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An early train to Kraków,
a guided tour of the Old Town + Schindler's Factory
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Once again, Geoff enjoyed
his breakfast at the HP Park Hotel in Wroclaw. The honeycomb
was an unusual addition to the buffet spread this morning. |
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There was a bit of a hiccup with the luggage
today. The man with the van, who was supposed to collect
it and drive it to Kraków, failed to turn up. Although
Martin managed to contact him, he said that he was stuck
in traffic and had no idea when he would arrive. Martin
wasn't prepared to leave the luggage at the hotel in case
we never saw it again, so he decided that we would take
everything with us. Remembering the layout of the carriages
on our journey from Berlin to Wroclaw, we knew it was
going to be quite a challenge to fit everything in, but
we had little choice.
After a short coach ride
we arrived at Wroclaw
Glówny railway station.
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More trainspotting opportunities
for Geoff! |
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Our train was, as expected, the same sort
of train that we had travelled on previously, but it wasn't
completely full, so we were able to find space to store
our main luggage fairly easily. The 270km journey to Kraków
passed pleasantly and we arrived just under three hours
later at 12:20pm. It was a hot day and although we could
easily have walked for 10 minutes to get to our hotel,
a fleet of taxis was provided so we accepted the offer
of one.
Tribe
(Krakow Old Town), the uber trendy hotel where we
would be spending the next three nights.
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As it was only lunchtime, our rooms weren't
ready. Martin managed to secure one room (his) for us
to store all our luggage because the hotel, quite surprisingly,
doesn't have a storage room.
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Instead of leading us
straight ahead to the Old Town Square, our guide took us
on an interesting diversion beforehand, along the side of
the walls. |
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The Main
Square (Rynek Glówny) is huge and very impressive.
At its centre is Cloth Hall (below) with the free-standing
Town Hall Tower behind it. |
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Our guide had obtained
tickets for us to visit the church. |
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We completed the tour
of the church interior, exiting into St.
Mary's Square, with the Church of St. Barbara in the
background. |
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We liked this statue/fountain.
It is quite hard to find a consistent source for who it
was, or what it represents. The designer (Jan Budzillo)
and the date (1958) seem to be consistent, but its name
and description seem to vary. "Zac's Fountain",
"Fountain student" and "Fontanna Z Zakiem"
are three names we found. One source described it as "...the
statue of a sad student from the Middle Ages with his costume
of yesteryear - a gift from the sculptors to the city of
Kraków." Another source claimed it is known
as a "monument to an abecedarian (a pupil learning
the alphabet), sculptured in honour of famous German sculpture
Viet Stross (1450- 1533)". The truth is probably somewhere
in the above!
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After the short performance,
it was time to resume our walking tour. |
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The sculpture is called
"Eros Bendato" (or Eros Bound), created by renowned
Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj. |
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Nearby, Collegium
Novum is the Neo-Gothic historic main building of the
Jagiellonian University. |
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In Poselska Street,
this is one of the buildings forming part of Wielopolski
Palace, home to the Kraków City Council. |
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Walking along Kanonicza
Street... |
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A few steps further and
we were looking up at the impressive Wawel
Castle. |
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At the base of the castle
is this building - The Higher Theological Seminary of the
Archdiocese of Kraków. |
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We followed our guide
up a long, yet gentle slope to the castle. |
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Archcathedral Basilica
of St. Stanislaus and St. Wenceslaus (known colloquially
as Wawel
Cathedral), towered above us. |
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There is so much to
see here, but we didn't have time to do it justice. Furthermore,
there were restrictions on where we could go anyway, because
the newly elected Hungarian Prime Minister was paying a
visit. Nevertheless, we were able to wander around most
of the exterior areas of the complex. |
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We were able to visit the amazing Renaissance
Courtyard. We were told that in the early 16th century,
the castle underwent a dramatic transformation under the
rule of King Sigismund I the
Old. Influenced by Italian architects, such
as Francesco Fiorentino and Bartolomeo Berrecci, Wawel became
a symbol of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. Surrounded
by graceful arcades and limestone columns, the adjoining
state rooms and private apartments were adorned with carved
ceilings, frescoes, and tapestries, blending Polish decorative
traditions with Italian artistry.
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After visiting the castle
we had some free time before our visit to Schindler's Factory.
We made our way back to the main square, which seemed to
be quite a bit busier than when we were here earlier. |
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We watched some traditional
dancing... |
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...and investigated what
was on offer in the numerous market stalls. |
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As appetising as they
looked, we resisted the temptation to buy any cakes or pastries. |
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...we rejoined the group
for a coach ride to Oskar
Schindler's Enamel Factory. There, we were given a one-and-a-half
hour guided tour with a specialist guide. It was quite interesting,
but a bit too long, we felt. We had to stay with the guide
the whole time and no photography was permitted. We were
quite pleased when it was over... |
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... and we could take
the coach back to the hotel to check in and get settled.
We were welcomed by the young and "on-brand" staff,
many of whom wore headbands and stared at screens a lot,
but were nevertheless friendly once engaged. |
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The hotel corridors,
with their low lights and shadows, were slightly off-putting
for some. |
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Our initial thoughts
were that the hotel was perhaps a little too trendy for
us, but despite our slight scepticism, we discovered that
it had everything we needed and the bed was extremely comfortable. |
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This evening we were
left to fend for ourselves, so we walked back into the Old
Town to find somewhere to eat. After some deliberation,
we chose a restaurant with the uninspiring name of "Pub
Polski" in the main square. We sat outside, under one
of the umbrellas (seen towards the left of this picture).
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The extensive menu offered
a mix of traditional Polish specialities and modern Italian
favourites. We can't quite remember what we ordered, which
probably says a lot, but we weren't too disappointed and
really enjoyed the setting. |
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For dessert, we shared
this chocolate soufflé, served with ice cream and
a couple of strawberries with cream, which was rather good. |
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We had enjoyed another
busy and rewarding day and were both looking forward to
an independent adventure tomorrow. |
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