Kashmir Road - the road less travelled...: kwietnia 2015

Kraków is the best city in the world! No kidding! I was born and raised there, so I know it for sure;-)

Well, anyway, Kraków is one of the most beautiful cities in Poland, with a lot of old buildings and monuments, so there’s a lot to see and do there. The main part of the city is the Old Town – this is not only a tourist place, but also the local people like to spend time there – there’s a lot of shops and cafes and clubs there, so you can basically party all night long going from one club to the other – all just around the Main Square. Kraków is very laid back and relaxed (well, some see it as a flaw of people from Kraków – we tend to say we’ll do something immediately but it takes us a few days – you know, it’s Kraków’s “mañana” way of living), there’s a lot of students there who fill the pubs with laughter and loud voices (although they like to think they’re intellectuals not barbarians) and life seems to be easy when you’re there.

Of course, there also downsides of Kraków. For years there was a huge factory – Nowa Huta, operating not that far away from the city center, polluting the air. In old guidebooks for foreigners they actually said that staying in Kraków for longer than 3 days may cause you death or huge health problems – well, don’t believe them, I lived there for over 20 years and I’m still alive and quite well;-) Although they are trying to get rid of the pollution, the air is not that clean yet, and this unfortunately takes its toll on the buildings, which become grey quite quickly. But don’t let this stop you from visiting Kraków.

WHAT TO SEE

You should walk around the Old City first, of course. It’s good to start your walk around the Słowacki Theater (it’s on the way from the train station) and then go towards the Floriańska Gate – one of the landmarks of the city. Słowacki Theater is very beautiful, it’s worth to go inside to see amazing paintings and decorations of the main and auditorium. It’s actually possible to do sightseeing with a guide there, but it’s better just to buy tickets for one of the plays.

Słowacki theater

From the theater (leaving it behind, on your left hand side) go straight along the remaining part of the Old Wall towards the Floriańska Gate. If you pass through the gate you will see the Barbakan - a round building, part of old fortifications, which used to be very hard to conquer at the time of war. Nowadays, it’s easy to visit, as part of Kraków’s Historic Museum.

Traditionally, on the old city walls close to Floriańska Gate, local artist hang their paintings and you can buy them there. From the Floriańska Gate you can go along Floriańska Street towards the Main Square (you will see a big church at the end of the street). On Floriańska there’s a lot of shops and small restaurants (before big shopping centers came to Poland this was the main shopping street for me).

Paintings hanging on Floriańska gate

The two things you can’t miss on the Main Square is the Marian Church and Sukiennice. Marian Church is one of the oldest in the city – there’s a very famous altar inside made by Wit Stwosz (a famous German scalpturer). Wit Stwosz created the altar at the end of XV century. It depicts the scenes from life of Saint Mary, mother of Christ. Some of the scenes can be seen only after the altar is opened (the celebration of the opening of the altar takes place each day at 11:50 am). There are many stories related to this altar. The interesting thing for example is, that Wit Stwosz portrayed the citizens of Kraków as saints and persons seen on the altar. He did it so well, that scientists now are able to say what kind of diseases some of those people had at that time.

Marian Church

Inside the Marian Church

Also, every full hour there is a special tune called “hejnał” (pronounced like “hey-now”;-)) played on a trumpet from one of the towers of the church – look out for the window opening and the golden end of the trumpet in the window. This is to commemorate a brave guard who tried to warn people of Kraków that the Turks are coming – he started to play the tune, but he was shot with an arrow by the Turks and the melody stopped abruptly – just like it stops nowadays. And if you wonder why the towers of the church are uneven in height, there’s another story connected with this – the story says, that two brothers – great architects and builders, were engaged to build the towers. The older brother was supposed to build the south tower and the younger brother was to build the north tower. At the beginning the works were going on a similar level, but at some point the older brother’s tower started to spring up. The younger brother was jealous and didn’t want his brother to be better and more famous, so he killed him with a knife and afterwards finished his own tower but only covered his brother’s tower with a roof. On the day the church was opened, the younger brother was so filled with regret that he went up the tower, holding a knife with which he killed his brother, he confessed to what he has done and jumped. To commemorate this the knife was hanged in the one of the gates of Sukiennice – you can still find it there… There are many other stories connected to this church and other parts of Kraków and I encourage you to get to know them all.

The towers of the Marian Church

playing "hejnał" at Marian Church

In the middle of the square there is the Cloth’s Hall (Sukiennice) – it is one of the oldest shopping malls in the world – you can still buy souvenirs there (you will definitely find the best choice of souvenirs there, although they may be a little bit more expensive than in other places). Check out a small church at the other end of Sukiennice – St. Adalbert’s Church – it’s really cute.

Sukiennice

inside Sukiennice

Sukiennice

St. Adalbert's Church

Inside Sukiennice

Sukiennice

When you are there, you should go to the museum called the Underground Museum (http://www.mhk.pl/branches/rynek-underground) – this is a multimedia museum created under the square, showing you how life looked like in the old times (it’s better to reserve your tickets on-line). It’s one of my most favorite museums in Kraków. On the first floor of Sukiennice there is the National Museum with a lot of famous Polish paintings (including huge paintings by Matejko) – it’s worth seeing too, especially that you can also go out on the balcony there, with a nice view of the Marian Church.

Underground Museum

Around the Main Square there a lot of beautiful old buildings. There a lot of pubs and restaurants downstairs or even in the cellars of those buildings – in the summer it’s very nice to sit outside in the garden of one of those restaurants, sip a beer or tea and just enjoy the view, watch people walking by and relax. It might be also interesting to visit the tower of old City Hall (downstairs there’s a nice restaurant with really good food and… a small theater), which stands on the other side of Sukiennice.

The Main Square

City Hall

Monument by Igor Mitoraj

From the square, go down Grodzka Street – this is the street that will take you towards the Wawel Castle. On the way, on your left you should check out St. Peter’s and Paul’s Church.

St. Peter’s and Paul’s Church

Do visit the Wawel Castle – one of the oldest and biggest in Poland, which was a witness to many kings’ coronations, births and deaths. You should go inside to see the royal rooms and armory (it may be wise to be there early because the tickets can be sold out). The entrance to the inside of the castle is from an amazing courtyard (this you can visit for free). Also go to the Cathedral, where a lot of famous Polish kings and personalities are buried (including President Kaczyński and his wife). If you have enough strength, go up the bell tower to see a famous bell called Zygmunt – it only rings on important days like the death of the President.

Wawel Castle

I’m not sure if this will be open, but when you will go to side of the Castle facing the Vistula River, to your right there will be a small tower – this is the entrance to the cave that is hidden under the castle (going down the slope) – the legend says this is the cave in which a dragon lived (yes, there is another legend about that dragon and a smart shoemaker who killed the beast). When you go down the cave you will exit it outside of the walls of the Castle, close to the Vistula River banks where you can see the statue of the dragon outside the exit from the cave – it breaths with real fire from time to time.

The symbol of Kraków - the dragon

From there you can stroll along the river for a bit and just enjoy yourself. If you go further down you will find a statue of Dżok - the faithful dog. The story behind this monument is actually true – his master died next to Grunwaldzkie Roundabout (if I remember correctly, he had a heart attack when driving his car, the dog was in the car at the time). The dog stayed at the roundabout for about a year and didn’t want to leave – he just waited for his master to come back. Finally a woman adopted him, but she also died few years later and Dżok run off and died hit by a train. Now his monument says:

“Dżok, the dog.
The most faithful canine friend, ever epitomising a dog's boundless devotion to his master. Throughout the entire year /1990-1991/ Dżok was seen waiting in vain at the Rondo Grunwaldzkie roundabout to be fetched back by his master, who had passed away at the very site.”

Then you can go back towards the Main Square again – but go through the Planty Park, which runs around the city walls of the Old Town – this way you will come across the Jagiellonian University buildings – the oldest university in Poland and one of the oldest in the world. Find Jagiellonska Street and visit Collegium Maius – the oldest building of the university.

Planty

Another place worth visiting (and within a walking distance from the Main Square) is Kazimierz district – this is the old Jewish quarter, now very popular both among the tourists and the local people, with old buildings, interesting cafes – it has a nice bohemian feeling to it. You can do some sightseeing there – there are old synagogues there and museums related to Jewish history, including an old Jewish graveyard. You will also find a beautiful church (the Body of Christ Church) there – the oldest in Kazimierz.

Tempel Synagogue

Inside the Tempel Synagogue

Body of Christ Church

Also, not far away from Kazimierz a very interesting museum (quite new) is located – the Schindler’s Factory (http://www.mhk.pl/branches/oskar-schindlers-factory), which shows the history of Kraków and its people (both Polish and Jewish) during the II World War. Right next to it is the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, so called MOCAK (http://en.mocak.pl/) – it’s worth seeing especially if you like modern art. You can get to both from Kazimierz by small tourist electric cars – you will see them everywhere, they can take you on a tour around Kazimierz. Or you can just walk there across the Vistula River.

Schindler’s Factory

MOCAK

You can also visit Kraków’s zoo which is located in the Wolski forest – a very nice place for walks.

The ZOO

There is a lot of different events happening in Kraków. For example in June you may come across the Dragon’s Parade, or in the beginning of May there’s OFF Film Festival, where you can actually meet some international movie stars.

The Dragon’s Parade

OFF Camera Film Festival

There are plenty of other things to see and do in Kraków, I only showed you a few of my favourite places, so just take your time and explore the city on your own…

Kashmir Road - the road less travelled...

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niedziela, 26 kwietnia 2015

My personal guide to Kraków