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