Slovakia & Poland

I was able to have another week where not only was it my brother and I traveling together but also our dad joined us. The three of us road tripped through Slovakia to Krakow, Poland and then back through Slovakia to get back to Budapest. It was a fun week spent together and we were able to see a bunch of different places.

After giving my dad a quick overview of Budapest, the next morning we headed to the airport to pick up a rental car and start our road trip through Slovakia to Krakow, Poland. Once we got our rental car we loaded our bags and headed out of Budapest towards Kosice, Slovakia. The drive was an easy drive that only took about an hour and a half and along the way we were able to see the beautiful countryside. Once we arrived in Kosice it was lunchtime so we walked around the old town center while in search of lunch. The town was super cute and very picturesque but it wasn’t crowded with tourists at all; it seemed to really only be locals out. We found a restaurant right in the main square area and had a nice lunch and after that we explored some more before getting back in the car and heading out. While it was only a quick stop, I really enjoyed the town and would have loved to have had more time to explore. Our next and final stop of the day was Krakow, Poland which was about four hours away. The drive was even more beautiful than the first part as we drove through the mountains and smaller towns. It was a gorgeous drive that we wouldn’t have been able to see as well had we traveled by train or bus. It was an easy drive to Krakow until we got to the old town. Since our hotel was right in the old town I had to navigate us through the small streets and one way streets. It was very stressful but we were able to make it with only one mess up where we had to pull over to reroute. Once we checked into our hotel we got settled in our room. My brother Grant wasn’t feeling well so he stayed and rested in the room while my dad and I went out to walk around the old town. We wandered around the main square and found a restaurant where we shared a small meal, since we had a late lunch, and hung out there for a while people watching. It was a fun evening hanging out with my dad. It was nice being in a city I had been to before. At the beginning of 2020, when I was studying abroad, the first weekend trip I took was to Krakow, so walking around the old town was familiar to me but it was new to my dad.

On our first day in Krakow, my dad and I were up early so we went for a morning stroll around the main square where my dad got a coffee before we went back to the hotel to meet up with Grant, who had finally woken up. Once Grant was ready we went out for breakfast before our day tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. When I had been in Krakow back in 2020, I had done a day tour to Auschwitz so the tour wasn’t new to me. Even though I had already visited before on a day tour, it was just as sad walking through and hearing about the atrocities that happened there. On the tour we were taken through Camps One and Two. Before the war Camp One had been used as a military base so when it became a concentration camp the prisoners were kept in the former brick military barracks. There were different sections of Camp One and going through the different buildings we saw photos and information describing different parts of the camp. Camp Two, also known as Birkenau, was both a work camp and a death camp, with most of the buildings no longer being there. All you can see now is where the chimneys were as well as the remnants of the gas chambers where millions of people died. While it was a very sobering day filled with a lot of depressing areas and information, it is important to learn about history and confront even the hard parts in order to learn and not have history repeat itself. After getting back to Krakow after the tour, we walked around the old town and explored the different areas before getting dinner and walking around some more.

For our second day in Krakow we started the morning with a trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Going in I knew nothing about the mine; it was something that my dad had researched and said he wanted to visit. I went in hopeful that it would be cool and interesting, but I was very wrong. While my dad and brother both said they enjoyed the tour through the massive mine, I personally found it painfully boring. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is massive and on the tour you only go through a small area of it. Throughout the cave they have different mannequins demonstrating how salt was mined. I’m glad my brother and dad enjoyed the tour, but I was very glad when it was over. Once we got back to the old town we spent the rest of the day exploring the parts of the old town that we hadn’t seen yet, including the castle. We also left the old town and walked around the Jewish Quarter of the city. It was fun casually exploring the city and I was glad I was able to see some new areas that I hadn’t seen when I was here in 2020.

In total we only had two full days in Krakow, so the next morning we loaded up the car and headed back to Slovakia. On our way to where we were staying for the night we were able to stop and visit Orava Castle. I really enjoyed this stop because had we not been in the car we would have never seen the castle. Orava Castle is built on the top of a hill and while not the biggest castle, it has multiple levels going up the hill. It was really cool to see and had some amazing views of the surrounding valley. After our visit to the castle we had lunch and then headed to Banksá Štiavnica, Slovakia, where we were spending the night. The planned stops for our way back to Budapest I left up to my dad and brother to research and plan as we were making plans for the rest of our day and doing searches of the two towns we still wanted to visit. I learned how wrong I was to have left the decisions up to them. It wasn’t until we were headed to our hotel that I learned the sole reason they wanted to go to this town was to go on another mine tour and from the little I read about the mine tour it sounded even more boring to me than the salt mine had been. I was very quickly learning the consequences of my actions of leaving planning solely to them. Once we got to our hotel, since the mine and the museum in a nearby town were closed, we drove around the area to not only see the town but also look for the mine for the next day. When driving around we were able to see both the town and the beautiful surrounding mountain countryside. However, where the maps were taking us for the mine didn’t seem correct, which gave me hope. After driving around for a while we went for dinner and then drove around some more trying to find our way to a cool looking building we had seen on one of the hills. It took a few tries to find it, but once we found it we started walking towards it. The cool building was the Kalvária Banská Štiavnica calvary church built by the local Jesuits in 1751 and in 1951 the Kalvária was nationalized by the communists, looted, and left to decay. We weren’t able to go all the way up because it was gated off and we then learned that even during the day it wasn’t open to tours. While we were disappointed we weren’t able to go all the way up to the cool looking building, we were in a beautiful nature area with views of the mountains and a field during the beautiful sunset golden hour. After our explorations we went back to our hotel for the night and made plans for the next day.

Since Grant had been sick for the last few days and was feeling even worse the next day, he decided that he wasn’t feeling well enough for a mine tour so we instead went back to Banská Bystrica, a town we had passed through the day before to go to the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising. This museum wasn’t too big, but it was interesting; it was all about the anti-fascist revolt of Slovakians during World War II. The museum was in Banská Bystrica because that was where the uprising groups were based out of. Outside of the museum was an open air museum of military vehicles and an old World War II plane that we were able to go inside. After making our way through the museum, we got back on the road to head back to Budapest. Once in Budapest my dad dropped Grant and I off near our hotel with all of the bags to check in while he drove around waiting for me. We checked in and Grant stayed at the hotel to rest and I met back up with my dad and we headed to the airport to return the car. Once back from the airport we met up with Grant again to see how he was feeling. We let him rest a little while longer and went out to search for a place for dinner and then went back to the hotel to get Grant and then the three of us went for dinner. After dinner Grant went back to the hotel and my dad and I wandered around Budapest and I took him to an area that he hadn’t been to on his one day in the city and we watched sunset on the river. Once the sun set we continued wandering around and then eventually found a cafe and hung out there and got a drink and dessert. It was a really nice last evening together. Even though Grant was sadly not feeling well enough to join us, it was nice having some one on one time with my dad.

Grant had to leave for the airport to go home super early the next morning so we had to say goodbye. My dad and I were able to get a few more hours of sleep before he and I had to say goodbye since he too had to leave for the airport to go to Paris for work. Since my flight out of Budapest wasn’t until the next morning at 5:00 am, after they both left I was able to hang out in the hotel until check out time. After checking out I went for lunch and then hung out in a Starbucks for the Wi-Fi to work on admin life planning and scheduling until closing time before getting dinner and eventually heading to the airport late at night. Since my flight was so early in the morning I wasn’t about to pay for a night's accommodation, so I pulled an all-nighter at the airport. It totally sucked, but “sleeping” in airports is just one of the fun parts of budget long term travel.

My week spent with both my dad and brother went by super fast. While I had been to Krakow before, it was nice being able to explore the city again, especially since when I had been there last I was alone and that weekend my childhood dog had to be put down so it had been a very depressing weekend for me. It was enjoyable exploring Krakow in a happier mood and with my dad and brother. I also really enjoyed being able to see Slovakia and the countryside which was so beautiful. One thing that surprised all of us was just how cold Poland was. While I had found Budapest cold after being in hot weather in SE Asia for so long, Krakow was absolutely freezing and even my dad was cold. Since it was the middle of June none of us were prepared for the cold weather. Despite the weather and Grant getting sick, it was a great week spent with my Dad and brother and I am so glad we were able to make the trip work with the three of us, even if my mom wasn’t able to join.

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”

- John Muir