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Published: October 9th 2009
Travelling with Graham and Lynnie, friends we had met travelling in South America, we made a 3am start to the glorious Stansted. The early morning paid dividends when we arrived at Krakow airport and were greeted with glorious sunshine - yippee!
We made our way to our hostel - Elephant on the Moon - which was situated on the outskirts of Krakow town centre. It was more like a B&B with spotless rooms and a gargantuous breakfast awaiting our arrival, complete with tinned Spam and various Polish processed food delicacies which the brave amongst us tried.
Not to waste any time, we parked our bags and walked into the centre of Krakow along the River Wisla which meanders around the city. Our first stop was a climb up to Wawel Hill, home to a grand castle, and cathedral that used to be the residence of Polish Kings for over 500 years. It was wonderful to bask in the sunshine whilst walking amidst the ornate historic buildings. Rumour has it that Wawel Hill was once terrorised by a dragon - we actually saw a fire breathing dragon at the base of the castle, as it was made out of iron
we were not too scared!
We rewarded our walk into town with a cooling pint of beer in the main square - Rynek Glowny - measuring 200m² it is the largest square in Poland, allegedly Europe. The square is the focal point of Krakow where tourists congregate and market stalls and buskers guarantee a vibrant atmosphere, surrounded by numerous café so it also makes an easy resting point.
An hourly tradition is the appearance of a bugler at the top of St Mary’s Church, in the corner of the square. The bugling stops mid-bar to commemorate the memory of a 13th century watchman who was felled by an arrow in the middle of his bugling - oh dear!
After a quick afternoon nap back at our hostel we took the tram back into town to sample some of Polish’s finest cuisine - we were excited at the prospect as were informed that the restaurant we were going to was the best place to try the local delicacies.
As we pondered the menu, we began to salivate, not sure whether what we had chosen was going to deliver against our mouth-watering vision of our feast ahead. We
sampled Peirogi ‘boiled dumplings’ filled with meat, peasant’s meat stew, lots of Sauerkraut ‘pickled cabbage’ and more dumplings...suffice to say it was our last Polish meal…
… with full tummies, we felt it only appropriate to finish the evening with a nightcap. We were lucky to stumble upon an outdoor café where they wrapped you in blankets whilst you drink a hot beer and sampled the local Polish vodka or Bailey’s - my girlie nightcap of choice.
Saturday was spent visiting Auschwitz, situated approx 1 hour away from Krakow. All visitors have to join a 3 hour tour which is split between the smaller concentration camp, Auschwitz - mostly intact since the liberation of the camp in 1945, and the larger camp Birkenau - where some 1.5m people were exterminated. The tour was very well done - we were all given earphones so we could hear the guide remotely and could wander if we wanted to, the only disappointment was an annoying American women that chose to shout down the microphone of our guide at the most inappropriate moments. Viewing the evidence from the genocide it was horrifying to imagine what the prisoners went through and their terrible
fate, however sombre, the day trip is a definite must for anybody visiting Krakow.
Knowing what we knew, we played it safe and opted for pizza on our final night and sampled some of Krakow’s nightlife - a club called Opium where locals (and us) enjoyed the delights of Sabrina’s ‘Boys Boys Boys’ and Propaganda - a cool bar whose walls are adorned with abstract ornaments such as old record players.
Sunday was spent whiling away the hours wandering around the flea markets of the Jewish quarter ‘Kazimierz’, the main square and the former ghetto on the south of the river. It was not all hard work, we had numerous café stops and rested our weary legs atop a horse drawn carriage - my lifelong wish eventually came true! It was like something out of Dom Jolly but I thought good fun (think I may have been alone though!)
We enjoyed Krakow immensely, it’s clean, fairly cheap, vibrant and it was sunny, the Krakowians seem happy too with numerous lovebirds rubbing noses with each other - and that is no joke! There is plenty to do - we made a good start but there were other sights
to see - apparently the Ethnographical Museum and the Wieliczka Salt Mines are worth a visit - enjoy!
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anonymous
non-member comment
I love the picture of you dressed as a beer Sal!