The next part of the journey was an overnight train ride from Prague to Krakow, Poland. I was in a sleeper car- comfortable but crowded.

I checked into a fine hotel that was 90,000 zlotys a night, about $ 8.40.  Free elections were being held – Poland had the first free elections about a year before.

Walesa, one of two Poles responsible for the collapse of Communism , ( the other being Pope John Paul II) was President at the time, and lost the election.

Comrade Stalin on the line from Moscow !

Wawel Cathedral – Where John Paul II was Cardinal.

The Black Madonna.

The exchange rate was very advantageous for those with Western currency. Hotels for $ 8, lunch 25 cents, a dollar for dinner. I treated an entire bar of college students to a round of vodka for $2.50.

Train Schedule for all of Poland.

End of The Line – A Place of Pure Evil.

Auschwitz-Birkenau. I took far worse pictures that are inappropriate for this forum.

In October of 1990, just after official German Reunification, I traveled from Berlin, in the former East Germany, to Czechoslovakia ( now two nations) ,Poland,Hungary and Romania. While today the Eastern countries are much a part of the modern world, the East 20 years ago was a group of lands newly awakened from a long and stifling slumber.

In the next few days, ArcticTropic will feature a photo series  – Eastern Europe at the Fall Of Communism – to be interspersed with our regular adventure news and updates. Eastern European travel at the time was an adventurous undertaking, given the lack of infrastructure, the lack of any understanding of tourism and the unfamiliarity of many people with the outside world.

In the center of Europe, thanks to years of being cut off from the modern world, Poland boasts some of the world’s best deer hunting in primeval forests.

ArcticTropic links to 3 adventure travel destinations in Poland. CLICK HERE.