I took an overnight bus from Krakow to Prague. The transit time was about eight hours, with the bus arriving at a nice and early 4:20am! Luckily the hostel that I had booked was right around the corner from the main bus terminal - a mere 5 minute walk.
I met an Aussie guy on the bus who ended up joining me at the hostel I booked - he hadn't arranged anything yet. Motivated, he suggested watching the sunrise from the Charles Bridge, one of the main tourist attractions in the city. I figured why not and off we went.
It was nice to be able to tick off the main tourist attractions while there was no one on the streets - it's rather quiet at 5:30am!
We continued through over the bridge to the Prague Castle. The main feature of the castle grounds is the Saint Vitus Cathedral - a beautiful building of Gothic architecture constructed in the 1300's. The original Saint Vitus was constructed on the same site 400 years earlier but was burnt down and reconstructed.
A quick shot of the (empty) castle grounds...
As with most military fortifications, the Prague Castle is set up on a hill overlooking the old town square. This offers great views of the surrounding city.
Prague is much like Krakow in that it was not bombed in WW2 and as such a vast majority of the original architecture remains, making it one of the most beautiful and touristy cities in Europe. The buildings are often adorned with great detail (statues, features on the doorways and windows) and colour - more so than anything I have seen to date in Europe.
Opposite the castle is another hill, atop which stands the Žižkov Television Tower which offers great views of the city. The trek up there was not an easy task - first climbing the hill itself before climbing even more stairs to traverse the tower - but the view was worth it!
I also made a stop to an original Czech restaurant, trying out the local cuisine once more. It is very similar to Slovak dishes (not surprisingly), with tasty breads and soups on offer.
The most notable thing I did in Krakow was visit the Auschwitz concentration camp from WW2. It was a seriously deep and sobering tour that I am very glad I took part in.
The Auschwitz camp itself was very precisely picked by the Germans. It was situated away from any nearby towns (its over an hour drive from Krakow), but also at a major crossway meaning trains and transport would not be a problem using existing infrastructure. Very methodical.
The stats below show just how much of the genocide took place on the site that I was standing. Millions of people - its very harrowing.
Below is a small percentage of the cans of the poison used to gas those unlucky souls. The poison came in pellet form but when exposed to air would turn into a gas that would suffocate the victims, with average time of death taking around twenty minutes, as they cough up blood from their lungs.
They also had on display the old possessions of those who were bought to the site. Many people were told they were simply being relocated and to pack a suitcase with what they would need to start life over, and write their name, country and transport number on the case.
Probably one of the most disturbing facets of the concentration camp was how much money the Nazi's were making in doing this. Apart from searching and collecting all valuable possessions from those that were bought in, anyone with hair longer than 2cm had it cut off and collected for use in textile factories back in Germany. Tonnes upon tonnes of hair was collected from the victims, with the the price of which up in the millions. One display (where photos were prohibited out of respect) shows some of the hair that was collected during the camps operation. The Nazi's were ruthless and calculated.
The site itself was divided up into three camps in total - Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II - Birkenau and Auschwitz III - Monowitz. These days the first has been turned into a memorial museum, the second left in its more-or-less original state and the third not used for tourism.
Auschwitz II - Birkenau is just massive. Housing somewhere near 100,000 prisoners at any one time, most of which were kept on rotation - new people came in, the existing were killed off.
The living conditions of those in the camps was terrible as you might imagine. People would both freeze to death or get chewed on by rats and catch various diseases.
I could continue to write more about what I learnt on the tour but the main points worth knowing is just how methodical the Nazi regime was. They were constantly improving their process of exterminating and burning the bodies of humans, as well as making money from every part they could. People were treated like cows to the slaughter.
After Auschwitz I left thinking that I don't need to see much more morbid, horrific sites in the world for a while. This year I have visited the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, the War Remnants Museum in Saigon and now Auschwitz in Krakow. I have seen the memorials to places where hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. Let's hope we learn from the past and such atrocities are never repeated.
From Vienna I caught a Bla Bla Car up to Krakow with three Poles; Bla Bla Car is an online ride sharing website where people advertise where they are travelling from and to and on what date and give a price for those who want to get a seat in the car. This time it worked out much cheaper than any bus or train would have been doing the same route. The ride wasn't all that much fun given everyone was talking Polish to each other while I'm sitting there twiddling my thumbs! Not to worry...
Krakow features an old town in the centre where cars need a special permit to enter, making the roads larely populated by tourists and bicycles - a feature I liked a lot. I was lucky enough to be staying IN the old town, very close to the main square and most attractions.
I did a walking tour and learnt a little about Polish history. Krakow is one of the few cities that survived completely during WW2. The Nazi's literally marched through and took over without bombing the city at all, so the older buildings still remain.
The city has its quaint traditions also. The clock tower in the main square has a trumpeter that plays the same tune every hour on the hour. Apparently a group of four trumpeters work in 12 hour rotational shifts and live in the tower!
Like Budapest and Prague, Krakow has a very big party culture among backpackers - being as cheap as it is does not hurt! I spent my first night on a pub crawl organised through the hostel and had a few nice Polish vodkas on the free tab!
After Budapest I caught a 3 hour bus to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava.
I planned to only spend one day in Bratislava, one day in Vienna before heading up to Krakow in Poland, so I had to get my act together as soon as I arrived.
I jumped off the bus and had a short walk to the hostel. Checking in I was loaded up with information about what to see and do in Bratislava after explaining I only had a short time there - the staff at Hostel Blues were fantastic!
I headed out on my own self-guided walking tour to check out the sights. Bratislava has an old town centre where no cars are permitted; the streets are lined with old buildings, tiled roads, boutique shops and cafes.. I thought it was really cool!
I made it to the old town square..
before stopping by St Martin's Cathedral...
and heading up the hill to the Hrad Castle.
The castle offered a great view of the Danube below and of the city and cathedral. However, I must admit most of the architecture in Bratislava is somewhat bland compared to Budapest and other cities in Eastern Europe. Flat façades on buildings, seemingly just lacking the passion and detail other cities' buildings seem to have.
I rounded up my tour checking out the Slovak National Threatre before heading off to grab a bite to eat from a restaurant recommended by the hostel.
I headed to a place originally named Slovak Pub, serving the must-try Slovakian dishes.
I ordered both a cabbage soup and their version of potato dumpings, pictured below. Both dishes were very very tasty - much better than what I'd eaten in Budapest! - and quite unlike anything I'd tried before.
I retired for the night, having an 8am bus to catch the next morning for my next stop, Vienna in Austria.
The bus I booked online didn't show exactly where I was meant to catch it from. I asked at the hostel based on my ticket and she advised it was at the main train station. I caught a city bus there and asked around at the station if they knew where the bus might leave from. "Train station ... only train!" the woman replied...
I walked around trying to look for some indication for where the bus was going to stop. No luck. I managed to find wifi and googled it. I found out it was a good kilometre and a half from where I was, and the bus was coming in 15 minutes. I ended up having to run to make sure I didn't miss it. A bus marked with the right bus company stopped about where the map showed at 8:05. Wrong bus the driver said, other side of the road! I climbed as fast as I could the overpass bridge and ran down to the stop as a bus rocked up. It was my bus, made it, breathing a sigh of relief.
On my last night in Budapest I mistakenly slept with my contacts in and managed to get an eye infection - red sore eye, blurred vision, sensitivity to light... My eye's were sore in Bratislava but it was overcast so not too bad getting around. My day in Vienna my eyes were more sore and the sun was out - I couldn't see a thing without pain.
Unfortunately I ended up spending the entire day in bed in Vienna - having my eyes closed was the most comfortable way to be!
I did enjoy Bratislava and it is only an hour from Vienna - I will go back to both and spend a little more time in the future, some time!
Sziget. Wow. I really cant begin to explain how crazy this festival was.
7 days, massive international acts, countless stages, 441,000 attendees...
What makes this place different to any other festival I have been to back home is that its not just about the music. This festival is about freedom of expression. There is arts, there is a circus, there are street performers... not to mention there are incredible stages with world-class artists performing.
Wooden AT-AT?
Dragon made of plastic bottles?
Wooden and wire-frame hands?
Yeah, Sziget has it all.
I have to mention how massive the island is also. The festival is situated on Óbudai-sziget island on the Danube river, and takes up the majority of its area. The distance from one end of the festival to the other is around 1.5km, a solid 20 minute walk.
The festival encourages szitizens to explore the island via collecting stamps in your Sziget passport (festival guide) from a bunch of the different points of interest.
Camping at the festival for a week was both a great experience and something I would have to reconsider doing again. I paid for upgraded accommodation in the Siesta camping zone which I'm very glad I did - access to wifi, extra showers and toilets and a guarded locker service were all welcomed.
It was great to be able to crash out after a night of partying or catch a quick kip during the day if needed... but the dust. It was probably partly from the festival itself, but I'm sure camping didn't help the situation. After a few days I began coughing from dust inhalation and it's still going on a week later. Clean air is hard to come by at Sziget! Accompanied by the heat every morning in the tent, some days I had wished I was in a hostel outside of the island.
On the days where you just wanted to chill out and not jump around to the sound of ridiculously loud music, there was plenty to do. The Cirque du Sziget stage and circus tent had performances on all afternoon and night.
From dancing and acrobatics...
To fire shows...
Easily my favourite non-music performance at Sziget was Fuerza Bruta, an Argentinian group with its name translating to Brute Force. Set in a large circular stage, the show starts with the beating of drums and singing to amp up the crowd.
Shortly after, a giant plastic cover is shuffled over the top of the crowd... before the fans start blowing. Huge fans are used to fill up the area with air and inflate the cover like a balloon.
Performers on the outside dance around on top of the dome, sinking down to interact with the crowd.
Before another sheet is pulled across the crowd and the projectors turn on...
The show ends with more drumming and a shower from above. The crowd went nuts.
I've never experienced anything remotely like this in my life. I was in total awe the entire time, it was a hell of a show!
There were also street performers that would randomly pop up at different places and times across the island. My favourite of which was the Spanish group Tutatis, who ran around in giant mechanical horse suits intimidating passers-by to the heavy beat of a drum.
I have to mention the food and drink prices at the festival. Around $3aud would get you either a 500ml beer or a giant slice of pizza - great price for a festival! There was a huge variety of food on offer, most of it tasting pretty damn good.
Finally, the music. The main stage at Sziget is a masterpiece. Multiple screens and speakers scattered across the massive field. You can sit at the back and watch a screen and the stage from a distance or get right up close with the action and still hear it all perfectly.
The lasers and light shows by some artists were just out of this world, nothing like I've seen at any festivals or clubs.
The atmosphere was simply incredible. Looking around all you can see is a sea of people in every direction. Endless, it seemed like.
Each day there was a different party on before the second to last act started - confetti, coloured powder, flags, maracas and balloons.
To top it all off, a few of the main stage acts have their full officially filmed sets available for view on YouTube so you can relive the moments of the festival. Here are a few of the big ones.
Limp Bizkit
Martin Garrix
Ellie Goulding
All in all, it was an amazing experience spending a week on the Island of Freedom. I'd love to make it back one year with some of my mates from back home to join in the fun.
