Krakow Part 2.....

Day two dawned and we had a leisurely continental buffet breakfast at the hotel before heading for the tram stop to go into the city centre again. The taxi had cost us 19 zlotys (about £5) but the tram was only 2.5 zlotys each one way and we wanted to experience the local transport. A very kind Polish lady at the tram stop showed us how to get a ticket and have it validated, a good idea because if an inspector gets on and you haven’t validated your ticket you get fined! The trams are always full and very efficient and the nice lady even showed us where to get off.


The weather was absolutely beautiful, 21 degrees, we didn’t need our coats, hats or gloves and were thankful we had actually taken sunglasses! We found a tourist information office and booked to go to Auschwitz and Birkenhau the following morning and the Salt Mines in the afternoon then we sat in the main square drinking coffee and watched the world go by for an hour. Whilst enjoying our coffee we noticed some golf cart type trains and discovered that you could have a tour of the city for a small price so that’s what we did.

Krakow is a beautiful city with lots of churches and synagogues and our guide pointed them all out to us. We also saw Oskar Schindler’s  factory, those of you who have read/seen the film Schindler’s List will know what a hero he was to the Jews.

We saw the remnant of the wall which was built around the Ghetto and there was still an occupied original building behind the wall. Our guide pointed out a turret where he said the Nazis took pot shots at the Jews, especially if they were trying to climb over the wall to escape.

We also saw the Krakow Ghetto and Deportation Momument which is the memorial to the Jews of the Podgorze Ghetto which includes 33 steel and cast iron chairs (1.4m high) in the square and 37 (1.2m high) chairs standing on the edge of the square at the tram stops. Visitors sat in the chairs remembering the people who were gathered together in the square and then deported to the camps.

Also in the square was the pharmacy "Under the Eagle" (now containing a small ghetto museum), which was used as cover for the Polish resistance who helped the Jews living in the Ghetto


St Mary’s Basilica in the main square of Krakow The church's two towers (15th century) are noticeably of different heights. Legend has it that they were built by two brothers, one of whom grew jealous of the other's work and killed him with a sword. You can even see the purported murder weapon, hanging in the gate of the Sukiennice. Another major highlight is the lone trumpeter in the high tower, who plays a strange hourly call known as the "Hejnal Mariacki." Ringing out to mark each hour, it breaks off on an abrupt half-note to commemorate an unknown bugler who was struck in the throat by a Tartar arrow as he tried to warn the city of the invaders.

At the centre of the ‘Grand Square’ stands ‘The Cloth Hall’ (Sukiennice), founded in the 13th century. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the Renaissance style. It is a magnificent building which now houses many stalls selling cut glass, amber jewellery, leather goods, handicrafts and souvenirs on the ground floor, while the upper floor houses the Gallery of Polish 19th Century Art.

The Pope’s House is where Karol Jozef Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul II, resided when he was Archbishop of Krakow. Of course he is still much revered by the people of Krakow and on the way back to the airport our taxi driver, who couldn’t speak much English (though his English was 100% better than our Polish) pointed to what appeared to be village green and said there had been 7,000,000 people there when the Pope visited!

In the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) there was another little square called (I  think)Plac Nowy which hosted numerous Jewish restaurants and one Indian Restuarant which MWM christened Bombay OyVey.   The house where the famous Helena Rubenstein was born was also in this square.

There are numerous streets radiating off the Grand Square, shoe/boot shops abound amongst fast food takeaways and clothes shops. You can sample international cuisine at very reasonable prices and the numerous bars stay open very late, of course we didn’t go in all the bars, just a selected few!  We had dinner in the Polish Restaurant again but didn't have the Country Trough, we tried Borsch (Beetroot soup) and pork stuffed cabbage leaves.

I've put together a little slide show for you of some of the other photographs we took of this lovely city.

Krakow Part 3 coming soon.