Our trip to Krakow was really cracking!

HUBBY and I are just back from a lovely break to Krakow, Poland, possibly one of the cleanest European cities I’ve ever visited—and to say we didn’t walk any more than 2-300 metres but there was a chapel or basilica wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Their main transport system is trams—they’re fast, efficient and cheap. In fact just about everything in Krakow is cheap by European standards. No ridiculously inflated London/Dublin prices there, let me tell you! We took an Uber from the airport, which was buttons, so much so hubby was giving the driver a tenner tip. May have been something to do with the fact the guy was dead friendly and from the Ukraine, and emigrated to Krakow ten years before. He waxed lyrical about the Irish being the friendliest nation of people he’d ever met, so much so he only drank in Irish bars and most of his pals were Irish. The tip was well earned we felt, this guy knew his audience.

Krakow is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland built around the Vistula River, and much like Ireland has gone through its own transition from Paganism to Catholicism under the rule of King Mieszo I. So, by the 13th century, Catholicism was the dominant religion, and since then the Church has been central to Poland’s history and national identity—the very fount of Polish heritage and culture. Since the Middle Ages it has played a major role in shaping Poland’s culture and values and can be seen in the way people live their lives and in the traditions that have been passed down for generations. Through the difficult periods of partition and Communism, it has shaped the way the country is today, and they make no secret of the fact 72 per cent of Catholics still actively practise their faith. So yeah, no big surprise that the place is absolutely heaving with churches and has more holy shops than Lourdes. So, day one for us comprised of a walking pilgrimage from churches to basilicas, the old town and Jewish quarter. Thank God for Googlemaps, that’s all I’ll say!

It is a city rich in history and architectural beauty, offering a diverse range of styles from Gothic and Renaissance to Baroque and modern designs. (above) Each building tells a part of the city’s story, reflecting its cultural and historical evolution over the centuries. The Nazis occupied the city using their historic buildings for administrative purposes, which saved many structures from being bombed. However, there were still significant losses. Jewish neighbourhoods, such as Kazimierz, were particularly affected, leading to the demolition or repurposing of many buildings.

We visited the shrine of St Faustina—a highlight as it happens—a nun in the order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy who, from a young age, showed a love of prayer, work, obedience and was sensitive to the needs of the poor. Sister Faustina was said to be chosen as ‘God’s Secretary’ and kept a diary of the messages she received. This diary has been the subject of much theological research and translated into 20 plus languages. She died in 1938 of Tuberculosis aged 33 and between 1965-67, the investigative process into her life and heroic virtues was undertaken in Krakow. In 1968 the Beatification process began in Rome and in 2000, Pope St John Paul II Canonised her.

Poland has strong links with Ireland and the Irish culture is well celebrated there, so in Krakow, a typical St Patrick’s Day scene consists of people drinking zielone piwo—green beer—and Dubliners’ tunes blasting out into the city’s main square, which is the largest in Europe and simply stunning.

Historian researcher, Norman Davies has traced links to Ireland back several thousand years, when the Celtic tribes who settled in Ireland also inhabited lands far to the east, especially in modern-day Silesia. Remnants include Celtic iron workings in the Holy Cross Mountains of central Poland as well as rivers and villages which bear etymological roots from that time, such as the town of Legnica whose name can be traced to the Celtic word for ‘fortress.’ Some even say that the legend of King Krak and the dragon at the heart of Krakow’s origin bears distinct Celtic influences. As it happened, the Irish and Polish peoples would come to share a many similarities. Both have large populations of Roman Catholics and both have been regularly bullied and oppressed by their neighbours.

During the 19th century Polish partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria became something of a cause célèbre among the Irish people. Protestants and Catholics, moderates and extremists alike, continually expressed their support for Polish independence. Money was raised and newspapers championed their struggle. However, many were keen to use the situation to their own advantage as well by putting pressure on Britain for hypocritically supporting independence for Poland but not Ireland. The Irish Nation, for example, published a short poem: “Our fair island, weeping Erin, ah! Can nought her griefs appease; She, sad Sorrow’s elder daughter—she, the Poland of the seas.”

Since then the two countries enjoy cultural cross-pollination with the likes of Casimir Markievicz, an artist, playwright and theatre director who lived in both Dublin and Warsaw. Even the ascension of Pope St John Paul II did something to rekindle interest in Poland among Irish Catholics, and in 1979, the Irish Polish Society was founded in preparation for the Pope’s visit to the island at a time when only about 350 Poles resided in Ireland. The number has increased substantially since then. Today, there are almost 100,000 Polish people in Ireland, and Polish is the third most spoken language after English and Irish.

Even during the Great Hunger, a large relief organisation was formed in 1847 by Lionel de Rothschild, a Jewish banker in London whose fundraising activities were international, with donations received from locations as diverse as Venezuela, Australia, South Africa and Mexico. £400,000 was raised and entrusted to a Polish count, Paul de Strzelecki, a renowned scientist and explorer who travelled to Counties Mayo and Sligo where he established schools and free food was given to the local children. Despite falling victim to ‘famine fever,’ he survived and remained working with the poor in Ireland.

There is also a strong literary connection between the two countries. As you’ll know I’m a huge Seamus Heaney fan, and he had a strong affinity with Poland, particularly, Krakow which he visited in 1994 to promote a collection of his poetry, entitled 44 poems, translated into Polish by his friend and fellow Harvard professor Stanislaw Baranczak. It became the first of seven visits he made to Poland. Heaney met a number of Krakow’s writers, including Wislawa Szymborska, a Polish poet, who, in 1996 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, one year after Heaney’s award. Describing Krakow’s poetry scene in Stepping Stones, Heaney recalled ‘the mixture of closely-knit friendships and commitment to poetry reminded me of Belfast in the 1960s.’

“Heaney was extremely important for Krakow, and very much present in the poetic, literary landscape of the city since he first came in 1994, before the Nobel,” Magdalena Heydel, a Polish translator of Heaney’s later work, said. In 2005, upon receiving an honorary doctorate from Krakow’s Jagiellonian University, the Derry-born poet said: “I found consolation in the poems of other poets of my language, but in someone else’s beauty, in Polish poetry, in Polish poets, almost salvation.”

Heaney’s interest in Polish poetry stemmed back to the 1960s when he read a translated anthology of Polish poetry, edited by Czeslaw Milosz, Poland’s foremost poet of the 20th century, and the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980. Milosz's life and vast volume of work, in poetry and prose, reflected Poland’s tumultuous history during the 20th century. Much like Heaney, themes of identity, morality and the weight of history and conflict pervaded his texts.

I’ll go back to Krakow, and if you haven’t been I’d urge you to visit. For it is a place steeped in culture and a history not dissimilar to Ireland. One of the most fascinating places to visit is the 700 year old salt mines just outside the city. Polish people are known for being devout Catholics and since the mine’s inception, many of its halls have been used as chapels. As of now, four chapels are still preserved and accessible; however, during its operational period there were 40 chapels to serve the 1000-plus miners employed there. The most important one being the Chapel of St Kinga. St Anthony’s Chapel and the Holy Cross Chapel can also be explored by tourists. They all feature beautiful sculptures, relics and statues made of salt. Even some of the altars were carved out of the rock salt walls, the most impressive carving for me being Da Vinci’s Last Supper.

And of course we sought out the Irish bars. All that walking’s thirsty work. And there’s plenty to choose from, Duffy’s, Pod Papugami and Ronnie Drew’s. Cheers! Na Zdrowie—Pronounced ‘Nah zdrov-e-yay’ in Polish.

L J Sexton, mum of four, returned to university to pursue her passion for the written word. She achieved her Honours Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and hasn't stopped writing since. Lyn is born of Irish parents and lived in Donegal for eight years. She is also the press officer for Irish Minstrels CCÉ music group based in St Roch’s Secondary School