Planning a fall trip to Poland and will have 3 days in Krakow. My ancestors come from Nowy Sacz, Stary Sacz, Grybow & Niemieczka Dabrowka (?). I looking for recommendations on hiring a car with English speaking driver to take me to those towns. Or is there a better way to go? I'll be looking for ancestry records, cemetaries, and just the feel of the land.
Krakow Poland -recommendations for car & English speaking driver
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nowociju,
you will undoubtedly enjoy Krakow, and in normal circumstances there would most probably be no need for a driver. We were there for 3 days and managed to get around very well, with hardly a word of Polish, and those we knew we probably mispronounced.
However with your specialist needs i can see that it would be useful. i would have thought that the tourist information office would be the place to start.
incidentally, have you only 3 days for the whole stay in that area, or are you researches and explorations to be in additional time? 3 days is barely enough to explore Krakow alone, let alone to do the exploring that you want to do.
I would start my contacts with Marta and her husband. She is a guide and he is a driver.
If you want an informational tour while you travel Marta is someone I have used and I very much enjoyed my time with her.
She has her own sort of mini van and is also a liscensed tour guide in Poland. She speaks wonderful English.
martachm@op.pt.
I found her name in a Rick Steves guide but do not hold that against her if you are not a fan of his. She is a wonderful guide.
I think you should have a guide, not only a driver since a driver may or may not point out interesting sights along the way. If you do hire only a driver make sure he/she will help you access the records; generally a driver only takes you to a place, nothing more and you need to do the rest yourself. If you do not speak Polish you'll have a problem as people in rural areas will not speak English.
I agree with Sher - I used Marta twice while in Krakow and was very pleased.
Thanks, great advice. I will contact Marta & see what she can do for me.
Just tried to send an email to Marta but it bounced back as undeliverable.
martachm@op.pt <martachm@op.pt>; is this the correct email?
Thanks again.
This is the latest email I have for Marta. I guess she changed her email address and I didn't notice the address sher used.
martachm7@gmail.com
nowociju. Sorry, I have both addresses but I guess the one I gave you is no longer valid.
I hope you get in touch with her. I really like her.
Just wondering: .pt is the domain name for Portugal. Could it be .pl (for Poland)?
Gordon - the gmail address I gave above is correct. And you are correct as to the "PL" rather than "PT."
You can also visit her web page which shows both email addresses:
http://www.privateguideinkrakow.com/
Thank you, I have sent an email.
Hi nowociju, while in Krakow, you could also go to Wieliczka salt mine - it's near Krakow and very worth visiting.
And you need only about 3 hours for it.
See the official site: www.kopalnia.pl
By the way, I think that one of the places of your roots is written Dabrowka Niemiecka (which means "German Dabrowka"), not "Niemieczka"
PS
I'm using the profile of the tour company I work for, but if you had any further questions about Krakow itself - I'm in the city, so just send me a private message at: kam.mucha[at]gmail.com