We arrived today in Kraków, once the capital of Poland and quite simply one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. So far we’ve just walked around and taken it all in. And taken a few pictures to share.
The view from our hotel room — Rynek Glówny, the largest medieval square in Europe
Architectural detail from Rynok Glóvny
Me and King Casimir III the Great
Interesting sculpture on the Vistula
Old Town Warsaw, rebuilt after WWII
The Polish capital of Warsaw is a truly inspiring place. I’m amazed to find such a vibrant city after what this place has been through.
Lunch in beautiful and inspiring Warsaw
Poland was practically ground zero in World War II. The Germans started the war here, built their most horrific concentration camps here, and subjected most of Poland to six brutal years of occupation. Poland lost more of its population (16% to 20% of the national population, depending who you ask) than any other country, including Germany (8 to 10%).
Enjoying the afternoon buzz of Old Town Square
On August 1, 1944, as the German war effort was collapsing and the Soviet Union was moving through Poland toward Warsaw and eventually Berlin, the citizens of Warsaw rose in rebellion against their German occupants. In the first days of this Warsaw Uprising they took command of key parts of central Warsaw amid general euphoria. But over the next six weeks the Germans fought back with vastly superior weapons and resources, forcing a surrender by the brave people of Warsaw on September 23.
Monument to the Warsaw Uprising
In reprisal, Heinrich Himmler ordered the complete destruction of Warsaw and the murder of every single inhabitant. German troops spent October through January systematically destroying every building in Warsaw — homes, churches, offices — with special attention to any archives or monuments of historical importance. A city of 1.3 million inhabitants in 1939 was reduced to barely 1,000 people living among rubble by 1945.
To make matters worse, Soviet troops sat just on the outskirts of Warsaw through all of this destruction, resisting please for help from their Polish “allies” in the city’s darkest hours. Stalin apparently hoped the Germans’ efforts would make the Soviet subjugation of Poland after the war a little easier. And of course, the ultimate destruction of Nazi Germany was of little consolation to the beleaguered Poles, who were then subjected to 45 years of Soviet Communist domination.
The destruction of Warsaw was so devastatingly thorough that Poles had to debate whether to move their capital after the war. But instead they committed to stay and rebuild. In parts of central Warsaw, especially the Old Town, they spend the subsequent decades rebuilding everything precisely as it appeared before the war. They painstakingly re-built blocks and blocks of apartments, shops, churches, and even the Royal Palace from pre-war photographs and historical records.
In 1989, Poland’s decades of struggle against their last oppressor, the Soviet Union, came to an end. They since joined NATO and the European Union and the modern European world. Warsaw is now a thriving capital of 1.7 million people. I wander these streets in amazement of the human spirit.
From a moving exhibit of rare color photos of central Warsaw after the Nazi attempt to annihilate the city
Old Town Square, where every building was rebuilt exactly as before the city’s total destruction
Gdańsk offers everything we could want from an urban travel destination — beautiful scenery, dramatic history, and a short hop to the beach. Below are scenes from the central city, which has been rebuilt in all its former glory from rubble after World War II.
Długi Targ, Long Market
Glorious architectural details abound
The shadow of World War II is everywhere in Poland, but Gdańsk is where it all began. At 4:45 am on September 1, 1939, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein began shelling the Polish guard post at Westerplatte, the entrance to the Gdańsk harbor, to begin the invasion of Poland.
The Novy Port lighthouse, which returned the first shots against the German invaders
Monument to the defenders of Westerplatte
It was also in Gdańsk where the half century Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe truly began to unravel as shipyard workers rebelled against rising food prices. In 1970, a riot at the Gdańsk shipyard was brutally suppressed. Ten years later, as the Solidarity movement began to take hold, a monument to those workers was built, featuring the moving words of the poet Czesław Miłosz:
You who wronged a simple man
Do not feel safe
A poet remembers
You can kill one, but another is born
Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers