#localshow

Thirty in Krakow was a thoroughly enjoyable day. We had a relaxing morning before going to an old school ‘Milk Bar’ type restaurant for lunch for some tasty (both sweet and savoury) and cheap perogies.

History Lesson 101: The Milk Bars in Krakow have been around since the 1800’s as a way to serve cheap and nutritious food to locals during tough times. After WWII, if you wanted to eat out in Poland you often had no choice but to eat at a Milk Bar. Due to the communist regime, the majority of normal restaurants were shut down at this time.

They are tiny, canteen style shops and you never know who will join you on your table! We then had a few afternoon drinks before a 12-course degustation for dinner. All in all, I had a lovely birthday.

The remainder of our days in Krakow were spent exploring the city on our new bicycles, eating and drinking some vodka – when in Poland! 

Krakow was surprisingly full of tourists. One street we walked down was so crowded we commented on the similarity to Las Ramblas in Barcelona.     

We contemplated getting a ride on one of the multiple (seriously, there were A LOT) horse drawn carriages but decided against it.

Our next stop was Auschwitz. We went to both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II- Birkenau and wow – what a surreal and confronting experience that was. To think that over 1.5 million people died there is just more than words can say.

Some more history: Auschwitz was the largest extermination centre during World War II and the only camp to be preserved to such an extent in its original condition. Located at Auschwitz are the grounds containing human ashes, ruins of gas chambers and crematoria, the places where SS doctors carried out selection, the places where Jewish (and other) families awaited death and multiple execution sites.

In total, the land size is approx 500 acres over the two camps which was quite overwhelming to us. We saw over two-tonnes of hair which had been cut from the heads of prisoners, displays with hundreds and thousands of shoes, glasses, pans, pots, bags, brushes, shoe polish and other everyday items in which proved that the prisoners just had no idea where they were going when they were deported.

From here we drove south into Slovakia to the base of the Tatra Mountains. 

The next morning rode our bikes approx 3km to the base of a chairlift which we caught to the top of the mountain. Went on a fairly tough eight-hour hike in which we saw a beautiful crystal-clear turquoise blue lake before ending up back at the bikes. Unfortunately for us, once we got up pretty high we were in the clouds and the views of the surrounding mountains were therefore limited (AKA non-existent). As you can see, this didn’t make for very good photos.

The below photo was in an Aragonite cave in Slovakia  (there are only three in the world where you can see this type of formation), just near the Hungarian border. The Aragonite is 138,000 years old. 

Next, we found an organic food and wine festival which had one day left in a town in Hungary and decided to check it out. 

Drove three hours to get here and ate some delish Hungarian food and sampled some of the local wines they produce. Still can’t find any kale though!!! As the rain seems to be chasing us on this holiday, surprise surprise at about 4pm the rain started and we called it a day.  

Traditional Hungarian dancing

Goulash

Langos - deep fried bread with garlic spread, sour cream and cheese. 

MULLED WINE!!!

Seeing as though we were already in Hungary, we decided to go and meet some of Andre’s Hungarian family, ditch the campervan and spend a few nights in Budapest. Read about this in our next blog!

The thing we have realised over the last week is there is a really strange feeling in that we have nothing to do, but yet no time to do anything.

Aw yes, it's that time again! Time to do a show in Frederick, it's been a minute...Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 9 PM

 Cafe Nola: 4 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701