AuschwitzBanska BystricaBudapestEast EuropeFisherman BastionHungaryKrakowPolandSlovakiaWinter Holiday
Poland to Banska Bystrica in Slovakia to Budapest! (Back in Europe Part 2)
Heading straight to Poland because the next destination was
the Concentration Camp in Auschwitz, one of the most historical places in 20th
century. We were Poland only for one
night and that was only to see Auschwitz, Salt Mines in Wieliczka and then
Krakow old town.
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| Vajdahunyad Castle as the background ;) |
I know it’s a quickie tour. Again, it is how it goes when
you use travel agency.
So, we visited Auschwitz I , the original Concentration Camp. We only visited Auschwitz I because there are many camps.
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| Arbeit Macht Frei, it means "Work Sets You Free" |
Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of 48 concentration and extermination camps built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It consisted of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II–Birkenau, Auschwitz III–Monowitz, and dozens more subcamps. - wikipedia
I won’t put too many pictures of it and I
won’t say much either because I think it’s still a very sensitive topic. The creepy
to be honest; it’s crazy to see the real gas chamber, the clothes, the hair
brushes and all other belongings, as well as the pictures of some of the victim
there. It’s just crazy, it’s insane and heart-breaking. But it was amazing that I could be there, I
mean, I studied Germanistik in university and of course the WW II is one of the
heaviest subject. Those books, journals, and all other kind of literature that I had read meant so much more
now.
Also it’s strongly suggested that you don’t do any kind of
weird stuff in the camp, like, no crazy photo shoot, which means no handstand,
no yelling, no laughing your ass off (there’s nothing to be laughed about
anyways). Respect.
After our
visitation at Auschwitz I, we went straight to Salt Mines in Wieliczka. Honestly, regardless the fact that it is an
important place and it has been there since medieval time, I was not very
excited. I don’t know, I think the
weather just got into me. It is indoor,
obviously it’s not cold, but I just didn’t like the place and our guide was not
friendly at all. I couldn’t wait for our
Salt Mines trip to be over and go back to our tour bus.
anyways, a little bit about Salt Mines:
Stretching nine levels beneath the earth, Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine is roomy enough to fit the Eiffel Tower and then some. For centuries, miners have been carving out spectacular chapels and sculptures of the country’s most beloved figures underground, not far from the medieval city of Krakow. - source
It was not the
most interesting day, so I’m just gonna cut it short, because even writing
this, I bore the shit out of myself. So,
we went to dinner in Krakow and after that I went to the Christmas market
there, which was super nice with all the lights and everything. Maybe that’s the highlight of my short
visitation to Poland. I’m sure Krakow is
a nice city, it’s just too bad I didn’t have the chance to explore.
Next day, next
stop! We moved from Krakow to Banska Bystrica in Slovakia. I know right, why not Bratislava instead?
Well, I guess it’s more beneficial route wise to have a short stop in Banska
Bystrika.
Banská Bystrica is a city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 78 327 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia.- wikipedia
The old town area was
surprisingly pretty quiet, it’s not even Sunday. Oh well, it's a small city with less than 100k people and we were just there to
have lunch anyways before went to Budapest.
Yay Budapest! But before we
get there, here some pictures from old town of Banska Bystrica. Well, I got some nice
picture there, so it wasn’t that bad.
Now Budapest!
We arrived in the evening, so we went to the hotel straight away before we had
our city tour the next day. I was really
excited to see Budapest, I have heard a lot of people telling me how much they
love the city, except one guy who told me that Budapest was the cheaper version
of P****e. I guess, you can’t just take
anybody’s opinion about certain places until you see and experience it for
yourself, because we all have different preferences, right?
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| St. Matthias Church |
I love
Budapest, I love it. I wish I could stay longer, but Budapest is definitely one
of those cities that I would revisit in the future. Yes, I love it that
much. It is a beautiful city even in the
Winter, it’s almost the same feeling as when I went to Istanbul the first time
in winter; I needed to go back in other season, which I did the same year in
the summer and I still want to go back to Istanbul.
Budapest gets its name from the merging of two
cities on opposite shores of the Danube, Buda (probably from a word
originally meaning "water") + Pest, a Hungarian word meaning "furnace,
oven, cove,". Budapest became a single city occupying both
banks of the Danube river with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the
west bank, with Pest on the east bank on November 17, 1873.
Anyways, we did
the city tour in the morning; we went to Heroes Square the most important
square of the city, and then drive around the city to see some other important
buildings, such as Royal Palace and Parliament House. Then we went to Fisherman Bastion to take
pictures. Yeah, this trip is all about
photos, but Fisherman Bastion got me in awe and there a bunch of people who
actually have professional photo shoot there.
The place is really pretty, especially with St. Matthias Church in the
center of it. One good thing about this
travel agency was, our tour guide gave us plenty of time like 2 hours and
that’s enough time to get at least 10 decent photos. But, I still prefer organizing my own
vacation, I only use agency because I went with my lovely and generous mother.
Now I can’t help myself whenever I see doors or something to
lean on, I just have this urge to kick up to do hollowback against the wall and
being upside down feels really good.
Oh! I almost forgot, we did get on a cruise to see the city from Danube River, the cruise was nice, but I prefer walking tour still, hehe. After that we went to this shopping street I don't know the name, damn! But there's some Christmas market right in the middle with bunch of stores. Nice place, really.
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| Liberty Bridge or Szabadság híd |
That was a bit of my short visitation in Budapest. I will go back for sure. Next stop is Vienna!
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