walking tours and sore feet

Today we had two walking tours, one of Jewish Quarter and Jewish Ghetto and the other of old town Krakow.

Tour 1:

On this tour we walked to the Jewish Quarter (before WWII) and to the Jewish Ghetto. Judaism has fought against hatred well before WWII. In the early 14th and 15th centuries, when Jews were being discriminated against and losing rights all over Europe. However, at a time when literacy rates were extremely low in Europe, literacy rates among Jews was extremely high due to religious beliefs and requirements of reading the Torah. In order to increase literacy and trade, a Polish King gave Jews rights to land, rights to equal taxing and protection under the king as incentives to attract Jewish workers. As a result, Poland had the largest and most lively Jewish population in the world. We learned the Hebrew word for 'Poland' is pronounced as Polania which translates "good omens" because of the life Jews were allowed to live.

With a majority of Jews living in Poland, Nazi Germany set up their largest concentration camps here eradicating the Jewish population. Before WWII, Warsaw had over 200,000 Jews and Krakow had roughly 70,000 Jews. After the war, less than 3,000 Krakow Jews survived the war with many immigrating to America and Jerusalem. Currently, less than 1,000 Jews live in Krakow. Before the aftermath of WWII, the Jewish population collected in a beautiful and vibrant neighbor located on Kazimierz Island in Krakow. During German occupation they were forced to move to the Ghetto where the German's proceeded to construct a wall around the area. This wall resembled traditional Jewish headstones implying death was their fate within the wall.

We also visited Schindler's Factory, most famous for Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List which was based off the real story of Schindler who saved over 1,000 Jewish factory workers. This factory, located near the Ghetto, was a factory for pots and pans and owned by a German Business man who can to Krakow at the beginning of the war to make money by employing cheap Jewish labor. However, towards the end of the war when Krakow Jews were getting exterminated and factories were getting shut down, Schindler convinced some Nazi's that he needed to immigrate his workers to another country because he was moving his factory. In doing so, he saved over 1,000 lives.

Tour 2:

After a long morning, this tour was a bit exhausting. We walked from the Jewish Quarter to Wawel Castle, one of the oldest parts of the city. Here we got to see the old fortress walls, a Gothic cathedral and ancient tapestries made with gold and silver hung throughout the castle. This castle was used a for kings and queens to entertain and impress...and I was both entertained and impressed. From here we walked back to the old town market square where we toured the inside of St. Mary's Basilica. The spindly, intricate details with vibrant paintings and huge vaulted ceilings blew me away. While this church is not as 'light' as Notre Dame or some others in Europe, this massive brick structure stands tall and proud in the square.

I am completely exhausted, but it was been an amazing day! Lots of things learned, lots of things seen and lots of good food eaten...what more can a girl ask for?

Total Mileage: 10.5