We took this morning at our leisure and simply wandered around town, stopping for coffee and toasted chicken/avocado/cheese sandwiches as we fuelled up for a walking tour this afternoon. For this we rugged up, the sun is gone by 4:30pm this time of year and the temperature quickly leaves with it.
We joined the free walking tour of Jewish Krakow at 3 o'clock. The walking tours are well organised and work on a no obligation "tip" basis. What you get are great tours because the guides only earn based on your experience on their tour. It's in their best interest to be informative and entertaining!
As we are going to Auschwitz tomorrow, we thought it would be a good idea to get a bit of background on the local (Polish) Jewish community. Our tour started at the Church of St. Mary in the Main Market square where we met our guides and the other 50+ people who turned up for it, before heading to Kazimierz, the old Jewish town. Once here we split into two groups, making it much more manageable for the guides. Our guide opened with this.."I am a tour guide and I'm studying to be a lawyer. So if I don't know the answer to a question, it's ok, I am trained to lie.." We all laughed, secretly acknowledging there may be some truth to that..
First we saw the Old Synagogue, this is the oldest preserved Synagogue in Poland and was believed to have been built in the late 15th century when the King blamed the the Jewish community for a great fire and evicted them from the city. He gave them Kazimierz as a place to settle outside the city walls. Next was the Izaak Synagogue, built in the 17th century then onto the Remuh Synagogue and the old cemetery. This is the only Synagogue in the area that is in operation today, it is the smallest in the area and with not many Jewish people left living in the area, they use this one while most of the others have been turned into museums. It was founded in middle of the 16th century by Izrael Ben józef and was named after his son. His son was Rabbi Mojżesz Isserles (also known as Remuh), he was the author of many religious, philosophical and legal works which have been printed all over Europe. He is buried in the Old Cemetery and his grave is still visited by many Jewish pilgrims today. Legend says that when the Nazis wanted to destroy the rabbi's grave during WWII, one of them was struck by lightning! We were taken to Kapiekanka Place next, a circular building where you can get Kazimierz zapiekankas, cut French stick (bread) with mushrooms and cheese (like a big open baguette pizza).
From here we crossed the river to Podgórze. We found ourselves amongst a whole lot of empty chairs in the Heroes of Ghetto Square, formally known as Zgodyn Square. This was the centre of the Jewish ghetto, established around the time of WWII. On one of the corners of the street facing the ghetto is the Eagle Pharmacy (also known as the "Pod Orlem" Pharmacy). This place played a very important role in the ghetto. It's owner, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, was the only non-Jewish inhabitant of the ghetto and was only allowed to stay there and trade because the Germans were afraid of an outbreak of typhus fever. It served as a place of contact to the outside world, people would read German newspapers and underground publications.
The chairs in the square are a memorial inspired by the recollections of the pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who remembered the sad view from his shop window of chairs scattered all over the square during the liquidation of the ghetto in March 1943 (it's inhabitance were wither taken to working camps or Auschwitz). The furniture had been removed from the houses and searched for hidden money or jewellery, "Where once there were thousands of people, now only empty chairs" Tedeusz Pankiewicz.

We finished our tour at Oskar Schindler's Enamel Dish Factory at 4 Lipowa street, today it stands as a museum, we have learnt that history has a lot more to say about Schindler than the movie ever dared.

After the tour we were very hungry as we had been walking for about three hours. We decided to go back to the Zapiekanka Place for the Kazimierz Zapiekankas (remember those baquette/pizza things) Sarah had a traditional one with cheese and mushrooms but also added olives, fetta, cucumber, tomatoes and mayo while Tim had a traditional one with cheese and mushrooms but added salami, ham and bacon. This area has a few cool little bars and pubs that are popular with the locals, one called "singer" that has original singer sewing machines attached to the tables. 30yrs ago this area was home to thugs & thieves, no-one dared walk it alone at night for fear of not making it home in one piece. It has now become home to students and artists, although we did get the more "historic" vibe a few times. Not enough to feel threatened, but just enough to keep us fully aware of our surroundings as we headed back home munching down on our Zapiekankas. Yummy!