Visit the Scapa Flow naval base in Orkney Islands

For those interested in WWII Orkney has the most important naval base in England during the World Wars: Scapa Flow . Churchill had sent blocking sinking ships to create an impenetrable barrier against possible submarine attacks. Despite this, in 1939 the German submarine U-47 with Günther Prien in charge entered the base and sank the Royal Oak with a torpedo hit. This battleship hadn't been achieved in the previous war. It killed 833 crewmen. Three days after the attack, four bombers Junkers Ju 88 of the Luftwaffe bombed the base reaching the battleship HMS Iron Duke . After the attack, some roads were built to block the oriental entrances, known as " Churchill Barriers ".

HOW TO GET SCAPA FLOW?

Scapa Flow is in Lyness , in the east of the island of Hoy in the archipelago of the Orkney Islands , north of Scotland. View location map here .

• By plane: There are flights from Edinburgh or Aberdeen to Kirkwall Airport , the capital of the islands, operated by Loganair through http://www.flybe.com . You can book tickets here from 80 pounds the rounf  trip . Keep in mind that Kirkwall airport is on the island of Mainland so then we will have to take a ferry to Lyness on the island of Hoy . The ferry leaves from Houton and to get there from the airport, you have to go to West Castle Street where you can catch the bus number 2 (for details and schedules VISIT this page ). A better way (especially since you will visit many more places like the Italian Chapel ) is to rent a car at the airport. To view the route to the ferry click here . Once in Houton you can park your car there or pass it to Lyness on the ferry but the base is very close to the terminal so it's no needed. The price of the ferry is 4.5 pounds the normal ticket and 13.20 pounds if you go with the car. It takes 35 minutes to arrive. You can check schedules here .

• By ferry: It's a bit complicated because there isn't a direct ferry from Scotland to the base. Ferries depart from Aberdeen , Scrabster , Gills Bay .NorthLink Ferries connects three days a week Aberdeen to Kirkwall (Mainland). The journey takes just over seven hours and the ticket price is 17.30 pounds . From Scrabster we can get to Stromness (Mainland). There are up to three trips a day from Monday to Friday and two on Saturday and Sunday. The crossing time is approximately 90 minutes and the ticket of 14.10 pounds round trip. From Kirkwall, Stromness can be reached by bus. With Pentland Ferries can reach St Margaret's Hope (South Ronaldsay) in about 1 hour out from Gills Bay . There are three daily departures (four in summer) and the ticket costs 12 pounds . Once there to move between islands you can rent a car and move through Orkney's Ferry .

To plan routes, check timetables and Orkney's public transport this page will provide all the information: http://www.travelinescotland.com/journeyplanner/enterJourneyPlan.do?hss=0tokn105870488

 photo: Gregory J Kingsley

Memorials, monuments and museums in Washington DC, USA

HOW TO GET FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON?

I explain this because surely there are many people who do not know that you can go to Washington from New York and back the same day. If you wake up early enough, you'll have time to visit the most important places of the capital. It has nothing to do with New York, but it is a place full of history, perfectly maintained and offers plenty of cultural attractions.

• Tour. You can book a guided tour (about 13 hours) to visit the main places. Lots of agencies offer this possibility but I do not recommend it, especially if you are interested in the Second World War.

• Train. This is the most convenient but also the most expensive. If you catch an express train you can get Washington in 2h 45min . The price of this train is usually more than $ 300 round trip . The regular train takes 3h 20min and roundtrip ticket usually costs about $ 100 . All trains depart from Penn Station (next to Madison Square Garden). To buy tickets online: www.amtrak.com .

• Bus . There are plenty of bus companies that take us to Washington. An economic choice is Megabus (click here to go to the website). If you buy in advance you can get tickets for $ 8 . Sometimes out offers for less even. It has a few stops in New York and a fairly large departure schedule. The trip takes 4h 30min but there are even departures at 5 am to get there soon.

MOVE AROUND WASHINGTON 

You can consult here the transport network of the city. It has the timetables and routes of the metro and buses. The metro is a pretty comfortable option. Here you have the map of the lines. It reaches Maryland and Virginia.

WORLD WAR II VETERANS MEMORIAL (NATIONAL WWII MEMORIAL)

Location: here

Metro stop: Smithsonian (Orange and Blue lines).  

Website: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/

Open 24 hours.

This memorial was opened to the public in 2004. It was built almost entirely by private contributions. They obtained more than 197 million dollars in donations from citizens, associations, foundations, veterans, organizations and even students (some schools raised funds for the cause). For more information please visit their official website .

This memorial is considered one of the most important American WWII monuments. It has received visits from major veterans ​​and even Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg did a little tribute to the veterans there for the promotion of The Pacific .

Krakow Part I: Visit Plaszow, the Liban Quarry and the house of Amon Goeth

HOW TO GET PLASZOW FROM KRAKOW?

It's located 1.5 km away from the Ghetto Square, but it's a little far from the city center and taking into account that once we get there you'll have to keep walking, the best option is public transport. Several trams reach the camo: the 3, 6, 9, 13, 23 and 24 (depending on where you take it). You'll have to get off at the cemetery Podgórski (cmentarz Podgórski). 

If you take the tram in the square of the ghetto, for example, this is the path that it follows (click here ). You have to to get off at point B. 

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Once there, the best route to choose is this (click here to see the map):

A. Tram stop

B. Amon Goeth House . Walk few meters through Wielicka street from the tram stop (leaving the graveyard behind) until you find Jerozolimska street on the right. Go through this and climbed straight on to the beginning of Wiktora Heltmana where you can find the house on the right side. You can see it in the street view.

C. Plaszow Memorial. Following along the way we found several entries of the camp. The one that I indicate will take you to the memorial.

D. Liban Quarry. Continuing along the marked path to a cliff where you will find yourself in front of the old factory. Skirting the cliff you can reach the entry.

If you have time, just few steps from the factory, you have the mount of Prince Krak or Krakus dating from the seventh century. It is said that there is buried the founder of Krakow.

 Panoramic view with the factory and the mound.

THE CONCENTRATION CAMP OF PLASZOW

Built in 1942 as a camp of work, in 1943 was expanded to become concentration camp where Jews were deported from the Krakow ghetto. It's the camp that appears in the film Schindler's List.

 The field in 1943.

At the present there are just few remains of what it was, as it was totally destroyed. There are still a few posts up.

 

Complete guide to visit Montecassino

The Battle of Montecassino was a series of four assaults by the allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by the Germans and Italians. The intention was to get Rome. The German defenders were finally driven from their position, but it took so long from 17 January to 18 May 1944.

HOW TO GET MONTECASSINO FROM ROME

The first thing you have to know is that to go up to the abbey, visit the memorials, cemeteries, etc.. you will need a car. To reach Cassino from Rome there are two options:

• By train -> there is a train running from the Termini station in Rome. There is almost every hour and takes an hour and half to get to the station Cassino. To check out tickets and timetables you can visit www.trenitalia.com . The advance sale of tickets will only be available 7 days before departure of the train. If you go by train then you will have to rent a car there. There is an office of Hertz to 1.5 km from the station (you can see the location here ) and another from Avis to 2 km ( here ). You will have to book your car in advance because these offices have very few cars.

• By car from Rome -> Leaving Rome, take the highway towards Naples and also takes an hour and a half (if you can find the highway in a reasonable period of time). Once the road is located practically a straight line, we'll just look at the exit Cassino. If you clic here you can check the route with directions. I would advise hiring a car in Rome but be aware that driving in Italy is crazy and reaching the highway is a mess. 

THE ABBEY

Location: here
Website: http://www.montecassino.it/
Opening hours: 8:00-12:00 and 15:30-17:00

Free admission.

Parking fee: 2 euros

The way up to the abbey is signposted throughout the town, so  it's so easy to find it. Inside the abbey you can find some of the sculptures that survived the bombings of 1944 and you can see the damage caused by the shrapnel. The abbey was rebuilt after the war.

The abbey after the bombings of 1944 and today. 

We can see the door to peace.

 Sculpture with shrapnel damage.

It has a beautiful courtyard and the views are spectacular. From here we can see the Polish cemetery.

Views from the abbey. Polish cemetery.