Kraków awesomeness off the beaten path

Getting into the less polished parts of the city obviously increases my chances of seeing street art!

Oskar Schindler’s enamel factory premises is now home to a superb museum covering the Nazi occupation of Kraków. Some of the other places I visited today also had links to Schindler’s List and the true story behind the film

The museum was incredibly well laid out / interactive / interesting with details in every direction

Due to the shot being obstructed I didn’t get a photo of the factory gates when I went in, and when I came out this is what I found! Should be a segway tow-away zone…

During the Nazi occupation, about 15,000 Jews were confined to several blocks of Podgórze around which a wall was constructed. This small section of wall remains

The centre of the ghetto was this square which today is a memorial space consisting of 70 empty chairs called Plac Bohaterów Getta

How cool is this! At the top of a hill via a short bush walk is St Benedict’s Fort, built in the mid-1800s as part of Kraków’s city defences. It’s the only fort of this style in Poland. It was used as a barracks during the Austrian rule and as a prison during WW2. Fascinatingly, it was converted to apartments in the 1950s. That can’t have come to fruition as it is entirely abandoned but there are renovation plans pending with the city

Next to the fort in this funny out of the way place is St Benedict’s, Kraków’s smallest and one of its oldest churches. It’s apparently only open once a year, after Easter

I couldn’t believe it when I saw this guy! I was convinced that given my observations in the Planty (the park near my hotel) that Kraków was home only to feral pigeons, pooping dogs and the odd stray cat – but here’s proof that at least one squirrel lives here too

A few minutes walk over the motorway and up another hil is the Krakus Mound. Regarded as the oldest structure in Kraków, it was probably used for pagan rituals back in the day

Kraków skyline from the mound – looking back to the Old Town

…and over to the nuclear power station

Next to the mound is the Liban Quarry, originally set up for limestone but taken over by the Nazis as a penal camp. It was used to create the film set for scenes involving Płaszów concentration camp in Schindler’s List. With rusting quarry remains I was keen to get down and investigate further

It was very quiet and overgrown so I wasn’t sure anyone was around. I then saw a young guy approach which put me a little on edge. He said something to which I said “sorry” and he repeated it in English: “do you have a lighter?”. Hah, phew, that would be NO

The quarry had several structures, some bearing the classic hallmarks of rebelling youth

There was plenty more of the quarry to explore but it was an eerie place to be doing it solo and there was a lot more ground to cover back up top

Next to the Krakus Mound and quarry is the New Podgórski Cemetery. Huge and densely ‘populated’, it was probably the most colourful cemetery I’ve seen with every grave possessing floral memorials and candles

I have never seen a cemetery where so many people were not only visiting but also tending to their loved ones’ graves. Maybe that it was a Saturday had some bearing on it. Outside the entry gates several stallholders were set up selling flowers and candles

Today a nature reserve, this was the site of the Płaszów concentration camp. It was established as a forced labour camp but went the horrific way that so many of them did. Prominent in Schindler’s List, it was recreated in the quarry rather than disturb the site

The camp was built on top of two Jewish cemeteries, the Nazis using tombstones to pave roads in the camp. Foundations of the desecrated graves remain, as well as this solitary tombstone

Sitting on its own along one edge of the now-reserve, this was one of the private homes that the Nazis commandeered. Whereas many were used as residences for officers, this one was used as a prison and torture chamber. Houses were returned to owners at the end of the war and incredibly, some remain. This one had signs of being lived in

The camp commandant lived in this house

The concrete rubble is what’s left of the Jewish cemetery’s pre-burial hall. The Nazis used it as stables (and, worse, a pig pen) but it was partly blown up for kicks and then reduced to its current state at the end of the war. In contrast to the sad history at their doorstep, the apartments behind have been painted in a cheery colour scheme

The towering Memorial of Torn-Out Hearts is erected above one of the camp’s two mass execution and burial pits

The front of this dramatic memorial