Exploring Kraków

I've decided to skip any formalities and avoid that daunting introductory post that makes me feel like I'm writing a personal statement or prepping for a job interview and instead, jump straight into a topic that I love: travelling. In August of this year, I spent a week in Poland with my family. It was the kind of holiday that makes me so giddy with excitement that I would (and did) willingly wake up at 6am to stretch the day out for as long as possible. Exploring an unfamiliar city makes me feel both like I'm stood at the centre of the universe and at the very edge of it, if that makes any sense at all. And there was so much exploring to be done in Kraków. 

Each back-street offered something new: another tuk-tuk speeding over cobbles, or a quaint little restaurant so cheap that I would be blinded by gluttony, or a café with the most intricately decorated cakes and pastries. The food was something else. For the equivalent of about £20, the four of us could eat until we could barely move (with portion sizes rivaling America) and wash it down with a drink or two each. I often enjoyed the street-food more than a sit-down meal, sampling delicious cheese, breads and chocolates. The streets were a constant bustle of cultures and languages. It was actually so refreshing to hear so little English spoken by tourists and natives. I was wrong to think my ability to speak German would help me somewhat - the Polish language is quite bewildering! As well as exploring solo, I thought it would also be worthwhile to visit the key tourist locations in order to see as many sides to the city in what little time we had. The Wieliczka salt mines were truly mind-blowing, although I have to admit that the awe began to wear thin because the tour was so long, I was so hungry and there was a lot of walking involved - like we hadn't walked enough already so far! The Main Square, Rynek Główny, was possibly one of my favourite parts at the heart of the city, with a gorgeous indoor market selling an abundance of amber, china and trinkets, horse and carriages trotting through and the beautiful Town Hall Tower standing above the crowds. With the end of our visit drawing close, we decided to save time by hiring a tuk-tuk driver to take us round the Jewish Ghetto district where we saw a mix of very decrepit buildings, historic synagogues and some cool student areas. A visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau seemed almost mandatory, knowing the experience would be so valuable, despite having to leave many more streets left unexplored in the city centre. The piles upon piles of shoes, hair, suitcases, silverware... I'm not sure I will ever be able to express what I saw and learnt on that day in that god-awful place without it turning into one big messy stream of consciousness. It left me feeling very hollow, although the stories of survivors were incredibly empowering.

I went a little Instagram-crazy on my trip there (@l.towns) and I've included some of the snaps I love most here for you all to see. These photos now take pride of place on my walls at university. I couldn't recommend a visit to Kraków enough, whether you're looking for a short city break or the next location on your summer tour of Europe. I'm very excited to discover the hidden beauties in many more European cities. In fact, the anticipation is killing me. Summer 2016 is all I can think about. To tide me over until then, I'm heading to New York in January for my very first trip to America. Today, I spent a small fortune on disposable cameras so that I can capture my adventures in a really cool and personal way!