Scenic Krakow

Tuesday 20th March

Krakow is beautiful! Our hotel is only five minutes walk away from the Old Town. (I'd read reviews on the internet that placed it 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes away. Must depend on speed of walking, getting lost and how many people stop you for a chat. We were stopped by an Australian tourist as I took photos of the hotel, a fellow guest, for a 10-minute chat. I suppose, then, that it took us 15 minutes to get there.)

I could see many similarities with Prague, Vienna and Budapest - relics of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is all so different from the beauties of English architecture. There is more colour and decoration here. I love all the town squares, surrounded by diverse buildings.

We found that the Hoho (hop-on, hop-off) bus only operates in the Summer, so we chose to go by electric car - like a golf buggy. Various companies operate these. Prices started at 360 zloty a carload (4 people - same price even though there were only 2 of us) but came down to 250, and then about 5 minutes away from the main square we found someone who immediately offered it for 200 (about £40). Our driver was a trained archaeologist who had not been able to find archaeological work since the recession. His English was good from working in Northern Ireland. He told us many interesting things, in addition to the taped commentary. The tour was supposed to be 90 minutes, but he gave us an extra 15 minutes. We saw the Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, and Schindler's factory.

He made an extra stop at the bottom of Wawel Hill so I could photograph the statue of the famous dragon of Krakow. Familiar dragon story with a twist: dragon terrorizes town; dragon likes virgins; king fears for his daughter's life and offers half the kingdom; many toughs get killed trying to slay dragon. Along comes the hero, who is a cobbler: he fills dead sheep with sulphur; dragon eats sheep; dragon gets thirsty and drains River Vistula dry to slake his thirst; dragon's stomach explodes; cobbler and princess live happily ever after.

Back in the Old Town, we wandered through the wonderful Cloth Market, which the Lonely Planet guide describes as being full of tatty souvenirs. I wonder if it was written before the market was updated in 2010. The souvenirs were a mixed batch, but seemed fine to me.

We ate a packed lunch on benches in the town square, then visited a coffee shop for coffee and cake. Sarah, my sports therapist, had told me about a cake shop she had visited in Krakow 20 years ago with the best chocolate cake ever. All I knew was that it was by the corner of the cloth hall. However, the cloth hall has 4 corners! Luckily only one corner had close restaurants or coffee shops, but that corner had three in a row. The first one I went inside had an incredible chocolate cake, so we tried it. The young waiter was very friendly. He had an interesting chat-up line. He suggested that if I had a daughter I could send her along to the forthcoming football match and he'd show her around Krakow. I said I only had nieces and he thought that sounded good. Well Sarah, did I get the cake right?

Here are a few photos from our wanderings to give you a flavour of Krakow.

Dinner
Ari, a friend of Polish background, had mentioned Pierogis to me. I'd searched for them on google and found them to be a cross between a dumpling, a pastie and ravioli. Imagine a circle of pastry, filling in the middle, folded over in a half-circle and then boiled or breaded and fried. Our acquaintance from the morning told us of a nearby workers' cafe that sold authentic food. We had pierogis for dinner. Mine were breaded and filled with potatoes. Marian's were boiled and filled with meat, with fatty onions on top. Our acquaintances gave me some of their leftovers to try - breaded but filled with meat - which I considered the nicest. Okay, I've tried it; I've suffered the indigestion; I'll look for something different tomorrow!