Kraków

Now that it's been seven months since my trip to Kraków last September, I figured I would go ahead and write about it. Perhaps it's not fresh in my memory, but I'd at least like to document it here in some way, and to share the pictures I took.

The trip got off to an interesting start when I almost didn't board my bus. I was at the bus station waiting, but I didn't see my bus anywhere. It got to about three minutes before we were scheduled to leave, and I still couldn't figure out what was going on. Finally, I took my ticket over to a man who was in charge of one of the buses and showed it to him, hoping he could tell me where I was supposed to be. I'm lucky I did, because that was my bus, and it was about to leave! I hadn't recognized it because all the information about the destination was in cyrillic. It must have been stopping in Kraków en route to Russia or the Ukraine. 

Once safely on board, I did what I do best on road trips - fall asleep. I would awaken for the intermittent stops at isolated petrol stations. Apparently in the rural areas of the Czech Republic and Poland, petrol station parking lots double as bus stations. Sometimes a new passenger would board or a few would disembark. On my return trip, I had to switch buses at one of these lonely stations.

I slept through most of the trip, but it got dramatic toward the end of the journey when an epileptic man had a fit on the bus. He started convulsing, and hit his head on the window a few times. It was pretty scary. He was getting sick everywhere too. It started to smell terrible, and I was relieved when we rolled into Kraków and I was able to escape the confines of the bus. As I remember it was a sunny late afternoon. I set off to find my hostel.

Sunset view out the window at my hostel

Pretty Polish złoty

After I dropped my bags off in my room I wandered around for a little while, but it was already getting dark by then. I wandered into the Jewish Quarter, Kazimierz, which was close by my hostel. The architecture in Kraków is not terribly different from Prague, but the city definitely has its own feel. Especially Kazimierz, which is now a very artsy area with many popular restaurants, clubs and art galleries. It has a grungy sort of atmosphere about it, which my tour guide of the area a couple of days later suggested was no accident; he said the area prides itself on this aesthetic. 

The first night, after grabbing something to eat and walking around for a while I went back to the hostel and worked on my Italy blog before going to sleep. I also perused the tourist information available at the hostel and found some information about a free walking tour of the Old Town, which sounded like a good idea. I decided I would do that first thing the next day, and I went to bed. I can't remember the name of the guy who slept in the bed next to me at the hostel - he was friendly and was from England. Other than that, all I can remember is that he talks in his sleep. A lot. It was pretty amusing. 

I woke up the next day and headed to the Historic Center for the tour, which was meeting in front of St. Mary's Church. We waited for about ten minutes for the group to assemble, then we were split into two groups, each with our own guide, and we headed out to see the old portion of the city. The guy who slept next to me at the hostel was also on my tour, so we had a chance to chat a bit while we walked around. Our tour guide was Maciek. He was funny and knew a ton of stuff about the city - apparently, in order to be a tour guide in Poland you have to have a license, and in order to get your license you have to pass a ridiculously difficult test. These regulations are left over from Communism, but they ensured that both the tour guides I had in Kraków really knew their stuff.

St. Mary's Church

I read that Kraków's Market Square is the largest medieval square in Europe. I wasn't particularly struck by its size, but more by its beauty. While the Czechs certainly have a habit of painting their buildings interesting colors, they normally fall into the pastel range, while the buildings in Kraków are painted in a range of tones that are both bright and earthy. My eyes were caught by the mossy greens, mustard yellows, and burnt oranges all around the square. 

Kraków was originally a fortified city, surrounded by a wall with 46 towers, seven huge gates, and a moat.  Today, most of the walls and gates have been destroyed, and the moats were filled with soil and turned into gardens which ring the old city center. One of the fortified outposts that originally stood guard over the city remains, and it is known as the Kraków barbican. It lies near the beginning of The Royal Road, which cuts straight through the Old Town. The Royal Road was the coronation route taken by royalty from St. Florian's church to the castle, Wawel.

We weaved our way from the barbican back through Market Square and toward the hill where the castle lies overlooking the city and the Vistula river. On our way, we stopped to see the window where the Polish Pope John Paul II would look out and address the people when he stayed in Kraków. We also saw the Collegium Maius, the "oldest building of learning" in Poland. We heard an awful story about all of the college professors being sent to concentration camps during the Nazi regime as part of their what they referred to as "Sonderaktion Krakau". 

The tour ended at the castle, dominated by Wawel Cathedral, which looks like a collection of chapels from a bunch of different cathedrals from different places and times, all cut off and assembled together. Also interesting is the legend of the Wawel Chakra. According to I know not precisely who, there is a place on Wawel hill which is one of the world's strongest sources of energy on Earth. Just as there are seven chakras in the human body, there are seven of these chakra centers around the globe - Rome, Jerusalem and Delhi are also frequently claimed as chakra sites. As the chakra idea has all sorts of occult and mystical connotations, this idea has been discouraged by the Catholic Church. The chapel that lies directly over the chakra is not open to the public, and the courtyard outside is gated and locked. You won't see any signs or blurbs about it on the grounds. The closest one can come to the chakra is a wall on the other side of the courtyard, which has been worn smooth and darkened by the friction of the faithful over the years.

After the tour ended, Maciek, the tour guide, asked me if I wanted to get some lunch. Seeing as how I had no plans and plenty of time, I accepted. We had lunch at a little restaurant down by the Market Square, and then I went back to the hostel and had a nice nap. Later on, I met back up with Maciek and we walked around Kazimierz. I got a zapiekanka, a fabulous Polish grilled baguette sandwich. I managed to get some of it in my mouth, and it was delicious. Kraków is home to the factory of Oskar Schindler, and many of the scenes from the movie Schindler's List were filmed there. When I told Maciek I had read the book but I hadn't seen the movie, he told me I had to watch it immediately. We headed to his apartment to watch the film, but on the way we randomly crossed path with an old friend of his, Eva, who he hadn't seen for years. She owns some apartments in the city that she rents out to tourists and visitors. She told Maciek a couple of her current tenants were looking for a tour guide for the next day, so he made arrangements to show them around the next day.

Facefull of zapiekanka

My screening of Schindler's List prepared me for the next day's tour of the Jewish Quarter, the Ghetto and Schindler's factory. Schindler's factory is now a museum. It reminds me very much of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. After I finished touring, I joined Maciek, who had been guiding other people around the city all day. We joined his friend Eva and her tenants, Trapp and Sefi, for dinner. Trapp and Sefi were really interesting people. Sefi is the son of Polish immigrants to Israel. It was his first trip to Poland, and he had brought his friend Trapp who is an American but lives and works in Singapore. They were really funny and cool to talk to. Also, they make a ton of money and insisted on paying for everything - and I mean everything - everywhere we went they seemed to order "one of everything". Certainly a bit of a change from the frugal travel dining I am accustomed to. That night, we ate at a traditionally Polish restaurant. I had pierogi, and there was of course some obligatory pork knuckle to sample. 

This stairway was in one of the famous scenes of Schindler's List

Ghetto Wall

The next day I mostly spent wandering around with nowhere in particular to go (one of my favorite things to do in an unknown city). I popped in and out of the many of the city's second hand stores, which are far superior to Prague's in quantity, quality and price. I found some nice bargains. Later in the day I went to see the interior of St. Mary's Cathedral. Even after the dozens of cathedrals I had toured in Italy a couple of weeks before, I found that St. Mary's was totally different than any I had seen before. The style is very distinct. I managed to snap a couple of clandestine pictures before I was "caught" be one of the employees. To be fair, I didn't realize I needed a special badge to take pictures.

Again that evening we met Eva, Trapp and Sefi for dinner. This time we went to a little restaurant with Polish and French food. I had roasted duck, which was delicious. We also had one of every appetizer on the menu. We took our time and talked a lot. Sefi had decided that he wanted to move from Israel to Kraków. I don't know if he actually did it, but he seemed very enchanted by the place and inspired by the idea. 

Pretty church I found on one of my walks

The next day I had to catch my bus back to Prague. Before I left, I returned to the square in Kazimierz with the zapiekanka stands, and indulged in another of the foot-long sandwiches. This time I got one with spicy chicken and corn. Yum. I wandered around the city a little more, taking my time getting to the bus station. The ride back to Prague was uneventful. As we drove through tiny Polish towns and villages on our way back to the Czech/Polish border, I noticed that their cemeteries are extremely beautiful. They are all laden with brightly colored flowers and meticulously tended. They made for a nice last view of Poland as I headed back to Prague to begin the new school year.