We were in luck, because there was a farmer’s market or craft fair still happening when we arrived at 9 pm. The main market square looked like Disneyland, all lit up and beautiful in the warm fall evening weather. There were long lines of horses with carriages in front of many of the buildings, only adding to this feeling. We found a Christmas ornament to represent Krakow (we did this for every destination; this one was a horseshoe that was inscribed by the smith in front of us), bought some gifts and had a drink before we turned in for the night.
The next morning, we had what may be our worst "lost in translation" moment at our breakfast place. Universal signage exists for a reason!
We stood there wondering for ... way too many minutes, before the server finally told us which one was for the men and for the women |
We then headed back to the Old Town and joined up with our usual walking tour.
Krakow has a long and rich history, even by European standards. It was founded somewhere between the 600's and 800's AD, and was the capital of Poland for almost 750 years before the capital was moved to Warsaw. The map below shows the Old Town surrounded by a continuous green space. This used to be a huge moat encircling the city, backed by a tall wall with dozens of defensive towers. This was a necessity as it was a major trading city, and had been destroyed several times by Mongols and raiders. In more recent times, the moat has been filled in and converted to public parkland surrounding the old town.
Credit: http://biega.com/cracowtour1.html |
These were some seriously thick walls! |
We saw a couple of funny/neat things as we were walking towards our next stop.
I really liked seeing the different ambulances and emergency vehicles from different countries |
I love this type of graffiti! |
The main square of Krakow (at C on the map) is one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe, and has several important buildings in it. The one in the center, the Cloth Hall, may be the oldest indoor shopping mall in the world, dating back to the 1500's. When we had a sudden downpour (one of only two on our whole trip) we ducked briefly in here. Not much to see these days beyond your usual souvenir market, but it was neat to be there nevertheless.
On the other side of the square (just visible at the right of the picture above) is St. Mary's Basilica. The towers of this church were originally built very tall so they could be used as watchtowers, and according to our guide there is a reason why they are asymmetrical. They were said to be designed and built by two brothers; the less talented brother was jealous of his brother’s tower, so he murdered him and then built his tower taller. (Family!) The interior is in Gothic style, which is not my personal cup of tea, but that's okay.
Saint Mary’s claim to fame is the Veit Stoss Altar, which is renowned as the largest Gothic altar in the world. It was built in the 1470's. To make the massive scale of the altar work, the human figures at the top are carved to be 12 feet tall! The Altar, a national treasure, was taken apart and hidden in different Polish cities at the outset of World War II to hide it from the Nazis - however they ended up finding all of the crates and taking it back to Nuremburg. Somehow it survived intact, and was returned to Krakow after the war. It has had several restorations, the most recent in 1999, and it is pretty spectacular.
Another building in the main square is the Town Hall Tower. The rest of Town Hall is gone, as the city demolished it to open up the square, but the tower remains. Our guide told us there was a well-known torture chamber in the basement of the tower, and in the next room was a 'break room' of sorts for the city guards, so one can imagine their card games and conversation interrupted by the screams of prisoners. Our guide had a dark imagination, I like it!
We then passed some buildings that were pretty, but didn't have memorable stories like the last few.
Where's Tin Man? |
Foreshadowing the more famous Astronomical Clock that we later saw in Prague, we headed over to the Jagiellonian University to see the hourly 'show' in the inner courtyard. This is one of the world’s oldest universities, founded in the 1360’s. Their two most famous graduates are Copernicus (see the Warsaw post) and Pope John Paul II.
If you'd like to see a better video of this clock and its hourly fanfare than the crummy video we took (holy camera shakes, Batman!), there is a good one (with a view of the university's courtyard) at this link:
Clock of Collegium Maius, Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Yum!
With bonus lollipop for dessert! |
Entering the castle fortifications - I love the mix of old and new here! |
We passed through the gate in the picture above, and turned to the right around this tower. Lovely ivy! |
Wawel Cathedral straight ahead, with the palace to the right |
The side of the cathedral that faces the river (and the left side of the above picture), and its main entrance |
We didn't tour the palace, but we did go into the central courtyard. Similar to the Jagiellonian University courtyard, there were several floors, and the roof line had water spouts shaped like dragons. One of the kings had this courtyard redesigned in an Italian Renaissance style after one of the times the castle burned to the ground, and it stays that way today.
Dragons! |
After dinner, we packed up and headed back to the main station to catch another overnight train. This time, we were NIGHT TRAIN EXPERTS, and had stowed away our baggage and showered before the train even left the station. I switched with Justin to take the lower bunk (since the last train driver was crazy and I felt like I was going to be thrown out of bed!) and had a great night’s sleep.
Our luxurious train compartment. Travel and sleep for the price of one! |