Around Europe in 40 Days: 27th June: Relieving the Nazi’s era in Auschwitz

No visit to Poland is complete without the trip to Auschwitz, a concentration camp. Despite all the stories from people saying how depressing and scary the place is, we all decided to go over. For 30 PLN/person, we have a English-speaking tour guide and it was a 4-hour walking trip. But before we have all the depressing stuff, we were on our way to look out for Polish delicacies again, and this time it is a holy one.

The name of the shop

The last pope, pope Jean-Paul II is a Polish. And his favourite dessert was a thing that tasted like a mille cake. Pastry with custard cream in the middle. And Oswiciem is actually famous for that! We went to this store, which supposed to make the best mille cake in the country. And it didn’t disappoint us.

Mille cake

The interior of the cafe

The Auschwitz camp trip started with a video viewing session, giving us a rough idea on what a concentration camp is and how was the development of the concentration camp. A lot of people thought that after a visit to Auschwitz camp visit, it will be very traumatising or depressing. And indeed it should be like that. I felt a little depressed, especially when we reach the section with rows and rows of pictures of children. It is quite bizarre to think that someone like Hitler will do something so cruel to achieve his goals. If you are in Europe, a visit to any concentration camp is a must in your itinerary.

Work for freedom

The one of the many barb-wired place

Over here and be shot to death

The supposedly road to freedom is actually road of death

The countries that were affected

The number of people killed

Well, nothing much be said about this trip other than through pictures. Despite all the sad encounter during the trip, the weather was perfect. Blue sky and the sun can make no one be sad forever. The following pictures were from Auschwitz-Birkenau which is different from the main camp. To get here, there is a shuttle bus ferrying visitors from the main camp to the Birkenau or Auschwitz II. There was supposed to be a third camp, the Monowitz but the building got torn down right after the fall of Hitler.

Entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau

The rows of bunk beds for the abductees

One of the many cells

Their toilet which one can use only twice a day

Today is relatively simple. The last night in Krakow, we went to this small little cafe for some dinner before walking around the town until night falls (mind you, night falls at 10pm?). And then it’s time to turn in early for a long drive again to our last destination in Poland, the mountain areas of Zakopane!