Program (proposen)

Day 1

Arrival

Our guide meets you at the airport/railway station to welcome the group and give a short introduction about Krakow.

Drive to the hotel by coach

Dinner

Day 2

Breakfast

Morning: Lecture: Communist Ideology

After the lecture - Nowa Huta tour

The Nowa Huta tour gives you a unique opportunity to see a town built by communists after the Second World War, mainly to destroy aristocratic and intellectual character and traditions of Krakow by erecting a huge ‘Lenin Steelworks’ in its neighbourhood. The town was carefully designed to be not only a place to live and work for thousands of newcomers, but also a fortress in case of a Western attack on the Soviet block. It was also meant to be the first Polish city without a single church, which was to help to create ‘a brave new world’. The Nowa Huta complex was so important for the communist propaganda that organised groups used to visit it already during the construction. Fidel Castro, who refused to visit the Main Market Square in Krakow, demanded to be taken there! But Nowa Huta did not fulfil communist’s expectations, being the scene of workers’ strikes and violent protests against the communist rule. During this trip you will not only be told about the unusual history of Nowa Huta – currently a district of Krakow - but you will also feel the spirit of those times, which will allow you to understand the tragic, but at the same time humoristic, face of history.

Lunch break in an old-fashioned restaurant from the communist period

Afternoon: a visit to the Steelworks in Nowa Huta

The Sendzimir Steelworks (former Lenin Steelworks) was the symbol of the economic achievement and development of the country under the communist regime. It was so important for the communist propaganda that all the groups coming to Cracow just had to visit it. No wonder – it was one of the most amazing industrial complexes, with all its rolling-mills, furnaces and tracks… It took 27 years to finish! A visit to this factory is not only a lesson of metallurgy - it reminds you about the history of the Solidarity movement, strikes and the martial law.

Return to the centre of Krakow

Dinner

Lecture: Everyday life in Poland under Communist rule

Day 3

Breakfast

Morning: The Royal Krakow – sightseeing of the Old Town

Free time

Afternoon: Salt Mine in Wieliczka

Free time

Dinner

Day 4

Breakfast

Departure (drive by coach to the airport/railway station)