We had previously rented our car from Krakow, in Poland, and had driven straight into Slovakia with it. We now turned around to return the car to Krakow. On the way we visited Vikolinec, a somewhat remote village that still looks like it did hundreds of years ago. We had to pay to get into the village. I don't recall ever having to do this before but I think it's fair enough as there needs to be some compensation to locals for having people wandering around their tiny town taking photos.
Most buildings were well-maintained, complete with colourful shutters and flower boxes.
This barn and some houses were kept in their natural colours. The shingled rooves were cool!
There was only one place to eat and we tried the local sweet dumplings. These large dumplings were filled with plums and had gallons of poppy seeds on top! They were so big that we couldn't eat one serve between us.
We crossed the border into Poland and it was daylight as we arrived in Krakow this time. We dropped the car off and ubered to the centre of Krakow where we would be spending a few days.
I had no idea what to expect of this town but it was surprisingly lovely. Trees lined the streets and a ring of parkland encircled the old town. Walking and cycling paths ran through these parks creating a wonderful traffic-free way to get around the centre.
People were friendly here. English was widely spoken, a pleasant change after Slovakia.
The old town was full of lovely buildings. The main square was one of the largest in Europe.
Krakow is a very multicultural city. The happening scene was at the old Jewish quarter where restaurants and bars now filled the cobblestoned streets. We ate wonderful food here. In the centre was an old market where people sold Middle-Eastern falafels, Greek gyros and enormous American hotdogs. We bought very spicy falafels here one day. John got talking to the owners, who were from Jordan, and we ended up with complimentary cups of sweet tea, very much like Indian chai. There were stalls selling vintage bits and pieces. I could have looked there for hours. It was lovely.
While we ate our falafels, I watched a busker. He was dressed all in black like a coal miner and stood dead still, pretending to be a statue. The problem was that he was too good and many people just walked past him without noticing. One lady seemed to think something was unusual about him though and she peered closely at him many times, screwing up her face in the process. Still the man didn't move. It was really funny to watch.
We had a really lovely apartment here, perfectly located between the old town and the Jewish quarter, the two places where most of the things we wanted to see were.
There were many things to see in Krakow but we targeted three of the main sights. At one end of the town sat Wawel Royal Castle. It was hot wandering around looking at it and it was hard to escape the crowds. We checked out some of the palace rooms but we felt it was all a little underwhelming considering how popular it was. The ceiling decorations in some of the rooms were amazing though.
Buildings from many different eras sat inside the old castle walls. It was really crowded (look how many people there are in the photo below!) but the gardens and the whole setting were lovely.
Next was Schindler's Ceramic Factory. I've never seen the Schindler's List movie and found I couldn't get it on Netflix in Poland, sadly. I did find a good documentary on the man and his deeds though so I had a bit more understanding of what he did before we went to the factory. The old factory had been updated and contained a museum on Oskar Schindler, Jewish life in Krakow and some of the atrocities that happened to the Jews during the war.
Surprisingly, Schindler wasn't always a good man. He was a spy for the Gestapo. Yes you read that correctly. It was only when he started seeing what was happening to his Jewish employees in his ceramic factory that he started doing things to save them. He made his fortune during the war by both selling ceramic cups and plates to Hitler's forces and by profiteering from the evacuation of the Jews. By the time the war ended however, he had no money left. He had spent it all on food for his staff (they were only allocated two slices of bread and two cups of black coffee per day by the Nazis) plus on the bribes that were necessary to keep his workers in his factory and out of concentration camps.
The museum inside the factory was amazing. Room after room was filled with photos, information and displays. There was a whole cinema showing modern-day interviews with people that Schindler had saved. John and I got separated while we looked at displays and we both emerged about 1.5 hours after we entered which is very unusual for us! It was one of the best museums I've even visited. It was informative and interesting without being too horrific.
The next day we visited the ancient city that lies beneath the current one. Under that huge central square, another entire city with markets and cemeteries was laid out. Again there were some very good displays. After they finished the excavations, they put a concrete roof over the whole area. I understand they're trying to protect it - there are thousands of tourists wandering around the huge square above it after all - but seeing ancient roads and buildings under a concrete roof was a bit weird.
We went looking for a guide book and found ourselves in a really amazing old bookshop. New and used books lined the walls and people sat around reading, drinking coffee or hanging out on their laptops. The books we needed to look at were high up so we had to climb a rickety ladder ourselves to check the books. It was so cool!
Finally it was time to leave Poland and return to Halki, our heaven-on-earth island in Greece. For those of you who aren't familiar with this island, John's cousin's wife is part Greek and she has a family home on Halki, off the larger island of Rhodes. It was Val's 60th birthday so many of their friends came to the island to celebrate.
We flew to Rhodes first and stayed overnight in the ever-gorgeous old Rhodes Town. The ancient city with its cobblestoned laneways and shady squares was as wonderful as ever. It was really hot though!
It was so good to be back in Greece again! We just threw our bags into our room then headed straight out because we had an exciting event on our radar - we were meeting up with our niece and her new husband! Maddy and Ash had been travelling around Europe for their honeymoon and it was so good to see them again. We had a great dinner then all caught the ferry to Halki the next morning. The morning glow on the old city fortifications as we left Rhodes Town was stunning.
Halki was wonderful. Each time we visit it's a little busier but it's still not crazy at all. It was great to catch up with old friends there - both tourists and locals. We stayed in our same apartment with Greece's best swimming spot right in front (in our humble opinion).
Maddy and Ash just chillin'.
There were about 20 or so people there for Val's birthday if you count both people who came just for the party and friends who were already there. We only had 6 days there this time as Aussies can't stay for more than 90 days out of 180 in Europe and we were pushing the limit. As usual, it was a very social time with drinks and dinners often had as a group. They were good people to spend time with.
Maddy and Ash were great company and this will go down as a special trip for all of us I think.
We visited all of the nearby beaches with the group. We had a girls' day out at Pondamos Beach for Val. Some of the ladies brought floatie rings and we bobbed about in the warm water for ages.
One night we had a family night in and ate cheese platters on our balcony while watching the sun set. It was a really good night.
The next day we got up at 5.30am to climb up to the Knights of St John Castle, perched high on one of Halki's craggy hills. The sun rose before we got there but we still beat the heat.
Eventually, the night of the big party came. Taxis were organised to take us to Kiki's restaurant, which is the only restaurant out of the village. It's spectacularly located up on a hill in an ancient ruined village beneath the castle. Kiki and her family are good friends and it was wonderful to see them again.
Tables were set up under the evening sky.
The night started with a bang when we didn't all fit in the taxis and Maddy, Ash, Val and another friend and I were left to wait for the taxi to return. Somehow we ended up in the nearby cafe/bar with ouzos. The taxi returned quicker than we expected and we had to knock the ouzos back quickly. Maddy got Abba playing in the taxi and by the time we arrived at the restaurant, Val made a spectacular entrance to Dancing Queen!
I won't go into details of the night but it involved a lot of singing, dancing and drinking. Kiki was concerned about our safety a few times ("Stop dancing on the walls!"), some of the women made a photo frame out of flowers, a gust of wind flipped the last of the chocolate birthday cake down a guy's white shirt and we entertained Yorgos (but not his wife) with "Livin' next door to Yorgos". At one point Maddy ended up on Ash's shoulders while they danced to Mr Brightside so John put Yorgos on his shoulders. John's description of Yorgos yelling, "Yiannis! Yiannis! Put me down Yiannis!" is hysterical.
I've only added a few photos in here as there are already enough incriminating photos circulating on Facebook!
The tipping point came when someone produced a two-litre bottle of ouzo at the end of the night. It was gone in half an hour. Somehow it was time to go home. Maddy and Ash caught a separate taxi to us but both our husbands had to get us home. It was very late the next day before I could safely get out of bed let alone eat anything and I certainly wasn't the only one. Every morning, quite a few people would meet at the cafe for coffees. John went down that morning and only two other people turned up. It was such a fantastic night and well worth the next day's pain!
Maddy and Ash left a day before us. We had such a good time with them. They were such good company and they left with wishes from many people that they would return.
Leaving on the ferry.
We left a day later. Our Belgian friends came to see us off.
We returned to Rhodes and stayed at a small hotel above a fish restaurant at the port. It was surprisingly nice there with a tiny beach with lovely swimming. We ate dinner right beside the water. It was lovely.
I felt our time on Halki was too short. In fact our time in Greece was way too short. We'll have to fix that next trip ;)
Yamas!
Heather and John
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