Krakow: What We Did

Okay so this is my fourth and final post about Krakow and it is all going to be about what we did each day we were there. I have been desperate to go to Poland in general and Krakow in particular for years and years. I almost did a semester abroad there when I was at uni but eventually pulled out as it would have been in my third year and I wanted to focus on my dissertation… I know, I know. I should have gone. Anyway, the fact is; nothing’s changed. I am still desperate to go to Poland in general and Krakow in particular, even though I’ve recently been because there is so much to see and do that I honestly don’t feel like we scratched the surface. Krakow is an incredible place and I can’t wait to go back. So, here is an account of what we actually did with our non-surface-scratching yet totally exciting few days in Krakow.

I used to always go on walking tours on trips abroad because I think they are a really good way to find your footing in a new city, and you can get the lay of the land, see some places you might not have otherwise noticed and find out some local history. But for some reason, A and I had never done one. Until this trip. We chose a free tour where you tip as much as you think the tour was worth at the end. The company we went with was called ‘Free Walkative Tour’ and we chose the old town tour however I would have loved to have gone on the Jewish tour, but we didn’t have time for both. You see what I mean about barely scratching the surface of the place? The tour was excellent, our guide was wonderful, she was so friendly and funny and we saw all the main sites in the old town ending at Wawel Castle. She was able to tell us some fun anecdotes about the city for example about Igor Mitoraj’s Eros Bendato sculpture outside the cloth hall in the UNESCO certified Main Market Square. Officials were reluctant to allow the sculpture to stand in the square due to the square’s historic status and the statue’s modernity however the sculptor refused to allow it to be placed inform of a commercial building- Galeria Krakowska- as suggested. So, a compromise: the sculpture could be in the Main Market Square for a short while- I can’t remember how long our guide said… a year? 6 months? Anyway, it was donated in 2005 but since its so heavy and difficult to transport, in the end, the statue stayed put so you can see, Igor got his wish!

She also told us some very upsetting anecdotes for example, whilst we drank coffee in a café beneath a university building, that in November 1939 Obersturmbannführer SS Bruno Müller called a meeting at the university supposedly on the subject of German plans for Polish education. However really the meeting was to gather as many Polish academics into one room as possible so that they could be arrested, manhandled and sent to Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. You can find a more detailed account of this here. I found this quite shocking; the Nazi’s insidious duplicity isn’t a surprise and nor is their maltreatment of innocent beings but still, learning of new horrors and remembering ones I've heard of before always shocks me.

The tour ended at Wawel Castle where we were given free maps with recommendations noted on them and advice as to where to go next. As we were right by Kazimierz we decided to go there for quite a late lunch (which is when we made our first visit to 2 Okna). Then after a short walk, it was getting dark so we headed back to the Old Town, popped into a shop to buy some very cheap mittens (it was freezing and I intend to put them in a charity shoebox at Christmas time this year) and went back to our hotel (and then back out for dinner).

The following day we went to Auschwitz. More on that here.

We spoke to a couple who were on the same tour as us at Auschwitz about what they had been up to on their trip and they mentioned the Salt Mines and Schindler’s Factory. My immediate thought had been that I wanted to visit Schindler’s Factory for various reasons- my interest in the holocaust, my interest in people doing good in adverse circumstances, the historical significance… and many more. But, I didn’t want the whole trip to be us visiting holocaust landmarks- though in Krakow, there are many. So, we booked a tour to the Salt Mines. It was only for the morning which meant it would leave us with the afternoon free for something else- we only had 3 full days in Krakow and we wanted to make the most of them. We booked a tour for this because to be honest, it just seemed like the easiest way to see them. The tour was about the same cost as the trip to Auschwitz and we booked though our hotel with the same tour company but there are so many other companies who do the same thing for a similar price. Usually I would have been more frugal and I’d have tried to get their independently on cheaper transport etc but with our time so limited it was important to us that we maximise it. Plus, we’d have had to have a tour guide once we got there anyway. The mines were incredible- here are some pictures. Which reminds me: you have to pay for a photo license if you want to take pictures in the mines. I think it was something like 10 zloty- they’ll give you a sticker to put on your phone or camera when you pay for the license. The history was fascinating; it was another world where salt was worth more than gold and miners built chapels beneath the earth’s surface. The mines were like a labyrinth. After the tour and after we got dropped back to our hotel we headed to the old town to first have lunch at Milkbar Tomasza (be still, my beating heart) and then visit St Mary’s Basilica. Our guide on the first day had told us a bit about the church including that every hour, someone appears at the top of one of the towers and plays the trumpet stopping at one point abruptly. This is to recreate and represent an event in which a watchman saw the enemy approaching the city and played his trumpet to alert the town. Mid way through playing he was hit by an arrow and had to stop playing. As we approached the basilica, the trumpet player was in his tower and we were lucky enough to hear his song. We paid to go into the basilica at a ticket office over the way from the entrance. If you visit, just stand with your back to the way in and you’ll see it. I think it was about 10 Zloty so £2. Inside the church was breath taking. Enormous stained glass windows, lots of little chapels for individual saints, intricate carvings and glistening gold leaf. It was so opulent, like being inside a kaleidoscope. After being inside St Mary’s Basilica, we walked along a few of the more touristy streets, A bought a Pączki which was rose flavour like Turkish delight and I bought a poppy seed beigel and we headed back toward Kazimierz. I wanted to have a proper look around and we thought we could head over the Vistula to Podgorze which is where the Jewish Ghetto was. The sun came out as we walked through Kazimerz and we were able to admire the synagogues and the apartment buildings in the lovely golden light. At one point we came across a group doing a tour of the area and saw them disappear through a thin doorway into a garden square- we followed them and looked at what they were looking at- some black and white photographs in glass cases on the wall of a house. We’d never have thought to walk through the little doorway! A suggested we could tag along with the group for the rest of the tour but we decided in the end that we had missed the beginning and we may as well wait until next time. It made me really wish we had made the time for the Jewish district tour though. Then, we walked over a bridge and directly into Podgorze, the location of the ghetto. The sun was setting, it was getting colder and whilst we would have loved to explore properly and pay our respects to the people who live and died there, we didn’t want to rush the experience and so we went to the Heroes Square and walked around the block and then back down the river until we came to Bernatka Foodbridge decorated with statues of trapeze artists suspended in mid-air then back towards the old town square past lots of interesting bars and shops to Café Siesta for a drink and a rest and then back to the hotel. And that was our last full day! On the final morning, we went for a walk through a little domestic food market near the hotel which was lush, so interesting, my favourite kind of shopping.

I think we could have crammed more into our few days but it would have made the experience quite stressful. As it is, we did a lot and saw a lot but still had a chance to relax. That said the things I want, no, need to go back for are: visiting Schindler’s Factory and spending some real time in Podgorze, a walking tour of Jewish Krakow, a visit to some more Polish food and drink spots like ForumPrzestrzenie and U Babci Maliny. I want to go to Zakopane and the TatraMountains but I knew we’d not have time for that or the temperature for that on this trip and I want to go to Zalipie. And that’s just in and around Krakow, don’t get me started on the rest of the country! So, I am praying to the travel gods that I can visit again sooner rather than later.