Colombia - Christmas 2017

For Christmas 2017, we (Nancy, her two daughters, her son in law and myself) decided to get out of town and go to Colombia.  So the week before Christmas we set off for Cartagena, Colombia by way of San Francisco and Panama City.  Cartagena is a lovely old Spanish Colonial City, perhaps one of the oldest in South America after Santa Marta which is just a short distance up the coast.  There is an old town and a new town and coming in from the airport you see the ultra modern tower blocks of the new town, then you enter the walls of the old town and you are then in a totally different world - old narrow streets, beautiful colonial buildings, churches, squares, parks, all very nice and you don’t even notice the more modern side of town.

Old Town Cartagena

We were staying at the Hotel Bantu, a nice old building just off the Parque Fernandez de Madrid.  After checking in we set off to explore the old town for the rest of the afternoon.  It certainly is a beautiful city though the large number of tourists like us do tend to spoil the atmosphere a little.  Cartagena allows cruise ships to dock in the harbor so for certain periods of the day there are way too many tourists in such a small area.

After exploring the old walled city on our first day, we strayed over to Getsemani, another old neighborhood, once derelict but now showing signs of gentrification.  From there we went on to visit the Castillo de San Felipe.  The Castillo is an immense Spanish fort built back in the 1500's.  It is a truly immense fortification and is quite impressive.  The entire complex is riddled with a maze of tunnels, many open to the public.

Castillo de San Felipe

On the way from the fort we found a really nice restaurant for lunch in Getsemani - La Casa de Socorro.  Great food, great price, and great local beer - Club Colombia and Aquila.  I had the Robalo, which turns out to be Sea Bass.  We made more explorations of the Centro Historico over the rest of the day.

Getsemani Region of Cartagena

The next day we left Cartagena for Santa Marta a four hour drive up the coast to the north-east.  There was a convenient van service that picked us up at the hotel and shuttled us to Santa Marta in a quite luxurious small minibus.  On the way to Santa Marta we passed through Barranquilla which, as we all know, is the birthplace of Shakira.

Santa Marta is an older Spanish town on the coast, the first one actually; it was superseded by Cartagena because Cartagena had a more sheltered harbor.  Santa Marta is also famous for being the town where Simon Bolivar, El Libertador, died in 1830.  We arrived there in the late afternoon and took a walk around.  It is not nearly as nice as Cartagena, being a working port, with a not too pleasant beach and a crowded old town.

The Beach in Santa Marta

The next morning, after a lovely breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel, the Casa de Leda, we set off to join our group for the Ciudad Perdida hike.  Ciudad Perdida is the so-called "lost city" discovered in the 1970's that has recently become popular as a destination for those wanting to hike in the jungle.  The trip is typically a 4 or 5 day hike, 2 days in and 2 to 3 days out.  All hikers have to go with guides and the 4 or 5 tour companies are all government licensed and they all charge the same amount - around $250.  We were signed up with a group called Magic Tours and we assembled at their office in Santa Marta on the Tuesday morning.  I had expected that we would be the only group going but in fact there were some 20 people on our trip.  We all piled into the back of a couple of Land Cruisers (a most common vehicle in Colombia) and off we went to the trailhead, about a 2 hour drive away.

Pre-Departure Photo

At the small village at the start of the trail we had a lovely lunch and then set off on our hike.  I was thinking that the hike would be pretty easy and straightforward but I soon found out that was not to be the case.  The first few miles were uphill, steeply uphill, and much of it was exposed to the afternoon sun, it was hot and it was very humid.  By the time we reached the first rest stop, I was drenched in sweat and seriously overheating.  The trail continued to be quite difficult - either uphill or downhill and in places quite steep.  I must admit that first day took its toll on me.  When we arrived in camp, all I could do was lie on my bunk trying to cool down and stop sweating.

In Camp

The camp was fairly primitive, a series of two tiered bunks, each with mosquito nets, some room for hammocks for those not lucky enough to get a bunk, a dining hall, and primitive shower and toilet facilities.  Even after the heat of the day a cold shower still came as a bit of a shock.  We were served a nice dinner and we all retired to our bunks absolutely exhausted.

The next morning it was a 5:00 wake up, for a 5:30 breakfast and then a 6:00 am start on the trail.  For some reason we were the last ones out of camp - quite typical.  The trail was still steep, uphill and downhill, but in the cool of the morning it was more bearable.  At lunchtime we stopped at a camp alongside a river and we all went in for a swim.  Quite refreshing.

Typical View on the Trail

After resting and having lunch we pushed on towards our destination at the base of the hill below Ciudad Perdida.  Every now and then we came across local Indians on the trail.  The locals are Kogui Indians and they appear to have a subsistence life in the jungle.  Typically they have white or light tunics and are either barefoot or wearing Wellington boots.  They do not appear to be too friendly, in that they rarely look you in the eye and typically pass you without a word, even if you offer a 'buenos dias' greeting (admittedly their native language is not Spanish).  The groups are also usually solitary males or groups of women with children, and they are often accompanied by dogs.

Kogui Village

Kogui Women on the Trail

Fortunately we were in the dry season, but there were signs of how muddy and treacherous the trail might be in the rainy season.  I imagine it would be a real quagmire in the rainy season.  Perhaps that’s why many of the natives wear Wellington boots.

Muddy Trail Conditions

Just before camp for the evening we had a river crossing that required a footwear change.  Most of the stream crossings to date had been just rock hopping but this was a little more significant and I exchanged the boots for Tevas to wade across.  This was quite a large and very crowded camp and we were lucky to get beds - perhaps they took pity on us old folk.  Again, I collapsed in bed totally exhausted.  I had a top bunk and with the complication of mosquito netting it was not an easy entry or exit.  Fortunately I was so dehydrated I didn’t need to visit the toilet in the night.

Steps up to Ciudad Perdida

The next morning we walked a short kilometer to the base of the hill where the Ciudad Perdida was located.  From there it was a steep uphill of some 1,400 stone steps.  We dragged ourselves up the steps and then gathered around the base of the complex for an explanation of the history of the place.

The settlement was quite large but in reality it was not that spectacular, it certainly is not Machu Pichu.  The structures were all round huts with mud walls and palm frond roofs built over a stone foundation.  After a few hundred years all that remains are the circular stone foundations - not overly impressive.  We spent a couple of hours at the site wandering around and then set off down the hill again to start our trek back.

View from top of Ciudad Perdida

Our Group on top of Ciudad Perdida

At the previous night’s camp we had lunch and picked up our gear for the trek out.  It was a long trek on this our third day on the trail.  It was just before dark when we all arrived back in camp (the same camp we had lunched and swam at on the second day).  This camp was perhaps the worst one - a bit cramped, a bit smelly, and not the best facilities.  However, I was so exhausted I didn’t care and the food was most welcome - mashed potatoes, beets and beef stew.

Breakfast at Camp

Friday was our fourth and final day on the trail.  We were up at 5:00 and on the trail by 6:00.  Nancy was not feeling well - stomach issues - so we brought up the rear.  The daughter of our guide Maria, Youranis, was assigned to stay back with us and she patiently walked with us and made sure we didn’t get lost.

Unsmiling Kogui Indian Child

It was a long hot walk out but we made it without the aid of a mule or a motorcycle (some of the trekkers took that way out but not us, we persevered).  At the rest stop at the top of the last downhill section (the same one where I had realized on the way in that this was not going to be a walk in the park) we celebrated with an ice cold Coke.  We finally reached the small village at the end of the trail in time for lunch and, as we entered the restaurant to applause from our fellow hikers, I heard someone say “I want to be like them”.  Not sure I appreciate that so much but at least it's better than being called Grandpa as one of the Dutch men called me in camp one night.

We rode back to Santa Marta in the back of a Land Cruiser feeling tired and thankful our jungle hike was over.  I’m not sure jungle hiking is what I want to do again.

In Santa Marta we picked up our bags that we had stored there and then got a ride back to Tayrona where we had a hotel for the next 2 nights.  The hotel was quite nice and our room even had a bit of an ocean view.  A refreshing dip in the pool and a meal at the hotel restaurant and then a well earned rest in a proper bed.

Beach at Tayrona National Park

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast and then we took a van down to the Tayrona National Park where there were supposed to be excellent beaches.  The coastline was nice and there were beaches, but it was a 2 hour hike to the first beach where we could swim (apparently there a serious rip tides and undertows on most of the beaches - people drown there).  A 2 hour walk was not exactly what we were expecting but it wasn’t so bad and the water was lovely once we got there.  We dined on the beach and then made the trek back to the entrance to the park and our ride back to the hotel.  Our hotel was a little remote so we again dined in the hotel that evening.

Nice Beach but Dangerous Surf

The next day, Sunday, was Christmas Eve.  We started with a swim in the sea nearby the hotel, or at least I did, Nancy, Erica and Arden seemed to take exception to my swimming in the surf.  I felt completely safe and it was most exhilarating, they thought it dangerous and that I was going to be swept out to sea.  We then got a van to take us back to Cartagena.  It was a 3 or 4 hour trip (including a stop to fix a flat tire) and we arrived in Cartagena in the mid afternoon.                                                          

We cleaned up and went out for our Christmas Eve celebrations.  Other than a nice cocktail and an appetizer, it didn’t turn out so good.  We opted for dinner in a nice looking Italian restaurant, which turned out to be simply the worst meal ever.  My shrimp ceviche was tough and the Bolognese sauce was quite inedible.  You win some, you lose some.

Early on Christmas morning, Joe and Erica departed to return to the USA while Arden, Nancy and I left a little later to fly to Medellin.  The benefit of flying on Christmas Day is that the flights are cheap and fairly empty.  We had a $50 flight on LATAM Airlines.  We took a taxi into Medellin (fortunately fixed price) and once again were saved by Google Maps as the taxi driver didn’t know where the hotel was.  We were in the Poblado district, one of the more upscale neighborhoods, in a very new Marriott.  We got a great deal on the room as the hotel had only just opened.

We took a cab to find a restaurant for lunch and ended up in a nice Colombian food place, Hato Viejo.  On the way back we found an upscale supermarket, Whole Foods type, with a great selection.  I bought raisin bread, the ladies bought Champagne.

In the evening we walked around the Poblado district.  The ladies found a church service to attend while I walked around the Christmas light decorated parks.  They make a big thing of Christmas here - the parks were resplendent with lights.  We couldn’t find a local restaurant close to the hotel that looked good so we dined in the hotel - it was surprisingly good.

Christmas Lights in Poblado

On the Tuesday, Boxing Day, we had signed up for a Graffiti Tour.  Some sections of Medellin are renowned for their graffiti.  We assembled in a coffee shop not too far from the hotel and set off to walk down to the metro station where we boarded the Metro to the San Javier station where we then boarded a bus to the Communa 13 neighborhood.  The Metro is quite wonderful - clean, efficient, affordable and it moves a huge number of people around this huge city.  The bus system worked well too - small buses using the same tickets as the Metro and a very frequent service.

Modern and Clean Metro System

Communa 13 was once one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin and for a while it had the reputation of being the most dangerous place in the world.  It was controlled by Pablo Escobar and after his death in 1993 it was fought over by various other drug cartels until the government stepped in to reestablish law and order.  It has since become a safe and thriving, though still poor, barrio visited by tourists like us who come to see the remarkable graffiti and street art.

Comuna 13

As well as Medellin being served by a Metro, there are also several Cable Car extensions to the Metro - an innovative method of moving people through an existing hilly neighborhood without disrupting too many residences.  Also there are a series of escalators moving up the hillsides.  They all seemed to be functioning and they must certainly make life easier for the residents.  On the way down, one section had a slide - great fun.

Graffiti

More Graffiti

And then there is the graffiti - it is everywhere and it is spectacular.  Apparently there was some sort of Graffiti Artists Convention in Medellin some years back and lots of significant graffiti artists added their work in the neighborhood.
After the tour finished we took a trip on one of the Cable Car extension to the Metro.  What an innovative addition to the city’s transportation.  We just rode up to the end of the cable car and stayed on for the trip down the hill.

Cable Car extension to the Subway

Cable Car out to the fringes of the city

Back in the Poblado area we walked around and dined at a large Colombian restaurant (Mondongo).  Very popular with the locals and I loved it, but for the life of me I can’t remember what I had.

In the late afternoon, I left the ladies who went shopping while I went back to ride on the Metro.  This time I went through the center of town to Santo Domingo and out on a cable car extension out to Arvi, a National Park.  It was too late for me to look around the park but I did float across the top of the forest in my cable car.

After the success of the Graffiti Tour we decided to take another tour the next day. This one to Guatape a town in the hills outside Medellin.  We loaded on a bus in the early morning and off we went.  A breakfast of arepas and coffee on the road and then a brief stop in Marinilla.   Not a very inspiring town.  Then we moved on to Piedra del Penol which is at the foot of this massive granite pillar of rock.   Some enterprising person built steps up the outside of this rock, some 700 of them, and now they have a steady stream of visitors paying a few dollars each to climb to the top.  It is still a family owned enterprise and they must be doing very, very well indeed.

Piedra del Penol

View from top of Piedra

We make the trek to the top from where there is a nice view of the surrounding area.  On top there were lots of tacky souvenir shops and far too many people so we headed down pretty quickly.  At the bottom we have a pretty basic lunch before boarding the bus and moving on to the town of Guatape.

Guatape is a colorful town that is not that old but it has become popular by promoting the creation of colorful relief decorations on its building called Zocalos.  They are indeed quite creative and very colorful but when you realize they are a recent addition it deflates any real interest.

Guatape Street Scene

Guatape

The trip continued with a boat trip - a tedious jaunt from the dock in Guatape across the reservoir for an hour or so.  Not really what any of us wanted to do but we endured it.  Back on the bus we had a long drive back to Medellin and got caught up in the heavy traffic re-entering the city.  The surprising thing about the heavy traffic was that the most of the vehicles were buses.  There are a lot of people moving in and out of this city.

We had an early start in the morning to catch a plane back to Cartagena.  We flew Viva Colombia a new budget Colombian airline.  Back in Cartagena again we checked into our hotel in the old town, this time the Casa La Fe.  Arden was not feeling well and so we took it easy and had a leisurely walk around the old town.

In the afternoon we went to the Getsemani area again where we were enrolled in a cookery class at a restaurant called Ooh La La.  This was my first cookery class and it started well with instructions on how to make the perfect Mojito.  After the lime Mojito, I mastered the guava Mojito and then we moved on to proper food.  I am not sure quite what else we made now - lots of plantains, tapioca, chopping of vegetables, preparation of ceviche, etc.  We then sat down to eat what we had made.  Somehow it seemed to be quite different from our modest preparations.  I think they added a lot of finishing touches in the kitchen after we finished all our efforts.

The next day, Friday, 29th December, was our last day in Colombia.  Arden was still feeling ill, so we took it easy.  Breakfast at La Brioche, the coffee shop we had visited many times before.  Then a bit more shopping until the afternoon when we took a taxi to Castillo Grande, part of the newer part of Cartagena.  This section of town is very modern indeed - lots of new high rise apartments with views over the harbor and beach area.  The beach was not the best, but we found a spot to sit (paying for a sun shade and chairs) and we savored our last day in Colombia.  The water was not the best either but we took a dip and lounged under our sun shade watching the constant parade of beach vendors selling everything from ceviche, to ice cream to massages to temporary tattoos to balloons.

Beach Vendors at Castillo Grande

The Beach at Castillo Grande

Back at the hotel we relaxed by the pool and then set out for our last evening in Cartagena.  Somehow more shopping is required and then we go back to La Casa de Socorro in Getsemani and have our last meal of robalo (sea bass).

We were traveling back different ways, me early via Panama City and San Francisco, Arden and Nancy later via Panama City and Denver.

There are more photographs here.

Lebanon - December 2017

After spending three weeks back home in England, in Staveley, I was in need of a new adventure so I started looking around for new places to visit.  It had to fit in with a three day period before I flew back to the US.  What caught my attention was a flight to Beirut on Middle East Airlines.  It left Heathrow late on Thursday evening and arrived early Friday morning, and left early Sunday in time to catch my flight to the U.S. allowing me 2 full days in Beirut.

So I bought the ticket, downloaded the Lonely Planet guide for Lebanon, and off I went.  There were several warnings about travel to Lebanon and neither the British nor the American Governments seemed to recommend it.  Even the guide book had warnings in several sections to avoid travel to certain regions like the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the southern border regions with Israel.  My concern was not eased when the day before I left President Trump enraged everyone in the world except the Israelis by announcing the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

In actual fact, reading all the warnings against travel did make me a little worried about visiting that region but after boarding the plane I never gave it a second thought and I felt completely safe the entire trip.

The flight from Heathrow was late at night and didn't arrive in Lebanon until 4:30 am Friday morning.  I stumbled around the airport for a while before getting a taxi to my hotel, The Mayflower.  When I arrived at the hotel the taxi meter was about $25 and I thought I was being generous with a $5 tip.  Not so and the taxi driver began to complain that it wasn't enough.  Taxi drivers drive me nuts - they frequently provide the worst introduction to a country.  

I had prearranged to go on a walking tour of the city and was due to be picked up at my hotel at 8:00 am, so I dozed in the lobby of the hotel (it being too early to check in to my room) until they came to pick me up.  The tour company, Nakhal, run several tours and they have a fleet of vans doing the pickup at various hotels and they then drop everyone off at their office where people board various vans and buses for the different tours.  My group went on a short ride into the center of the city where we started our walking tour.  

Roman Ruins in middle of Beirut

We first visited a Roman site.  The tour guide explained that Beirut has been a city for a long time.  If you dig down in any area of the city you find evidence of earlier periods of occupation be that Phoenician, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Mamaluk - everybody has built there.

Our little group of round 12 people are a motley group, including 3 older Croatian ladies, one of whom is severely overweight.  She walks very slowly and I realize this is not going to be much of a walking tour.  

Our walk continues through a government building area where all the buildings are quite clean and well maintained and there is a strong security presence.  Surprisingly there was the following Banksy-esque graffiti carefully preserved on one of the walls.  Strange they would want to maintain such a political message so close to the center of government.

Graffiti in center of Beirut

We passed by a couple of churches - a Maronite Cathedral and a Greek Orthodox Cathedral and moved onto the square where there is a rather splendid new mosque, the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque.  I guess there is still a bit of religious diversity in Beirut, even after the Civil War.  Former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri is buried in front of the mosque - he was assassinated in 2005.

Mohammed al-Amin Mosque

Close by the mosque is the so-called Martyrs Square with its bullet riddled statue.  Also close by is the unrestored Civil War damaged ruin of a Zaha Hadid designed cinema.  It looks very interesting, all curvy. I hope they restore it.  She went to school in Beirut.

Martyr's Square, Beirut

That was it for the walking and we loaded back into the van and paid a visit to the National Museum of Beirut and we continued our walking around the museum.  I wasn't in much of a mood for museums.  A little drama was added when the overweight Croat lady fell on the hard marble tile floor in the museum.  It took 3 or 4 of us to pick her up and sit her on a chair.  Her wrist looked decidedly broken after the fall but she refused to go to the hospital.

Back at the hotel around lunch, I took a brief nap before heading out to explore the city some more.  This time I walked by the American University -  quite a large school in the middle of town, and I think quite a prestigious school.  From there out along the sea shore to the Raouche area of town.  From the cliff top there you can look down on the Pigeon Rocks - a very photogenic spot and full of selfie takers.

Pigeon Rocks, Beirut

A taxi back towards the downtown area and I wander around the marina - very modern and full of large motor yachts.  There is some serious money in this city.

Marina District, Beirut

There are a few derelict buildings around town; a sign of the Civil War which ended in 1990.  These buildings are pock marked with bullet holes and have not been renovated.  They are a stark contrast to the many modern and fully refurbished buildings in the downtown area.

Bullet riddled building showing Civil War damage

More walking around town until it gets dark.  I find a nice falafel shop on one of the backstreets and enjoy a wonderful falafel - what a treat.  It gets dark early in Beirut and by 4:30 or 5:00 the sun is setting.  I walk back to the hotel down Hamra Street one of the main thoroughfares through the Hamra district, an area of shops, restaurants, bars and clubs.  It is quite lively and has the feel of a real party town.   There are lots of American chains - KFC, Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, and the surprisingly popular Dunkin Donuts which was busy till late at night.

All feels quite safe and secure and I continue to walk around until late at night.  In the hotel room, an indicator pointing towards Mecca and a sign on the nightstand saying that smoking of the water pipe narghile is forbidden.  I wasn't planning on smoking anyway.

The next day, Saturday, I am signed up for a trip to Baalbek in the Beqaa (or Bekaa) valley so it is an early morning pick up in a van and transport to the same tour company for transfer to a bus to Baalbek.  Climbing out of Beirut the whole city is laid out to the west below us, with the Mediterranean glistening below and the snow capped mountains to the east.  It is a huge city with wonderful views from some of the higher neighborhoods.  There are lots of new high rise developments, but also many abandoned homes that were once fine homes owned by wealthy people who then fled during the Civil War.  These homes have been vacant and left to decay over the past 30 or 40 years.  So sad to see them, the owners are living abroad, and the cost of restoring the derelict homes is likely so prohibitive they will never be restored but they can't be sold for any reasonable price so they just sit there.

Bekaa Valley from Anjar

We cross through snow covered hills and drop down into the Bekaa Valley, a wide fertile plane surrounded by snow-capped mountains to the East and West.  Anjar is on the eastern side of the valley close to the Syrian border and it is the location of an ancient city from the Umayad period, (600-700 AD).  The ruins are quite nicely restored and we spend an hour or so wandering around.  The city is laid out in the Roman style with two intersecting main streets and a towered/pillared structure where they intersect.

Anjar

Back on the bus we head off towards Baalbek, the main destination for the day.  On the way we start seeing lots of Syrian refugee camps.  They are typically container sized cubes wrapped in white plastic printed with the UN logo.  Usually there were old rubber tires on the roof, presumably to stop the plastic flapping and blowing away.  Some settlements were fairly large others were small, only 3 or 4 structures.  Apparently the UN arrange for the positioning of the camps by buying or leasing the land.  As we approach Baalbek we are near to the Syrian border and the security checks get more frequent.  On the bus we are just waved through.

  

Syrian Refugee Camp

In Baalbek itself we pass a Palestinian refugee camp.  This had been there since the 1970's and looked much more established - lots of Palestinian flags flying and guards at the entrance.  That is a lifetime that they have spent in those camps.

Stone Quarry, Baalbek

First stop in Baalbek is the quarry where the Romans obtained their stone for building the site.  One immense rock is partially excavated.  I cannot comprehend how they moved such large pieces of stone.

Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek

We move on to the main site - a truly remarkable Roman complex with temples, courtyards, staircases, columns, all in remarkably good condition considering their age.  Apparently the site was first explored in the 1900's by a German archaeological group.  They found it half covered in sand.  It is a remarkable site now and well worth a visit.  We walked around taking pictures and receiving instruction from our very good guide and then we set off back towards Beirut.

Roman Ruins, Baalbek

On the way back we stop in Zahle for a meal - local food, lots of meat, very nice.  I was very impressed by our bus driver who somehow managed to move his bus through a busy town with incredible accuracy squeezing through spaces you would imagine impossible for a large bus to fit.

On the way back to Beirut we stop at a vineyard to get a quick tour.  They have tunnels for wine storage that date back to Roman times.  The wine was quite drinkable too.  The wine label was Ksara.

As we cross the pass to drop down into Beirut it was dark.  I was surprised by the number of Christmas lights and decorations everywhere.  They certainly make a big deal out of Christmas here. 

Christmas Tree and Mosque side by side in Beirut 

Back in Beirut, I wander around the same Hamra area before getting an early night in preparation for the early morning departure the next day.

On Sunday morning it was a 5:30 taxi to the airport and an early flight to London.  I had a connection to California later in the day.  I was supposed to land in Heathrow, drive from Heathrow to Gatwick, drop off my car and get my flight to Oakland from Gatwick.  Alas it was snowing in London and we circled Heathrow for 45 minutes before landing and then sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours or more before being allowed off the plane.  While on the plane I realized I wasn't going to make the connection so I canceled that flight (thank goodness it was flexible ticket) and sorted out another flight from Heathrow back home.  Fortunately I got a cheap flight with miles directly to LA with a connection to San Francisco.  From SFO I rented a car to get home.  I did make it home by 2:00 am Monday, but it was a long and frustrating day.

There are more photos of the trip here. 

Poland - September 2017

On the way back to England in September I made a brief excursion to Poland.  Just a 6 day trip taking in 4 cities - Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw and Gdansk.  I landed in Warsaw in the early morning by way of Chicago and Frankfurt.  It was an easy entry process into the country and a simple transfer from the airport by train into the center of the city.  With the aid of Google Maps and my iPhone I navigated the walk from the Central Station to my hotel in the old town.  Google Maps have become an essential tool in this kind of travel these days.  It makes everything so easy.

Old Warsaw

The area around the Central Station was fairly modern but as I got nearer to the my hotel the buildings got much more interesting with some really elegant old buildings in the old town.  At least they were old looking because the city was pretty much leveled in World War II and just about everything had to be rebuilt after the war.  They certainly made an excellent job of it.  On my way to the hotel I passed the impressive Soviet era Palace of Science and Culture, the Warsaw University and it’s impressive buildings, the Nicolaus Copernicus statue, the monument to Adam Mickiewicz, the Poles most famous poet not to mention numerous fine churches.  

The Royal Castle and the Vasa Column

My hotel, the Dom Literatur, was in the old town adjacent to the square in front of the Royal Castle.  Since I was too early to check in I left my bags and went for a walking tour of the old town.  Outside the hotel was the Sigisimund Vasa Column and the Royal Castle, and then a short walk through the quaint side streets leads to the Old Town Square which is a truly beautiful square with fine old buildings (I later learned that all but two were rebuilt after the war).  I wasn’t expecting such beautifully restored buildings in Poland.  Moving out of the main square I passed by the old city walls and the Barbican (fortress), and then on to the Monument to the Warsaw Uprising a statue commemorating the doomed revolt against the Germans in 1944.

Monument to the Warsaw Uprising

Back at the hotel in the afternoon I checked in and was going to have a much needed rest until I found that the two major museums in town, the Warsaw Rising Museum and the Museum of the Polish Jews were both closed the next day (Tuesday) so I had to get moving.

I Ubered to the Warsaw Rising museum, surprisingly easy, quick and cheap.  The museum was very good, but quite also large with an overwhelming amount of information.  Not the best suited for a quick run through in around an hour.  I found the path through the museum a bit confusing and the sheer number of exhibits left me wondering which ones to look at and which ones to leave out.  Much of the content did not have English text or commentary so that was a further complication.  Nevertheless, the message came across loud and clear - it was a pretty desperate situation in 1944 and the Polish insurgents had a pretty bad time of things.  They were not at all helped by the Soviets who by that time were not so far away but the Soviets had other things on their mind (like taking over Poland after the war) and so were not too helpful and the Rising was mercilessly crushed by the Nazis and Warsaw was devastated.

Museum of the History of Polish Jews

I caught another taxi over to the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews.  This was another large and modern museum.  Again I was confronted with a large amount of material and limited time, but I did make it through the key bits about the Warsaw Ghetto, the Ghetto Uprising and the eventual eradication of the Warsaw Jewish population.  

Both the museums were very good but the I did find the onslaught of material to be overwhelming - so many personal stories, so many interactive terminals, so many photographs - sometimes I just didn’t know what to look at next.

I walked back to the hotel and by now I was getting a good feel for the layout of the city’s sights.  In the evening I walked again into the old town and found a great little restaurant (Gosciniec) that served local food and I had a nice plate of pierogis (Polish dumplings) and a nice Polish beer.

The Old Town Square, Warsaw

Next morning after breakfast I walked across the river, the Vistula, to the east side - an area known as Praga.  The river, the largest in Poland, is wide and slow moving with sandy beaches which apparently are a nice recreational area in the summer.  On a damp grey day like today, not so much.

I was impressed by the number of trams travelling to and fro across the bridge - all very quick, very full, and very cheap.

On the other side of the river I visit a church and then walk through a park nearby the Zoological Gardens.  No sign of a zoo, other than a metal giraffe sculpture but a lot of nice red squirrels and hooded crows.  

The Royal Castle from the Vistula River

Back over on the west side of the river I visit the interior of the Royal Castle - again this is a restored copy as the Germans blew it up as they retreated from the city at the end of the war.  The restoration took place in the 1960’s and 70’s and it was all very tastefully done.  I just didn’t realize that this kind of work was being done in the middle of the Soviet period.  The inside of the Castle was all very fine with many ornate rooms with lots of artifacts and art.  There was one room filled with Canaletto’s (he came to Warsaw in the mid 1800’s and painted the city) and in the basement had a couple of Rembrandt’s.

The Canaletto Room - Warsaw Royal Castle

After checking out of my room at mid-day, I walked over to the south past Adam Mickiewicz’s statue, the University and Copernicus’ statue and visited the Chopin Museum.  Chopin was a local boy, a musical prodigy, and this museum is Warsaw’s tribute to him.  Another modern museum with lots of interactive exhibits.  What I found most interesting were his original scores - incredibly detailed documents, barely legible by my eyes.  Interesting to see how he worked in such minute detail in ink presumably with all sorts of corrections and modifications.

A Chopin Score

I then walked over to the Palace of Culture and Science - a massive soviet era edifice that is the tallest building in Warsaw.  It has fallen into a bit of decay but it is truly an impressive example of soviet era architecture.  I took a trip up to the viewing balcony at the top for a nice view of the city below.  

The Palace of Science and Culture

On the street outside the Palace I came across a brass marker line in the pavement - it was the marker for the border of the Jewish Ghetto which existed between 1940 and 1943.  A little further to the north there is a small Synagogue, the Nozyk Synagogue.  This is the only synagogue to survive the war.  It is still in use today.  Not far away from this is the only remaining block of buildings that date from the Warsaw Ghetto.  Everything else was destroyed.  These Ghetto buildings are not occupied and are very dilapidated and covered in graffiti hopefully something will be done to preserve them.

I walk further out of town to the north in the general direction of the Museum of Polish Jews.  Lots of blocks of flats but all quite attractive.  When I reach the Polish Jews Museum, now closed for the day, I walk in the grounds where there is a monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto, and a monument to celebrate Willy Brandt, the Chancellor of Germany, who visited the site in 1970 and knelt down in contrition of his country’s actions.  Further afield is the Monument to Mordechai Anieliwicz.  He was the leader of the Ghetto Uprising and he died in his bunker on this spot.

The Jewish Cemetery

A little to the west is the Jewish Cemetery which is quite a large cemetery that was relatively untouched by the war.   I guess you don’t need to bomb them when they are already dead and buried.  It is a huge area with a very high density of grave stones.  It is dark and shaded by trees and I must admit I like the solitude and quietness of the place.  

On my way back to the hotel, I walk by Umschlagplatz which was the railway station from which the Jews in the Ghetto were transported to their demise in Treblinka.  There is no station there today, just a large marble walled monument with names from A to Z carved on it’s walls.  There are so many monuments to the terrible things that happened in this city.  It is impossible to escape them.  Even on the walk to the hotel from Umshlagplatz  there is a sculpture in the middle of the road of a cart or carriage full of crucifixes.  Bad stuff happened everywhere.

Back at the hotel I pick up my bags and Uber to the train station where I catch my train to Krakow.  A nice modern station easy to navigate and I have no problem finding the right train.  My US bought ticket has a train, coach and seat number so I know exactly where to go.

Reparations Posters

It was a little surprising to see posters demanding reparations from the Germans for the atrocities in WWII. I hadn't heard about this movement, and while it is certainly a fringe movement, it is disturbing nonetheless.

In Krakow it was raining and I have difficulty finding my Uber driver.  He looked like he was nearby, but actually I was on the ground level, he was 3 levels higher.  We eventually located eachother and he took me to my hotel, the Hotel Pugetow.  A small hotel with a very small but quite adequate room.

The crowds at Auschwitz

The next morning, Wednesday, my first in Krakow, I had arranged to be taken on a tour of the Concentration Camp in Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mines.  Right on time at 9:00 am the mini-bus picked me up and took me and 6 others out to Oswiecim as it is known by the Poles or Auschwitz as the Germans called it.  It is a pleasant drive for about 1 ½ hours to the entrance to the camp, where to my surprise we are confronted with 20 or more buses and large numbers of people.  We are assembled into a group of around 25 and then introduced to our guide.  She is English speaking and she broadcasts to us through wireless receivers and earphones.  

Auschwitz

Then off we go into the Auschwitz 1 Concentration Camp through the Arbeit Mach Frei gate (Work makes you free).  The brick barracks were originally a Polish military base that was expanded by the Germans to hold prisoners and forcibly displaced Jews, Romas, Poles.  The area was quite congested with people and we walked through in our group and we often had to wait until other tour groups cleared the buildings.  We walk through several barracks which have photos and informational displays of the atrocities that went on there.  The most moving were the displays of human hair - the Nazis harvested the hair of all detainees and shipped it off to be woven into fabric.  There were also displays of vast numbers of shoes, luggage, hairbrushes, spectacles, pots and pans - all gathered from the Jews and others on their way to the gas chambers.  The most chilling of all the empty cans of Cyklon B. One of the barracks was a prison where inmates who were suspected of offenses against the Reich were summarily tried and dispensed with in the yard outside. The horrors just went on and on.

Shoes

After visiting several barracks we went over to the Gas Chamber and Crematorium.  On the way was a gallows - this was where the first commandant of the camp, Rudolph Hoess was hung by the Polish Authorities in 1947.  We were allowed inside the Gas Chamber - it was here where the Nazis prototyped the killing of large numbers of people with Zyklon B and thousands of prisoners were killed here.  Particularly distressing were the marks on the wall on the wall apparently the desperate fingernail scratches of the prisoners as they were being gassed.

Crematorium at Auschwitz

After a couple of hours of listening to the catalog of horrors we left the camp and had chance to recover in the crowded gift shop and refreshment area where life was continuing on in some sort of normality.  We then boarded the bus to go to Auschwitz Camp II or Birkenau which was just a couple of kilometers away.  

The platform at Birkenau

Birkenau was the larger camp where the Nazis scaled up the operations from Auschwitz I.  Here was the well known railtrack entrance into the camp and the platform where the SS made their selections of fit and healthy men and women to the right and then into the camp, and the remainder, the young, old and infirm to the left and then on to the gas chambers.  There was a replica of a rail carriage of the type used to transport Jews and others into the camp from locations around Europe.

The gas chambers and crematoria here were all blown up by the Germans as they left before the camp was liberated by the Soviets.  There is just a large area of concrete slabs and rubble where the 5 gas chambers and crematoria existed along with ponds where the ashes were disposed of.  There is some sort of memorial there too, but due to the lack of time we didn’t walk around that part of the camp.

Interior of the Wonen's Camp

The camp covered a large area - most of the wooden barracks are gone and only their chimneys and foundations remain, but most of the brick barracks are still standing.  We toured the interior of one these barracks where there were rows of three tiered bunks where inmates lived in the most inhumane of conditions.

After Auschwitz I was ready for something a little less disturbing, and the day’s tour continued with a trip through the Wielizcka Salt Mine.  Wielizcka is on the way back to Krakow and it is often bundled with the Auschwitz tour.  The tour group all bundled into the buses and we drove to Wielizka where we were informed that it was time for lunch (at 3:30 pm) and we were dropped off at a restaurant (presumably with a nice kick back to the tour company from the owners).  I had the goulash and it was good.  I sat with the 4 ladies from Iowa and got to know them a little better.  A mother, two daughters and one friend on a whirlwind tour of Europe by rental car.  They were quite adventurous with their city driving and they were a fun group.  

Chapel Underground in the Salt Mine - its all carved salt

We entered the salt mine and were again issued with earphones and receivers.  The first step was a climb down 300 or more feet of stairs before entering into a network of corridors and chambers in the upper levels of the mine.  The mine had been operational since the 13th century and there were some 300 km of passageways in the mine so it was quite a complex.  We were restricted to just a fraction of it.  There were lots of salt carvings from silly gnome like characters to more lifelike figures and lots of presentations of how the old salt mines were worked.  There were chapels in larger chambers with statues of Christ carved out of salt (church services on a Sunday), even a depiction of the Last Supper.  After a while it got a bit tedious for me at least.  We went down to perhaps 500 ft and of course there was the obligatory gift shop down there.  There was also a sanitorium where, if you were an allergy sufferer you could stay for a few days to partake of the allergen free air.  Finally we were hoisted up to surface in a very cramped lift cage.  I could have skipped this part of the tour.

It was then a short drive back to Krakow and my hotel.  In the evening I walked for the first time around the old square of Krakow.  It was impressive - a magnificent cathedral, a town hall tower and many beautiful old (restored?) buildings.

Krakow Main Square

In the morning, I took a pre-breakfast walk around the old town again.  What a amazing square it is - St. Mary’s Basilica, the Cloth Hall Arcade, the Town Hall Tower - all looking wonderful in the early morning light.  I take in a few other sights - The Collegium Maius (oldest university in Poland), the City Walls, the Barbican, the Grunwald Monument, the Opera House - then I return for breakfast at the hotel.  I then took a walking tour described in one of the local free guides - the square yet again, the University, the Bishop’s Palace, the Papal Window (where local boy Pope John Paul made an appearance), St. Francis’ Basilica, the Church of St Peter and St Paul, and the most wonderful Wawel Castle and Cathedral.

The Wawel Castle and Cathedral, Krakow

The queue for tickets to get in the Castle and Cathedral put me off so I gave it a pass - the exteriors are wonderful enough.  I walked down the hill to the Kazimierz neighborhood.  This was the old Jewish town which has now been absorbed into Krakow.  There are signs of synagogues and signs of restaurants catering to the Jewish tourist trade (genealogical tourism perhaps?).  I crossed over the river (the Vistula) and entered the Podgorze neighbourhood.  It was in Podgorze that the Germans created a walled Ghetto - there is just one small section of the old wall remaining.  Podgorze is also the location of the now famous Oskar Schindler’s Enamelware Factory, immortalized in the Spielberg film.  

The Vistula River in Krakow

Oskar Schindler was one of the characters of Podgorze but another was Tadeus Pankowicz.  He operated a pharmacy just outside the ghetto and provided medicine and news of the outside world to the ghetto residents.  There are museums in both Schindler’s factory and Pankowicz’s pharmacy and I visited both.

Schindler's Factory, Podgorze, Krakow

The square outside the pharmacy museum is empty save for a series of empty chairs - a memorial to the jews that passed through there carrying small pieces of furniture.  I’m not sure the memorial gets that message across - I had to read about it in the guide book.

Walking back over the Vistula through Kazimierz, there is another museum - the Galician Jewish Museum.  This I found to one of the better ones - a series of modern day photographs organized into 5 sections - Pre-WWII Jewish sites, Jewish culture that once was, Holocaust sites, how the past is being remembered, and the revival of Jewish life.  Highly recommended.  Galicia by the way is this section of southern Poland.  

I poke my head in a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery on the way back to the hotel.  Nothing too remarkable, synagogues never are, the Catholic church have a lock on that area.

I Uber to the train station for my train to Wroclaw.  Just over a couple of hours train ride and we are in Wroclaw and it is a short walk to my hotel - the Hotel Monopol, a fine old hotel apparently frequented by the likes of Hitler, Picasso and Marlene Dietrich among others.  They don’t make a big thing about the Hitler connection.

Wroclaw Town Hall

I have just one day in Wroclaw (Breslau is its German name) so I set off early to walk around town.  Again it is another beautifully restored old city.  The main square contains a magnificent Town Hall and is flanked by wonderfully restored old buildings.  

An example of Wroclaw Gnomes

Wroclaw has this thing about gnomes - apparently in the latter part of the Soviet era there was a group called Orange Alternative that painted caricatures, presumably some were gnomes, over Soviet attempts to remove political graffiti.  Now after the fall of communism the city has adopted the gnome as an emblem and there are literally hundreds of brass gnome sculptures scattered around the town.

I walk back towards the station and find a sculpture that I walked past the previous night without even noticing.  It is called the Crossing and it features sculptures of several pedestrian disappearing into the pavement on one side of the street and then reappearing on the other side of the street.  It is pretty cool.

The Crossing

I wander around the station again as it is a nice old station, not like the modern ones on Warsaw and Krakow.  Nice and old but I’m afraid it contains a KFC, a Starbucks and a McDonalds - how sad.

I then join one of the free walking tours that you can find all over Europe these days.  We started back in the square where the guide pointed out the only modern looking building on the square.  It may look modern, but it is the only original building on the square - a pre-WWII bank building not damaged in the war, all the other buildings were destroyed and rebuilt in their 19th Century form.  We moved on to the University and talked about Fritz Haber - he was a local boy, a Jew, who went on to develop the Haber process for synthesizing Ammonia and thereby providing a cheap fertilizer (for which he got the Nobel Prize), but he also developed mechanisms for producing Chlorine gas which was used to some effect in the trenches in WWI.  He also worked on pesticide gases and that work led later to the creation of Xyklon B the gas used to exterminate the Jews in Auschwitz.  He was dead by then but some of his family were gassed in the concentration camps.

The Oder River in Wroclaw

We move on to the river (the Oder) and cross the bridge to one of the islands.  Apparently Wroclaw is number 4 in Europe for the number of bridges after Hamburg, Amsterdam and Venice.   Who knew.  On the island we visit a couple of churches, one of which still has a WWII shell embedded in the wall.  After the walking tour which was very good I wander back into town and have a late lunch (pork - they eat a lot of pork in Poland).  

I then buy a ticket to a concert for the evening.  I have choices a 3 hr Opera or a shorter Bach concert.  The Opera would make catching the train a bit tight so I opt for the Bach concert - a piece called The Art of the Fugue - with harpsichord, organ, 2 violins, a viola and a cello.  A wonderful concert but it was in an old church and the pews were not the most comfortable.  

After the concert I pick up my bags at the hotel and then Uber over to the station for my overnight train to Gdansk.  I get my own quite comfortable compartment for the 7 or 8 hours to Gdansk.  I think we passed through Warsaw in the night but I didn’t notice it.

Around 7:00 am we pulled into Gdansk.  I stored my bags in a locker at the station and walk into town.  Yet again, Gdansk turns out to have a wonderful old town, perhaps the most beautiful one to date, though Krakow is certainly a contender.  At that early hour of a Saturday morning, there was not much happening - the streets were nearly empty and there were few shops or cafes open.  I walk around admiring the wonderful buildings - the market street with its ornate old buildings (Dlugi Targ), the beautifully elaborate Arsenal building, the Golden Gate archway into the town, the green Gate arch at the other end of the town, the waterfront with its Gdansk Crane (Zuraw) an old wooden tower with a gantry to unload ship’s cargoes.  I wandered around the old town until some cafes start to open and then find a restaurant for breakfast.

The Market Street, Gdansk

The Armory, Gdansk

After breakfast I visited St Mary’s Church, a large church that dominates the old part of town.  It is apparently the largest brick built church in the world.  Inside it is quite wonderful with an impressive Baroque organ that was actually being played during my visit.  They were rehearsing for some event and the organ played for a while and then was joined by a woman singing.  It made the hairs on my neck stand up.  Among the many wonderful things in the church there is a 15th century Astronomical Clock, and Memling’s picture The Last Judgement (alas only a copy).

Aerial view of Gdansk from St Mary's Church Tower

I bought a ticket to ascend the tower - some 400 odd steps to the top, quite a bit of work but the reward was a wonderful view of the city below.  From the top of the church tower I noticed a dark sinister building off to the south so I walked over investigate and discover that it is the Gdansk Shakespeare Theater (English traveling players visited Gdansk in the 17th Century so there is some link there).  The building however looked really out of place - dark, sombre, no windows - a new build by architect Renato Rizzi.  Not my favorite building.

Gdansk Riverfront

In my wanderings I arrived again at the riverfront again and decided to take a boat trip.  There was a boat to Sopot about to leave so I bought a ticket and got on board.  Sopot is in the Gulf of Gdansk maybe 10 miles north of Gdansk.  It is a nice boat ride out past the port of Gdansk and the Lenin Shipyards (birthplace of Solidarity), and Westerplatte (where the opening shots of World War II were fired) and out into the Gulf.  

The Beach at Sopot and the Grand Hotel

We moored alongside the pier in Sopot which at 500m in length claims to be the longest wooden pier in Europe.  I went for a quick walk around the town.  Sopot is now a tourist retreat for wealthy Poles and is full of cafes and restaurants and lots of tourists.  There was nothing much that I found appealing other than the majestic looking Grand Hotel and an interesting sculpture of a fisherman somehow balanced on a tightrope strung across the street. I didn’t stay long in Sopot but got back on the same boat for the trip back to Gdansk.  

The Fisherman - Sopot

Back in Gdansk I made my way through the old town to the Gdansk Shipyards.  It was in the Gdansk Shipyards that Lech Walesa worked and where the Solidarity Movement was started that lead to the downfall of the USSR.  At the shipyards gate there is a memorial to the workers killed by the Polish Army in 1970 and just inside a very fine modern museum that tells the story of the strikes and the struggle for a democratic Trade Union and the eventual fall of the Soviet empire.  The museum is good but it got a bit complicated with the earphones and handset and I found myself getting out of synch with the voice commentary and my location in the museum.  There were so many optional interactive displays that were not always in English that it got a bit overwhelming at times.  Still it was a great series of exhibits about a most interesting time of change.

The Lenin Shipyards, Gdansk

From the shipyard it was a short walk (past a piece of the Berlin Wall) to the railway station where I retrieved my bags and caught the train out to the airport.  The train system in Poland is quite inexpensive and very well used.  The line out to the Lech Walesa airport was new and very modern and it cost less than $1.  Why can’t we do such things in the USA?  

From the airport I caught my RyanAir flight to Leeds/Bradford in the UK.  A cheap flight but you wouldn’t want to be on RyanAir for anything more than a couple of hours.  The streets of Leeds were nowhere near as charming as the streets of Poland.

There are many more photographs here.