Travelling to Krakow!

So my friend Jen and I booked 2 trips for during the school holidays, before we go back to England.

The first was to Krakow, Poland, mainly because both of us had always had 'visit Auschwitz' on our bucket lists and it looked like an amazing place in general.

We stayed in a small apartment that we found via Airbnb, it was within walking distance to almost everything (unfortunately I didn't get any photos of it as the majority of the time it was a real mess, thanks to us).

We stayed for 6 nights and therefore it would be impossible to do a great post on everything that we did so I thought I could put together some advice for anyone who is thinking of going to Krakow :)

1. It is very very very cheap!!!!!

I don't mean the flights or accommodation, but food, drinks, visits, exhibitions, taxis etc. are insanely well priced. The Polish zloty exchange rate is around 5 zloty to 1 pound (at the time of this post anyway) so when we paid 200 zloty in total for our trip to Auschwitz and the salt mines together, this worked out to about just under £40. Its absolutely crazy.

2. Try the local cuisine!

Honestly, I had no clue what Polish food would be like and when I heard it was mainly dumplings, sausage, stew and things like that, I didn't think I would be interested. However, I gave it a go and was pleasantly surprised! 

The dumplings (pictured below) were nothing like the ones that I have at home in England, they were so light and filled with things like cheese, potato, onion and meat. Not only were they delicious, but they were filling too, perfect for a quick lunch stop!

3. Go to a tourist information office to book day trips!

This is something that I would highly highly HIGHLY recommend. We used 'Discover Krakow' and they were amazing.

We paid 200 zloty (just under £40) for our trip to the salt mines and Auschwitz combined, this included transport and the tour guides.

We found the tourist office in the main square and the pick-up point was in the main square too for our trips. This made our trips so much easier and more enjoyable!

4. If you're undecided on any trips- GO ANYWAY!

I wasn't entirely sure if the salt mines would be my thing and after hearing we'd have to walk down over 300 stairs to get there I was a little worried but it was very very informative. Especially with a tour guide who gave us all of the background information. The salt sculptures were incredible.

Underground St Kinga's Chapel built entirely out of salt!

5. Auschwitz is something everyone needs to see at some point in their lives.

As I said, I had always wanted to visit Auschwitz. I had heard a lot about it and studied World War II and the Nazi party in many History classes, but this trip really made it feel real.

It was so eery and emotional, the whole day was bizarre. I almost feel like I dreamt it because it was so haunting.

I would 100% recommend going with a tour group and getting a guide while you're there. They give you all of the information you need and take you to the Auschwitz camp as well as the Birkenau death camp which is all ruins.

The only thing that I would say is to be respectful, it was really disturbing to see people trying to snap photographs when we were told not to.

Also there is a restaurant/ cafe at the entrance of the Auschwitz camp if you get hungry- someone asked us before.

6. Nightlife...

Krakow has ridiculous amounts of bars in and around the city centre. We mainly stayed around the main square and some nights went into the Jewish Quarter.

We went to 'Shakers' one night and ended up staying until 4am. It was just off the main square and beside lots of others.

Be careful not to get overcharged, we ended up paying different prices for the same drinks when they knew that we were English tourists!

Kamikazi shots (they only let us buy in 6s...)

At the Hard Rock Cafe in the city centre. (Top- Zara)

7. Don't be afraid to explore!!

We ended up getting lost down different streets away from the centre and saw so many gorgeous buildings and churches along the way as well as pieces of art. Krakow really is a beautiful city.

You can also get taxi tours for very cheap, they can take you to all of the main points of interest!

Different parts of the main square

Inside of this building was a small market, there were lots of great stalls selling everything from clothes to jewellery. They sold beautiful pieces of amber jewellery for great prices!

A lovely church we stumbled across while we were lost.

That's it!

I hope this post was helpful, I would recommend Krakow to anyone!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask :)

Travelling to Bruges!

After Christmas, I was really feeling the back to work blues and so my friend, Jen, and I immediately booked a weekend away in Bruges.

We went from Lille Europe via train to Bruges. We had to stop at Courtrai but overall the journey was not a problem, taking around 2 hours.

As soon as we arrived we had lunch, which of course included some Belgian beer...

It was cherry flavoured.

...And then we went sight seeing, meaning we walked around aimlessly all day and ended up in Zara.

The canal

Me and Jen in front of a random canal

The 'Grand Place'

Another view of 'Grand Place'

After the travelling and walking we headed back to our Hotel which was literally a 2 second walk from Grand Place, down a street. I knew I would need a lie down so I attempted to have a nap but I couldn't and we decided to get ready to go out.

By the time we were ready (Literally 10:00pm) we had to run all over the city centre to find a cash-point and a restaurant that was a) open b) looked appetising c) would let us come in. We eventually found one and they quickly seated us and took our orders.

Escargots

Half a Lobster in garlic butter

I tried escargot for the first time for my starter, they weren't in their shells and so I thought the waiter had given me the wrong thing, but as it turned out, the black mushroom looking things were the snails. I was grossed out but they literally just tasted of garlic.

After that we came upon a very loud bar/ club and unintentionally ended up staying until 4am because the music was too good.

Me and Jen in the bar/club toilets

The next morning/ afternoon, we got up and checked out before walking all around Bruges again. We finally had a Belgian waffle for breakfast and it was insanely delicious but very very sickly.

Belgian waffle with nutella

The rest of the day we spent walking around Bruges, the sky was blue and beautiful, we were so lucky. Then, we got the train back to Courtrai and then Lille at around 4pm, which was again, a smooth journey.

There were beautiful monuments scattered all over the city

INFO FOR IF YOU'RE THINKING OF GOING TO BRUGES:

-We definitely went for the perfect amount of time, any more than 2-3 days may get boring as Bruges is quite small.

-The weather can be a bit crazy at times, one second the sky was blue and the next it started hail stoning and they were like golf balls.

-As expected, food and drinks were generally pretty expensive so don't go thinking you'll not spend a lot.

-Everywhere we went they spoke French and English as well as many others- for those who worry about languages.

-There was a small street just off Grand Place, next to the post office that had lots of chocolate shops, I would strongly suggest going because we got tasters!!

-There are not a lot of cash machines around, we managed to find a BNP Paribas that was open late close to Grand Place, but be aware.

- The horse and carriages literally do not care where you are, we were nearly ran over many many times.

-Bruges is a beautiful place, if you're considering going I would say GO FOR IT!!

Paris! (Day 1- travelling)

Bonjour !

I haven't blogged in soooo long because I have just got back from Paris! I went with my boyfriend and we stayed with his sister for 6 nights, it's been great and I am gutted to be back!

My next holiday will be Florida which is in about 3 weeks... but I am going to do a few posts about Paris over the next few days and also giving some advice for anyone who is looking to go.

Day One

So to get to Paris, we used the Eurostar. This was both of our first times on the Eurostar train, although I have been through the tunnel in the car before.

We got 2 return tickets from Durham to Paris (obviously stopping at London) for £99 each, which is very good.

I would definitely recommend going via Eurostar as I have flown before but can barely remember and my boyfriend has been to Paris a few times and says he much preferred going by train. The security is very quick and easy and with there being a stop at London along the way, it splits up the journey (around 5/6 hours) and seems to go a lot faster. Also, the Eurostar stops directly in in centre of Paris at Gare du Nord, so we just had to hop on a metro to Place d'Italie when we got there and didn't need to get transfers or anything like that.

All in all, using the Eurostar turned out to be quicker than flying because going to the airport you have to be there early anyway, go through security, hang around in the departure lounge, board the plane, wait for take-off and then finally after 1.5 hours flying, land, go through to get bags, then eventually transfer to Paris.

Anyway, as I said we had to go to Place d'Italie, which is where my boyfriend's sister lives. This was a great area as it was very handy for the metro and close to lots of popular places, but also not touristy whatsoever, which was great.

It did have a few bars which were small and nice too, but we didn't really spend much time around there.

We went to a bar and a Vietnamese restaurant close by called Song Huong and all of us had this:

(Beef with tomato rice, an egg and salad)

It was amazing!!

We basically just went to bed after this, we were so tired and were going to have a big day the next day (I will post about that later today or tomorrow..)

I hope that this post has been helpful, I will be posting more exciting Paris related things very soon!

If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask :)