Krakow Christmas Markets

Very late November we decided to go to Krakow - the main reason for this was that neither of us had never been to Poland before, and we really wanted to check out Auschwitz prior to us leaving Europe. It also just happened to coincide with the Christmas Markets - what a shame... ;-)

One thing that we learnt was that Krakow is an absolutely beautiful city. Stunning, in fact. And with so much history how could you not love the place.

Nikki hadn't been feeling very well prior to us going, so we were always going to take Krakow at a slightly slower pace than we would otherwise, but it has potentially taught us a thing or two about the way we go travelling anyway - slow down and smell the roses a little.

We managed to see the Christmas Markets, go for a walking tour of the Old Town, and went out to Auschwitz on a day tour. 

Auschwitz - What a fascinating place. There's an old saying that goes something like "bad things happen when good people stand back and do nothing" that I think is one of the most pertinent things I could take away from visiting. The ridiculousness and horror of what went on in Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau is so staggering that it is often hard to fathom that this ACTUALLY happened. From seeing a room full of human hair (removed from the ladies), to another room that was full of children's shoes, it was incredibly sobering to be in the actual place that these atrocities took place.

I would have to say that visiting Auschwitz was something that must be done - we had previously visited Dachau, but even though that was quite a touching experience, the sheer magnitude of Auschwitz was hard to imagine. Visiting was also something of a bizarre contrast to the rest of our trip, though, as the remainder of the trip was one of enjoying the Christmas Markets and general sight-seeing.

The main square in Krakow is the largest square in continental Europe, and is very stunning. The history of Poland of a country is particularly interesting, and was very much brought to life by Alicjia, our incredibly fantastic free walking tour guide.

The Christmas Markets were not particularly large, but were definitely sufficient for a couple of nights of slow meandering and drinking glühwein, eating kielbasa, pierogi, funnel cake and the contents of the markets themselves were fantastic.

All in all, Krakow was a massive surprise - such an incredible, beautiful place. If anyone ever gets the opportunity to visit, I couldn't recommend it more highly.