Krakow revisited

It had been 9 years since I was last in Krakow and I was very keen for it to feature on our route through Poland. Strangely though, while I remember really taking to the city, I had very few memories of much of it’s contents, primarily due I guess to experiencing it through a teenage girls eyes, when there are lots of other very important things going on during school trips…! Either way, I was glad to find it still very appealing, if somewhat busier. Cheap air fares have certainly boosted tourist numbers. There are also now very few Fiat 126’s around, a sight I remember to be very common on my previous trip.

Our first visit was up to Wavel Hill. Even by 10.30am all the tickets had been sold for the day’s tours, however we were quite content just to walk round the castle grounds and courtyards for a while. There is something about the outside of the cathedral which makes it extremely pleasing to look at and it was just nice to enjoy being in its presence. After a while wandering, we headed down and across to the old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. This area was much quieter, and the resulting atmosphere seemed particularly fitting given its history. Many of the synagogues are now museums, documenting the horrific story of the fate of 30% of Krakows population during WWII. One cemetery was of particular note, as quick thinking residents of the time had managed to bury the entire site so that the advancing Nazis would not loot the graves – not even the dead were spared. We had a lovely meal in a traditional Jewish restaurant with lace tablecloths, well used candlesticks and klezmer music in the background. Delicious thick, dark onion soup to start – yum. After lunch we made our way to the old town centre and re-visited some of my strongest memories. My favourite building, the huge cloth hall was unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view point) undergoing renovation work and so a large proportion of the main square was cordoned off with high metal fencing. There was also a rehearsal underway on an immense stage that still only took up a small area of the square, and so the air was full of opera (and horses – as they lined up to make the most of the tourists). Tom managed to find his shoe shop "athletes foot" not a name you forget in a hurry, but nothing tempted him on this visit. A loop around the park which surrounds the old fortifications took us back to our pick up point and we were duly taken back to our campsite a few kms out of the city.