Kraków is a Medieval wonder. I've never heard of this place before planning this trip. But while you go to Poland thinking Warsaw, everything you read would point you towards Kraków. Think of Kyoto over Tokyo for a place full of preserved history. In fact, the entire core of Kraków is like a walking medieval museum, topped by a stunning hill top castle and their fascination with an ancient fire breathing dragon that is prominently featured in most their mementos and postcards.
Getting here from Bratislava was a little journey in itself. While I was looking forward to my first rail trip this time around, I had envision a smooth transition of me simply showing up at the right time and waking up at my destination. Word of caution about buying cross country train tickets locally. While the purchase for a Bratislava to Kraków ticket at the Bratislava train station was a simple process of paying 55 Euros, they didn't made clear to me that I was to change train at Katowice, a distant industrial town serving also as a train hub. That's fine, changing train isn't a problem. But somehow the ticket I paid didn't cover the entire trip to Katowice (I had no clue why, it was all in Polish). As the train attendant checked my ticket in the middle of the journey, he had a terrible time explaining to me in Polish that the ticket only took me to a town somewhat 130km from Katowice, while I had terrible time explaining to him in English that I paid the full fare. In the end, I gave up. We settled on an extra 15 Euros to take me from that unknown town to Katowice, where, because my train had arrived late, I missed my connecting train to Kraków. But that's okay, inter-city trains are plenty in Poland, even though they crawl at a snail pace that at times I felt I would have gotten to Kraków sooner had I just walked it. In the end, I arrived happily by 7pm, in the pouring rain. At least my hostel was nice and clean. It even included a hearty breakfast with lots of fruits, something I had been craving right about now.
The rain cleared the next day and I set out to explore. As I had mentioned, much of Krakow's beauty lies in its well preserved old town. It is immensely walkable. The streets are clean and tidy, although the setting feels a little artificial and touristy. I snapped a gazillions photos during the occasional sunny breaks, and after dodging and almost getting hit numerous times by flying pigeons everywhere (they are, literally, EVERYWHERE), took in a hearty lunch of a traditional Polish soup and meat Perogies with a delicious tomato and mushroom "hunter" sauce in one of the few remaining "Milk Bars", essentially a causal local cafeteria style restaurants.
In the afternoon, I joined another one of those "free" walking tours. This is something I have discovered (or reminded of their existence) during this trip. In virtually all these cities, there are a number of organizations that runs these "by donations" tour. I highly recommend it. So far, on all the tours I've been on, the guides have been fun, enthusiastic, and full of insightful information (not simply stories and legends of this and that..). While some may disagree with the notion of "posting a free sign" only to ask for "donations", one should look at these as "pay your own price" sort of tours. In the end, it's pretty clear these guides are professionally trained guides, many of whom have a degree in tourism, and this is just a different business model that might prove to be even more lucrative (I recall reading an article describing that these name your own price businesses often generate an even higher revenue owing to consumer willingly paying more either due to their satisfaction, or in some cases, feeling the pressure to pay "what others may be paying". In any case, if you're in a new city and has a few hours to spare, I strongly suggest finding a good organization and do one of these (for reference, I went with the ones with the bright yellow umbrella, called Walkative Tours, I think).
In the evening, I joined yet another tour, this time focusing on Krakow's Jewish quarters and their relevant tragic history. It was an amazing tour (our guide, in fact, wrote his university thesis on the history of the Poland Jews). I'll spare you the historical details, mostly because I do not think I can remotely do it justice. But seeing this different side of Kraków (after all the legends and fantasies of the old town), really opened up this city to me. Today, the so called "Jewish Quarters" is fasting becoming a hip bohemian hub for the city, filled with night life of bars and fancy restaurants and rowdy street food eateries. This is where Kraków comes alive at night. And I couldn't help but indulged myself with a serving of grilled sausage and a big bowl of Bigos (a rather chunky meat and sauerkraut stew).
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