Day 25
The day started early. The night train arrived (for once) right on time in a town called “Lwow”, just before 7 in the morning. We got off, headed for a toilet on the station. From there we were trying to get a train across the border to Poland. That way, once in Poland we would be able to travel on our Interrail tickets again.
We went to the counter and asked whether the girl would speak either English or German. She didn’t speak any. We told her we were trying to get to a border town called Medyka. All she could say was “bus” and pointed outside. I asked her whether there was no train going to Poland. She told me the only train going to Poland had just left. When I asked her about another train she told me this was the only train for the day.
I couldn’t believe the only train going to Poland had just left (and was probably the train we had just gotten off from). We walked outside to find a bus that was supposed to go to the border. We walked around and found a touring car. The driver of the touring car told us he had no idea where we could find such a bus, he was merely picking up tourists.
We kept the option in the back of our minds that we might have to stay in this town if we wouldn’t find a way to get to Poland.
We walked up and down the area in front of the station in the early morning sun. I walked up to a few guys with minivans and just said “Medyka?” One of the drivers pointed to another minivan that was about to leave. We ran up to the van. The driver had already seen us and walked up to us. I asked him the same “Medyka?” He nodded. He grabbed my bag, but first I wanted to know what it was going to cost us. He told me something I honestly couldn’t understand. After trying twice he wrote in the air a 2 and a 1. I looked at him and wrote the same. He nodded. At first I thought he meant 210, but it did actually turn out to be 21 (2 euro’s). We got in and paid the insane amount of 2 euro’s each.
Once in the van a guy from Poland asked Luc in English where he was from. Luc responded quite happily “Yes! Finally someone who speaks English again!” A young Polish couple behind me yelled “Haha, we speak English too!”
Soon enough we were both talking to these Polish people. They had been on holiday too and were quite relieved to be able to speak English to people again too. Along the way more and more people were being picked up and crammed into the small minibus. People were standing, while the heat in the minibus was rising. The ride to the border took about two and a half hours. While we were nearing the border we saw big black clouds approaching. So far all the rain we had gotten was while we were traveling, this case not being any different.
Just in front of the border the minibus pulled up and dropped us off at a small bus station. Rain was pooring like crazy and seemed to increase by the minute. I decided to wait for a while, as I didn’t even have a raincoat. I exchanged my Ukraine money for some Polish money and waited for the worst rain to stop. Meanwhile I wrapped my bags in the rain cover that I still had.
After twenty minutes we decided to go for it. We didn’t really know how to cross this border on foot, as any time I crossed a border I was in an airport or a vehicle. After a bit of searching we found a gate we had to walk through. From there we walked along a path with fences on both sides. The walk to the Ukrainian border office was fairly near. We walked inside and waited to get our stamp to get out of the country. Once out we walked along the path again. The path took us to another office. An office with a massive queue in front of it. I even saw people that sat with us on the bus half an hour ago. Apparently this was going to take forever. Meanwhile rain was still pooring like mad on us. We accepted the fact we were going to get soaking wet. Especially as I lost my rain coat in the train to Venice at the start of the trip already.
We waited in line for over two hours. Everytime a batch of people were allowed to enter the office of border of Poland. The 15 kilo bag started to really weigh on my shoulders, but all we could do was wait. Finally after two hours of standing in the rain we were let through. The border patrol checked our bags for alcohol and cigarettes and bang.. We were back in the EU.
Thankfully not soon after the sun started to shine again too. The Polish man with whom Luc had been talking to on the bus was at the border crossing too. He had to go to the train station too and offered to show us the way. Just across the border we found people trying to sell Ukranian wodca and cigarettes. As wodca and cigarettes are a lot cheaper in the Ukraine, people made it their business to smuggle the goods across the border. Especially since Poland changed their import rules, now allowing only one bottle of wodca and two packs of cigarettes a person to cross the border.
At the other side of the border was another minibus that was going to take us to the train station. Thankfully I had exchanged my money already, so I could pay for the ride. The bus took about 10 minutes to the train station. Once there we grabbed our bags and checked out what time our train to Krakow was going. The Polish man helped us get this information too.
The train was not going for another hour, so we decided to sit down and have some breakfast. The Polish man asked us what we felt like eating. I told him I wanted to try some typical Polish food. He brought us to a Polish restaurant where typical Polish food was served. We ordered one of the typical Polish dishes along with some Polish juice they had on offer.
After breakfast we headed over to the train. The train was already there. We walked in and grabbed a seat in one of the compartments. Thankfully now we could travel on our Interrail pass again. We were quite happy our choice of going to Lwow turned out so well.
The train to Krakow took about eight hours. The later it became, the hotter the train became too. That day the temperature rose up to 40 degrees celsius. In the train it must’ve been even hotter with all the people in it.
Thankfully around 17:00 we stepped out of our train and arrived in Krakow. First we went to the office to make a reservation for our train ticket to Prague, which was supposed to leave that very night. Thankfully there were still some seats left. Afterwards we also arranged our train from Prague back to Amsterdam which we were gonig to take a few days later. Also that could be arranged, which gave us a bit of a relieve that we were going to be back home in time.
From there we dropped our big bags at the baggage room and off we went to explore Krakow for the four hours we had left. Krakow turned out to be a beautiful city. The weather was still incredibly nice in the late afternoon. We walked around and checked out all the highlights that were printed in my Lonely Planet. Afterwards we sat down on the main square and a few big beers, which were quite cheap considering we were on the most famous square of Krakow (2 euro’s for half a liter).
On the square was also a festival going on where we decided to grab some food. After dinner we walked up to the castle that’s just outside the old city center. Obviously the castle itself was closed, but we still could get a glimpse from the outside. From there we walked back through a park and the main square back to the train station. Along the way we bought some chips and water for the train ride to Prague.
With 20 minutes left we decided to grab a beer at one of the bars next to the station. That way I was able to get rid of our last Zloti’s too. Around 23:00 our train to Prague departed.
Aug 24th 2011
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