The Cube

Pre-travel
Here's some Yugoslavia history in small bite to get you into the mood.
And breakdown of travel days and links to accommodation.


Qatar: Doha
Day 0 - transit on the way to Zagreb and back from Warsaw, because I travelled with Qatar Airways.


Croatia: Zagreb
Day 1 - Half day in Zagreb before taking another flight to Sarajevo at night


BiH: Sarajevo
Day 2 - Walk around Sarajevo city
Day 3 - Historical Museum of BiH and Tunnel of Hope


BiH: Mostar
Day 4 - around Mostar


BiH: Blagaj, Pocitelj, Kravice, Hum Hill
Day 5 - Day trip from Mostar


Croatia: Split
Day 6 - A day in Split


Hungary: Budapest
Day 7 - Travel / Rest day
Day 8, 9 and 10 - Things to do in Budapest


Czech Republic: Prague
Day 11 - Travel / Rest day
Day 12, 14 and 15 - Things to do in Prague
Day 13- Day trip to Kutna Hora


Poland: Krakow and Warsaw
Day 16 - Wieliczka Salt Mine
Day 17 - Around Krakow including Kazimierz (Jewish Quarter)
Day 18 - Auschwitz-Birkenau
Day 19 - Wawel Hill


Day 20 and 22 - Around Warsaw
Day 21 - Warsaw Uprising Museum and Centrum Nauki Kopernik


Till then Europe, I shall return!


Side note: Do you feel ticklish when had a massage?

Warsaw Uprising is a major WWII operation by the Polish resistance Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germans. the Home Army established an extensive network of underground tunnels and sewers. This enabled them to deliver messages and move around the city. These tunnels gave the Home Army the elements of surprise when they launched an attack. However the Nazis regrouped quickly and demolished the city. The Polish resistance was defeated after fought for 63 days, from August 1st until October 2nd 1944. The Warsaw Uprising symbol was an anchor made up of a P atop of W, stands for "Polska Walczaca or "Poland Fighting".

Warsaw Uprising Museum opened in 2004 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Rising in 1944. It is a tribute to those who fought and died for Poland's independence, the museum recreates the atmosphere during those 63 days of military struggle, and also what it was like under Nazi occupation.


Entrance fee to the museum is 14zł and we paid additional 2zł for 'The City of Ruins' 3D film. It showed a digital reconstruction of an aerial view over destroyed and abandoned Warsaw in 1945.


The museum was a little cramped but very informative. The three level museum documents information on Germany's invasions, the uprising's heroes and their stories. On the ground floor, there is an area which honours the Field Postal Service. The area looks a little like children's area. Varsovian kids played a role in the Warsaw Uprising as 'mailmen'.






Side note: It feels like the time passes faster when the day time is longer...

We stayed in OkiDoki Hostel in Warsaw, somehow it feels super long walk to the hostel from the train station but in actual fact it wasn't that far. Maybe there was some road works at that time. Our room was a six person mixed dorm. There is a door between the shower place and sink area. However once you enter the shower place, there's two shower section but they are only closed with shower curtain. I am not sure if all the bathrooms are similar but that was the one closest to our room, on the reception level.

1. The Mermaid of Warsaw
According to legend, a mermaid stopped on the riverbank near the Old Town to rest and decided to stay on. She released the fishes caught by local fishermen and they planned to capture her but abandoned the plan because they fell in love with her singing. Later, a rich merchant trapped the Mermaid and imprisoned her. She was fortunately released by a young fisherman. The mermaid, armed with sword and shield promised that she would help to protect the city and its resident.



2. Zygmunt's Column
This column is in the centre of Plac Zamkowy, the oldest secular statue in Warsaw. This statue is Zygmunt III Vasa (or Sigismund III Vasa) at the top of Zygmunt's Column. He is the first Polish king from the Swedish Waza family. He relocated the capital from Krakow to Warsaw in the year 1596.


3. Royal Castle (Zamek Krolewski)
Right opposite the Zygmunt's Column is the Royal Castle. This is the former royal residence, rebuilt in the 1970s. In 1596 after Warsaw was made the capital, this served as both the king's residence and the meeting place of the parliament.



4. Old Town Market Square (Rynek Starego Miasta)
As like all market square, this was the most important place in Warsaw in the past. This is a rectangular market square, each side of the square was named after a mayor of Warsaw.


5. Wishing church bell
This church bell was from 1644. If you touch the bell while circling around it, the bell will fulfil your wish. If it is a big wish, you would need to touch the bell and skip on one leg.



6. Monument to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising
This monument which was unveiled in 1989 commemorates the heroes of the historic Warsaw Uprising. The sculpture represent soldiers defending the barricades and going down into the sewers. During the Warsaw Uprising, insurgents used the sewer system to move around Warsaw.




7. Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum
The first woman Nobel laureate and famous co-discoverer of radioactivity. Together with her husband, Pierre Curie, she discovered the elements of radium and polonium. Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize twice, in 1903 for physics and in 1911 for chemistry. Polonium was named after her native land, Poland of course.


8. Chopin's Benches
In the year 2010 in conjunction with 200th Anniversay of Fryderyk Chopin's birth, the Capital City of Warsaw has set up some benches with multimedia benches. These benches followed a walking route through historic spots in Warsaw. If you press a button on the bench, the bench will play a selected fragment of Chopin's music.



'Milk Bars' are canteens that were very common and popular during Communist times. They are popular for local and cheap place for home-style cooking food. The name 'Milk Bar' derived from their past menus, mainly of dairy and flour dishes. The one we went was near the Old Town Market Square. There were three elderly polish ladies in the bar at that time. The one at the counter did not appear to speak any English. Luckily there's English menu provided, there's only one set of English menu and it will be passed around while you queue to order your food at the counter. Just queue up to order your food, pay and you will be given a small piece of paper with your order. Pass it to the food counter, wait and collect your food. Eat and enjoy!





Side note: Maria Curie is the only woman buried in the Paris Pantheon. 

"Arbeit macht frei"

"Arbeit macht frei" translated as "Work brings freedom" or "Work will set you free". Seeing the photo above, or the phrase, you probably know where this photo was taken. Yes, in Oswiecim (read as ohsh-VEENCH-im) or its German equivalent, Auschwitz.

I have issue writing this post because it was the biggest and most notorious concentration camp in the Nazi system. It is now the most poignant memory to the victims of the Holocaust. I won't go into how the place is, there's a lot of reading material that you could look up to. I don't regret visiting it but I don't have any other plans to visit another concentration camp.

People ask, why visit Auschwitz, especially when you are on a holidays? Rick Steve addressed the question in his Eastern Europe guide book.


K and I travelled to Oswiecim by bus with an Irish teacher whom we met in the hostel. We visited during peak period so for crowd control purposes, we were divided into groups. Each group was led by a tour guide. Prior to the actual tour, we watched a film. During the actual tour, the tour guide spoke through a microphone and we could hear via the audio provided.
(Auschwitz Museum Tour 35zł + audio guide 5zł)

Once we finished the tour in Auschwitz I, we had a little break and took a shuttle bus (complimentary) with the tour guide to Auschwitz II - Birkenau (pronounced as BEER-keh-now).

Gate and unloading platform, Birkenau extermination camp

This was where one was determined by "Death to the left, life to the right". We continued the tour with the guide in Birkenau. There is no public transportation back to Krakow from Birkenau. After the tour, one could stay on to walk by yourself but to get back to Krakow, we took the shuttle bus back to Auschwitz I.

Before departing for Krakow, we bought a couple of books from the book shop in Auschwitz I including Night by Elie Wiesel as recommended by our guide.
(Return bus tickets to Oswiecim 28zł)


Side note: Now let's have a chocolate or two for happier thoughts...