A lot of people rave about Krakow on the internet. And yet for me, Krakow has never been top of my places-to-visit list. However, because I found a great deal by British Airways to Warsaw, I thought I’d make a dash to Krakow so that from there, I can visit Auschwitz – a place that I have been wanting to visit for a long time. It’s time to check out whether Krakow is all hype or just right.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
I took the 07:55 Express InterCity Premium (EIP) from Warsaw. You can read about my Warsaw adventure at Warsaw, Poland: The Phoenix City. A 2 hr 19 mins train ride took me from Warsaw to Krakow. In Krakow, I had already booked to stay at Antiques Apartment. I stopped by the information centre at the train station to grab a city map and asked for directions and some local tips of the best places to dine at.
On the way to Antiques Apartment, I passed Babci Maliny on Szpitalna Ulitsa, the restaurant recommended by the lady at the tourist information centre for authentic Polish food. Unfortunately, it was closed for the public holiday (it was their Constitution Day, straight after the May holiday so it was a long weekend) .
Krakow Old Town is rather compact but Antiques Apartments is located at Plac Szczepański which is at the far end of the other side on entry to the Old Town from the train station. It took me about 25 mins to get there by foot – with my overnight duffel bag. When I got to Antiques Apartments, the guy at the reception said it’ll take another hour before my apartment would be ready. I remembered that I had not bought my ticket back to Warsaw so I asked whether it was safe to buy tickets on the day of travel. The guy said given that it’s a public holiday in Poland, there may be more demands for rail travel and advised me to buy my ticket in advance. As I wanted to get a window seat and one with a table, which somehow the system did not allow me to choose when I wanted to buy online, the guy said the best way is to buy over the counter at the station. Taking only my camera with me this time, I headed back to the train station to sort out my journey back to Warsaw. The lady at the counter spoke a bit of English but did not understand my request for wanting window seat and one with a table. I blurted out “Okno i Stol”. That’s “window and table” in Russian. Fortunately, it’s the same in Polish, and soon the transaction was completed. My Russian is of use after all! Heh.
Like I said earlier, Krakow’s Old Town is quite a compact town. But I was surprised to see many electric cars taking tourist around the Old Town. Some go to the Jewish quarters too which probably make sense but even that, I am sure you can cover by foot, time permitting.
If you fancy a horse driven carriage, there are a few that take tourist around the Old Town too.
Back at the Old Town, I wandered around the Main Market Square. There were many stalls selling street food, ornaments, trinkets, crafts and also pottery.
I queued at the pierogi stall. There’s ruskie pierogi which I knew were filled with cheese and potatoes. When it was my turn I asked, “Can I have 2 ruskie pierogi and 2 of the spinach ones please?” While the lady was taking my order, another lady came and sprinkled what looked like white bits on top of the pierogi. I asked “What’s that?” The lady said, “It’s fat from the pig.” Dang. I can’t eat ’em then. I politely told the lady that I’m a vegetarian (I don’t think she’ll know vegequarian!) and I can’t eat the pierogi if sprinkled with the pig’s fat. I apologised for not being able to buy her dumplings and walked away. In my mind I was thinking, why can’t they keep the vegetarian option as vegetarian and not spoil them with the pig’s fat? But later, I realised that the Polish don’t give a dang about vegetarians. They did not make potatoes and cheese pierogi to cater for vegetarians. They make them because in the olden days potatoes and cheese were easily sourced and cheaper than meat. I am sure, that was also the case during the war times. So no ruskie pierogi for me. Sigh.
If you’re a meat eater, you will love Poland. It’s mainly meat and potatoes land. The smell of sausages filled the air. These ones I bet are beef and pork. Plus, they would not be halal meat. Moving on…
I ended up buying waffles (please don’t judge me) and cheese filled pierogi that are eaten with cranberry sauce. I must say, the sharpness from the cranberry sauce works well to balance out the creaminess of the cheese. However, I found the pierogi rather heavy. Not really for me, sorry.
At about 13:30, I went back to Antiques Apartments to collect my bag and look for my apartment. Although the reception is at Plac Szczepański, which is right around the corner from the Main Market Square, all their apartments are not. The one that was assigned to me was at Studencka Ulitsa, about 8 mins walk from the reception. From outside and on entering the building, it looked old and run down, like a flashback to the communist era. Antiques Apartments, however were located on the second floor and I was glad that the floor, including my apartment (and I bet the others too) have been nicely renovated with a modern twist.
The apartment itself is big and can easily fit 4 people. I paid £60 for the night and if the cost were to be shared with 3 others, it would have been quite a bargain.
I quickly sorted my stuffs and kept the valuables in the safe, freshen up a bit and headed back out to the Globe Trotter Hostel just across the square from the Antiques Apartment’s reception. I had booked a trip to Wieliczka Salt Mine and the pick-up was at 14:20 at the designated spot.
The mini-bus was a bit late but it arrived in the end and off we went on our tour. Located about 30 mins outside the city, the Wieliczka Salt Mine is a place not to be missed if ever you’re near Krakow. When we got there, we were told that for the English speaking group, we had to wait for about half an hour and would re-group at the designated spot at 15:55. This was definitely not what I expected. What’s the point of pre-booking if they can’t arrange the timing of the visit properly? Still it was worth the wait.
After that, there was more waiting time and while we were in our queue, we were given ear pieces to hear to Maya’s, our guide’s explanation of the mine without having her shout at the top of her lungs. The waiting time was mainly because at any point in time, only 500 people are allowed in the mines. Our group was a big one comprising 45 tourist and to avoid people being left behind and getting lost in the salt mine (we were told there have been such cases!), another tour guide followed us from the back. I was the first in line on entering but with my trigger happy finger, I soon relegated to the back of the pack. The guide definitely recognised me soon enough. We exchanged smiles but that was about it as he doesn’t speak English.
A note of advice: wear comfortable walking shoes.
On entering the mine, we had to take a winding wooden staircase down 380 steps to a depth of 64 metres.
The mine itself was pretty impressive. Made of an extensive network of tunnels and chambers, it’s effectively an underground town. We took the Tourist Route which covered c2% of the mine. We were told that if we wanted to cover the entire mine, it’d take us a good month to complete.
The mine is 700 years old and had mainly been carved by hand. We were taken from chambers to cambers which showcased marvelous carvings, all made of salt. What’s more impressive is that these carving were done by the miners – not experts – in their free time.
The most impressive of the whole lot was no doubt St Kinga’s chapel. Everything in this chapel was made of salt: from the grand chandelier to the flooring.
There’s even an underground brine lake.
We were in the mine for about 2 hours. The journey up was via an old rickety lift where 8 of us were squashed into for each trip up. Claustrophobic people may be able to handle the mines but the lift will definitely fail them at the last hurdle.
By the time we got back to the Old Town, it was past 19:00. I made my way back to the apartment to freshen up before heading back out to see the Old Town at night.
Monday, 2 May 2016
The day started off early with a pick-up at 08:20 to visit Auschwitz. If you’re interested and want to read about my visit to Auschwitz, you could check out this post Auschwitz: All’s NOT Fair in Love and War.
When we got back from Auschwitz, it was close to 16:00. I still had about 3 hours and decided to head to Wawel Castle where I spent almost 2 hours wandering the castle grounds and had tea there.
With only 4 złotys for which tickets could be purchased from the ticket machine at the foot of the stairs, you can go up Sandomierska Tower. It was an artillery tower built around 1460 to strengthen the defences of the royal residence against attacks. Going up the tower requires one to climb up 137 steps but it affords amazing view of the surrounding area which makes the climb worth it.
After my tour of Wawel Castle, I made my way back to Antiques Apartments to collect my bag. It was time to leave Krakow and head back to Warsaw.
My whirlwind visit to Krakow didn’t allow me to see all the places that I wanted to see, but the ones that I did see were nice. Did Krakow meet my expectation? Yes. Would I rate it at the top of the best European cities that I’ve visited? Maybe not.
Express InterCity train: Krakow to Warsaw.