Hello, lovelies! Today, I’m back with another travel diary from my trip to Europe last summer. This one includes my time in Poland, Czechia, and Germany. I hope you enjoy.
Past Travel Diaries:
- London, Paris, & Swiss Alps | Travel Diary #1
- Florence, Rome, & Venice | Travel Diary #2
- Croatia, Slovenia, & Hungary | Topdeck Travel Diary #3
//Krakow, Poland
I was surprised about how much I loved this city. Of all the European countries on my itinerary last summer, Poland was probably the lowest on my list. I was still excited about going, but it wasn’t as high as Paris or Rome. I think the reason I loved this city was that I didn’t have a giant list of things I wanted to do there. I was just able to wander around the street markets, eat good food, and enjoy it.
My travel buddies had a few things on their list that they wanted to do, so I followed along with them. We went to a piano jazz bar our first night, which is apparently a thing in Krakow, then we woke up early the next morning to visit Schindler’s Factory. The rest of the day was spent walking around. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. There were people walking around the squares listening to the outdoor street performers. We grabbed ice cream and just hung out together.
We went back to the hostel in the late afternoon. I took a nap while everyone else did laundry because I was most sick on this day. I think I had a cold after all those days of rain. They woke me up before dinner and we walked to a restaurant and ate a lovely meal. What I loved about Eastern Europe was that I was able to have three-course meals for 10 USD. It was amazing.
//Visiting Auschwitz Concentration Camp
On our third day in Poland, we visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. I don’t really know how to describe the experience there. The Nazis destroyed a lot of it, and the ones who run tours of it now keep it very clean. I cried while I was there, but I don’t know…I think I’d have gotten a lot more out of it if I had just sat outside alone and looked out at the camp. It was an experience that I’m glad I had, but parts of it felt like a museum tour. I got far more out of the times we were sent to walk around on our own.
Even so, seeing it in real life puts all the history lessons from school in perspective. It was devastating.
//Prague, Czechia
(Formerly the Czech Republic)
Easily the prettiest city in Europe. That’s honestly the only way I can describe it. Every corner I turned was absolutely beautiful. Like Krakov, there wasn’t a lot on my bucket list from this country other than to walk around. We saw all the big sights on a walking tour we took with the tour group, so the day was spent walking the cobblestone streets, watching street shows, and having three-hour-long lunches with my friends (honestly my favorite moments throughout the entire trip.)
I wasn’t sure I was going to tell you this, but I will. We had a thing going where we’d all go to museums in every city, and in Prague…we went to a sex museum.
Yes.
A sex museum.
And it was so fun and informative! It talked about sexual suppression throughout history and norms in different countries. We had so much fun and laughed a lot.
Our first night there was on a Sunday and we were absolutely starving, but after searching for an authentic restaurant to eat at, we ended up having KFC, which is great because I was feeling light-headed from the lack of food.
//Short Stops: Hamburg & Dresden, Germany
We had the nicest hostel in Hamburg. It was basically a hotel room. There were only three people per room and we quite enjoyed all the amenities in between camping. Of course, we ate hamburgers in Hamburg, and damn good hamburgers if you ask me. Like, J made reservations for this restaurant just in case it was full.
We were only in Hamburg for one night, so we didn’t do much. We bought gelato and walked along the river, and there was a middle-eastern (I forgot which country) wedding happening, so there were these cars honking all along the roads. We even saw the bride. That night, M and I went to a miniature museum while everyone else hung out at the hostel, and had a lot of fun. Afterward, she was very impressed by my ability to hail a cab to get back to the hostel.
We were only in Dresden for a few hours, but it was enough time to take a quick walking tour and try currywurst, which was spicy, but not in taste. More like it burned your tongue without any of the flavors. I wasn’t a fan, but at least I tried it. (Not that I tried the real thing since I don’t eat pork. I had the chicken one)
//Berlin, Germany
Aaaaaaah, Berlin. It’s not as pretty as the other European cities since it was rebuilt with communist architecture, but it has so much history. My friends and I paid for an optional Third Reich walking tour where we learned and saw all of the historical World War II sights. We even saw the location of Hitler’s bunker. Afterward, we went to a spy museum. You have to understand that we had been hearing about World War II and the Holocaust for days during our time in other countries and we had just seen all the things we wanted to see in Berlin, so instead of going to the holocaust museum, we did laser mazes and a whole bunch of other fun spy stuff. We were pretty much running around the place like it was a playground.
Afterward, we walked to all the holocaust memorials. We saw the Jewish memorial on the tour, but there are three more: one for the Roma, one for the people with disabilities, and once for the LGBTQ+ victims of the Holocaust.
I ate my first German Hamburger here (We went to Hamburg a few days later, but I decided to include it in this travel diary), and we got it from a street vendor that runs from a former outdoor bathroom stall. There was literally a line wrapped around the building, but it was so worth it. As someone who doesn’t normally eat hamburgers, I would say that they were worth the wait.
Aftward, we walked along the Berlin Wall before heading back to the hostel. I can see a distinct difference between how I traveled at the beginning of the trip and how I traveled at this point. When we first started, we would wake up early in the morning and stay out until late at night trying to get as much done as we could. After three weeks, we were so exhausted that we’d get everything done during the day and head back to the hostel before sunset. That’s just what happens during longterm travel. You can see my face looking more and more tired in the pictures as the days move forward.
//Food
Pierogies – We straight up stuffed our faces with pierogies our first night in Poland. All of us ordered different flavors and tried them all.
Zapiekanka – traditional Polish pizza. We ate it in the Jewish district of Krakow.
Hamburgers – I have already mentioned this, so no need to say it again.
Just lots of Eastern European Food – I would literally look up traditional foods for each country on Pinterest and order all of them over the course of a few days. I ate chimney cakes, beet soup, hunters stew, schnitzel, German pretzels, fried apple pancakes …so many delicious things.
Well, that’s it for now. Travel Diary 5 will be my last one for this trip, so expect that soon.
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