#billsmale Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

January 11, 2026January 11, 2026

Vilnius museums

KGB detention center

Lithuania is a great place to visit. The main city which is Vilnius as a lot of very interesting things to see including museums. But you will find also that it is not a very expensive city and the people are extremely nice and interested in speaking with everybody which makes it extremely adventurous. I started off going to the KGB detention center which is partly recreated but a lot of it is still intact.

Detention center description Vilnius museums

Painting over walls Bill Smale — In one of the cells there is an explanation that they have been painted up to 18 times over former paint because the inmates draw messages on the walls so they just repaint the wall. This is a portion of a wall which was painted over many times

Interesting attitude — This guy was imprisoned here and probably killed but I thought this photo of him was an interesting attitude

Visitors looking around — The whole way along the cells with visitors looking around

Guard room — The wardens area and relaxation room for the guards

Samuel Bak Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bak

samuel’s father created some art before he was killed.

The Jewish quarter — Drawings of the Jewish Quarter in Vilnius

Early artwork — One of Samuel’s early artwork

one museum mentioned the way the NAZIs took care of the Jews in the Balkin states, they didn’t move them to any concentration camp, they just took them out into the woods dug a big hole, killed them and pushed the bodies into the hole.

Palace Museum

Sigismund the Old and Central Europe

In its conflicts with Lithuania, Muscovy often received support from the Habsburgs, so Sigismund the Old endeavoured to reach an accommodation with the Holy Roman Empire. Sigismund the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania; his brother Wladyslaw Jagiellon, King of Bohemia and Hungary; and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I met in Vienna at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515. They decided to arrange marriages between the children of Wladyslaw and the grandchildren of Maximilian I. This would allow the Habsburgs to accede to the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia after the deaths of Wladyslaw and his son Louis (1516-1526). This concession helped Sigismund the Old end Habsburg support of Muscovy. Emperor Maximilian I returned the favour by facilitating the betrothal of Sigismund the Old to Bona Sforza. Sigismund the Old tried to present Lithuania to Europe as a bastion of Catholicism. He asked the Pope to canonise his deceased brother Casimir. In this way, he hoped to preclude any alliances between Muscovy and Europe’s Catholic lands – primarily those of the Habsburgs and the Teutonic Order. In forming dynastic unions with the most powerful royal families of Europe, and with the support of Poland and Lithuania, the Jagiellonian dynasty nurtured a grandiose plan of creating a huge union of states under their rule in Central and Southeastern Europe. The Jagiellonians came closest to this goal in 1471-1526, when four states were under their rule: Lithuania, Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. Later the Jagiellons’ influence in the region waned. The last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia, Louis II, the grandson of Casimir Jagiellon and son of Wladyslaw Jagiellon, died in the Battle of Mohács against the Turks in 1526. His sudden death critically changed the situation in Central Europe. A large part of Hungary ended up under Ottoman control. Since the fallen young king did not leave an heir, in accord with the agreement reached in I515 at the First Congress of Vienna, the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones went to the Habsburg dynasty.

Old foundation — The old foundation of the palace which was destroyed. The palace and museum which is here now is something that was rebuilt recently as a museum

Map of the new palace — The evident buildings are what is there now and the faint images are what used to be part of the old palace

Old things — Some old things found in the foundation

Original palace — A map of the original palace

Swirls — Interesting artwork which reminded me of the swirls prevalent in Japanese and very old Celtic artwork

Old footwear — Two smashing footwear seemed to be almost always the prevalent fashion

Something old for fun — Something for fun on one of the old furnaces

Italian throne — An old throne procured from Italy

German armor — I recognized this immediately as German. I think it’s because of the black color

January 2, 2026January 2, 2026

Walking around Krakow

if you visit Poland I highly recommend this as the top one or two cities to visit. You will need at least two days, maybe three days if you’re going to visit the concentration camps which in themselves are a whole day tour.

Hey beautiful model around Krakow — A beautiful model

Musician around Krakow — A very good accordion musician. I will insert a video below.

Heated restaurant around Krakow — Nightlife in a heated area outside the restaurant

Getting around town — This is one way to get around town. People would definitely watch you. Below is the video.

Main square Bill Smale — The main square

A lot of people — Even at night time there were huge crowds for the Christmas celebration

Chapel domes — Beautiful domes as part of the chapel

Castle courtyard decorations Bill Smale — Beautiful artwork inside the castle courtyard

Castle Courtyard Bill Smale — The castle courtyard

speakers stand Bill Smale — From this store an important person can appear and direct people in the courtyard

Make a Polish word — Add “SKI“ to a word and it becomes Polish.

Schindler’s list alleyway — This alleyway was in the movie Schindler‘s list

These are Hare Krishna musicians. I haven’t seen them for maybe 45 years. The last time was in the San Francisco airport.

Main square tower — The main square tower

Religious store — There are a member of shops like this selling religious artifacts

Shopping arcade — A shopping arcade. I have been in so many of them I can tell you exactly what’s inside without going in

Famous guy — You can look him up if you like. Obviously he was famous

Beautiful architecture krakow — Beautiful architect

A beautiful model — Another beautiful model

Another English word with “SKI” making it a Polish word

Beautiful Christmas tree — This photo just turned out nice

Beautiful decoration at the train station — As you get off the train this was the first thing I saw. Very beautiful

Traveling Christmas tree — The roving Christmas tree pulled by an old trolley car. It went all around the city

Concerning barbershop name — a strange name for a barbershop but the razor in the logo gives me a little concern combined with the shop name

Kids having fun — Kids were having fun with this famous bronze statue

A Jewish bookshop and tour agency which is kind of interesting. It looked closed when I was there so I didn’t bother to try togo inside

December 31, 2025December 31, 2025

Religious Krakow

The city is interesting from a religious perspective since there have been a lot of different groups passing through, staying and then moving on. The best known of these groups is the Jewish population that has been here for so many hundreds of years, was expelled, came back, was working closely with the governing people and then again on the wrong side of governance. The Jewish quarter in this city has a lot of memorial areas worth visiting. You should take the time to walk around, go in the synagogues and look at all the different buildings, markings and signs. From that perspective this is a very interesting city. The Christian churches are also fascinating. The most interesting might be the one at the castle which is a separate paid entrance but very worth the time.

Prayers Religious Krakow — This is a nice place to just sit and think

Supporters Religious Krakow — The outside wall to the synagogue indicating supporters

Synagogue model Bill Smale — This is the model of the synagogue

Corpus Christi Basilica Bill Smale — The Corpus Christi Basilica

Ornate Bill Smale — It’s very ornate inside

The elite seats — This is where the elite of the church Sit for ceremonies

One of the bells inside Sigismund’s Chapel in the castle area

Chapel Tower view — View of the city from the chapel Tower

This is the famous Sigismund’s Chapel Bell

Bishop’s grave — This is the last famous bishop of the city

Saint Peter’s — Saint Peter and Paul’s Cathedral

Pipe organ — This is quite a beautiful pipe organ

Church model — Model of the church on the outside

December 29, 2025December 29, 2025

Bankin’ on Banksy

I bet you didn’t think a place to see Banksy Art was in Poland but if you go to Krakow, across from the supermarket where I bought my food, I noticed there was a big sign for the Banksy museum. It wasn’t expensive so I decided to go in and see what few works of art they have but actually they had quite a few. Here are the ones I found entertaining.

Modern love in Banksy — This is love in the new generation

Go home Bill Smale — They needed better weapons

Naked Bill Smale — Out in the nick of time

Gorilla Bill Smale — A very intelligent gorilla

December 26, 2025December 26, 2025

Short Warsaw Visit

I was surprised by Warsaw, such a huge and impressive city. But it wasn’t the quaint place I imagined so I saw what I found interesting and moved on to Krakow.

Palace of culture Strolling in Warsaw — The Palace of Culture and Science. What I like about this photo is it is almost as if the green building was highlighted in a black and white photo. The contrast is interesting.

construction Strolling in Warsaw — There is a lot of construction going on now.

Gheto map Strolling in Warsaw — One side of the Jewish Ghetto wall and a metal map of the extent of the Ghetto

jewish museum Bill Smale — The Jewish memorial museum demonstrating the history of the Jewish people in this area going back almost 1,000 years

Bill Smale Ghetto street — Simulating a Ghetto street in this massive museum. You can almost get lost here.

December 25, 2025December 25, 2025

Visiting Auschwitz

When you come to Poland it is a good idea to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau. It seems you need to book individual entry up to a month in advance and they probably put you in a group? Most everyone was in a group tour which is advisable since there is a progression of buildings to visit and the details are extremely important. The camp you visit is just one of many built to house and mass murder people. There were more than 900 concentration camps built for the NAZIs to house and kill their victims. You will see the living quarters, execution walls, extermination showers and all other buildings preserved by former victims housed here. You will see collections of clothes and personal things left from those killed there as well as tons of hair shaved off before execution, used to make coats and blankets.

Zyclone B canisters visit Auschwitz — Hydrogen Cyanide canisters left in piles after used to kill victims ushered in to “take showers”.. The rooms next to the showers were incinerators to burn the bodies. Some of the ash was used as fertilizer .

cold morning visit Auschwitz — We arrived at 7:00 and waited 30 minutes in freezing weather for the gates to open. Our bus picked us up and returned us to Krakow. The recommended tour company was Hellow Cracow and they performed well. I paid about US$63 for the 7 hour tour

Baracks — One of the buildings. In the first camp the premises were built for the Polish army and taken over by the Germans.

extensive camp — A huge camp housing up to 70,000 victims

map — Places where people were taken from after 1941. Before 1942 the camp was used to house Polish elite

electric fence — One touch of this electrified fench would kill. Some victims committed suicide this way.

bunker for extermination Bill Smale — Shower and incinerator bunker entrance.

entrance Bill Smale — The famous mass one way transport entrance

houses Bill Smale — Many mouses between the camp and the woods were used to house victims before the camp was finished. Birkenau was built from the ground up for mass extermination. The incinerators were blown up by the Germans so approaching Russians would not have evidence.

guide Bill Smale — Our guide, a train car and a watch tower

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

Poznan, Poland in winter

Poznan in winter is still a small town. But it’s almost halfway from the German border to Warsaw so it seemed like a good place to stop over for a few days, see how the trains work and cut the trip to Warsaw in half.

Good food Poznan in winter — This was a very delicious pork with potatoes and sauerkraut with cheese on top and a few tomatoes

Ukrainian food Poznan in winter — This was in a Ukrainian restaurant and that shows the different specialties in different parts of Ukraine

Japanese pronunciation Poznan in winter — “Recycling“ in Polish looks like the same pronunciation as Japaneseリサイクリング

Street decoration Poznan in winter — Just some decorations to light up the street

Hawaiian Poké bowl is now universal but it’s not really poke. It’s kind of like somebody from Vietnam trying to create Japanese food. In Europe Poké bowl seems to be anything that’s in a bowl and on top of rice.

Old car — It’s nice to see this old Citro end

Tower of peace — The tower of peace in the park

Peace — Declaring Poland as a peaceful country

Old buildings — Beautiful older buildings

Main cathedral — The main cathedral is absolutely beautiful inside

Ballet school entrance — The entranceway to a ballet school

Ice festival — Time for the ice festival but this year it’s very warm and so the ice is melting

Ice sculpture sponsored by a Canadian and a Spaniard

Art deco — It was interesting to see some art deco architecture

Music entertainment — This was a little music entertainment for the kids

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

Exploring Segovia

exploring Segovia is easy from Madrid. It’s a very short ride, less than an hour, and after you visit this town you can go back through Madrid to Toledo for a very short train ride there as well. One main feature of Segovia, of course, is the aqueduct where you will start your journey into the old town.

Madrid terminal exploring Segovia — Just to show you how much building is going on at the Madrid Central train terminal

Jewish area exploring Segovia — This is the old Jewish area

Calamari — I went to a small bar, not a tourist place, and had very good quality calamari and a salad

In early December they are putting up Christmas decorations

Vaulted ceiling — The cathedral voltage ceiling somewhat reminiscent of Gaudi’s work

The Alcazar is another “must see” palace in Segovia

Priest robe — These priests robes look somewhat Chinese

Gold and silver — Golden silver decoration maybe to hold something

Gigantic entryway — These gigantic entrance doors are reminiscent of the palaces in Italy. They are large enough for men on horseback to enter

Old building — Just an interesting old building

Ornate ceiling — Unbelievably ornate ceiling

Moorish influence — You can see the Moor influence in this depiction

Palace view — A view from the palace. I think this is the monastery

Works of art ceiling — Many of the ceilings are just amazing works of art

Tapas cookbook — In the gift shop you can learn how to cook tapas

Shop — A shop in the Jewish sector selling menorah?

One of the very famous Jewish supporters of the monarchy

Steak — The steak looks very delicious but it was sinuey

Horse steps — These large steps were good for horses

Tunnel — The tunnel under the road to the cemetery

Jewish caverns — This is the cemetery. It is a group of caverns chiseled out from the rock

View of the city — A view looking back at the city

Graveyard view — Looking at the graveyard

Burger restaurant — Kind of a strange sign but in Europe the burger is extremely popular

Administration building — A night view of an administration building

Outfit — Can you imagine having to walk in this outfit

Knight on horse — The complete outfitting of a knight and his horse

December 15, 2025December 16, 2025

Exploring Toledo

as I mentioned in the previous post on Toledo it is definitely one of the “must see“ cities in Spain. It’s a very short train ride from Madrid which is more expensive so you may want to stay here in a very beautiful old town atmosphere and take a day trips into Madrid. I stayed in Grecco which is right above the gelato shop so on your way back to the very comfortable room you can stop in front and have a delicious gelato.

Old buildings exploring Toledo — the beautiful old buildings are everywhere

Towers exploring Toledo — There are a lot of little towers all over the city

Cheap food — This is a really good deal for a meal which you can have at the university cafeteria

Arab architecture — The Moorish architecture is everywhere

Morning breakfast — My favorite coffee shop for breakfast had an addition of a tostada which was a potato baked like a bread, very filling

Local designs which you can find in many many shops in the area

University sign — The sign outside the university

Beautiful crest — On top of the university entrance there is this beautiful crest with angels

Sword making shop — Swords and knives make very popular shops in this town. You will find them everywhere. I guess this guy will make one to your specification

Narrow — Many of the streets are very narrow

Town entrance — One of the entrances to the town

One of the gates. It’s important to note that Toledo is on a hill and so there is very little flat ground. You are either walking up or you are walking down

Front garden — I snuck a view into someone’s front garden

A church spire — One of the beautiful church spires

Wine with cigar — One day I sat in the Park area, smoked a cigar and drank wine out of my flask

Vegan lunch — A tasty vegetable salad with a vegan sausage

Small church — A small local church built on an ancient foundation

Old found — Layers in the old foundation

Ancient church — Remnants of the ancient church

Church courtyard — The main church courtyard

Monkey on a toilet — The comment for this was a monkey sitting on a toilet complaining. Evidently the architect had some sense of humor

Strange animal — This is a very weird animal

A human lodged in the stone — A human lodged headfirst in the stone

Entranceway decoration — Beautiful entranceway decoration

A corpse — Is this something they should have in a church? Maybe so since it revolves around a death

Mango on strawberry — Mangoon top of strawberry

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025

Toledo Jewish Quarter

there is a very interesting story about the Jewish quarter in Toledo indicating how powerful these people were in the Gothic and Moorish periods of Spanish history before the people took it back from the Moors. It seems the Islamic groups lived peacefully and with tolerance with the different religious groups but that was not to continue after the Christians took the territory from the Moors. The result was the inquisition in which non-Christians were obligated to convert or leave or worse. This area of the city is expensive and an extremely interesting and intricate part of Toledo. Visiting here is an absolute must if you come to the city.

Inside a synagogue — Inside one of the synagogues

The Jewish quarter in Toledo — This is a map of the city high on a hill. There is almost no flat area in the city so you’re either walking uphill or downhill.

The Sephardic people — The Jewish people who came to this area are called the Sephardic people. During the inquisition and after they moved out of Spain in large groups to the east and some all the way to Russia.

Gelato shop — Next to my accommodations at Grecco Rooms (very reasonably priced) was a gelato shop. If I remember correctly this one was coffee on top of chocolate mint.

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