Castle aerial from city side
Krakow – the historical Royal Capital City of Poland and our random choice to visit after a very intense week getting the JeepsforPeace trucks from Edinburgh to Ukraine, was partly the result of a need for relaxation while also discovering why Krakow is such a popular, historic city and is rapidly gaining a reputation in modern times as a “must-see” destination. We learned that the city has at least a handful of nicknames with references to Athens, Florence, the Open City and even the Bronx in New York. It also features a known history that goes back to sometime around 970 AD. How’s that for a claim to fame.
Limited in time we decided on a pre-arranged private tour of Wawel Royal Castle instead of also including a tour of the famous salt mine. We had already visited a salt mine in Hallein near Salzburg Austria several years ago, but this one near Krakow also seems to be quite impressive. So click on the link and go enjoy it if you have no time constraints.
We arrived in the evening, quite exhausted from Ukraine Mission stress, the long trip out in a small bus from the border into Krakow and lack of sleep. Getting out of the bus on the parking deck next to the train station and huge shopping mall did not increase our confidence in finding everything easy. We decided to first drop into KFC in the mall and get an order of chicken whatever to get dinner out of the way. Pictures on the ordering screen had to be enough to do the trick, because the words did not translate to anything. Then we had to take luggage and backpacks across the Galleria Krakowska Shopping Mall, over several squares, one of which hosted a mini film festival. Even though our Airbnb apartment was close to the train station, it took 20 minutes to walk there with several over-and underpasses going up and/or down. When we finally got there, great relief to find that there was an elevator in the building taking us right up to our apartment on the 5th floor. As soon as we were in our apartment, we ordered breakfast foods and coffee from a nearby grocery store, which was delivered about 30 minutes later, and food wise we were set for our 3 night stay. Have Ubereats deliver the groceries is something we learned in Scotland.
The apartment (Native Apartments Rakowicka 6) was actually very nice, located on the 5th floor in a professional building with elevator. Nicely set up kitchen with dining area, a queen size bed and nice dining area. One thing we had not realized however is that with frequent bathroom visits during the night a pitched roof over the bed was not ideal if you’re over 6ft tall.
The next morning we slept in, had breakfast at the apartment, and took an Uber to our meeting with Krak Tour guide Andrii Kusii for a personalized Wawel Castle & Cathedral tour. The choices for a 2 day visit to this city also included Rynek Glowy, the 13th century central merchant trading square of the city and other sites. But this choice seemed our best option.
Of course the famous Old Town (Stare Miasto) walking tour is also highly recommended. Now, if you like Tom Hanks for example, are into all things World War II, there are of course visits to the death camps of Auschwitz, Schindler’s Factory and the Ghetto Walk and other tragical tributes dating back to those fascist days in Krakow’s neighborhood during the German Third Reich. We believe wars belong in Museums at this time of our civilization, contrary to some misanthropes currently making the world a hell-hole. For us Krakow was supposed to be a relaxation point, not a stress point. That’s why we chose the Wawel Castle tour. With a $50 coupon, the final cost for both of us was just $61. And Andrii was fantastic, loaded with knowledge and explanations and occasionally searching in his Castle book for details, so that his answers to our questions were the truth and nothing but, as was written down.
Early Krakow history professes that after the Mongols had their way with the city in 1241 AD, it was completely destroyed by them in 1257AD. After reconstruction it was granted a new city charter (Magdeburg rights) by High Duke Bolesław V the Chaste. While being rebuilt, the inclusion of the Royal Road became an important focus point, which resulted in it being used for all coronations and royal parades in the centuries that followed.
Wawel Royal Castle is situated on a hill in a bend of the Vistula River, with a length of 1,022 km the longest river in Poland. The complex consists of numerous buildings of great historical and national importance, including the Wawel Cathedral where Polish monarchs were crowned and buried. Some of Wawel’s oldest stone buildings can be traced back to 970 CE, In addition to the earliest examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture in Poland, it represents nearly all European architectural styles of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is an important part of why the Historic Center of Kraków was nominated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. During its many centuries’ long existence, Wawel Castle gave residence to Polish Royalty from King Casimir III the Great to the three Sigismunds, but when Sigismund III moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw, the city’s reign was over and the downfall began, until serious renovation efforts were undertaken in the early 1900s.
Funding for this renovation was recruited from everywhere and it was interesting to find out that even people from Kolomyia in Ukraine donated to these rehabilitations and restoration and in return were recognized with a personalized brick in the wall leading up to the castle square.
Han also learned that afternoon the answer to a question that had been with him for a long time: why do the knights and other royalties of those medieval times often sleep in beds of probably only 4 feet long. The answer is because in those days the prevailing medical advice was for people to sleep mostly sitting up supported by one or more pillows, in order to breathe easier.
Four important Monarchs left four important chapels. While Wawel Cathedral in Kraków features 19 distinct side-chapels, four particular chapels stand out as its most historically, artistically, and architecturally significant highlights in a often strange, out of place type of diverse contemporary architecture.
Our tour guide Andrii also explained that because of Krakow becoming the most southern member of Hanseatic League in the late 1400s, it became a major strategic cross-point of East-West Trade, which explains the enormous collections of high level art displayed in the Castle and surrounding buildings . Paintings from all major Dutch, Belgian and Italian masters highlight the castle walls, some of the most intricate ceramic fireplaces ornate the rooms and lots of the finest linens, silk, ceramics and silverware ever created, can be found through-out the castle.
The Hanseatic League was an important alliance of trading and port cities supporting each other in the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the modern era. Other cities, mostly in Northern Europe, were Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Gdansk, Visby and Riga.
Our suggestions for this tour are to buy your tickets online and early. Also keep in mind that the daily allotted number of tickets is limited – Check your tour time and be punctual.
After the tour we invited Andrii for a cappuccino and a bite to eat at a famous nearby outside café named Santos Kawiarnia, where we learn that he is originally from Ukraine, but came to Poland more than a decade ago, where he got married and now was raising a family. We also learned that his brother was a defender in the Ukraine Army and that he had not been able to see his family in Ukraine since the war began. The risk for him being enlisted, in-spite of previously being rejected for active duty, was too great. In honor of his country, we gave him a Jeeps4Peace T-shirt and he gave us a pack of famous Lviv Ukrainian coffee and 2 silver Pierogi keychains.
It had been a long day and we decided to take a Uber back to the apartment and have dinner “at home”. This resulted in a number of “hit and miss” situations, where the driver couldn’t find us and we hurried from street corner to street corner. After about 45 minutes we lucked out and found the correct driver. Beware, again, if you don’t speak the language at all, things may get a bit confusing at times. Between us we can communicate in 7 languages, but Polish is not one of them. And that even makes reading street signs difficult. And don’t completely count on Google Translate if you do not know how to pronounce the words. (I should have paid more attention when I dated that girl from Krakow so many years ago, ha-ha).
The next day we explored the inner city, the Krakowska Shopping Mall and went to get our train tickets for the trip to Vienna the next day. We also bought some delectable food at the food court and treated ourselves to a fine tapas type dinner. Now that we knew the perfect shortcuts to the train station with our luggage in tow, the next day was easy peasy. We left on time, ready for the 6 hour train ride to Vienna; had some very pleasant British and Japanese fellow travelers in our train compartment and arrived in Vienna where our heart adopted son Nikki, was waiting for us on the arriving platform of Vienna’s Central Station. Great days were ahead of us.
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