Places to Visit in Krakow, Poland

Travel notes

Capital: Warsaw

Language: Polish

Currency: złoty

Population recorded at publication: 759,800 (2014)

After a few months, we escaped somewhere again: Kraków, combining my husband's conference talk with sightseeing. We were so excited to be travelling again 🙂 Poland borders Germany to the west, the Czech Republic to the southwest, Slovakia to the south, Russia and Lithuania to the northeast, Belarus to the east, Ukraine to the southeast and the Baltic Sea to the north. My notes gave its area as 312,679 square kilometres, ninth largest in Europe and 69th worldwide, with about 38 million people and the world's 33rd-largest population. Our flight was tiring, thanks to dear Ryanair! Anyone who uses it around Europe knows the low prices and the compromises. They kept us waiting on the aircraft for an hour and a half. When it is that cheap, the answer is almost 'Fly with someone else if you don't like it' 😀 Still, two return tickets cost £190. We landed at John Paul II Airport, about 15 kilometres from the centre. At the time, I didn't think Turkish Airlines flew directly; Lufthansa, Ryanair and easyJet were among the airlines I mentioned. After checking into the hotel and resting, we found Pizza Garden, a pleasant place with lots of delicious pizzas.

Do try it if you are nearby. Our hotel was about a 15–20-minute walk from the centre, opposite the Vistula, called Wisła in Polish. I wasn't sure of the figure, but wrote its length as 651 kilometres and described it as Poland's longest river. It rises on Barania Góra, at 1,220 metres in my notes, and passes cities including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Świecie, Tczew and Gdańsk before reaching the Baltic at the Gulf of Gdańsk. I counted or was told of 11 bridges here, one specifically for cyclists.

The Vistula

Wawel Castle

St Mary's Basilica

Poland was better than I expected. The buildings, lovely cafés, restaurants and other venues really surprised me. Kraków has preserved its historical character, and although it is a classic European city, it made a strong impression. Poland's history goes back so far. Kraków witnessed the Second World War but, unlike Warsaw, escaped major physical destruction. Even so, in this city around the Vistula, you can still see and feel traces of the war. Elsewhere in my original notes, I described Kraków as Poland's second city with a population of 1.7 million. There were certainly plenty of visitors: tour groups, coaches and foreign travellers everywhere.

The Barbican

My notes described this sturdy 15th-century fortification as built against Ottoman attacks and surviving to the present. Poland joined the EU in 2004 and had developed through exports, but I still thought of it as one of Europe's less wealthy countries. It was very inexpensive, especially food and drink. I had expected reserved people, but found them much warmer than anticipated: friendly, smiling, polite and ready to talk, with many speaking good English.

The famous old square

Almost everything seemed gathered in this square: restaurants, cafés, shops, the town hall and St Mary's Basilica. It was lively day and night. The surrounding buildings and back streets were lovely too. I wondered why I hadn't heard more about this city.

I loved this view on our way to dinner yesterday: a full moon directly above the castle.

Ed Red steakhouse

It had an 8.5 on Foursquare, which I thought was too low. The place was lovely and the meat delicious. They aged meat in refrigerated cabinets. I didn't know the process in detail, but chose an aged steak and it was excellent—perhaps rather like ageing wine 🙂 Service was very good too. In fact, everywhere we ate or drank, the waiters were attentive, polite and smiling.

The meat-ageing process

Polish cuisine

Polish cooking is quite varied, though its flavours can be different from ours. We tried an atmospheric Polish restaurant. Like us, people often have soup before a meal, and there are many varieties. Pork, bacon and sausages feature heavily, even in soups, so if you don't eat pork, as we generally don't, the menu narrows. There is also a ring-shaped bread resembling simit, but I didn't find it very flavourful compared with our crisp, sesame-covered, wonderfully fragrant version. Overall, I found plenty of soups and meat, with fish popular too, and similarities to Russian, Ukrainian, German and other Slavic cuisines.

Borscht: vegetables including beetroot, cabbage, onion, parsley and carrot, with boiled dumplings containing something like cabbage and onion. I didn't enjoy the dumplings and left them, but the soup was reasonable—some vitamins at least 🙂

Mushroom soup served in bread. My husband said it was delicious.

Pierogi: these I liked! A little like mantı, but doughier, with fillings such as meat, potato or cheese. I chose cheese, and the filling was especially good. I had heard they were sometimes served with yoghurt, but ours came like this.

Bigos: I was told it was a popular dish made with game; ours included beef and sauerkraut. Tasty, though a little unfamiliar.

I forgot its name, but this was a pear dessert: poached pear with a wine sauce and ice cream.

The covered market in the old square reminded me of our Grand Bazaar. Inside were souvenirs and distinctive silver rings, necklaces, earrings and other jewellery.

Getting around

Kraków's public transport was straightforward, using buses and trams. Many sights were close together, so walking worked well too. There was no Metro. Horse-drawn carriages and little sightseeing vehicles offered tours from the square. We were quoted 160 złoty, then offered a discount to 140.

Our final day was overcast and very rainy. I'll finish with some photographs taken here and there. See you in another travel post. Goodbye 🙂