Last day in Krakow

Thursday 22nd March

I hadn't slept well the night before, but this was our last day and we were meant to be out of our rooms by 10. Luckily packing was easy and the hotel was happy to store our luggage until our departure.

Our first stop was Wawel Hill, site of the old cathedral and castle complex. Although it was possible to walk the distance, we thought it would be fun to use our Krakow cards and try out the trams. The hotel receptionist marked our maps suitably, and we set off for the tram stop. The system was easy, though on a later journey I had trouble getting OUT of the tram. It turns out that the button we Australians and Brits would use to ask the driver to stop, is the one used to open doors on the trams. Oops! Thank you to helpful passengers everywhere who help ignorant tourists.

We walked around Wawel Hill and explored the old cathedral. The hill is a mixture of old buildings and newer ones in Hapsburg Imperial style (so very regular). I enjoyed the unpredictability of the older style.

By the time we'd finished here, it was time for coffee and a snack. The castle coffee shop had a special offer on. For less than the price of a cake, we could get coffee and cake. This little snack cost us about £2.50 each! From the British perspective, food in Poland is very cheap, though to those on Polish wages it is expensive.

Once again we separated. Marian wanted to visit the Jewish quarter, specifically to look at an antique market we had seen on the tour on our first day. I wanted to continue our walk around the Planty. We had done the top quarter the previous day but I thought it would be good to continue. I took the tram back to our starting point, near the hotel, and started walking along. Unfortunately I took a wrong turning at one point and found that once again I had climbed Wawel Hill! I had a lovely view down on the river and the lower section of the Planty (complete with dragon statue) and enjoyed another view of the castle as I walked around and downhill to rejoin the Planty.

I enjoyed my walk, and it didn't take long to get back to the place where we had stopped the day before. From there it was only a 2-minute walk into the market square. I found that preparations for Easter markets were even more advanced. These stalls (which I assume are also used for Christmas markets) were in the process of having basketwork decorations added.

The other end of the square had goods for sale under large umbrellas. These were set up each day and only removed about 9pm. Goods for sale were made from brightly-coloured grasses and natural objects like pine cones and eggs. Marian was told by one stall holder that they are put in the house and kept for the year in order to bring happiness. I would have loved to buy a few items, but could not see how I could get them home safely without crushing them.

After buying a lovely velvet embroidered bag for my phone in the cloth market stalls, I had another cappuccino and sat and read and relaxed. After all, it was 2.30 and I'd been on the go for four hours. I eventually had to leave my comfy spot as someone sat down nearby with strong perfume, and I started to feel nauseous (a sign that the perfume could be causing my blood pressure to drop). I bumped into Marian while looking at the display of Easter items, and then we separated again so I could walk the last section of the Planty - from where we started the day before to the street near our hotel. I saw some lovely buildings, and stopped to watch four lads doing gymnastics, just for fun.

I arrived back at the hotel at 4.45, in time to see the four people with whom we had travelled to the hotel on Monday, head for the transfer car. They had been there early (planning to organise luggage and get coffee) and the car had arrived for someone else and the driver had told them they were to go too! They asked several times about us and were told that a car would come back for us. I was so glad I'd seen them to get this message. Marian arrived about half an hour later and we sat and read while waiting for our car at 6.00. I was worried when it hadn't arrived by 6.15 so the hotel receptionist phoned for us. It turns out they were expecting to collect us at 6.30 (but didn't actually arrive until 6.45), so somehow messages had not got through. I'd worked out a fallback arrangement of taking a taxi to the airport (only about £17) but didn't need that. (The taxi price quoted by the hotel seemed quite cheap to me, as we had paid £10 each for transfers. With a group of 3 or 4 it could be cheaper to get a taxi. It would be worth phoning the hotel in advance to check it out.)

The flight back was crowded and a bit uncomfortable as I was squeezed between two solid men. We were flying Ryanair and they fit 6 seats across the plane. The man next to me says that it only used to be 5 seats. No wonder I felt more squashed on this trip! I had to sit with at least one arm forward of my body the whole way, as there was not room for my shoulders between the two men. (The moral is: find skinny people to sit next to, or be sure to sit on the window or aisle so that one shoulder has enough space.) We had a wait of about 15 minutes for the 11pm shuttle bus back to the car park at the Hilton. Our cars were parked about the furthest away that they could be from the hotel, but the receptionist kindly walked out there himself and collected our cars for us. He must have thought we looked old and tired! I finally got home about 1.15am.

Would I recommend Krakow for a holiday? Definitely!