After we stepped off the train from the sterile, concrete jungle of Warsaw, we entered a town of battles, conquests and medieval atmosphere Krakow. It’s hard to imagine a more magical place, really, where the air is replete with myths and legends. But Krakow is a fairyland and entranced us with several architectural delights. The Old Town is picture postcard pretty, and houses one of the largest market squares and a fairy-tale castles overlooking the river. No wonder this old Polish capital is one of the finest medieval cities in eastern Europe and a World Heritage Site. The town offers something for everyone be it puppet shows and horse carriage rides for children, majestically restored monuments for the history buff, museum packed with priceless artefacts for the art lover, and bars and clubs for the young and restless.
A Turkish Airlines Flight from Delhi transported us to Warsaw and from there, we took a train to Krakow. But plan your trip in advance and travel on weekdays to save money. It’s also cheaper to withdraw local cash from the ATMs rather than convert Euros as the exchange rate is better. We stayed at the Blue Bell Studio apartments. Cheaper than hotels, the apartment had a basic kitchenette allowing us to prepare simple meals. The biggest advantage of this hotel is its location. Find something close to the station, allowing you to walk to the main sights of the town.
Look for similar alternatives on bookings.com/ hotels.com. The locals are extremely helpful so always ask the hotel staff for a local map and things to see and do for free. Travel light to avoid being defeated by the cobbled paths. The heart of any medieval town, the market square houses shops, restaurants and pubs and is a hustling, bustling delight. We thoroughly enjoyed the horse-drawn carriage ride, giggled through the Madonna and Michael Jackson puppet shows and posed with locals in medieval costumes and finery.
One of the most famous Polish churches, the Church of the Virgin Mary ( Kosciol Mariacki) features two striking towers, the taller of which is a Gothic spire with a gold-plated crown built in 1666. After taking in all that, we wandered through Krakow’s Historic Centre which is a 13th century merchants’ town and home to Europe’s largest market square. Numerous historical houses, palaces and churches with magnificent interiors, 14th century fortifications, ancient synagogues, Jagiellonian University and the Gothic cathedral where the kings of Poland were buried all clutter this breathtaking site.
The Wawel Royal Castle once upon a time, served as a royal residence from where rulers governed Poland for five centuries (1038-1596). The castle is a symbol of the independent Polish state and contains a priceless collection of 16th-century Flemish tapestries bewitching with rich colours and embroidery. A stark contrast is the Jewish District which housed a sizable Jewish population by the end of the fifteenth century and served as the main cultural centre for all Polish Jews. However, the Plaszow concentration camp nearby was originally a forced labour camp and was built on the grounds of two former Jewish cemeteries in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Poland. We also booked a day trip by bus to Oswiecim (Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum) to pay our respects at the most infamous Nazi concentration camps but I don’t recommend this for the faint-hearted. The desolation could hurt.
The cuisine is exquisite and can eat as you trip about. Gorging on the delicious traditional Polish fare like Pierogi, Golonka, Zurek, Bigos and Obwarzanek, also meant we had to work off those extra calories by covering the entire town on foot.
But it’s that kind of town. The magic is on the streets, inside those little alleys and in those little shops. It’s a getaway town. Also, quite a bit from the school textbooks actually happened here. It’s humbling to see those images come alive. All you need are walking shoes.
