Exactly this time last year during halfterm we visited Krakow in Poland for four days and what a wonderful winter destination that did not disappoint on any level. We travelled from Stansted with Ryanair on an insanely early flight and arrived on time and without major incident to hire a cab for the short drive into the city. We were greeted by a pleasant taxi driver who spent most of the journey missing second gear as he would race off in first and over rev and shift to third, all the time missing potholes - just! We arrived safely at our city centre hotel which was a leisurely 10 minute walk from the main square as pictured above. After settling in to our massive room, we wandered to the square to find an early lunch and managed to get into a lovely restaurant just before noon.
Beer is big in Poland and wine is a tourist after thought! Apparently vodka is probably the biggest of all tipples but as neither of us are big spirit drinkers, the vodka went undisturbed. We managed well enough and enjoyed a number of local draft lagers - so good! The food was wonderful and hearty and we had no problems ordering or receiving the right amounts as we were never short or greedy and the costs were so reasonable. A big hit with the girls was soup; either mushroom or borscht as well as the dumplings. We found one particular restaurant that was at the more expensive end of things but we ate there twice and never went over the £30 mark!
Being late February we experienced the full range of weather over our four days with moderate temperatures to start that turned to cold rain as above, that progressed to heavy snow and freezing temperatures and back to rain! The snow that did fall managed to hang around to the evening before the rain started and caught us at a Square area bar with a mad dash back to the hotel. Thankfully these extremes never lasted very long and by the time we had dried the coats and decided upon a restaurant for the evening, the rain had gone.
Of course we wanted to get out of Krakow and were determined to try the train system only to be told that the entire network was paralised by a strike! The only alternative was the bus which we eventually found quite close to the train station. One of our journeys was to Auschwitz and Birkenau and as so much has been written about this I would prefer to simply post the following two images - these seem to sum everything up.
Now a few practical points about visiting Poland . . . Things couldn't be easier! Never has £400 spending money gone so far! Prices as they used to be as long as you avoid the really obviously over the top Main Square restaurants. In desperation we found ourselves in one of these and even though we were seated on the third floor we managed the "runner" before the waiter returned with the first round of drinks! If you don't like the look of things - you don't have to stay! Massive pretzels are available on the street and make long bus journeys easier. Paying to use a public toilet at the Bus Station was more expensive than the one way bus tickets purchased a few moments earlier . . . Stay at a hotel just outside the Main Square and walk in - this is where 75% of the interest is - stay close! Watch out for the "closed door" policy, where due to the cold main doors are always closed making the synagogue/museum/restaurant look deserted. Beer is cheap and wonderful - no need to spend on imported ordinary wine. I'm sure the vodka is fantastic but as stated above we didn't go there. Final tip - your hotel package will probably include the breakfast, so eat heartily (if you can early in the day) and stock up for the inevitable walking and touring.Four days was ample.
Finally a word about technology, namely Internet access . . . Our wonderful hotel had a hotel wide broadband network that allowed unhindered access 24/7 that allowed me to keep tabs on email in London and for Sinead to search for restaurants on a daily basis, sometimes finding that evening's eatery minutes before we left the hotel. It was wonderful to preview the restaurant's look and menu before making the trip and commitment. We also used this to find museum opening times and even train schedules - all very useful until you find the network is down due to a strike! As we were returning early on the Saturday, Sinead even ordered the Tesco groceries online so they would be delivered after our return!As seems to be my habit with travel pictures - all images shot with the Ricoh GR Digital. I shot many multi frame panoramics that were later stitched flawlessly with Photoshop CS3's Photomerge - I do not miss the Noblex at all! The key to family trips is to travel light and nothing could weigh less than the GR, an extra battery and SD card, the battery charger and adaptor and that's it!
A wonderful town, trip and experience that we can highly recommend - go before they put the prices up as Poland inevitably adopts the Euro!
