Visiting Auschwitz/Birkinau was top of the list for me when visiting Krakow. I visited Dachau over…read more10+ years ago which was the very first concentration camp but Auschwitz-Birkenau was a scale larger and meant for extermination. It certainly was eye opening, upsetting at times and unimaginable in horrors. Booking online ahead was important to secure an English tour on a date/time that worked for my schedule. Note there were two tours available: (1) normal took 3.5 hours or (2) 6 hour educational. I booked mine about one month ahead of time (March visit for me) but tours could sell out sooner depending on the season. After booking, recommendation was to arrive min. 30 minutes prior to allow time to clear security. No large backpacks were allowed (though inconsistent in applying the rule) and had to be checked in across the street. I suggest taking the Lajkonik bus from Krakow (22zl each way) which dropped us off right in front of the main museum entrance. It was a better option in my opinion versus taking the train and then having to walk (20+ minutes) or taxi. Return buses can quickly fill up so book a seat online for a time slot at least 1/2 hour after your tour ends (to give you enough time to get back from Birkenau). However, if you miss your scheduled bus or want to leave earlier then the online ticket cannot be reapplied. Tours left every fifteen minutes which seemed a bit rushed initially as some tours started backing up or speaking over each other. However, after the first half hour the spacing finally improved and it was a better experience. Our guide was an excellent source of information and really helped us understand the importance of every stop along the way. Photos without flash were allowed but the guide will inform when it's not allowed. The total tour was 3 hours, 30 minutes across both camps. ~2 hours to complete Auschwitz, a break and bus ride in between, and ~1 hour to complete Birkenau. I could say more but it's a must to experience for yourself.

No amount of reading can prepare you for standing inside the very buildings where this history…read moreunfolded. Auschwitz is one of those places every person should experience--not because it's easy, but because it's necessary. One of the most haunting buildings is Block 10, where medicine was transformed into a weapon. It became the center for medical experiments on prisoners, particularly women, who were selected not because they were ill, but because Nazi doctors viewed them as expendable. Many endured forced sterilization experiments as part of the Nazi obsession with racial purity. Physicians tested methods they believed could sterilize millions of people quickly and cheaply, inflicting unimaginable pain and suffering in the name of pseudoscience. Just steps away stands Block 11, known throughout the camp as the "Death Block." This prison within the prison was reserved for those accused of resistance, attempting escape, helping fellow prisoners, or violating camp rules. Beneath the building are the infamous standing cells--tiny chambers, roughly one square meter in size, where four prisoners were forced to stand together through the night with almost no air. Other cells were kept in complete darkness, while the starvation cells slowly claimed lives by denying prisoners food and water. Between these stands the Black Wall, reconstructed after the original was dismantled by the retreating Germans. This quiet courtyard became one of Auschwitz's primary execution sites. Thousands of prisoners were led here, ordered to face the wall, and executed with a gunshot to the back of the head. The wall itself was covered with black insulating material to absorb bullets and reduce ricochets. Nearby stands the reconstructed gas chamber and crematorium, among the first facilities at Auschwitz used for systematic mass murder. About the actual tour: stay close to your guide, the headphones don't pick up too well. Drink a LOT of water. The tour felt super rushed so it's hard to be able to stop and read what's going on. And the next tour group will be pushing into your tour group (literally standing on top of you to move). I wish there was a museum that you were able to browse through to absorb everything. And I hate we barely got to talk about the medical aspect and didn't go into the buildings involved in this.

This morning a tour guide from the Auschwitz Jewish Center (which includes the synagogue/museum)…read moretook us on a tour of the synagogue (which was the last remaining one in the town and it comprises part of the Auschwitz Jewish Center), and he also took us to the (small) Jewish cemetery. We had arranged all of this in advance, including a private tour guide for Auschwitz & Birkenau - in addition to our driver, who picked us up at our hotel in Krakow early this morning and brought us back early this evening - via the Auschwitz Jewish Center employee at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC (the AJC in NYC doesn't charge for making the arrangements, but they gratefully accept donations). She also arranged for us to have lunch after the tour, at Cafe Bergson (which is immediately adjacent to the AJC, and it's inside what was formerly the house of the last remaining Jewish resident of the town. His family donated the house to the AJC after his death, and a fundraising campaign enabled extensive renovations). Our tour guide from the AJC was a very well-informed and very enthusiastic young man (he's spending a year doing this in lieu of military service) and the cost was only 10 PLN per person (afterwards we met the director of the AJC [a very nice man] and we asked what was an appropriate amount to tip the guide [20 PLN]). We paid only 25 PLN/each for a *delicious* lunch (vegetarian sandwiches, cheesecake, mineral water and coffee). The young woman working at the café was very friendly, too.

I really enjoyed my visit to the Auschwitz Jewish Center and synagogue. The exhibits in the museum…read moretell a fascinating story of Jews in Oswiecim from past to present. The synagogue is beautifully preserved and serves as an educational center for locals and visitors. I would recommend pairing any visit to the Auschwitz Memorial Museum with the Auschwitz Jewish Center and synagogue in order to get the full picture of what Jewish life what like in Poland, and Oswiecim specifically.

The town square. We…read morewere here in September and the square was still full of many beer gardens. There are seperate stalls with different brands on draft beers so don't ve afraid to see which one if them are serving the brand you want. Seating areas are not shared. But I don't think there's a problem if not all in the party bought their beer at the same stalls. Beer is abt 5 for 0.5 L. Mostly eurolagers. Pay cash.

Ostrava wasn´t really important place in medieval ages it´s obvious that even the local castle…read morecan´t be something amazing as we know it from some other parts of Czech Republic. It´s the coal mines what is typical for Ostrava, not the medieval history. But still, local castle has its certain magic. It´s more like a cultural place these days. There are perfomancies in local amphitheatre and also couple of exhibitions. The biggest one is about fairy tales characters. There is not much to say about history so I guess that´s why armoury and other typical castle´s exhibitions are ok with with one room each (and not many exponates). Also more descriptions about certain things would be nice. Anyway. I guess this place could be on your "to see in Ostrava" list.