Chapter 106: Polish Scenery Illuminated by the Past

[A link to the index of all our diaries: https://www.traveldiariesapp.com/en/diary/6803197f-261a-4ee8-b208-40a4238a7f6f ]

Unfortunately, maintaining these diaries in a timely manner as we travel has become progressively harder. We will therefore only outline our adventures in August and September of 2024 in this short epilogue of a diary, rather than narrate them in some detail, as we had done before.

After the challenges of East Africa, we looked for a place a bit easier to travel through. At first we thought of southern Europe, but at the time it was under the spell of an extraordinary heat wave, with temperatures reaching 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) on a daily basis. We therefore moved our gaze farther north and decided to go to Poland (KIA - ADD - KRK overnight flight), a country that we knew had many beautiful tourist attractions to offer, but one that also held a unique and painful place in Jewish history, especially since R's family had come from Poland.

Our 22-day, 1,250-kilometre self-guided itinerary --- by train between cities, and by tram, bus, taxi, and foot within cities --- took us from the south of Poland to its north:
- Kraków (6 days), including two half-day excursions to Wieliczka Salt Mine and Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Wrocław (3 days)
- Łódź (4 days)
- Warsaw (4 days)
- Gdańsk (5 days), including a half-day excursion to Malbork Castle

We stayed at 4 different apartments for a total of 14 nights, and at 3 different hotels for a total of 8 nights.

A photo album can be found here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/XsXhVaKYxTFkUXfGA