I enjoyed very much this journey in Poland: beautiful landscapes and nice encounters.
The main market square of Cracow received each year about 12 millions of tourists: under the sqauare there is the museum of the Rynek and Justyna Kutrzeba tells the story of this market square. Adjacent to the Rynek there is the St-Mary's Basilica where Jan Sergiel, the clarion player plays each hour the notes of the "Heynal". In the same place the Wierzynek Palace is now a luxury luxury restaurant where the guests can remember the banquets of the kings of Poland.
Easter is a very important celebration in Poland: it's the time of the painted Easter eggs, the families prepare baskets with traditional food and go to the the church for the blessing of the baskets: in some village there are also competition of the best basket.
On Good Friday there is a great procession in the the sanctuary of Kalwaria Zebrydowka: a great moment of worship.
Then we travel to the Polish Tatras mountains: Zofia Kin is showing her embroideries.
Besides this area is full of forests which give wood and Jan Zieder is a sculptor of wooden statues.
The carpenters of the Tatras are famous for the building of wooden chalets.
Silesia was known for its coal mines: the architect Przemo Lukasik has bought an abandoned building and has installed there a great loft.
In the Brokat shop Bogna and her colleagues are selling jewels and cosmetic products made with coal: the coal sculptor Czeslaw Jurkiewicz is preparing the jewels in his workshop.
In Zabrze the Guido Company offers to the visitors to play the roles of miners in a coal mine ( a way to remember the historical heritage of the Silesia).
About music the disco polo is dominating in Poland: this music began in 1990 and is still strong: we see a clip of the "Cliver " Band: there are great debates about this popular music. Maciej Smolinski, is TV animator at Polo TV.
Gabi Drzewiecka, a journalist tells that disco polo is above all an entertainement music and that the audience have been faithful to the bands.
Before the Second World war the Jewish community was quite important: we see some pictures of the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most of the Jewish survivors have left Poland to settle in Israel. Nissan Tzur, a young Israeli journalist has come to live in Poland and helps in the revival of Jewish community in Cracow.
I enjoyed the encounters of Raphaël with Nicolas Rey (the visit of the Old town of Cracow), with Pierre Gaillard, with Andrzej Dziedzina and his spouse Maria Dziedzina, with Stanislaw Migdal the raft pilot, with Jakub Wieworka (the salt mine), with Szymon Styrczula-Masniak (the mountain guide), with the cheese-maker Maria Zych, with Florian and his family (the traditional folk music), with Justyna Kosmala (the Charlotte bakery) and with Ola Niepsuj (the graphic designer), very nice encounters with very kind Polish men and women.