Krakow (Day 2 Part 1) - Wawel Royal Castle

Wawel stands beautifully on the bank of Vistula River (Wisła River). If you drive into Krakow from the south side, you can see a complete view of Wawel from the bridge. Wawel, just like other castles, went through many changes (I will not bore you with the looong history here. Please check wikipedia if you are interested). Wawel, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978, has a lot to see inside which includes Wawel Cathedral and the Royal Wawel Castle.

As you enter Wawel from the northern slope from Kanonicza Street, the first thing you would notice is the tall tower of Wawel Cathedral. The exterior of cathedral is rather unique, which looks like a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque style. The cathedral is the burial place of Polish kings, rulers, poets, and Krakow bishops. It is also where Pope John Paul II offered his first Mass as a priest on 2 November 1946. The church has a history of over 1000 years, but the current form was being structured in the 14th century.  There is a lot to see inside, so you may want to rent an audio set which will guide you through the cathedral including the tour to top of the northern Sigismund Tower with five bells; one of which is the famous Sigismund Bell.

Sigismund Bell is said to be one of the most important Polish national symbols and was cast in 1520. The huge bell, which weighs over 12 tons, takes 8 to 12 people to ring. However, it only tolls on national and church holidays and at the important historic events, so we didn't get to hear the sound of it. 

The stairs to the top of the tower are rather steep, but if you are in good health, I would strongly recommend going up there and enjoying a gorgeous view of Krakow.

The audio tour will take you down again into the back part of church. What was interesting to me was the gorgeous caskets (or sarcophagi) exhibited all over the church. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures inside the church, but they are all decorated with beautifully sculpted effigies. The oldest ones are from the 14th century. But, they are all symbolic tombs and do not contain actual remains of the kings (thank god!). We spent about good 2 hrs going through the cathedral with our audio guidance. 

The only other exhibit that was available that day on Monday was the one for Crown Treasury and Armoury which was combined with Lost Wavel.  Some of the armouries had interesting pictures carved onto the wooden part. I was wondering how the design was decided, as most of them looked rather cute and fairy tale like and so not like a type of pictures you see weapons.

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at a restaurant called Kawiarnia right off the Wawel to have a quick lunch. The restaurant was located in the underground, which may had been a celler at one point.  It had an arched brick ceiling, and the ambience was just so cozy. And, finally I got to taste Pierogi (ruskie type, filled with potato and cheese) and Żurek! I definitely became fun of the soup!

Krakow (Day 1 Part 2) - Exploring our first Georgian food in Poland :)

It is not that easy to find a good dinner place in Central/Eastern European cities I heard that it was not the custom for the local people to eat out at night.  Therefore, most of the restaurants we find are for tourists. And, that looked to be the case in Krakow as well. But... we really wanted to try the local food if possible. What we found out was that there weren't too many "pure" and "traditional" Polish food restaurants in Krakow. Most of them are fused with neo-"such and such", which sounds good but was rather disappointing to someone like me who doesn't want to see "Thai-style soup" in a Polish restaurant. Lots of restaurants also had Italian dishes like Pizza and Pasta. 

Ignoring the restaurants recommended by a hotel clerk, we just walked around to look for a decent-looking place. A little bit off of the cntral square, we found a couple of Georgian restaurants, which neither my hubby nor I had tried before. So, we decided to give up on the idea of traditional Polish food and go for a Georgian meal :-)

It was raining that night, and the restaurant was half empty when we walked in, but the ambience was good, and we got a table by the window. Georgia is a small country by the Black Sea, on the opposite coast from  Romania. It neighbors Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. To be honest, I didn't know too much about Georgia except some of the coups that broke out back in the 90's and the recent sad accident of the luger at the winter Olympics. Just to explore basic Georgian food, we decided to order all four appetizers on the menu along with the Georgian wine; I found out later that the region around Georgia was the historical origin of the grape-based wine!!

For wine, we ordered Mukuzani, which I just loved so much.  It was the first time that I ever tasted Georgian wine, but I have to say it is superb (and cheap, too ^^)!  As for the appetizers, these are what we tried.

1) Georgian dumplings called Khinkali. They looked more like Chinese dumplings than the Polish dumplings calle Pierogi which seem to be flatter. They serve you a whole bunch of them on one plate. It was one of my favorites, but it fills you up quite quickly.

2) Some kind of bean paste.  It had a very healthy taste, but it was not one of my favorites.

3) Khachapuri with lots of cheese, which was my hubby's favorite.

4) Kharcho, traditional Georgian soup. It is a bouillon-based soup with sun-dried plum purée and grated walnuts. It has meat, rice, and finely chopped vegetables in it.  I loved it!

After happily stuffing ourselves with Georgian wine and food, we passed through the central square.  It was late, but the square was still full of people enjoying the live band despite the rain.  This town might never fall asleep!

Krakow (Day 1 Part 1) - Once the capital of Poland

Finally we have arrived in Krakow, the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596 and our original destination for this trip :)  The weather wasn't great, and it was grey and cold, but somehow it matched the image that I had about Poland.  It was just a perfectly wonderful autumn that I felt once I stepped out of our car.

It took us much longer to get to Krakow from Kobior than Google maps said. It was past 3pm when we checked into our hotel. So, we decided to just walk towards the center of the Old Town, which was only 5 mins away from our hotel, to see what might be cooking.

The Old Town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978.  It is just full of distinctive characters and charms. The main square called Rynek Główny (Main Market Square) is the icon of Krakow. It is said to be the largest medieval market square in Europe (roughly 40,000 m² or 430,000 ft²)  and dates back to the 13th century. 

The Cloth Hall, which stands right in the middle of this vast square, had characteristics of Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East all mixed together. The first floor of the building was filled with small shops, probably for the tourists. The second floor and up is the National Museum, and there was a long line when we were there. The square was also filled with lots of people, and there was a live concert which we enjoyed listening to while we had a glass of beer and a small snack in one of the cafes along the square. 

Alongside the square, you see St. Mary's Basilica (Mariacki Church) with two towers with different hights. It was originally a stone Romanesque temple that was constructed in the 13th century, and was turned into a Gothic triple-aisle basilica in the 15th century. The two towers have a sad legend associated with them. It says that each tower was being built by two brothers, but the one who finished the higher tower first killed the other brother as he was afraid that he would build a better tower. Thus the lower tower was never finished and was simply covered with a steeple. But even worse, the one who killed his brother also killed himself at the end out of remorse.

I have to say this church was just breathtaking. I probably gasped and then said "oh my..." when I stepped into the church. Everything inside is just overwhelming. Lots of gold, lots of colors, and lots of decorative patterns and objects on all the walls and ceilings. The stained-glass windows extend high to the ceiling. The ambience and some of the decorative wall designs had an essence of the East. It reminded me of temples from Southeast Asia.

Being fully rejuvenated by St. Mary's Basilica, we headed towards the edge of the Old Town to see Barbican and St. Florian's Gate. St. Florian's Gate is the only surviving one out of the eight original gates, and is said to be have been built in the early 14th century. There were some street artists selling their paintings along the wall of St. Florian's Gate. Once you go through the gate, you see a green park and the Barbican (btw, I really liked the fact that the Old Town was surrounded by the parks and not too many cars were inside the Old Town. Very well protected). The Barbican which was originally built in the late 15th century is the defensive architecture that is the largest and best preserved in Europe.