Days 1 and 2 Kraków
After dropping the car off at the Kraków airport I went to get the train into the city. I have not heard so many British accents since I was in London last year! It felt like everyone else on the platform was from the UK and most of them were young folk. Kraków is apparently the place for Brits to come for benders. I saw a lot of stag parties around while I was here.
I checked into my hostel then started my usual walk around a new city. Kraków is quite a beautiful city to wander around. I managed to catch a late afternoon free walking tour of the old town which was interesting. The guide was a polish woman who was interesting and entertaining. I think every walking tour guide I've had in Poland has actually been Polish which is good. Not the case for all the other places I've visited.
I met an English guy on the tour (not there for a stag do!) and we got to talking then went out for a beer afterwards which was nice. He was heading to some big pub crawl they do every night in Kraków and I was considering going along but by the time it got to 9pm when it started I was just not into it. Instead I went for another walk then then headed back to the hostel to crash.
Day 2 I signed up for a paid tour of a place called Nowa Huta. Nowa Huta is an area of Kraków that was built by the Russians after WW2 and was intended to be a demonstration of a successful communist city. They seized all this land, brought in thousands of workers to build a meticulously planned city and then moved people into it. Obviously it didn't work out quite as well as planned and when Poland finally gained independence in the 80s (I think) it just became an extension of Kraków.
It was quite interesting walking around and seeing the design elements of the place. The design was very communist era but it also has influences from Italian and Egyptian architecture. It was also built to be a fortress. Entrances were too small for tanks of the time to get in, alcoves were built for defenders and there are lots of blind corners.
One of the local Cafes has an interesting old Nowa Huta propaganda film from the time when it was being built that we watched. Very interesting and total BS of course. And we also learnt a bit about the Polish resistance.
Finally there were a couple of churches in there we had a look at. One of them in particular was quite an architecturally interesting church. Oval in shape and with a lot of non-traditional design elements it was quite beautiful.
Overall Nowa Huta was an interesting place and well worth the visit.
I went for a walk over to Kaszimierz that evening which was the old Jewish quarter. It seems to be the place where all the cool bars and restaurants are these days. I had intended to go to a well reviewed Georgian restaurant after a recommendation from a couple of people from the Nowa Huta tour but it was full when I arrived so I went next door to a Polish place which was also recommended by a couple of them. The food was really good and I enjoyed the meal. I tried a few different things. I think I had a tomato soup, a beef tripe soup, some chicken livers, a vegetable dish and some stuffed cabbage. Small serves!
After dinner I wandered around a bit then went to the craft beer bar that apparently started the whole recent craft beer movement in Kraków. It was oddly themed like the Italian mafia but they had a very respectable 24 taps or something ridiculous with a nice range of Polish and international beers.
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