Month: July 2018

Friday, July 27

That’s Bucharest not Budapest!  Yeah, it seems that the two cities get mixed up quite a bit.  We heard a funny story about a bunch of football fans (that’s soccer to those of us in the U.S.) who wanted to see a World Cup match in one city and booked tickets to the other.  Boy where they mad.  There’s actually a web site called Bucharest Not Budapest and another one with the cities reversed.  Since we’d already been to Budapest we think we got this one right.

Trying to figure out a way to get from the airport in Romania to our apartment was a bit of a challenge.  Public transportation wasn’t really an option for this trip so we had to find a way to take a taxi without getting ripped off and Henri Coanda airport has one of the worst reputations.  The airport rules make it virtually impossible to find legitimate taxis at the normal rate.  We found a great article that tells the full story about the corruption at the airport.  It makes for very interesting reading: Finding a Cab in Bucharest.  We finally opted for the BlackTaxi service and only paid about twice what we should have.  At least the flight was uneventful and we got to our new apartment near Old Town around 4:00 pm.  It’s another case where the building looks to be in disrepair but the apartment is really nice.  We have air-conditioning in all the rooms and a nice suite of TV stations.  We’ll be comfortable here for the next three weeks.

After settling in we took a walk around the Old Town neighborhood, got pizza at a local restaurant and hit the market before retiring for the evening.

Distance walked: 4.5 miles

Saturday, July 28

On our drive from the airport to our apartment we’d seen some advertisements for an airshow.  The driver said that it was free.  We doubted that but it seemed like something that would be fun to do.  With all our previous experience with airplanes and airports (I hold a Multi-Engine/Commerical/Instrument pilot’s license and we owned our own plane at one time) we’d never attended an airshow before .

We planned to take the bus to the airshow but for once Google let us down – it said that there was no convenient public transportation so we used the Taxify app to call another cab.  Taxify is a well known app and is used all over Europe.  In fact there were busses that lead right to the airfield.

The airshow was running for the entire day.  The website had no mention of tickets but did have a published schedule of events.  It turns out it really was free.  There seemed to be a three hour program that was repeated several times during the day.

Our day started with an acrobatic display by an F4U Corsair accompanied by two jets.  It seemed a strange combination but it was fun to see.  The three planes did a few passes together before the Corsair was left alone to do some stunts.  Eventually it left the area and the jets took their turn.  That group was supposed to have included a P38-Lightning but it only taxied about and never took to the air.

(World War II P38-Lightning)

After a few more acts we were treated to a show by the Turkish Air Force.  They are an elite group of seven jets that really know how to impress a crowd.  They started with some tight formation flying and then broke into several groups for acrobatic displays.  Their routine lasted almost 30 minutes.  Afterwards the pilots strolled about the grounds and everyone wanted to have their picture taken with them.  They were like rock stars.

After that came the Romanian air display.  We thought it was going to be another Blue Angels-like act but it turned out that it was a large commercial jet airliner representing TAROM – the national airline of Romania.  The jet did a bunch of low passes and a few wing waggles.  That’s something you don’t see every day.

The Turkish Air Force definitely stole the show but for me the sentimental favorite was the Corsair.  They are beautiful propellor planes from another era and it was like watching history in action.

Distance walked: 2.7 miles

Monday, July 30

The day started by meeting the free tour for a walking tour of Old Town.  Our guide was an energetic young woman named Alina who introduced herself by shaking each person’s hand and asking them where we were from.  We liked her immediately.

The tour started with a story about the history of Romania starting with the Roman Emperor Trajan.  In the middle ages the area was made up of three independent provinces known as Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania.  Wallachia and Moldavia were part of the Ottoman Empire as was Transylvania until it became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The three provinces were finally unified into a single country after World War I.  After the fall of Communism a portion of the province of Moldavia became the independent nation of Moldova.

We were delighted to learn that Romania is a Romance language and has many similarities with Italian.  The written language resembles Italian a great deal although the pronunciation seems quite distinct.  Fortunately for us English is spoken just about everywhere.

We saw quite a few beautiful churches.  You can’t travel more than two blocks without seeing one.  Romanians are overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox.  As usual we’ll go into detail about all of the sights as we go back and visit them in our own time.

For lunch we went to a restaurant in Old Town.  We ordered cabbage rolls served with polenta and sauerkraut and pork schnitzel.  The cabbage rolls were similar to the stuffed cabbage we ate in Poland – pork and rice wrapped in cabbage and baked in a tomato based sauce.

(Cabbage Rolls, Schnitzel and Polenta)

We made a happy discovery in the supermarket.  They had banitsa, the phyllo dough pastries that we ate so much of in Bulgaria.  Of course Romania and Bulgaria share a long border and were both dominated by the Turks for a long time and so they share a similar heritage.

Distance walked: 6.3 miles

Tuesday, July 31

We took another free walking tour with Alina only this time the subject was the history of the royal families in Romania.  In 1866 Wallachia and Moldavia gained independence from the Ottoman Turks and invited Prince Carol of Germany to be king of Romania.  There was a series of hereditary kings until the Communist takeover when King Michael was forced to abdicate and sent into exile.

We saw the former Royal Palace (now a museum of art) and several other famous landmark buildings.  During the rule of King Carol I the country was obsessed with France and many famous Parisian buildings were copied giving Bucharest the title of “Little Paris”.  Only about 20% of the Old Town still remains.  The Nazis destroyed some buildings and the communists leveled large tracts in order build new municipal buildings.  The earthquake of 1977 also caused a lot of damage.  Subsequently, many buildings have been red-tagged to indicate that they may be not earthquake safe (our apartment is not one of them).

(Athenaeum Romanian – Home to the National Orchestra)

Across from the former royal palace we saw a large bronze statue of King Carol I.  Our guide said that it had been melted down and the metal had been used to make a statue of Stalin.  After the fall of the Communists the statue of Stalin was melted down and the metal was used to remake the statue of the king.

Distance walked: 3.7 miles

Wednesday, July 25

The day started with a trip to the Royal Castle.  The castle has been completely rebuilt since it was totally destroyed in World War II.  Today the inside and outside appear like they would have in the 18th century.

The public spaces in Royal palaces are typically structured as a series of rooms that lead to the throne room.  The closer you got to the king the more elaborately the rooms were decorated.  There was a strict protocol regarding who and how you could advance.  Only a few people actually made it all the way to the end to see the king.  The initial part of our tour followed this same path.  Initially we went through a long corridor decorated with paintings of the kings and queens of old.  Our path went through several waiting chambers before getting to a grand reception hall.  Eventually we found the king’s audience hall.  The palace also contained the senate chamber from the 1700s. All of the rooms were filled with tapestries, paintings and sculptures and most depicted the royal family in one guise or another.

The tour continued downstairs to the picture gallery – a series of rooms containing paintings collected by the royal family over many years.  Finally we got to the Rembrandt room.  Here we saw two of the most beautiful paintings we’ve ever seen.  One was “Scholar at his Writing Table” and the other was “Girl in a Picture Frame”.  Both were from 1641 and both were in excellent condition.  These paintings, along with several dozen more, had recently been donated to the royal palace by a wealthy Polish family.  The history of the ownership of these paintings is a little fuzzy but it is likely that at one time they belonged to the royal family and were sold around 1815 when the last Polish king abdicated.

(Scholar at his Writing Table)

After the excitement of the Rembrandt room we decided to treat ourselves to  lunch at a fancy restaurant called Polka near the palace.  It was highly recommended.  We ordered a pork loin stuffed with plums in a cherry sauce, a breaded pork chop  served on a bed of mashed potatoes and a side dish of groats made with dill, bacon and onions (groats = Kasha).  For fun were ordered some shots of a local Polish vodka.  One was flavored with cherry and one with honey.  We had a great time eating in an indoor courtyard enjoying a wonderfully delicious meal.  Total cost of the meal was $35.00 and that included the tip.

(Breaded Pork with Groats)

After lunch we went back to the palace to see another collection.  This was a series of portraits from the late 1700s.  We had to buy tickets to see this exhibit at a cost of $6.00.  This was a real extravagance considering that we had splurged on lunch.

The exhibit consisted of several dozen portraits painted by Marcello Bacciarelli.  He was born and studied in Rome but spent considerable time in Saxony before settling in Poland where he was appointed the royal portrait artist.  There were quite a few paintings featuring the king, queen and royal family.  Many were of members of the royal court and some were of nobles from other countries that had visited the palace.  We liked many of the works on display but thought the two best paintings in the collection were the self portraits from 1788 and 1793.  The most famous of the paintings is of the daughter of the king’s secretary entitled, “Julia Duhamel with a Cat”, which was painted in 1781.

(Julia Duhamel with a Cat)

We’d heard a story in Krakow that the ashes of Chopin’s heart were entombed in a sculpture found in Wawel Royal Cathedral.  It turns out that his heart is actually in a bottle of brandy and is stored within a sculpture in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw.  We headed out to the church to see things for ourselves.  We found a monument in the church with a sculpture of Chopin’s face stating that his heart was there.  A fuller version of the story (but not the entire story as we heard it) can be found here.

Our next destination was a museum dedicated to Marie Curie.  This one was not free.  The museum is housed in a building that is very close to the house where she was born and raised.  It’s a small museum containing displays of scientific instruments, letters and information on her schooling.  It also covered her marriage to and family life with her husband, Pierre.

It’s well known that Marie was one of the first to work with radioactive materials but what is less well know is that she invented some of the first x-ray machines.  During World War I she and her daughter took the machines to the front line to provide better diagnostics for the French soldiers.

Marie won two Nobel prizes, her husband one and her children and their spouses won an additional three.  Six Nobel prizes in one family is quite a distinction.

Our last stop of the day was back to the Wedel chocolate shop across the street from the Marie Curie museum.  Previously we had tried their chocolate and now we had it in our minds to try their desserts.  We ordered a scoop of vanilla ice cream served in a glass of chilled hot chocolate and chocolate crepes stuffed with apples, cinnamon and caramel sauce.  They were very good but  since we’d heard such good things about this place we’d expected something special.

Distance walked: 7.1 miles

Thursday, July 26

We just can’t resist free museums.  Today we did three more.  The first one was called POLIN – The Museum of the History of the Jews in Poland.  It covered the last 1,000 years.

The periods in the Middle Ages were interesting.  We learned how the kings invited the Jews to Poland to start trading and how they were granted many rights and privileges unknown in other countries.  Things worked out well for quite some time but in the 1800s anti-semitism was on the rise.  Eventually we got to the horrors of the 20th century.

In spite of their rhetoric about all men being equal the Soviets continued to persecute the remaining Jewish population in Poland after World War II.  What we didn’t know was that in the 1960s and 1970s the Soviets, tired of dealing with the Jewish population, encouraged them to immigrate.  Hundreds left the country each year.  Most went to Israel but many went to the United States as well.

The museum had a large exhibit about wooden synagogues from Poland, Lithuania and the Ukraine.  At one time there were hundreds of these synagogues and they were elaborately decorated with intricate wooden designs and bright colors.  All of them were burned during World War II.  A husband and wife team has done extensive research on these buildings and published a book about them.  Based on their work the museum built a reproduction of one of the most famous ones.  Artists from around the world were invited to Poland to help re-create and paint it.

(Reproduction of Wooden Synagogue)

Down the street we went to Pawiak Prison.  It was built in 1835 and housed criminals and political prisoners.  In 1939 it became a Gestapo prison and part of the death camp system.  Many people were tortured and executed there.  Near the end of the war the Nazi’s blew up the prison in an attempt to hide their atrocities.  Only the front gate and an elm tree standing in front survived.  The tree has become a national unity symbol and, when it died in 1984, was replaced by an exact copy made of bronze.

(Bronze Tree Surrounded by Memorial Plaques)

For lunch we went back to Restaurant Zapiecek and had even more potato pancakes but this time they were accompanied by a bowl of spinach served in a garlic infused cream sauce.  We washed it all down with home made lemonades.  We really like that restaurant!

On our way to the next museum, The National Gallery of Art, we stopped to see a monument to the unknown soldiers from Polish wars.  We were just in time to see their changing of the guard ceremony.

The National Gallery of Art primarily showcases modern art.  Downstairs there were several exhibits on functional design.  Upstairs we saw a number of large rooms featuring individual artists’ work.  We enjoyed several of these very much.

Of course this last museum trip was really just an excuse to hit the donut shop one last time.  We walked away with six this time.  We ate one while we were walking away.  It was hot and fresh and oh so delicious.

These last three months have been rather hectic.  In Poland we had only one week in each city so we had to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.  We averaged 8 miles per day in Krakow and 9.4 in Warsaw – way more than any other city we’ve visited.  Frankly, we’re a bit tired and could use a break. We think we’ve earned a little vacation. 😉

Distance walked: 7.6 miles

Monday, July 23

Our plan was to walk over the bridge to the East side of Warsaw to see the Praga district.  This area was only about 20% destroyed during WWII and so we hoped to see what Warsaw looked like before the war.  Along the way, while walking through Old Town, we stopped at three churches: The Shrine of Our Lady of Graces, The Basilica of Saint John the Baptist and The Church of Saint Anne.  The basilica is a large Gothic stye church.  It is physically connected to the Royal Palace and was the place that the Royals worshipped.  The church contains many famous burials including the composer Paderewski.  Saint Anne’s is beautifully decorated in Baroque style.  Public performances are given on its magnificent organ daily.

Before the 18th century there was no bridge across the Vistula River so Praga was actually a separate town.  In 1791 King Stanislaw August Poniatowski declared that Praga was now part of Warsaw (he wanted the tax money).  A bridge connecting the two sides of the river would be built some years later.

Upon reaching the other side of the river our first stop was The Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Florian the Martyr.  This church was built in reaction to construction of a nearby Orthodox church that the Russians constructed when Warsaw was partitioned in the 18/19th centuries.  It is a Gothic style church whose towers are higher than any surrounding buildings.  It can even be seen from the Western side of river.  The church was rebuilt after being completed destroyed by the Germans in WWII.

Next we visited a sculpture called Praga Courtyard Band that commemorates a band of street musicians .  It’s dedicated to a group of musicians that regularly entertained in the Praga district.  One member is still alive and it is said that you can sometimes see him performing on the streets.

(Praga Courtyard Band)

Then we walked over to see the Praski Park Bears.  Years ago brown bears were forced to fight one another in a pit near the park.  That practice died out long ago.  In 1949 the bears were moved to an enclosure at the edge of the park.  They have a nice space to roam and a large pond to swim in.  Today there are three bears in the enclosure (Tatra, Mala and Sabina).  They are descendants of the original bears from 1949.

Our next visit was to the Cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene.  This church was constructed in 1869 to accommodate the large number of Russians who were living in the area.  This is the Orthodox church that we referred to earlier.  It’s a rather small but nicely decorated Eastern Orthodox church with five beautiful onion domes.  We’d seen a lot of these when we were in Bulgaria.

Finally, it was time for a break.  We headed over to the mall for a pit stop and some lunch consisting of our new favorite food (zapiekanka) before buying two tickets to the zoo.

The zoo in Praski Park was made famous a few years ago by the movie entitled, “The Zookeeper’s Wife”.  The zoo was originally opened in 1928.  It was bombed during WWII and by 1945 all of the animals were killed, deported to the Third Reich, eaten by locals or escaped.  The zoo re-opened in 1949 and now has more than 500 species of animals.

(Lounging Leopard)

We had a very good time during our visit.  The facility is very modern and the animals are all kept in naturalistic habitats.  Many of the animals were happy to pose for pictures.  The Llamas convinced several people to feed them grass from a nearby field; they ate all they could get.  The animals seemed to enjoy frolicking in the warm sunlight or even interacting with the people.  It was all very amusing.

(Meerkat Posing for Pictures)

For dinner we went back to Resturant Zapiecek and ordered Pork Ribs on a bed of sauerkraut along with – ready for it – another potato pancake.  This time we got it with mushroom cream sauce (on the side).  Delicious!

Distance walked: 10.1 miles

Tuesday, July 24

It’s Donut Day!  Many years ago we saw a story on either the Travel or Food Network on a donut shop in Warsaw.  It was a small, family run shop that had been in business for about 90 years and was said to be the best in Town.  They showed long lines of people queuing up to get their fix before the shop inevitably ran out.  For some reason we remembered that program and today we went in search of that shop.

After a  little creative googling we finally found the address.  It was in the Jewish Quarter about two miles from our apartment.  The name of the shop is Zagoździński. When we turned on to the street we looked for the telltale line of people waiting for their donuts.  What we found was a closed door with a sign saying that they would be on vacation until the end of the month.  We were VERY disappointed. 😣

Undaunted (but very unhappy) we found several other highly recommended shops and started walking in their direction.  We’d been doing a lot of walking since we hit Poland and told ourselves that we’d have an easy day today.  It didn’t turn out that way.

The second donut shop was actually a cafe near the Chopin Museum called Blikle Café.  Their selection of donuts was very small but we ordered two and a couple of coffees.  The donuts were not particularly fresh or light, had almost no filling and were not at all satisfying.  To make matters worse the waitress was completely rude.  We’re never going back there.

Our third choice was a small stand just around the corner.  Cukiernia Pawłowicz is one of those small booths that you could walk by a million times and never notice – and you’d be making a HUGE mistake.  The donuts were hot, fresh, greasy and delicious.  We had one filled with rose jelly that was covered in a sugar glaze while the other was filled with chocolate and cherry cream covered in glaze and small balls of crunchy sugar.  Before leaving we made a point of telling the woman how good her donuts were.  We’ll definitely be back.

Suffering from a serious sugar high we somehow made our way over to the National Gallery.  It was another free day.  The Gallery has several exhibits including 18/19th century Old Masters, 19th Century Polish Art and Decorative Arts.

The Old Masters collection was very nice.  There were no famous works by famous artists but we did see quite a few works that we liked – mostly by little known Dutch and Italian artists.  The Polish collection had a large number of works by Jan Matejko (we’d seen his work and been to his house in Krakow).  Both collections had many fine paintings that we enjoyed.  We didn’t visit the Decorative Arts Collection.  We didn’t know what to expect but were pleasantly surprised by this museum.

(Tax Collectors by Marinus van Reymerswaele from 1566)

Distance walked: 10.6 miles

Saturday, July 21

No, that’s not a typo – that’s how you spell Warsaw in Polish.  It’s pronounced “VAR-shav-a”.  We took the morning train from Krakow for the 2.5 hour trip.  If you discount the unruly children it was a short and pleasant ride.  We took a cab from the train station to our new residence but in our excitement forgot to inquire about the cost before getting into the cab.  You guessed it, we got ripped off.  We paid almost $25.00 for the ten minute ride to the house.  Nine months of traveling can make you complacent.  Lesson learned.

Our host met us promptly and showed us around the apartment.  Our plan was to go out and do some exploring before meeting the free tour in the Old Town Square at 4:00 pm.  We are only going to be in Warsaw for six days and need to make the most of our opportunities.

Like Dresden, Warsaw was virtually destroyed during World War II.  The entire city has been rebuilt.  The reconstruction of Old Town was actually based on some paintings that were done in the 19th century.  Today it looks almost exactly as it did before the destruction.  The area is charming with a royal palace, many churches and several large squares.  One of the streets, named the Royal Road, stretches all the way from Krakow to Warsaw.  Like most of Old Town it’s lined with shops, restaurants and tourist attractions.

The tour started at the column of King Sigismund III Vasa.  He was the king that moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596.  Even today he is reviled by the people of Krakow and revered by the people of Warsaw.  The two cities have a friendly rivalry over just about everything.  We were told about the history of several of the larger churches before we entered the palace grounds to get a good look at the famous clock tower.  Once a day, at noon, a trumpeter plays a tune to announce the time.  If you recall a trumpeter announced the time hourly in Krakow – the guide said that this wasn’t necessary in Warsaw because the people had better watches.

(Old Town Square)

The tour continued through the town where we saw a bridge that crossed the Vistula River and several market squares that were important places of commerce in the Middle Ages.  Finally he recommended several restaurants that served authentic Polish cuisine at reasonable prices.  It was a great way to learn about the city and get our bearings in our new surroundings.

After the tour we headed to a restaurant that was outside the old city walls.  It was one of the places that the guide had recommended.  We ordered a plate of pierogi, sour rye soup and a potato pancake.  Everything was homemade.  The pierogi was served with sour cream and were very good.  The sour rye soup, a Polish specially, was rather bland and did not have a strong rye flavor.  It tasted mainly from bacon.  The potato pancake, however, was unbelievably good.  It was thin and crispy and made with a lot of onions (it was probably fried in lard).  It was served with sour cream and horseradish sauce.  It turns out that horseradish sauce on potato pancakes is awesome.

Nearby we found a chocolate shop called, “Wedel”.  It’s a Polish chocolate made in a factory in Warsaw.  We bought a 1/2 pound milk chocolate bar for less than $4.00.  The chocolate itself was nothing special.  The shop gave us a number of coupons for some of their other products.  We intend to try some of them including their European style Hot Chocolate.

Distance walked: 8.4 miles

Sunday, July 22

We got an early start and headed over to the All Saints Church where we would be meeting a group for the free tour of the Jewish Quarter.  The Jewish Quarter in Warsaw was huge.  Before World War II there were over 350,000 Jews in the city.  This tour was scheduled to be 2.5 hours long and was to cover several miles.

We sat on the front steps of the church while our guide gave us a general overview of the history of the Jewish population in Warsaw.  In the late Middle Ages Warsaw was an unremarkable town with an agrarian economy.  The King saw that other cities were getting rich from trade and so invited Jews to the city to help stimulate the economy.  He promised them freedom of religion, that they could have any lands that they settled and empowered them to lend money.  For many years things worked out well for Warsaw and the Jews and everyone prospered.  When word got out that good things were happening in Warsaw even more Jews migrated to the city.  Later, in 1795, when Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria many more Russian Jews migrated to Warsaw to escape persecution.

The tour moved over to one of the few remaining synagogues in the city.  It had survived WWII because the German’s used it as a stable.  We continued along and found one of the few remaining pieces of the ghetto wall.  That part of the wall had been part of a stone fence around a brewery.  Several ruined apartment buildings that had stood inside the ghetto were across the street.  Today there are markers embedded in the sidewalks all around Town where the ghetto walls used to stand.

Eventually we talked about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from 1943.  After the uprising was quelled the Germans sealed the remaining Jews in the ghetto and set fire to the area.  All of the buildings were turned to ashes and all of the people died.  The tour ended by POLIN (The Museum of the History of Polish Jews).  There are some beautiful sculptures out front commemorating the uprising.

(Plaques Indicating the Ghetto Wall)

For lunch we went to a Milk Bar.  Milk Bars were started in 1896 but came to prominence during the Communist period.  They were originally intended as an inexpensive place where people could get a nourishing meal.  They went bankrupt after the fall of Communism but have been re-instituted by the government to support poorer members of society.  Today, they are popular with tourists and often serve meat as well as dairy products.

The problem with milk bars is that the menu is only in Polish and the attendants rarely speak any English.  Somehow we managed to order a plate of meat pierogi, a plate of blueberry pierogi (these were supposed to be cheese) and a bowl of cabbage soup (we were trying for Lithuanian borscht).  The food wasn’t what you’d call high quality.  The total cost was about $4.00.

Fully fortified we set out to see some of the museums that were free on Sunday.  First we went to the Chopin Museum.  Frédéric Chopin was born in Warsaw.  He completed his education there before moving to Paris at the age of 20.  He never visited Poland again.  Many of his works were inspired by Polish folk music.  He was friends with many of the most famous musicians of his time including Liszt and Schumann.  He was in poor health most of his life and died at the age of 39.  After his death his sister brought his heart back to Warsaw where it rests in a bottle of brandy at the Church of the Holy Cross (we had been under the impression that it was in Krakow).

(Chopin’s Piano)

The museum is housed in a former mansion.  It contains information and artifacts about his life.  Several of his pianos were on display as well as personal correspondence.  It’s a very modern facility with touch screens, interactive exhibits and places where you can listen to recordings of all of his music.

Then we were off to the Warsaw Uprising Museum.  Not to be confused with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 this museum was about the uprising of 1944 where the Poles revolted against their German occupiers.  The Poles had been planning a revolt for some time and were looking for a good opportunity to spring into action.  In August, 1944 the war was going badly for the Germans and the Soviet army had arrived in Warsaw on the Eastern side of the Vistula River.  The Poles thought that if they engaged the Germans that the Soviets would come to their aid.  The unsuccessful uprising lasted 63 days. No help from the Soviets or any other source materialized.  In retaliation the Germans deported the entire population of the city to concentration camps and destroyed the city.  Upwards of 90% of the portions to the West of the river were blown up.  About 20% of the Praga district on the East side of the river was leveled.

The museum, which is a very popular site here in Town, was full of information on the conditions leading up to the uprising.  The heroic deeds of many of the participants were recounted and there were films narrated by some of the survivors.  A large cache of uniforms, weapons and medals were on display.  All exhibits were labeled in Polish and in English.

Distance walked: 12.7 miles

Friday, July 20

Today we visited the Auschwitz Concentration Camp which is just a little over one hour West of Krakow.  The atrocities committed at the concentration camps are well known.  We plan to convey some information that we learned that might not be so well known and that might be of general interest.

The camp, generally known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, is actually a complex of three major camps and about 40 sub-camps.  The major camps are called Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz.  They are all located near one another.  Together the Auschwitz complex was the largest of all the concentration camps.  Our visit included only Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau.  We were escorted through both by a local guide who knew the camp’s history quite well.  Today the camps stand as a memorial, a Polish State Museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We started out at Auschwitz I and entered through the infamous gate with the sign reading, “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Will Set You Free).  The original name of the city was Oświęcim⁩.  It was changed to Auschwitz by the Germans.  The first thing we noticed was that the prisoner’s barracks were made of brick.  Our guide explained that Oświęcim⁩ was used as an army base before the war and the barracks were substantial because they were for their troops.

(Auschwitz Main Gate)

When the trains arrived the prisoners were sorted.  Anyone that was too young, too old or too sick to work was immediately sent to the gas chambers.  About 80% of the people who arrived were killed within 20 minutes of their arrival.  The rest were used for forced labor.  Many German companies built factories in the area so they could make use of the pool of free labor.

 

Upon arrival prisoners were stripped of all luggage, clothing and possessions.  The Nazis collected these with the intention of using them for the war effort.  Uniforms and clothing were made from human hair collected from the living and the dead.  Eye glasses, dentures, pots and pans, etc. were cleaned and sent back to Germany for re-sale to the general population.

(Fence at Auschwitz)

In total about 1.1 million people died in Auschwitz.  Most were Poles but the population included people from many different countries and ethnicities.  Prisoners arrived from across the continent including such faraway places as Greece.  Virtually the entire population of 450,000 Jews from Warsaw lost their lives there.

Construction on Auschwitz II -Birkenau began in October 1941.  The initial site was constructed to hold 50,000 prisoners with plans to expand its capacity to 200,000.  The site was built by the inmates of Auschwitz I.  Auschwitz I held just over 10,000 inmates.

(Entrance to Birkenau)

As the end of the war was approaching the Nazis feared that the world would find out about the camps.  They destroyed as much evidence as possible.  The gas chambers and crematoria were heavily damaged or destroyed but many records, photos and films have been preserved.  Of course many artifacts remain and attest to what went on there.

(Prisoner Bunks at Birkenau)

Our visit was part of an organized tour.  The museums were very crowded and our guide moved us through rather quickly.  We didn’t have a lot of time to reflect on what we saw during the tour but we’re not sure that was a bad thing.  The awful tragedies that occurred there are beyond our ability to comprehend or describe.

Distance walked: 6.5 miles

Wednesday, July 18

We booked a noon tour to the Salt Mine in the nearby town of Wieliczka.  Since we were not expected back in Krakow until about 4:00 pm we decided to have an early lunch at what is becoming a favorite restaurant near the Old Town Square: Placki Ziemniaczane.  This time we opted for the buffet.  They have main dishes, salads, desserts and so much more.  It’s just 4 PLN per 100 grams.  I had pierogi with sautéed onions, meatballs in a white gravy laced with dill and a fried pork cutlet.  Wanting to eat lighter Deborah opted for a quarter of a roasted chicken and some potatoes seasoned with rye seeds.  We’d never had potatoes and rye together – it was really good.

At noon we boarded the bus and soon we were at the mine.  The mine opened in the 1200s and was in continuous operation until 2007.  It’s one of the oldest salt mines in the world, is listed on Poland’s official list of National Historic Monuments and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions around Krakow.  Commercial mining stopped in 1996 because of declining salt prices.  Salt is still being produced but on a much smaller scale.  Today the mine employs 500 guides and only 300 miners.

In medieval times salt was an immensely valuable commodity.  It was just about the only means of preserving food and it was somewhat rare.  It was said that for two barrels of salt one could buy an entire village and all of the people in it.  The mine, owned by the king, brought tremendous wealth to the area for many centuries.

We received wireless headsets and met our tour guide at the top of 398 steps that were to take us to the first level 300 feet below the surface.  We walked through a maze of tunnels which lead into a number of large chambers.  Because of the depth miners would spend several days at a time underground.  To help alleviate the boredom they would carve intricate sculptures out of huge blocks of salt.  Cavern after cavern had large, complex sculptures that were many centuries old.  We saw several chapels with stunning altars made completely from salt.  In many cases we were walking on ordinary looking floor tiles that turned out to be made of 100% salt.  Starting in the 19th century many of the sculptures were created by artists rather than miners.

(From the Chapel of Saint Kinga)

We continued to descend throughout the entire tour and finally reached a depth of about 450 feet.  We wondered why, with the high humidity and ambient water, the sculptures hadn’t eroded.  We were told that the humidity and temperate in the mine were virtually constant which provided a stable environment for the salt.  It sounded far fetched but we did see the evidence.

At the mid point of the tour we had a ten minute break in a large cavern where there were bathrooms, a snack bar and a gift shop.  We saw several actual miners getting food for their shift.  Near the tour’s end there was an underground museum but we didn’t see it.

At the end of the tour we found an elevator that would bring us back to the surface.  We’d been walking around for about 2.5 hours inside a giant block of salt.  In that time we’d waked about 5.5 miles and had covered less than 1% of the mine.

When we returned to Krakow we headed over to the Jewish Quarter to the square where our guide had told us about the zapiekanka.  We ordered one with spinach, feta cheese and extra cheese (not sure what kind of cheese that was).  Underneath all those toppings we found the traditional mushrooms as well as a thick pesto sauce.  One portion was more than enough for the two of us to share.  That, along with a bottle of water, cost just under $3.00.

(Zapiekanka for Dinner)

Distance walked: 10.2 miles

Thursday, July 19

It was castle day!  We planned to see everything that Wawel Castle had to offer.  It was going to be another long day.

There’s a LOT of misconceptions about tickets for the castle.  You can’t buy tickets online and even one of our guides from the free tour gave us incorrect information.  We checked several online guides and all were completely useless.  Here’s the scoop: there are two main ticket booths where you can buy tickets for all of the attractions owned by the State.  Credit cards are accepted.  There are a limited number of tickets per day for The State Rooms, The Royal Private Apartments, The Oriental Art and The Crown Treasury and Armoury museums where you’ll be given specific entry times for each so it’s hard to plan your day in advance.  It’s best to get there early before things sell out.  If you want to climb the Cathedral Bell Tower (called Sigismund Bell) or the Royal Tombs you have to purchase separate tickets at a different ticket booth opposite the Cathedral where you must pay in cash.

We arrived around 9:15 am and got in line.  There were about two dozen people ahead of us.  The ticket booth opened at 9:30 am and the line moved excruciatingly slowly.  We watched an electronic board that indicated how many tickets were left and hoped that there’d be enough for us if we ever got our turn.  We walked away around 9:50 am with tickets to the five exhibits we wanted to see and headed straight for the ticket booth across from the Cathedral.  Since we had about 30 minutes before we could enter the State Rooms Exhibit we had coffee and cookies at a stand in the castle courtyard.  The coffee was good but the cookies were one of the best things we ever put into our mouths.  They were meringues made with brown sugar and filled with some sort of sweet creme.

The castle’s origins date from the 13th century.  Because of wars, fires and expansions portions have been rebuilt many times.  Today the castle incorporates many different styles from the Gothic through the Renaissance.  Our first experience was the State Rooms.  Here was saw a series of rooms that originated in medieval times with high coffered ceilings and large, luxurious tapestries.  In the late 16th century king Sigismund Augustus commissioned about 150 tapestries from a factory in Brussels.  At the time tapestries served not only a decorative purpose but were used as a way to keep rooms warm in the winter.  They also helped reduce the echo in large spaces.  After World War II the tapestries were stolen by the Soviets and moved to Saint Petersburg.  Years later they were repatriated but only 138 came home.  The rooms also contained sculptures, paintings and period furniture.  There were some lovely works by Peter Paul Rubens, Tintoretto and some lesser know Italian artists that we particularly enjoyed.

(Wawel Castle Complex)

About 20 minutes after we finished seeing the State Rooms we were scheduled for a guided tour of the Royal Private Apartments.  We would be seeing different rooms in the same portion of the castle with a very knowledgable guide.  She showed us how we could tell where there were hidden staircases between the walls that were probably used by servants but may also have been used by the king’s mistresses.  We asked the guide where “Lady with an Ermine” was being displayed.  It’s a famous da Vinci painting that we were lead to believe was at the castle.  She informed us that it had recently been moved to another museum.  We were very unhappy (echos of our Mucha experiences in Prague).

Our next stop was at the Crown Treasury and Armory.  They had a nice display of armor, medieval weapons, early rifles, pistols and cannon.  No photography was permitted in any of these museums.

Finally we got to see 900+ year old Wawel Cathedral.  It’s the place where all of the kings of Poland were coronated.  Many of them, along with their spouses, are buried in elaborate tombs within.  The layout is typical of Roman Catholic churches with a large main altar and many smaller altars along the sides.  The interior is richly and opulently decorated with colored marble, gold and silver.

The entrance to the bell tower is through the sacristy and leads through a very small wooden opening to a set of steep circular stairs.  Along the way to the top there are platforms where you can see some of the famous bells including the 13 tonne Sigismund bell which was commissioned by King Sigismund I in the year 1520.  Keep your head low or you’ll regret it.  People were much shorter in the middle ages.

The way down leads directly into the crypt where we saw some famous burials.  There is a monument to Frederic Chopin which is said to contain the ashes from his heart.  Many kings and queens are there including our friends from Dresden August the Strong and his son August III both of whom were elected as King of Poland (when the Jagiellonian line died out in 1572 Poland began electing kings in 1574).  Unfortunately no photography in the church or crypts were permitted but we did get some nice pictures in the bell tower.

(Monument to Frederic Chopin)

For lunch we went back to the same coffee stand and ordered two pre-made sandwiches and some more of those wonderful cookies.  The sandwiches were way better than we had any right to expect and the cookies certainly didn’t disappoint.  The only thing that could have made it better was if they accepted credit cards.  Only two more exhibits to go.

Next we climbed Sandomierska Tower.  It was one of the defensive towers that surrounded the castle.  A set of wooden stairs wound around the outside until the halfway point where you could go inside and see the surrounding area through windows all along the perimeter.  This lead to another set of stairs that went all the way to the top where there was another set of windows.  We had a nice view of the castle and the river below.

Finally there was the Dragon’s Den.  All we knew was there was a statue of a dragon and that it breathed fire.  We HAD to see that.  The Den is just a long cave that takes you outside the castle complex where there is a large, bronze sculpture of a dragon.  Every five minutes a gas powered flame shoots from the dragons mouth.  It’s fun to see and it’s very popular with the kids.  It can be seen for free; there’s no need to pay the 3 PLN to see the Dragon’s Den.

It had been a long day and we were tired, but we were also unsatisfied.  We really wanted to see that da Vinci painting.  It’s one of only four portraits that da Vinci did of women.  One is, of course, The Mona Lisa, which we had seen in Paris in 2016.  Another is La Belle Ferronnière which is also at the Louvre (we’re not sure if we saw that one or not).  The fourth is The Portrait of Ginevra de’Benci which is hanging at the National Gallery in Washington, DC.  We hemmed and hawed for a while but finally decided to head over to the National Gallery and see the damn painting (by now we were REALLY tired).

Lady with an Ermine is a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan and da Vinci’s patron.  Sometime after the Duke was married his new wife forced him to give up his relationship with Cecilia.  The Duke arranged for Cecilia to marry count Bergamino and she took her painting with her.  For three hundred years the whereabouts of the painting was unknown but in 1800 it was purchased by a Polish noble named Czartoryski as a gift for his mother.  In 2016 the entire Czartoryski collection, including the da Vinci, was purchased by the Republic of Poland.  The Lady with an Ermine  is now on display in the main branch of their National Gallery in Krakow.

We took the 15 minute walk over to the museum where we purchased two tickets to the permanent exhibits at a cost of $11.00 and headed directly to the room where the da Vinci was on display.  The painting is beautifully done in typical da Vinci style.  The background, however, is completely black.  The curators think that it was painted over sometime before 1800.  It has been examined by several non-invasive techniques but no consensus has been reached yet on how it was originally painted.  It seems unlikely that da Vinci painted it that way.  No photography was permitted.  Outside the room the museum had a poster sized version of the painting with a sign encouraging visitors to take selfies with the portrait.  We took two!

(Selfie with Lady with an Ermine)

For dinner we stopped in Old Town and had falafels.  Before heading home we went back to Placki Ziemniaczane for the best damn frozen yogurt we’ve ever had.  Deborah had strawberries and cream and I had chocolate and vanilla twist.  Yum!

Distance walked: 8.4 miles

Monday, July 16

Since we’ll only be in Krakow for one week we’ve been scurrying around like busy bees trying to make time for all the things we want to do.  On Monday there were a number of museums that were free.  Our first stop was Schindler’s Enamel Factory made famous by the Speilberg movie entitled, “Schindler’s List”.  The factory was located near the Jewish ghetto but, unlike most cities, the ghetto was not in the Jewish District.  The Germans wanted that part of the city for themselves so they created a ghetto on the other side of the Vistula River in a mainly industrial area and moved all of the Jews there.  Only one of the original factory buildings is still standing but all traces of the manufacturing plant and the housing that Schindler created for his workers are gone.  The building is now a museum with information on life in Krakow during World War II with emphasis on the plight of the Jews.  It’s not at all what we expected.  Room after room told of the many horrors that the Nazi’s inflicted on the Jews and the city of Krakow.  At the end there was some information on how Krakow was liberated by the Soviets only to be subjugated once again.  The whole thing was rather depressing.

After that we walked over to Ghetto Heroes Square.  The square was an important part of ghetto life in WWII.  Today there is a memorial of 64 bronze chairs representing the 64,000 Jews from Krakow who were killed.

(Ghetto Heroes Square)

At the top of the square is the “Pharmacy Under the Eagle”.  Tadeusz Pankiewicz, the owner of the pharmacy, was the only non-Jew to live in the ghetto during the war.  He did not wish to give up his business so he bribed the Nazi’s to let him stay.  He and his staff of three women often gave medicine and medical care to ghetto residents – often for free.  He even helped a number of Jews hide and escape from the ghetto.  He and his staff survived the war and in 1983 he was awarded the “Righteous Among the Nations” award.  His pharmacy is now a museum.

As if that wasn’t enough we headed back over the river to the Jewish District for a tour of the Old Synagogue.  It is now a museum and it too was open for free.  The original synagogue dates from the 1400s but was rebuilt in 1570 in the Gothic Style.  The Nazis used the building in WWII as a munitions dump and the building was severely damaged when some of the munitions exploded.  It was rebuilt in the 1950s to look the same as it did in the 16th century.  The museum told the long history of famous Rabbis who lead the Jewish community in Krakow and had many artifacts of Jewish Life over the centuries.

Next we headed back to Old Town to see some other museums but it turned out that our information was wrong and they were free of charge on Tuesdays so we settled for a visit of the nearby Saint Mary’s Basilica.  It’s a large 13th century Gothic style Roman Catholic cathedral in the main square containing a very famous hand carved alter piece from the 14th century by Veit Stoss.  We were only permitted to see the church from the back.  For a fee we could have seen the alter up close but we decided to pass on that.  No photography was permitted.

There are a number of interesting stories associated with this church.  The Nazis removed the altar piece and took it to Nuremberg where it was severely damaged.  It was returned during the 1950s.  Restoration took as long as it had taken Veit Stoss to create it: 14 years.

Every hour a trumpeter plays a short tune that seems to end abruptly from each of the four sides of the highest bell tower of the church.  This tradition started in the 13th century.  Many people have wondered why the tune is so short and have made up some interesting stories.  The most common story says that invading Mongols killed the trumpeter who was trying to sound the alarm.  An American writer named Eric P. Kelly spent some time in Krakow and later penned a fictional children’s book called the “Trumpeter of Krakow” which has become the accepted explanation for the brevity of the tune.

Distance Walked: 7.5 miles

Tuesday, July 17

We started the day at another free museum.  It was the Rynek Underground.  This museum was opened only three years ago and was, we were told, created at great expense.  The museum exists entirely under the Cloth Market in the main square.  Some years ago, during renovation work, portions of the ground around the market were excavated.  The workers found evidence of previous versions of the building and many artifacts going back to the 10th century.  Eventually they decided to excavate the entire area and turned it into a museum.  It’s a very modern museum with digital screens in multiple languages and many interactive features.  Most interesting to us were the sections of old building foundations and the old roads that were used many centuries ago.  The best part, however, was a series of five rooms displaying short films about the history of Krakow.  The films were narrated by a history professor, were well made and very informative.  We spend over an hour just watching the films and, given the time, would have gone back and watched them all over again.

Here’s an interesting story about vampires that we learned in the museum.  In the middle ages many people suffered from porphyria.  These people were very sensitive to light and often ate raw/bloody meat which alleviated some of their symptoms.  These people were often suspected of being vampires and, when they died, they were buried with their hands tied and put in a fetal position so that they would be unable to rise from the dead and terrorize the living.  Many skeletons have been found in this position and several were in this museum.

Our next museum was the crypt underneath the church of Saint Adalbert, which is also in the main square.  The crypt was very small.  We saw a few old pieces of pottery and one skeleton.  We were glad we didn’t pay for that one.

Next we went to Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe.  It was founded 1364 by King Casimir III the Great. The king died shortly afterwards without having funded the new school.  Initial funding was received when the king’s widow, Hedwig, left all her worldly possessions to the school in her will.

Before the tour we had time to see two of the permanent exhibits that are open to the public.  The first was an exhibit on the school of art.  There we saw examples of masters and students works covering many centuries.  The second was a display of more recent photos of the university grounds.

Our tour started just after the hour so that we could enjoy seeing the famous clock.  Every hour music plays, two doors open, and seven figures travel from one side of the clock face to the other.  The original clock dated from 1465 but the current computer controlled version was installed in 2000.

For many years the university was limited to classes in law, medicine and philosophy and all classes were taught in Latin.  Over the years many new courses have been added.  Today the University boasts over 40,000 students in Krakow alone and most of the classes are taught in English.  The original building complex is now a museum.

The first room we saw was one of the large lecture halls.  Portraits of many of the old faculty, royal patrons and famous students were hung on the walls.  They had a portrait of Copernicus, Pope John Paul II and Queen Hedwig, the only woman in the gallery.

Next we visited a room displaying scientific instruments that Copernicus used to study the heavens and a book of his handwritten notes.  They also had a globe from the early 1400s with the earliest mention of North America on it.  (It was in the wrong place.)

(Copernicus’ Notes)

An adjacent room held cases full of precious objects.  They had such things as documents signed by the king authorizing the university, a lock of Kościuszko’s hair and a Lifetime Achievement Oscar that was donated by Andrzej Wajda, a Polish director.  There was also a treasury room with many golden objects that had been donated by Queen Hedwig in the 1300s.  Lastly we saw the sleeping quarters of a professor and the dining room where professors ate together twice a day.  The dining hall had a beautifully carved wooden staircase that let up to the floor above.

For lunch we went to the oldest restaurant in Krakow.  It’s called Restaurant Wierzynek and there’s a good story here.  In 1364 a wealthy merchant named Mikolaj  Wierzynek hosted a feast lasting 20 days for several of Europe’s kings on behalf of Poland’s King Casimir III the Great.  Mikolaj took great care and overwhelmed his guests with lavish meals.  As parting gifts Mikolaj gave each guest pieces of gold and silver tableware.  The king was very pleased and the restaurant has been in operation ever since.

(Wild Boar Steak)

Deborah order the fillet of beef with asparagus.  I had the wild boar steak with chanterelle mushrooms.  Both came with a puree of parsnips and new potatoes.  Before the meal arrived we received a complimentary amuse bouche consisting of a tureen of salmon.  The restaurant is beautifully decorated with fresco’ed walls, suits of armor and coffered ceilings.  The service was excellent and we enjoyed the food very much.  I even liked the mushrooms and I hate mushrooms! 😉

Fully refreshed we headed off to the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.  At only 400 years old this is one of the younger churches in Town but it’s definitely a must see.  It’s a nice example of Baroque decor although not nearly as opulent as the churches we saw in Rome.  They provided us with a complementary headset that gave us information about the church and the crypt below.  In return they received a nice donation.

Right next door is the oldest church in Krakow.  Saint Andrew’s was built just before 1100 making it over 900 years old. It’s fairly small on the inside and is the only church in Krakow to have survived the Mongol invasion of 1241.  The grounds also hold the convent of The Poor Clares to whom the church was entrusted in 1320.

After that we headed towards the Jewish Quarter to take the 5:00 pm free tour.  Along the way we encountered another interesting church near the base of Wawel Hill.  Corpus Christi Basilica is a Gothic style church founded by Casimir III The Great in 1335.  In 1750 the church was re-decorated in Baroque style.  There are four side altars and one main altar all drenched in gold.  It is quite a sight.

(Corpus Christi Basilica)

Finally we made our way to the Jewish Quarter and met with our guide.  In spite of the off again on again rain the group had about 20 people.  We started in the main square and she spoke about the history of the Old Synagogue.  We visited inside the Issac Synagogue which is run by the Lubovitch sect.  One of the more interesting stops was at a courtyard where several scenes from Schindler’s List were filmed (we’re going to have to watch that film again now).

Nearby was a small square where she said they made the best zapiekanka in all of Poland.  These are like open faced french bread pizzas made with a long baguette covered with white mushrooms and cheese.  That’s the original version – today you can get them covered with all sorts of vegetables, meats, sauces and cheese.  We intended to come back later and try some for ourselves.

Our guide told us that before WWII Krakow had around 65,000 Jews.  Almost all of them were killed.  Today Krakow’s Jewish population numbers around 100 and is growing.

The tour eventually crossed the river to see Ghetto Heroes Square, the Pharmacy Under the Eagle and concluded at Schindler’s factory.   Afterwards we headed back over the river to the Jewish Quarter for some hot, freshly made falafel at a kosher restaurant before finally reaching our home.  It had been a long and eventful day.

Distance Walked: 8.6 miles

Saturday, July 14

We left our apartment in Dresden at 4:30 am and took a cab to the train station for the eight hour trip to Krakow.  We had to take a cab because the trams in Dresden don’t start running until 5:00 am and we wanted to have enough time to get to the station, eat some breakfast and get to our track in plenty of time.

About 3.5 hours into the trip we stopped in Wroclaw, Poland to change trains.  During the one hour layover we had a good  chance to look around the station.  It was similar to most other train stations with the usual lineup of fast-food choices including Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC and Costa Coffee.  There was one interesting difference, however, several of the local restaurants served Polish foods.  We couldn’t resist trying some pirogies and placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes).   They were served with sour cream and covered in fried onions.  We enjoyed them immensely.  Total cost: $5.00.  We’re going to like Poland!

We took a cab from Krakow (pronounced Krakov) main station for the two mile journey to our apartment.  There are two main districts to see: Old Town and the Jewish Quarter.  Our apartment is right between them.  After we settled in we took a stroll through Old Town to get acquainted with the district.

Krakow is a special place in Poland because it’s the only major city that was not destroyed during World War II.  Many of the buildings in Old Town date from the early Middle Ages.  Eventually we found the Town Square, which is the largest city square in all of Europe.  In the center is a large rectangular building that once severed as a textile market.  All around are churches.  More details to follow.

One of the many foods that Poland is famous for is its Pączki (donuts).  They are fried donuts made from yeasty dough, usually filled and always covered in sugar or glaze.  One of the shops, called Placki Ziemniaczane, was just too appealing to pass by.  We ordered a donut with rose flavored jelly covered in rose flavored glaze.  It cost about $1.25.  Rose is a common and important flavoring in the Balkan world and, although Poland is not one of the Balkan countries, it shares many traits with them including their language.  We’re finding that many words in Polish are very similar to ones we learned in Bulgaria.  Of course, most people here seem to have at least a passing acquaintance with English so language isn’t going to be an issue.

(Varieties of Pączki)

Fun fact: the three cities with the largest Polish populations in descending order are Warsaw, Chicago (Illinois) and Krakow!

We had dinner at a restaurant near the main square that has been in business since 1899.  It’s called Polakowski.  Deborah ordered Głąbki (stuffed cabbage) and I had bigos (stewed sauerkraut, cabbage and meat).  The portions were huge.  Two plates and two drinks cost less than $8.00.  It was delicious.

(Głąbki)

Distance Walked: 7.6 miles

Sunday, July 15

Our morning was taken up with a free walking tour of Old Town.  We met the group at 10:00 am near the Old City Gate.  We used “Walkative, Free Walking Tours”.  They’re the oldest free tour group in Poland.  They now have affiliations in quite a few cities in Poland and are expanding into other countries.  How can a company that doesn’t charge for its services stay in business?  At the completion of the tour the guides ask for donations.  They keep some of the money and turn some of it over to the organization.  It’s a business model that seems to work.  Of course they also use these tours as a way to get people to sign up for their paid tours.

During the Middle Ages the Old Town was surrounded by defensive walls which had over 40 towers.  Today you can still see four of the original towers connected by what remains of the old walls.  Our first stop was the Old Town Square.  It was built by German financiers in the 13th century to support trade in salt, copper and textiles.  In the Middle Ages salt was the principle way of preserving meat.  It was expensive and highly sought after.  Fortunately for Krakow there are large salt mines in the area.

Next we visited one of the oldest colleges in Europe:  Jagiellonian University.  It was founded in 1364.  It’s most famous alumni include Nicola Copernicus and Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II).  The original building had classrooms, housing for the staff and a famous library.  The building is now a museum.  The books in the library were stolen by the Nazis during World War II and haven’t been seen since.

On our way to Wawel Castle we walked along the oldest road in Krakow where we saw seveal churches, one of which was almost 1,000 years old.  In spite of 40+ years of Soviet occupation Poland is still a very religious country.  Poles were permitted to practice their religion during the occupation whereas other Soviet dominated countries were not.  90% of the Polish population are practicing Catholics.  Most other Soviet dominated countries no longer have strong religious traditions.

Fun fact: The oldest nun in the world lives in Krakow.  She’s 110 years old and has first hand memories of World War I.  She wasn’t on the tour.

The castle, which was home to Poland’s kings during the time that Krakow was the capital city, is now a museum complex.  More on the castle after we go back and see it in detail.

For lunch we went to a restaurant that we spied the day before.  They specialize in hand made pirogies stuffed with a variety of fillings.  It’s called Pierogowy Raj.  The menu listed over 20 varieties and we wanted to try them all.  A single order was 12 pieces but the waitress allowed us to split that between two different kinds.  We got 6 stuffed with cheese, potato and fried onions and 6 with smoked bacon, potato, onion and garlic.  All 12 came topped with fried onions and butter.  For dessert we ordered six more pirogies – three stuffed with sour cherry and three stuffed with sweet cheese and chocolate.  They were served with a small bowl of sour cream.  They were amazingly good.  We’ll definitely go back to try some other flavors.  18 pirogies and two bottles of water cost us $10.00.  😊

(Pirogies Covered in Fried Onions)

Most cities have a day once a month where some of the museums are free of charge.  In Krakow several different museums are free each day of the week.  In just seven days you could potentially see every museum without ever having spent a nickel or Zloty.  (Much to our surprise most countries in the EU don’t use the EURO.  Poland’s currency is the Zloty and it is currently at .27 to the dollar.)  We went to two museums.

The first was Mehoffer House, which is a National Museum.  It’s housed in the top floors of the former textile market in the Old Town Square and specializes in 19th century Polish art.  The collection was spread over several rooms and included paintings and sculptures.  It wasn’t very large but it had some interesting works.  We liked the pieces from the impressionist period the best.

(Introduction by Jacek Malczewski from 1890)

Afterwards we visited the house of Jan Matejko, also one of the National Museums.  Jan Matejko was perhaps the most famous painter and graphic artist ever to come out of Krakow.  There’s a lovely sculpture of him near the Old City Gate.  The lower floor of his house has been preserved as it was when he lived there.  The upper two floors contain many of his works and items that he collected.  We’d seen some of his works in the other museum as well.  We liked several of the portraits that he’d done.

(Grey Bearded Old Man by Jan Matejko from 1858)

Distance Walked: 7.2 miles