A quick trip across the border to Poland - anyone can do that. However, Krakow is hidden a little further inland, so it was not surprising that it was a first for us tourism experts in Poland's second largest city.
Day 1 // New cultural experiences
It's Friday morning. Cold and dark at Görlitz station. Even the last of us wake up on the train. We change trains in Wroclaw and reach our destination in the early afternoon.
We make our first intercultural comparisons with our neighboring country at the Christmas market, which is very present on Krakow's main market square. We then explore the rest of the city center, where the streets are arranged in a chessboard pattern. Snow-white horse-drawn carriages clatter everywhere between old Baroque and Gothic buildings. Christmas decorations are also omnipresent here at this time of year.
The goal of the day for some students: To try Polish cuisine. After the bigos at the Christmas market, we are drawn to a backyard restaurant which, to our surprise, turns out to be a little insider tip. The order: pierogi in all variations. Homemade, delicious and unbeatable value for money. Prices are generally very reasonable everywhere. Krakow is therefore a top destination for a small student budget.
Day 2 // What we learned about Krakow's nativity scenes, the Wawel dragon and white gold
On Saturday, the focus is on Krakow as a destination. On a three-hour city tour, we learn a lot about the history of the city and its inhabitants. We meet our guide at the former city gate and the journey through the past begins. In the Middle Ages, Krakow became popular thanks to the trade in salt, also known as white gold. We also take a look at the university, where both Copernicus and Pope John Paul II studied in their younger years. On the Wawel, the hill with the royal castle and cathedral, our guide tells us the legend of the evil dragon that is said to have once lived under the Wawel castle and was defeated with a trick. Today's entertaining tour ends in the opulent St. Mary's Church opposite the Cloth Hall on the Main Market Square.
In the afternoon, we pick up on the culinary experiences of the previous day. For example, we eat the typical pancakes filled with rose jam (elsewhere called Berliner or Krapfen). We spend the evening together eating traditional Neapolitan pizza and pasta - in keeping with the spirit of the "International Tourism" module.
Day 3 // On the trail of the past
Kazimierz and the locations of Steven Spielberg's film are on the excursion program on Sunday. The Jewish quarter is less than a thirty-minute walk from the city center and yet has undergone a very special development. From its own city status to Jewish settlement and later resettlement, the district has experienced a lot. After the success of the film "Schindler's List", the almost forgotten area became a tourist magnet. With a visit to the museum in Oskar Schindler's former enamel barrel factory on the other side of the river, we bid farewell to our guide and now take a look for ourselves at Krakow's history during the Second World War.
Exhausted from the walk and the countless impressions, we regain our strength during an individual evening activity in the lively center of Krakow.
Day 4 // Return journey
After a hearty breakfast and a final visit to the Christmas market, we handed over the keys to our accommodation. During our return journey, we experienced first-hand that it's not just Deutsche Bahn that has to deal with delays. We also waited almost 70 minutes at Krakow station for our Polish train. Fortunately, we still managed to catch our connecting bus in Wroclaw and arrived back in Görlitz in the evening, exhausted and with many different impressions.
Pictures and text by Arlene Gärtner & Nicole Wohlmann