Poland went from not being on my radar to a place I can't wait to go back to. Between the Polish wedding, art, food, history, and being a genuinely photogenic country in its architecture and people, I think this trip really had everything!

Warsaw

We don't plan our trips, so the night before we flew, we naturally started looking at restaurants to eat and found one called Nuta, which recently got a Michelin star. They were, of course, booked for months, but that didn't stop me from emailing and asking nicely.

We landed at 2pm the following day in Warsaw and I got a text at 2:30pm asking if we could come by at 6pm. Heck yeah! I had the biggest grin going through security, and it slowly slipped away as I watched the clock while I waited for our bags to come out. Almost two and a half hours later, they finally showed up (after a lot of angst and me proclaiming we were just going to leave and get our bags later). We made it to the hotel for a very quick shower and then blitzed to Nuta, just on time for our reservation.

I couldn't have asked for a better first meal in a country I knew nothing about. We did their tasting menu with a pairing of Polish wines. Their cuisine is a mix of Polish, Italian, and Asian, and they did a really wonderful job not only explaining each dish, but bringing up a map showing us where things came from. Their pride in their country and its cuisine really came through and it was clear they were having a lot of fun!

Walking around Warsaw was really interesting. A lot of it was destroyed in World War II, but parts were rebuilt from "the memories of the old people" (to quote one of our drivers). It's kind of crazy to see the layering of different architectural styles, sometimes on one building as they added more to it!

There were also way more cars than I'd expected (this trip had the record number of car accidents I witnessed in Europe, a total of 3 within our ~10 days).

One thing you quickly realize is that this city does not forget its history. There were re-enactments happening, plaques everywhere explaining the history and significance of an area. And we also stopped by the Polin museum which did an incredible job contextualizing the history of Jewish diaspora across Europe and especially in Poland, which set the stage for the rest of our trip.

Krakow

After a few days in Warsaw, we took the train down to Krakow. One of my favorite artists, Zdzislaw Beksiński is Polish, and there was a museum exhibit in a neighborhood called Nowa Huta with some of his works. We went immediately since it was the only day open during our visit.

Most of the art I gravitate towards is melanocholic, and his work is no exception. I thought this exhbit was wonderfully presented, they had some of his more well known pieces so I was really glad I got to see them in person!

Nowa Huta is also the old communist district, so once again we saw not only a really cool blend of architectural styles, but also funny streets like "Ronalda Reagana" (for the famed American anti-communist crusader Ronald Reagan).

Krakow had more tourists and more people in general walking around; it definitely felt like it had more to offer at first glance. We found the old Jewish district, went into synagogues, and once again, like in Warsaw, there were plaques everywhere explaining the history and significance of the area.

One of our first trips was to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, which was utterly crazy. The total depth was almost the distance from Warsaw to Krakow (~250km)! We only went through the first few levels, but I was stunned at how much they managed to excavate back in the day, using only hand tools and... horses!

I guess these kind of worked like farm land where different families had plots or areas of the mine to work on. Our tour guide was engaged to someone who worked in the mines and it was a multi-generational thing going up to his great grand father (or more, I lost track).

One of the craziest things with the mines was a cathedral they carved out of the salt so that miners could have a place to pray while they worked down there. The bas reliefs on the walls were really stunning - we've seen these in many other trips, carved in stone (e.g. in Mahabalipuram in India, etc.) but seeing it here in the depths of a salt mine was unexpected.

It is a little sad to think about the horses and how they were brought down and had to stay and work down in the mines, but I mostly couldn't get over the ingenuinity of it all. Especially seeing the equipment they used to bring horses down, transport salt, and more. People are really creative when they're forced to. The mines had their own little economy that local families and leaders would manage.

That night, we got dinner at a restaurant called Karaketer, which was so good we went back again a few days later. I think our favorite part was discovering a Polish Pinot Noir which we're now trying to find back home!

Aushchwitz

Our excellent trip planning abilities made it a bit difficult to get tickets to Auschwitz, but we ended up finding a last minute tour that picked us up from our hotel and took us to both camps and back (it's about 1.5 hours away from Krakow).

You can take photos except in some restricted areas it's absolutely forbidden. In general I tried to take a few photos if it was possible, but my priority was to just experience it (there were, predictably, a few people just taking photos of random things like... the dirt and the air, or worse, selfies, and I was really confused about what they were doing there).

There are two camps you can visit, Auschwitz I, which was more of a concentration camp with the "Arbeit macht frei" (Work will set you free) sign at the gate (side note: a group stole this sign recently... but it was recovered). This camp was also where they initially tested out Zyklon B, which they'd later mass deployed in the other camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

There were a few things that really stuck with me. You don't really grasp the sheer scale of what they did, and how people felt, until you're actually there. They would round up Jews across Europe and send them to the camps, e.g. by train. In some cases, people bought tickets to the camps because they were falsely promised opportunities.

Children, mothers, and disabled individuals were immediately sent to be killed, of course not to their knowledge. They'd be sent into buildings, told they'd need to take their clothes off to be disinfected, and then go to a different room where soldiers would slip Zyklon B through slits in the roof.

Those who were able to work would be allowed to stay in the barracks and do hard labor, with an average life expectancy of ~3 to 4 months. Maybe it was the 100F degree heat on the day we visited, but I imagine there were similar days back then, and the thought of being forced to work without adequate food or water really got to me.

In Birkenau, the Nazis destroyed evidence of their genocide, in part by burning down all the buildings. When you look today, you'll only see the chimneys standing.

One of the saddest things about this was hearing about how Liberation went towards the end. Even after the Allies came and rescued the remaining survivors, a few of them still died after when they were given food due to what was probably refeeding syndrome.

There's a bit more to this that I can't write about, but needless to say, I'm very glad we made the trip out. We learn about this in books and movies but you really can't go past understanding into seeing and feeling unless you're there. The actual tour goes by pretty fast but it still left a big impression on me.

Dinner that night was simple street food: a zapiekanka, a version of Polish pizza toast? I think I could make this at home.

Day trip to Sanok

I mentioned I love Zdzislaw Beksiński's work. Well, we saw some of it in Krakow, and he used to live in Warsaw, but after he tragically died, his pieces mostly went back to his hometown of Sanok (which is only an hour from the Ukraine border). This was a 3 hour drive from Krakow but I figured we're already here, so I found a driver to take us there and back.

Our driver, Kaçper, was hysterical. He was in this 20s (baby) and had endless fun facts about Poland, its language and its cuisine. For starters, his day job is working in "gastro", at... a zapiekanka place (we actually almost went to his store the night before but were too exhausted to trek out - would have been a crazy coincidence).

We drove through the Polish countryside so the actual trip was lovely and picture perfect, so I'm glad we got to experience that. It did also make me think that it looked like parts of America (e.g. rural Maryland) at times which threw me off.

Sanok itself was really quaint. We got dropped off at "Muzeum Historyczne w Sanoku" which is basically a castle on a mountain that has a few floors of art.

There was a random Kandinsky tucked away in a corner, and a Picasso, but most of what I wanted to see was Beksiński! They recreated his actual home office, had countless sketches and drawings of his in file drawers which we were allowed to go through, and of course, many of his paintings and photographs. We spent a few hours here, and then I proceeded to buy every single book they had about him.

While he was waiting, Kaçper got us some raspberry cookies and Tymbark from a grocery store to try. And then later, on our ride back, he took us to a McDonalds since he wanted us to try their burgers and nuggets, this time doused in horseradish sauce. Highly recommend.

As we were chomping away, this fine young man started telling us about his best friend... who is a chef... at a famous... one star restaurant in Warsaw...Yes, the same Nuta we went to on our first day.

We later went back to Karakter to try the rest of their menu, then trekked over and got Kielbasa from a food truck that Kaçper told us about. Apparently this is a famous local spot, which checks out. It was probably the best sausage I had this trip.

Polish Wedding

Savannah's cousin was getting married so we trekked back to Jankowice for a proper Polish wedding, which more or less went from 6am to 4am (you read that right). So much food. So much alcohol. And so much fun. I didn't take my camera out so not as many photos, but I did snap a few of a very cool classic car the Bride and Groom rode in, and a very late night dance photo :D.

Last bit of Warsaw

We had a few more days to round out our trip so we went back to explore Warsaw, mostly walking around aimlessly to take photos and more local food that we might have missed.

One of the first things we did, since it was a Sunday, was go to the park for a free Chopin concert! I was shocked at how packed it was. We found a little spot in the shade and listened to wonderful music for about an hour.

As we were walking to the hotel after the concert, we saw a gathering that we watched for a bit. We later learned this was Volny Chor, a Belarusian protest movement against election fraud and police violence. They organize pop up concerts and were in front of a statue of Nicolaus Copernicus in front of the Polish National Academy of Sciences.

No doubt that was intentional, given the relationship between science and truth-seeking, and more specifically around the criticism Copernicus faced among scientific and religious peers at the time around his heliocentric model (it was kind of a radical idea at the time to think that we revolved around the Sun)!

On our last day we were strolling around in Warsaw and found the Museum of Fantasy Art (Muzeum Sztuki Fantastycznej) which surprisingly had 11 Beksińskis hanging on display! We of course went :).

Then there was the Museum of Life under Communism which was small but took up a ton of our time as we went through all the history. They had mini rooms where you could see what homes were like (if you could get your own flat), what cafes and childrens toys were like, and more.

There were two things I really loved about this museum.

The first was a blurb about how the espresso became a sort of social institution of its own right, as cafes became a convening place for people to come and talk and debate.

The second was this bit about how after communism ended, they finally got an IKEA. No wonder there's so much nostalgia!

The weather was lovely and there was a bit more sun towards the end, so we mostly strolled around and I took a bunch more photos.

It'll be fun to go back and discover more food and hiking sometime :). In the meantime, I'll leave you with a more artsy photodump of photos across Warsaw and Krakow.