karol wojtyla.

Given that Blogger (i.e. Google) still lacks a socio-demographic tool within its stats suite to discern and isolate parameters such as religious beliefs from a blog's audience, I am unfortunately unable to know how many of those reading this post will be familiar with the name referenced in the title line. Not being much of a religious "adept" myself, I do think I have what one can call religious culture, for I have managed over the years, as a result of mingling with individuals from all sorts of backgrounds, to obtain a broad understanding of world religions and to gather bits and pieces of knowledge here and there. Karol Wojtyla was none other than Pope John Paul II (or Giovanni Paolo II, as he was known in the Vatican), or the current pope's predecessor. Aside from his religious legacy, which I will not comment on or evaluate in the context of this post, it turns out that Mr. Wojtyla was born and raised in Poland, more precisely in the city of Krakow - which, by the way, happened to be my next destination (and one of the final stages of my itinerary). One can feel across Poland, and in particular in Krakow, that Poles are a very religious folk and with deep appreciation for one of their own having been pope for such a long and important period of time. Across Krakow, one struggles not to find statues (head, full-body, real-size, etc.) of him, streets named after him and plenty of other references to Mr. Wojtyla. There is even a Holy See (Vatican) consulate right opposite of the Karol Wojtyla museum in downtown Krakow. In addition, and to me this is really the relevant part, Mr. Wojtyla had a tremendous socio-political influence during his time and in his own country, most notably during the late 1980's - at a time in which the foundations of the USSR (and the global communist revolution for that matter) were shaking. One could argue that the catholic church in general, and himself in particular, greatly contributed to the success of the Solidarity Movement (http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html) and to the embracing of democracy in Poland in the late 1980's, and very much across Eastern Europe (via an unprecedented domino effect of political and social "liberation"). No wonder the nation cherishes its having had a fellow Pole as pope - I would too! For one has to understand that Poland, until the early 1990's, and aside from a 20-year parenthesis between the World Wars and under the benevolence and protection of the ill-fated League of Nations, did not have much of a sovereign national identity and their history could be summarised in two words: foreign occupation.

That being said... I arrived to Krakow at 7am on Thursday morning. After a few moments of hesitation in which I aimed to decide on my course of action for the day, I decided that I would spend the day visiting the town of Oswiecim, which is c. 1.5 hours South West of Krakow and which is famously known for having been home to the most brutal and deadly concentration/extermination camps during WWII: Auschwitz-Birkenau. After a quick coffee and a traditional Polish pastry I bought off a street vendor for a mere 1.5 Zloty (40 euro cents) I got on the train to Oswiecim. Following a rather short journey and an intermediate shuttle bus, I arrived at the museum (or Visitor Centre, as they call it there). Upon arrival, I decided to opt for a guided tour. Some of my friends who had already been totally recommended it, in particular because for a mere 40 Zloty (10 euro) one can benefit from a c. 4 hour guided tour. The entrance to the museum is free of charge so I figured it was totally worth my red euro bill to explore such a historically relevant setting with the greatest possible insights. To be quite honest, I don't really think there are too many words to describe one's feelings while visiting a place like that. As is written at the memorial in Birkenau: "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau. 1940-1945". I think this and the pics below more than suffice... I got back to Krakow in the late afternoon, just in time to pick up my bag at the luggage check in the train station and to go to the hostel where I was due to spend the night. Although, once again, I was planning to have a calm night - in particular after the unpleasant and mind-blowing scenes I had seen earlier that day - a few minutes after organising my things in the dorm room I met a group of very cool + nice Italian students. Turns out they had all been studying abroad together last year in Finland and they had chosen Krakow for their first "post-exchange" reunion. They were all in their last year of university, so, take it or leave it, about my age. It's really funny how well Spaniards and Italians tend to get along. I truly believe we have such deep cultural and social ties that it is inevitable for our peoples not to result in such great reciprocal acquaintances. For me it was particularly interesting because some of the guys I met were "relatively" conservative, from a political standpoint. Let me tell you why... In recent years, I have become increasingly interested in understanding the Berlusconi political phenomenon in Italy. In particular, I have developed a genuine interest in trying to understand the motivations of his voters and to try to establish a "common" norm or standard amongst all of them. I certainly know that I, as an educated, slightly cultivated, middle/upper-class 25-year old, would never (ever!) vote for him. So why then do so many of my Italian peers support him? Mind you, that question can be worthy of a night-long conversation... Fascinating stuff, especially when the person you are talking to is prone to get agitated and irritated (in the good "debating" way) by your thoughts. In any case, after yet another very enjoyable and pierogi-filled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi), but rather late, night out, I set out to explore Krakow (by day). The city is not very big (c. 750,000) and most of the famous sights can be found either in the old town or in the nearby southern part of the city, which is home to the Wawel Castle, a splendid 16th century "forteresse" built under Sigismund I the Old, and Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter. Krakow's old city is really impressive, not only due to the the beauty and well-maintained nature of its buildings, churches and squares, but because it is almost entirely all devoted to pedestrians. A real treat not to have to worry about traffic... In addition, the old town is surrounded by a green area, Planty, which is a park where bikers and "randonneurs" alike hang out. As some of you may know, Krakow is also a famous spot for having been the city where Oskar Schindler's factory was based (a famous movie, Schindler's List was directed in 1993 by S. Spielberg - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/). That in which so many Jewish workers were helped and saved from Nazi oppression as of result of the status of "essential to the war effort" that the factory held.

Following a couple of days in Krakow and the neighbouring town of Oswiecim, I got on the road to Warsaw at c. 5pm on Friday. This was due to be my last stop... the end of my epic trip around the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Until then, and as usual, here are some pics from my stay in Southern Poland.

pv