Good evening from Krakow, Poland! We made the mistake of taking a nap yesterday, so wake up time was bright and early at 4:00am. Hopefully one more day and we'll be fully adjusted.
Our flight from Copenhagen was set to leave at 8:15am, so we packed up our things, took the metro to the airport and even had time for a quick pastry and coffee. The flight was a quick hour and fifteen, and before we knew it, we were in the city of Krakow. We were worried because the weather had forecasted rain and thunderstorms, but upon arrival, we were greeted with perfect sunny weather. Our first stop after dropping our bags off was the Old Town Square. We were in luck because they were having a "fair" or festival of sorts with many food stands and local vendors. Adam picked up a piwa (beer) and I indulged in a chimney cake, which is basically fried dough covered in sugar, nuts and cinnamon. Delicious. We stopped at St. Mary's Basilica to check out the inside of the church, with plans to come back after lunch for a trip up it's tower.
Lunch was at the popular Milk Bar Tomascz. For some background information, Milk Bars can be found all throughout Poland. They became popular after WWII and served as a quick and inexpensive way to feed workers. The restaurant was packed, but luckily we found a spot. On the menu today was zurek, a fermented rye broth with sausage, potatoes, and an egg, and pierogies (polish dumplings). Adam had meat filled, while I went with cheese filled. It was amazing, and all for a little more than $8 total!
After lunch we booked our tickets for St. Mary's Tower, walked through the cloth hall in the center of the square to see all the local vendors, and then checked into our Airbnb. The title of this Airbnb was "Epic Main Square View with AC". True to it's name, the view is quite epic, with the Town Hall right outside our window! The break was short, but that didn't stop us from taking a little cat nap. After resting for a bit, we made our way back down to St. Mary's Basilica only to climb up the tower to the very top. The view over the city below was stunning from all angles. We learned about an old story of the two towers of St. Mary's Basilica. Apparently two brothers were hired to build each tower (back in the 1300's or something), and one was building his much faster than the other. In a jealous rage, the brother stabbed and killed his faster building brother, and ended up building the taller tower now known as the Bugle Tower. But, once his tower was complete, the brother became sad that his other brother was no longer there to witness his accomplishment, so he jumped off the top of the tower, killing himself as well. The knife from the incident still hangs above the cloth hall to this day (we saw it!).
Our next stop was the Wawel Castle and Cathedral. The castle has a very open feel, so despite the numerous tourists around, we were able to snap some great pictures of the castle. We walked through the cathedral and saw the tombs of many great leaders, royalty, and innovators from Poland, including none other than the famous composer, Chopin. After meandering across the castle grounds, we found ourselves in front of the dragon's den. Smok, was a dragon who used to live in the base of the castle. He was not a nice dragon and would torment the town and castle's residents. Eventually, the residents came up with a plan. Instead, of feeding him his normal cows for dinner, they wrapped explosives in a cow hide. Once consumed, the explosives were detonated which killed Smok the dragon. Eventually, the city became endeared to the memory of Smok, and when WWII came around, they erected the bones of Smok on top of the Wawel Cathedral (we saw them too!). They believed Smok's bones would protect the city during the war. Turns out, the bones worked, and Krakow was one of Poland's only major cities to make it through the war unscathed...thanks to Smok.
We quickly found ourselves back at the Airbnb, just in time for another nap. This time, it was just me! Adam was busy evaluating the dinner menu for later that evening. I'm not sure if it was the walking, the heat, or the pierogies, but I was fast asleep for the better part of an hour. Before we realized it, our reservation time was fast approaching. We left the apartment and headed over to Morskie Oko Restaurant, named after a lake in the high Tatras Mountains nearby. We had thankfully made a reservation earlier that day, because they were packed! Our table was nestled in between many others, but that didn't matter. We placed our order and a short while later, the waiter was serving us massive amounts of delicious food. Adam ordered zurek (again) and pierogi (again!), while I had a potato pancake doused in beef goulash and sheep's cheese. Neither of us was able to finish, but I think we can both say that it was an absolutely amazing dinner.
By 8:00pm the sun was setting, so we wandered through the city streets and main square again before finding our way back to the apartment. Tomorrow is another full day in Krakow. Hopefully the weather holds. We had sunny skies all day with a high of 75.
Steps: 27,243
Miles: 12
Stairs: 42 flights
Our flight from Copenhagen was set to leave at 8:15am, so we packed up our things, took the metro to the airport and even had time for a quick pastry and coffee. The flight was a quick hour and fifteen, and before we knew it, we were in the city of Krakow. We were worried because the weather had forecasted rain and thunderstorms, but upon arrival, we were greeted with perfect sunny weather. Our first stop after dropping our bags off was the Old Town Square. We were in luck because they were having a "fair" or festival of sorts with many food stands and local vendors. Adam picked up a piwa (beer) and I indulged in a chimney cake, which is basically fried dough covered in sugar, nuts and cinnamon. Delicious. We stopped at St. Mary's Basilica to check out the inside of the church, with plans to come back after lunch for a trip up it's tower.
Lunch was at the popular Milk Bar Tomascz. For some background information, Milk Bars can be found all throughout Poland. They became popular after WWII and served as a quick and inexpensive way to feed workers. The restaurant was packed, but luckily we found a spot. On the menu today was zurek, a fermented rye broth with sausage, potatoes, and an egg, and pierogies (polish dumplings). Adam had meat filled, while I went with cheese filled. It was amazing, and all for a little more than $8 total!
After lunch we booked our tickets for St. Mary's Tower, walked through the cloth hall in the center of the square to see all the local vendors, and then checked into our Airbnb. The title of this Airbnb was "Epic Main Square View with AC". True to it's name, the view is quite epic, with the Town Hall right outside our window! The break was short, but that didn't stop us from taking a little cat nap. After resting for a bit, we made our way back down to St. Mary's Basilica only to climb up the tower to the very top. The view over the city below was stunning from all angles. We learned about an old story of the two towers of St. Mary's Basilica. Apparently two brothers were hired to build each tower (back in the 1300's or something), and one was building his much faster than the other. In a jealous rage, the brother stabbed and killed his faster building brother, and ended up building the taller tower now known as the Bugle Tower. But, once his tower was complete, the brother became sad that his other brother was no longer there to witness his accomplishment, so he jumped off the top of the tower, killing himself as well. The knife from the incident still hangs above the cloth hall to this day (we saw it!).
Our next stop was the Wawel Castle and Cathedral. The castle has a very open feel, so despite the numerous tourists around, we were able to snap some great pictures of the castle. We walked through the cathedral and saw the tombs of many great leaders, royalty, and innovators from Poland, including none other than the famous composer, Chopin. After meandering across the castle grounds, we found ourselves in front of the dragon's den. Smok, was a dragon who used to live in the base of the castle. He was not a nice dragon and would torment the town and castle's residents. Eventually, the residents came up with a plan. Instead, of feeding him his normal cows for dinner, they wrapped explosives in a cow hide. Once consumed, the explosives were detonated which killed Smok the dragon. Eventually, the city became endeared to the memory of Smok, and when WWII came around, they erected the bones of Smok on top of the Wawel Cathedral (we saw them too!). They believed Smok's bones would protect the city during the war. Turns out, the bones worked, and Krakow was one of Poland's only major cities to make it through the war unscathed...thanks to Smok.
We quickly found ourselves back at the Airbnb, just in time for another nap. This time, it was just me! Adam was busy evaluating the dinner menu for later that evening. I'm not sure if it was the walking, the heat, or the pierogies, but I was fast asleep for the better part of an hour. Before we realized it, our reservation time was fast approaching. We left the apartment and headed over to Morskie Oko Restaurant, named after a lake in the high Tatras Mountains nearby. We had thankfully made a reservation earlier that day, because they were packed! Our table was nestled in between many others, but that didn't matter. We placed our order and a short while later, the waiter was serving us massive amounts of delicious food. Adam ordered zurek (again) and pierogi (again!), while I had a potato pancake doused in beef goulash and sheep's cheese. Neither of us was able to finish, but I think we can both say that it was an absolutely amazing dinner.
By 8:00pm the sun was setting, so we wandered through the city streets and main square again before finding our way back to the apartment. Tomorrow is another full day in Krakow. Hopefully the weather holds. We had sunny skies all day with a high of 75.
Steps: 27,243
Miles: 12
Stairs: 42 flights
Nothing says Poland like a sausage on a napkin - Jose + Michelle
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