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| View of Krakow from the Castle |
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| Grounds of the Wawel Castle |
Our adventures in Poland have unfortunately come to an end - but went out with a bang as we spent this beautiful sunny day exploring the city of Krakow. We spent the morning on a four hour tour of the city - focusing on many of the former Jewish areas. We covered a lot of territory. First we visited the former Jewish district of Kazimierz. The remains of Jewish cultural life can be seen nearly everywhere in this region. Though there is no substantial active Jewish population left in Krakow, there still exist Jewish restaurants, old synagogues, and Jewish cemeteries. We saw many of these buildings; some are abandoned, others used now for different purposes, and some open to observe. The Jewish cemetery we saw in Kazimierz was very interesting. One of its walls is composed of old Hebrew headstones - a mosaic of pieced together memories from Krakow's past. We then crossed the Wisla river and stopped at an exhibit called the "Empty Chair" art exhibit. This is an exhibit placed in an barren plaza: all except for a number of empty and plain chairs placed there to symbolize the furniture left behind when the Jews would move to or leave the ghettos as well as to symbolize the absence in the district as a result of the extermination of Jews.
Perhaps my favorite parts of today's time in Krakow was touring the Wawel Castle and spending time in the famous Market Square. Since Krakow is a very old European city its architecture is very ornate and beautiful. The Wawel (pronounced Vavel) Castle is a gorgeous feat of engineering. There is the actual castle, a cathedral, and many other buildings all grouped together atop a hill. As you can see from the picture above, the castle overlooks the whole city and was positioned in this location for defense purposes. The Main Market Square is also quite beautiful - and very large. Apparently, it is the largest medieval town square in Europe. It is surrounded by many beautiful buildings and is quite busy, especially on sunny days like today. In the middle of the square there stands a long building in which there are many stalls for vendors. So of course, I took the opportunity and I stocked up on Polish souvenirs!
We ended the night at the Galicja Jewish Museum, in which we attended a Jewish Shabbat service with Beit Krakow - a small Jewish congregation that is trying to reestablish the Jewish presence in Krakow. I have never been to a Jewish service before. I was expecting to enter into a synagogue and that the service would be very formal, but this particular group was very laid back and young and they worshiped in the museum, which I found to be very interesting. Beit Krakow was very friendly and welcoming and it was intriguing to experience this unique service that was given in a mixture of Hebrew, Polish, and English. After the services, we spent some time visiting with the members of the congregation. As was everyone I came across in Poland, these people were very nice and loved talking with us.
Overall, this week abroad has been a great experience. Though it was jam-packed with many activities and passed by very quickly, I have learned so much, met many great new friends, and now have memories that I am sure will last a lifetime. I wish we had more time here but in a few hours we will be making our journey back to the US. I didn't know what to expect before coming here but I have decided that I like Poland and that hopefully in the future I will return again!
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