 Of all the countries I’ve visited so far on this trip, Poland has been my favorite. I didn't think Poland would be memorable, but it has proven me wrong. First of all, Poland had amazing food. From pierogi to stuffed cabbage, I loved all of it. Poland was also relatively cheap and had amazing public transportation. With the temperature ranging from around 14-20 degrees Celsius, it was very cool and comfortable. The first city we visited was Krakow. In Krakow, we saw Wawel Castle, Krakow's old town, and most of the city around it. My favorite part of Krakow was our hotel location. It was only 10-15 minutes from the city center yet it felt like a different place, going from old buildings to lush green forests, which made it all the more enjoyable. Out of all our activities in Krakow, the pinball museum was my favorite. We got to play tons of vintage pinball, as well as the newer ones too. After Krakow, we visited a small town called Wrocław. Wroclaw was a smaller city a bit further north from Krakow. There were not many tourists even though the city was beautiful and quiet. However, Wrocław was not nearly as good as Krakow, with Krakow having much better food as well as a better hotel location. Our time in Wrocław was short, with us only staying 4 days there, which was probably enough. My sister became sick with a cold so it slowed us down a lot. Most of our time spent in Wrocław was rainy and dark, which made it miserable to go outside. We didn't do as much in Wrocław, mostly we explored the old town, Cathedral Island, and looked for the 100’s of gnome statues throughout the center. I thought it was a massive downgrade from Krakow, which was a shame. The last location we traveled to in Poland was Gdansk. Gdansk also did not live up to Krakow, which was disappointing too. We did visit two museums that were really interesting, but very long - The Solidarity Museum and the World War II museum. The Solidarity Museum was alright. I assumed the museum was about WWII but I was wrong. The Solidarity museum was about a post WWII port strike that was organized in Poland to protest against communism and resulted in large scale peoples protests and resistance to the communist government. This resistance spread throughout Poland and was important in ending the communist regime. I liked the message it was sending, they stood for freedom, democracy, and workers rights. The WWII Museum was also very interesting. The WWII museum gave a comprehensive understanding of WWII from the start to the finish. My favorite part was the interactive area where they let you pick up the soldiers bags and feel how much weight they had to carry every single day. Finally, the coolest part of our visit to Gdansk was our hotel. We stayed at a hotel that had an international food hall underneath. The hotel building was a repurposed submarine manufacturing factory as well. The food at the food hall was delicious and was probably the best food we had in Poland. From Greek, to Georgian, to Japanese, to Indian, to Polish food they had it all. We ended up eating most of our dinners here in Gdansk. Poland was one of the best countries I have visited, and I hope we go back!
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 When my family and I first arrived in Istanbul,Turkey, we were ecstatic. We couldn't wait to see all that the city had to offer! The next day upon arriving in Istanbul, we immediately went outside and headed to the Old Town area to explore. Unfortunately, when we went to the Blue Mosque, there were so many tourists it was unbelievable. In addition to the abundance of tourists, we arrived only 5 minutes before one of the mosque’s prayer times, during which it is closed to the public for an hour and a half. Instead of going back home, we went to get a nice cold drink due to the summer heat of Istanbul. We walked all through the Old Town and visited the Grand Bazaar and the Egyptian Bazaar (“spice market”) before heading back to our hotel. Later in the week, we eventually went back to the Blue Mosque but this time we made sure to check the prayer times before heading out! During our two weeks in Istanbul, we visited many other important cultural and historical places. One of the most famous places we visited was the Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) , originally built as a Byzantine church under Emperor Justinian I but is now a mosque. To be honest it was a bummer. Until recently, entrance to the Hagia Sophia was free but it is now 25 euros per person. The audio tour was a disappointment and the information on the signs was pathetic. I would not recommend visiting the Hagia Sophia if you are on a budget. My favorite part of Istanbul was the Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern was an old water storage unit that supplied water to the Great Palace of Constantinople and nearby buildings. The Basilica Cistern was also built in the 6th century under emperor Justinian I, just like the Hagia Sophia. The reason that the Basilica Cistern was my favorite isn't because of its history, it was because of the atmosphere and overall feeling to the place. The cistern has cleverly placed LED lights that illuminate the cistern to look nice, peaceful and beautiful. In addition to the LED lights, it is also underground so it provides a fresh break from the heat of the summer. Even though Istanbul has many interesting and cool historical places, I would not recommend the country to anybody under any circumstances. Istanbul is full of tourists wherever you go, it is insane, the prices in Istanbul are also absurd. Every single meal you eat out will just be trash food with a ridiculous price tag on it. I felt hopeless and powerless when every single meal that I ate tasted terrible. The amount of smoking in this city is also ridiculous. I was eager to leave to breathe fresh air again. I could deal with this until we were leaving and we arrived at the Istanbul International airport. This could have been the worst airport experience I have had and probably will ever have. We arrived at the airport a staggering 4 hours earlier than we were required to be. After, we figured out that our airline didn't even open their check-in counters until “3 hours” before the flight. When we arrived at the check-in counter exactly 3 hours before the flight, the employees were not even there. We ended up waiting in line for 1 hour and 45 minutes longer than the original 3 hour rule. We rushed to the passport control the lines and they were now filled with people that had not been there during the past 3 hours. As soon as we got through security, we were trying to get to a lounge to grab some dinner before running to our flight, but as soon as we got there we were faced by a line extending out the door. We ended up eating bad burgers for over 60 euros instead. This was the worst thing about this airport - the prices. You can safely expect all of the normal prices to be multiplied by 10. You also had to give them your passport number for the wi-fi which seemed unnecessary . Just as you thought things couldn't get worse, we received a notification that our flight started boarding 20 minutes before it was supposed to. We ended up having to run through the airport, which is absolutely way too big, just to get to the gate where we figured out that they hadn’t even start boarding yet. At least we didn’t miss our flight! Overall, I really didn't enjoy Istanbul,Turkey and I wouldn't go back even if I had a free ticket. |
