate 1 for arranging a learning lesson in human dignity and fragility.

Entrance to Auschwitz.

Barracks that housed prisoners at Auschwitz.

Statistics at Auschwitz

It was a short drive from Auschwitz to Birkenau.  Prisoners arrived on the train passing through the Gate of Hell. They were sorted immediately.  The able bodies were sent to the labor camp; the rest to gas chambers.

Behind the trees were two crematories that burned thousands of body each day at Birkenau.  Nazis destroyed the crematories before the Soviet troop arrived and liberated the camp.

The restaurant our tour director recommended for dinner was too busy so we went somewhere else.  It was a raining evening and there were not many people around the Market Square,  We randomly picked a place, Loza, that seemed to have more customers.  Food was passable, not memorable. https://www.yelp.com/biz/lo%C5%BCa-krak%C3%B3w?search_key=50384

Each evening, our tireless and ever-enthusiastic tour director Neira would post a daily itinerary in the hotel lobby.  This is a sample.

Krakow, a charismatic city from the medieval time,
Wawel Castle, a fortification with unparalleled charm.
Poland’s center of heritage, academia, and culture,
"A World Heritage" proclaimed UNESCO. 

Auschwitz, an extermination site of the holocaust,
Birkenau, its brutal and brazen cohost.
The massacre brought unfathomable havoc,
It made me sick to my stomach.

-Joe

2016-10-02, Central Europe, Day 2, Jasna Gora Monastery & Wieliczka Salt Mine

After staying in Warsaw for two nights, we headed toward Krakow, the old capital of Poland.  Krakow is about 182 miles due south of Warsaw.  Our dependable bus driver Garbo would drive his coach to transport us, as he would for the entire duration of our trip.  On the way to Krakow, we would first stop at Jasna Gora Monastery.

The majority of Poland’s population is Roman Catholic.  Religion plays a very important role in the lives of many Poles.  The Catholic Church is regarded as the sanctuary of Polish heritage and culture.  It is even more so when Poland ceased to exist as a country for more than 100 years.  During that time, and subsequently, when Poland was partitioned and ruled by foreign forces, Poles turned to churches to seek national identity and to feel a sense of spiritual belonging.  The religious faith is said to be the common thread that binds Poles together through thick and thin.

Jasna Gora Monastery is 136 miles due southwest of Warsaw.  The monastery is the national shrine of Poland and the center of Polish Catholicism.  It houses the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Black Madonna.  It is also the third-largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world.  Pilgrims come to the Chapel of the Black Madonna to worship the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, which is displayed in an altar in the chapel.

I was sitting on the wrong side of the bus and wasn’t able to get a picture of the monastery in whole. Here is a picture copied from the internet.
(Click on each picture to get the full-size view)

The following picture shows the soaring bell tower and Gate of John Paul II, one of two entrances into the monastery.  The coat of arms on top of the gate is inscribed with the apostolic motto “Totus Tuus” (All Yours).  When Pope John Paul II visited the monastery, he entrusted his entire Papal mission with the motto “Totus Tuus, Maria! - All Yours, Mary!”.

Pilgrims from all over the world come to the monastery.  I didn’t notice the US flag but I am sure it’s there somewhere.

Another angle of the bell tower and the entrance to the basilica.

This is the entrance to the Chapel of the Black Madonna.  Our visit was on a Sunday and there were many worshipers.  Through the window above the chapel entrance, a replica of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa could be seen.

 

Inside the chapel, a stream of churchgoers filled every standing room.  Our group tried to squeeze ourselves through the crowd and moved toward the altar to see the real icon.

“Who the fxxk are these people ^%%$#?”
“What do they think they’re doing @##$%?”
While nudging and bypassing churchgoers to move forward, I could sense these questions in their minds just by looking at the puzzling faces.  (Rosaline and I were two of only a handful Asian-looking persons in the chapel at that time, and we certainly looked very conspicuous).  One older gentleman signaled with his disapproving finger at me to remove my hat (a guilty faux pas on my part)

The chapel was just too packed with so many people that we barely could move without bumping into others.  In front was the Altar of the Crucifix, one of six altars in the chapel.
This was as far as we could go.  We never got to any proximity to the main altar that houses the icon of the Black Madonna.

We finally gave up and retreated from the chapel.  Minutes later, through a side door we stepped into the next building.  Lo and behold, we had inadvertently entered a magnificent and ornate baroque basilica.
This is the main nave of the basilica with the main altar at the far end.

A closer view of the main altar.

At the other end of the main nave is the organ.

On the second floor of the monastery, a replica of the icon of the Black Madonna is put on display in a gallery.  The icon shows a serious Mary holding the infant Jesus on her left arm.

A Sunday mass was also being conducted from an outdoor altar.

The open space in front of the outdoor altar is filled with throngs of pilgrims on August 15 every year for the Feast of the Assumption.  Up to half a million people congregate around the monastery and over 2000 buses are used to transport them.

Next to the outdoor altar is a treasury room, where votive offerings given to the Black Madonna over the centuries are displayed.  We saw rings offered by John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.  They were not marked so we asked the security guard in the room to point them out to us.

After the monastery, it was another 2-hour drive for our bus to reach Krakow.  We checked into our hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel Krakow.  The rest of day is free for roaming in the city.  We opted to join the optional tour to Wieliczka Salt Mine.  The salt mine started its operation from the 13^th century until 2007.  It is famous for its subterranean salt carvings, which were sculptured by miners over many centuries.

This is the building of the salt mine company.  The exterior of the building is unassuming.  It gives no sign of its underground treasure.

The salt mine has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 1978.

We took the elevator down to, and later up from, the mine.  Each elevator car has room for eight passengers.

There are many corridors in the salt mine.  This sign says that the area was excavated in the 17^th century.

This is one of many corridors that has wood planks on the tunnel wall.

There are also many corridors that show the bare wall of salt.  You can actually taste the salt.
Although we could not smell the salt, the saline aerosol in the tunnel near an underground lake is said to have therapeutic effects on upper body wellness.

There are many statues carved out of rock salt.

This is the scene of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, all carved out of rock salt.

There is a voluminous and most impressive subterranean Catholic chapel, called The Chapel of Saint Kinga.  It’s also known as the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland.

There are several chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the chapel.  The crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance.  The floor tile is also made of rock salt.

Sculptures on the wall of the chapel.

Leonardo's "The Last Supper", carved in salt

Salt statue of Pope John Paul II

Near the altar of Saint Kinga Chapel.

After the salt mine, it was a short drive back to the city of Krakow.  It was about the nightfall when we reached Krakow, just in time for the dinner provided by Gate 1 at a restaurant in the hotel.

After dinner, Rosaline and I took a short walk to the nearby Main Market Square (the Rynek Glowny).  We would come back the next day to get a better view of the square.  This picture shows the Renaissance-style Cloth Hall on the left and Town Hall Tower on the right.

At one corner of the big square stands St. Mary’s Basilica with Gothic towers.
The bronze statue on the left is for a Polish poet of the 19^th century.

In front of a big hollow bronze head at the bottom of the Town Hall Tower.

Witnessing the devotion at the monastery renewed our belief in the goodness of faith.
Inhaling saline air in the salt mine invigorated our aging and declining health.
Rewards of visiting these two places - our mind and body felt rejuvenated.
May we stay forever young as if we were still in our twenties.

-Joe