My last day in Krakow, I had a flight booked home at 7:50pm, so I had the whole day to see more of the city.
You might be wondering why I didn't go to Auschwitz on this trip, as Krakow is the city to go from if you want to make this day trip. One of the main reasons had to do with what I experienced back when I went to Oradour-Sur-Glane in France in June 2018. Oradour is a place where the Nazis murdered the entire village and it has been left as a ghost town in tribute to all those who died. It was both sad and interesting to visit, but my visit was ruined by the idiot tourists who were too busy shouting and taking selfies when it was not the place for that. I didn't want to go to Auschwitz and learn about all those poor people being murdered while dickhead tourists treated it like a theme park. I have also never really had any desire to go there - it was chilling enough wandering around Oradour, and I didn't really want to see a place that was built for the systematic murder of people.
So instead, I wandered around Krakow.
This morning, it was SO foggy! I set out early again and I walked up Grodzka (the main link between the town square and the castle) to Wawel Castle in the fog. It was quite eerie!
It was just before 9am and I needed some tea. Thank goodness for Starbucks. I stopped off at the one on the town square and looked out the window at the slowly brightening day. The fog burnt off and left blue skies. The only place that was still on my list of places to see inside of was Wawel Castle, and I went back there after my tea break. You weren't allowed to take photos inside the church, and couldn't see much of the rest of it. But I did go up the belltower and have a look over Krakow - unfortunately there was wire mesh, so taking photos without the mesh proved to be difficult. It wasn't that good either - I think the Town Hall Tower was better.
I booked an Uber for 4pm, picked up my suitcase and then we drove to the airport. I say "drove" but seriously I've never been more scared for my life in the back of a cab... He had to brake so hard at one point that I was hit by my suitcase in the boot sliding forward and hitting me in the back through the seat. I was very glad to get out of the car at the airport!
I flew back to Stansted and to the slower, patient driving of the National Express bus taking me home from the airport...
Definitely a trip that made a big impact on me, I really loved Poland and think its one of the most under-rated places to go. The people are lovely, everything is cheap, the food is delicious and there's so much culture and history to interest!