Blogs from Lesser Poland, Poland, Europe - page 11

My final weekend of my travels during my midterm break was to Krakow Poland. This served as a good home base to get out to Auschwitz and it is a beautiful city. Poland has long been a very religious place, especially Catholic, and walking through Krakow it is evident. Everywhere I looked there was a church. This is all helped by the fact that Pope John Paul II was Polish and attended school in Krakow and would later become its Archbishop. On my first real day in Krakow, I took a free walking tour of the Old City and our guide told us that 95% of Poles consider themselves Catholic and about 60% attend church regularly. By far the largest percentages in Europe. My walking tour on my first day started out on the main market ... read more

Many cities have extraordinary legends but Krakow is special, it has magical tales about its history. The history is everywhere, you can touch it every corner around you when you walk in this medievel city that brings you back in time. I love Poland, I was in many interesting places in the country but I especially love Krakow - its magic and lovely atmoshpere attract me all the time. I am so lucky, I visitied Krakow three times - and on every occassion I felt I got closer and closer to the secret of Krakow. It happened approximately 3,5 years ago in summer when we had a wonderful week in Krakow. It was a family trip actually with my husband, Zoli and my brothers, Csabi and Ricsi. It was great being together in this magnificant city ... read more

For English scroll down. Naszym kolejnym celem był Beskid Niski. Właściwie tylko dlatego, że chciałam w końcu odwiedzić koleżankę, która z mężem stworzyła tam Buczynową Dolinę. Wcześniej nie słyszałam wiele o tej części Karpat. Buczynową opiszę w osobnym poście bo warto jej poświęcić więcej uwagi. W każdym razie to właśnie do Wapiennego ruszyliśmy w czasie styczniowych ferii. Po drodze zatrzymaliśmy się w Tarnowie – „małopolskiej perle renesansu”. Faktycznie stare miasto jest urocze. Trafiliśmy też na wystawę „W bursztynowej pułapce” poświęconej bursztynowi, jego powstaniu i tym, co można w bursztynie znaleźć. Michał bardzo interesuje się owadami, jak on sam mówi „robaczkami”, więc wystawa okazała się dla niego nie lada gratką. Największą atrakcją były eksponaty, które można było oglądać pod mikroskopem – roztocza, mszyce, małe... read more

Tuesday- Walking tour of Old Town Krakow great breakfast – boiled egg -with assortment of awesome breads & croissant -with raspberry jam almost as good as grandma’s -coffee and steamed milk Ahhhh! Near miss with a crooked money changer he handed me nearly half what I was expecting I said no and he yelled at me to read! He gave my money back and I sighed with relief I did read more careful next time – and only choose English signs Walking tour of Old Town Krakow – highlights Used Rick Steves’ guidebook Made it just in time to watch the opening of St. Mary’s church alterpiece – 11:50am vast, beautiful gothic carvings revealed each morning put to rest each night St. Francis church has amazing Polish art neveau -walls painted with familiar flowers: pansies, cornflowers… ... read more

Jehn dohbrih (hello) Departure Overnight train Minsk to Warsaw leaves at 9:45pm Rushing to the train – by bus and tram or subway from our apartment determined by bus number and how long to stand in the dark and cold No 34 bus, so finally chose the 46 bus which meant a tram. Think… was it the 4 and 1 or 3 tram that goes to the train station the 3 tram showed up first. Cold made us choose. half-way there a wrong turn – dang, hop off and run to the other track wait in the cold, finally the 4 tram to the train station. Tip – don’t arrive too early at the train station. It is not like an airport where you need to be super early. No check in and trains run on ... read more