Krakow (pronounced krak-oov) was the Polish capital for just over 550 years (until 1596). It is one of the country’s most darling cities.  Unlike Warsaw it was largely spared during WWII, which allowed it to remain a celebrated relic for the country where Polish culture, tradition, and history are all well-represented.

"The Rynek Glowny" in Krakow.

Walking on the city’s streets will be your first encounter with its age – hinted at by its architectural combination of rounded, smoothed cobblestones, concrete squares pushed up by roots, and crooked flagstones.

One of the first things you’ll notice in Krakow is “Rynek Glowny” – the biggest market square in Europe.  Along its perimeter you’ll find streets going out into every explorable direction, as well as restaurants and cafés with outdoor seating, book stores, bars and high-end retail clothing stores.  At the centre of the square is an indoor marketplace where numerous vendors display their arts and crafts: wood, glass, and leather-work, and anything else which you might want to take home as a decorative memento.

Pigeons own the Rynek Glowny. Multiple flocks take shifts rotating between the sky and the pavement.  Tourists feed them, locals mostly ignore them –  except the elderly.  B-boy break-dancers and their cronies gather around one of the monuments in the Rynek and set up shop, laying down cardboard on which to spin and twist their bodies.  Tourists award them with stares and change – still in Zloty (pronounced zwuh-ti), but soon in Euros.  Horse-drawn carriages wait for the nostalgic, romantic, easy-to-please tourist.

The charming Rynek and its surrounding streets are encircled by the “Planty”. This circular road surrounds the Stare Miasto, invites visitors to promenade underneath an awning of green trees, together with the elderly and their dogs, couples in love, the homeless, restless teens, and occasional joggers.

Krakow is filled with hostels. Everyone knows what those are like, so be clever about which one you choose and where you keep your belongings.  Though it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Krakow’s “Stare Miasto” (old city), comprised of the Rynek Glowny, the surrounding streets, and the Planty around it, is not all there is to see and do in Krakow.  If you prefer to save on lodging, choose your hostel carefully in relation to what you’re most interested in seeing. Don’t forget to see the paintings on the walls of the Stare Miasto, and listen to the two young men playing violin at the foot of St. Mary’s Basilica- they’re always there. Enjoy your seeded rolls, bagels (invented in Krakow), golden farmers cheese, Bison grass vodka, “honey”/cough syrup flavoured vodka, Kielbasa, and whatever else you can find.

Kopiec Kosciuszki

A 15 minute tram ride west of the Stare Miasto sits the Jagiellonian University Piast Hotel – a multi-level apartment-style student housing complex that also caters to travellers.  Reservations should be made in advance.  This is a great place to meet fellow young travellers, especially students, and yet it is far enough from the centre to enjoy some of the less touristy areas of Krakow.  The walk to downtown Krakow from takes you about 30 minutes.

One thing you may want to check out is the Kopiec Kosciuszki – a spiralling mound about 5 km outside the city centre.  It takes about one hour to walk to the Kosciuszki Mound from the Stare Miasto.  You’ll need to make sure you know where you’re going as the route goes through down town areas, past urban housing complexes, streets of suburban family homes, and finally beyond a forest.  After your walk you can rest your legs and catch your breath in front of a broad view of Krakow, and you’ll be surprised to see how much of Krakow you didn’t know existed and how much of the city most people never visit.

Another great attraction is one of the most beautiful residences in Europe – the Wawel Castle. Today it houses some of the country’s national art collection. Wawel is a majestic castle on the fringe of a classical urban centre. It sits along the Vistula river directly across from the Manggha Centre of Japanese Art. The centre’s building incorporates the shape of wave and is a work of art in itself. It’s perched between the grassy hill and the main road. After viewing the art work and Japanese printmaking on a nice day, nothing is better than leaning back on the grass and let thesound of the river relax your mind while enjoying the view of Wawel.

Krakow is the nearest major tourist centre to Auschwitz, which is about 1.5 hours to the West. The throngs of people who go to Auschwitz should never slow. Somewhere I once heard that in order to adequately experience Auschwitz and begin to understand some of what its prisoners went through, we must visit Auschwitz in all four seasons. There are book stands outside where you can buy non-fiction, poetry, and academic books about Auschwitz, the prisoners’ experience there, and a few other topics as well. The books are available in nearly every language.