Krakow rocks

We fell in love with Krakow the minute we arrived off the bus from Slovakia. It had been a beautiful bus journey through the Slovakian and then Polish countryside, and on wandering into the old town in beautiful sunshine, we decided on the spot to stay an extra day.

We spent one day exploring the wonderful art museums and history museums around the old town as well as visiting the National Gallery which although in a ghastly soviet-era concrete building (which allegedly took over 50 years to complete - God only knows why) has some lovely collections, and more excitingly had a new donation of contemporary art including Warhol and David LaChapelle which we loved. (Admittedly, the second best thing about that National Gallery is its fabulous coffee house downstairs - as many of you know our penchant for coffee 'n' cake).

We got up early one morning in order to get one of the limited number tickets to the castle - the complex is actually quite vast and we decided to visit just the state apartments and the royal cathedral including the royal tombs - both of which were beautifully restored.

One of the things we enjoyed most about Krakow was its lively bar scene and superb food. We had one of our best meals in Eastern Europe at a traditional low-key Polish restaurant - beet soup which is utterly sublime, and rich pork and beef dishes - yummy!

On a more somber note, we took a day trip out to Auschwitz and Birkenau - it's truly horrific the scale of these places and almost incomprehensible the things that took place here. But whilst not a pleasant day out, it is an important lesson in history demonstrating mans ability to do terrible things (and even in a democratically elected regime).