"The Royal Capital of Poland" a Krakow Travel Page by jo104

The city of Krakow is steeped in history and has been lucky enough to retain its 6000 historical buildings and monuments - not that we got to see them all!!

We spent a long weekend in Krakow and tried to absorb as much of the local culture as possible. One thing we did spot regularly was singer sewing machines be it in shop windows, bars dedicated to the brand or in fact doubling as tables in restaurants - can anyone inform me what the connection is to Krakow as wikipedia states it is an American brand.

I was slightly disappointed by the number of drunken louts that crowded the market square on Friday & Saturday night. We unfortunately encountered hordes of drunken men on stag weekends vomiting in the market square and generally being abusive. This type of behaviour could get you into trouble with their police who have a strong presence on the square and I noticed are armed.

We put aside a whole day to visit Auschwitz I and Birkenau to pay our respects to those who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis, this was a very sobering trip. I had read a lot of reference books prior to this trip, but nothing quite prepares you for the magnitude of this thought out death camp.