Tim and Gem's Honeymoon Adventure: When 1 becomes 3 and 4 becomes 2 – Budapest, Hungary and Krakow, Poland November 3

After leaving Kiev our plan was to stop over in Budapest for a night and then catch an early morning bus from Budapest to Krakow. We had our bus tickets and our accommodation all sorted, so we were keen for an early dinner and a good nights sleep. We had been to Budapest four years ago and were recommended this great restaurant which we couldn’t wait to re-visit.

The restaurant is called Trofea Grill and it is amazing, you pay a set amount around $25AUD and that includes everything you can see basically. They have huge salad bar, deserts, hot food, baked and roasted meat and vegetables, and the best part is an area with a lot of fresh meat and seafood where you pick what you want and they cook it in front of you. But really, the best part is that all the beer, wine and champagne you can drink is also included…So our travel plans quickly unraveled at this point.

To cut a long story short, we indulged in the booze a little too much and ended up getting hammered. We had a great night, such a great night that we slept through our alarm and missed our bus to Krakow.

So the next morning (when we finally woke) we sat online for a while trying to find some alternate options for getting to Krakow. It turned out our best option was to wait for another bus two days later. So this is where one night in Budapest became three.

As this was our second time to Budapest so we just spent the time relaxing and wandering around the town. We were going to go to some of Budapest’s thermal springs, but due to my new tattoo I still wasn’t allowed to go swimming which was a shame. We found this great food market with so much meat and fresh food, and had a meaty lunch and some home made beer there.

Unfortunately it was raining the whole time so it made it hard to wander and take photos, but it was nice to catch up on some sleep and just wind down.

So two days late, we got our bus from Budapest up through Slovakia and into Poland. The scenery during the bus ride was superb with rolling mountains and autumn colours everywhere. We had a toilet stop in the Slovakian Alps and it started snowing very heavy, which made us want to stay there!

After 6 hours we made it to Krakow and not long after getting off the bus we were scaling the 5 flights of stairs up to our hostel in Krakow’s beautiful old town.

Krakow’s old town looks like it belongs in a medieval fairytale with the cobblestone streets lined with pastel buildings and stunning architecture. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was almost sunset, so we only had an hour left of sunlight to get acquainted with the cute little town.

We were pretty hungry after our bus ride, so we decided to go to this great little traditional restaurant right across the street from our hostel. Every meal we had in Poland was extremely tasty and portion sizes were ridiculous.

Day two in Poland we decided to visit Auschwitz, the biggest Nazi concentration camp from World War 2. Auschwitz was run by the Nazi Third Reich and has an extremely dark past where over a million people (mostly Jewish) were exterminated in one of histories worst genocides.

People all over Poland were rounded up and transported to Auschwitz by train and had no idea where they were going or why. Once they arrived, they were separated in to two lines one for males and the other for females. Families torn apart on a platform, oblivious of what was to come.

Their fate was decided by one doctor, who took one look at them and directed them to go either left or right, there were no medical tests. One way would be taken to the barracks, and the other would be taken straight to the gas chamber.

Those considered too weak to work would be sent to the chambers. These were mainly woman, children and the elderly. One boy sprained his ankle the day before he boarded a train and the doctor took one look at him and thought he had a handicap, so he was sent to the chambers.

While walking around the Auschwitz, you could sense the sadness and pure evil. The buildings were brick and sturdy, but once inside they were sterile and cold. The conditions that the prisoners had to live in were barbaric, with straw mattresses, six people to a two-person bunk and toilets that no human should have to endure.

When people were taken away from their homes, they weren’t sure when they would come home, so they would pack all their valuable belongings. Upon arrival to the camp their bags were confiscated, and one of the jobs for prisoners was to sort through the luggage for items of value to sell.

Some of the buildings had been turned into exhibitions that were truly disturbing. There were rooms filled with the gas canisters that they used in the chambers, there were thousands of suitcases, shoes, reading glasses, toothbrushes and other items that people brought with them.

Possibly the most disturbing of all was the large collection of human hair. A prisoner’s hair was shaved upon arrival to the camp if they were to work, or they were shaved after they were gassed. The hair was bundled up and sold to make coats, blankets and floor rugs for soldiers. It was sickening.

We were taken to a cell-block that was used as an internal prison for people who were punished or put to death. If you were caught conspiring to escape, or even simply sharing your food with another person, you would be sent here. There was a ‘standing-hole’ that they would cram four people inside – standing room only. They would often be left here for days or weeks at a time, either dying of starvation or exhaustion. Outside, in-between two blocks there was a shooting wall where prisoners were marched out blindfolded, and shot dead. There was a clear view of the wall from many of the cells inside.

After close to two hours of wandering through Auschwitz, learning some interesting and unbelievably disturbing facts it was time to move onto Auschwitz II, also known as Birkenau.

Auschwitz Birkenau was constructed after Auschwitz I to ease congestion and growing prisoner numbers. They needed more gas chambers and crematoriums to carry out mass killings. The living standards here were far worse then in Auschwitz I, wooden housing, most of which were never completely built so had no roofs or floors. They had group toilets and washing basins that looked more like animal troughs. Due to these living conditions, many people died from disease, and some of the stories the guide told us made us think how it was humanly possibly to do this to another person!

It was a long, depressing but really interesting day. It’s such an important place in our history and it was a worthwhile experience.

We returned back to the town in the early afternoon, and wandered around town until the sun went down, ate another huge, cheap Polish feast and retired to bed ready for our flight the next day to our favorite city in the world, Berlin.