Day 1 - Poland (27 June 2019)

Laura and I decided to take a girls’ trip to Kraków. The locals pronounce it Crack-Off,  I’m still learning how to say ‘Thank you,’ and it’s a strugggle. Dziękuję. (Jen-koo-yea). See my problem?  

I digress. Anyway, we had casually talked about it for a few years, but decided to make it happen. I planned it on Tuesday after we returned from our grand round trip, and what a great place it’s been!

Tyler dropped us off at the Neubrüke Bahnhof, and Laura and I took the train directly in to the Frankfurt International airport.  It was pretty easy!  The train ride took just under 2 hours. 

Flying in on Ryan Air, both Laura and I were supposed to have the middle seats. Thankfully, there were only two of us in our respective rows, so we had a little more space than we had anticipated. I don’t know that it would’ve mattered much, as I slept for most of the flight. I woke up to see red roofed houses dotting the rolling green hills of the countryside. Beautiful!

When we landed, we pulled money from the ATM, and it took a few minutes to figure it out. I think I pulled out way too much, but I’m sure I’ll be able to put it to good use somehow. 

We walked through the airport to where the train would take us into the main train station near Old Town.  Except, the next train wasn’t for an hour.  I was showing Laura on the map where we were going to get off, and these nice Polish people told us that the bus would come in 20 minutes instead of waiting for an hour. 

We invited ourselves to follow them out of the airport to figure out where the yellow bus that would drive us into town would pick us up. Except the bus driver was on a break, and wasn’t happy to be disturbed. He pointed out the actual bus stop where we would wait the 20 minutes, and we walked over to it. (See the yellow bus in the background?)

While we were waiting, I saw, for the first time ever, a party bus. I thought it was just an expression, but Poland evidently has one!  

The ride into town was about 20 minutes long. We saw all sorts of things. The architecture on the drive seemed pretty sturdy, like it can withstand all kinds of temperatures and people. 

When we arrived at the main train station, I didn’t realize that it was attached to a GIANT mall. I tried to follow the Air B&B host’s instructions on how to walk the five minutes to get to the apartment. However, it took at least 10 minutes to speed walk through the mall following signs to Old Town, just to get out of the mall. 

I finally opened up my maps app, and just put in the address, to get out of the mall. When we made it outside, it was so different than when we were driving in!  

Here’s the view from our apartment:

After meeting our host, we walked through the ring park (a park that encircles all of Old Town) to make it in to the Main Market Square. What a pleasant walk!

I knew I was expecting a large space, as it is the largest  market square in Europe. I just didn’t realize how large it was. It was fantastic to feel the pulse of the town in the square. 

We decided we needed to eat, as we were both dragging a bit. So, we chose one of the darling cafés in the square and had some traditional Polish meals. Delicious!

We walked towards the Cloth Hall in the square to see some of the vendors’ goods. Another perk, it was in the shade. 

There were so many things to see!  Laura and I both bought crèches, mine were both tiny. It was a fun experience!  

We then sat down in the square to learn a little about St Mary’s Basilica. Poland is arguably the most practicing Catholic country in Europe.  There are 142 churches in the city limits, and 32 in Old Town alone. Almost every church we went in to, there was Mass happening.  St Mary’s Basilica was no exception. As Mass was in progress, so we weren’t free to walk around.  But what we saw beautiful!

We walked out of the Basilica, and found a small church that was holding its own Mass too. 

When we walked back to the Main Square, I realized we had only seen half of it. The Cloth Hall sat right in the middle of the square. They were serious about being the largest Square in Europe!

We continued on our walking tour, and found some really impressive places!

We found a university where Copernicus and Pope John Paul II attended!  

We continued on our walk to where Pope John Paul II lived when he was Archbishop of Kraków.

 There were loads of amazing things to appreciate in the area. There was a sort of parade, and we also were able to walk around the church. I loved the colors. 

After the church, we walked down to another cool area of town, toward Mary Magdalene Square. 

We walked down the oldest street in Kraków, which was awesome. Copernicus and Pope John Paul II also stayed on this street at various times too. 

We decided we wanted to go and eat in what is called a Milk Bar. They’re from the time of communism, when people needed affordable places to eat and return to work. They’re still pretty inexpensive (all my food and drink was about $9). The ladies (mostly) spoke English at the one we went to, so it was great!

We walked towards an open-air market, appreciating all that was around us on the way. 

They had all kinds of colorful goods there. They also had food and clothing. It was fun to meander theough the market!

I love it when a place surprises me. Kraków exceeded my expectations in every way.  The architecture was astounding. The churches were plentiful. The food was delicious. The people were kind and welcoming. What a gem of a town!  💕