Krakow Day One

Archie saw us off by rushing out and barking at the 4am taxi (sorry, neighbours), but we left him in the capable hands of Jane, who by this time knows him well.

An incident free journey - even a fairly easy passage through security, as I forgot to book ‘fast track’ but it wasn’t needed. I love arriving at a destination airport and seeing someone there to meet us and whisk us to our hotel.

We were too early, of course (11am) to check in to our room, but we sat in the foyer and had a coffee. I was delighted to note the quiet jazz background music (Norah Jones, Nina Simone).

We walked in to the Old Town. It’s cold, and had been snowing earlier (their first snow), but it didn’t lie. The main square is fantastic. A big grand open space, typical of many European cities. Though this one has the fantastic Cloth Hall in the middle.

We passed many inviting cafes and bakeries. They do bread and pastries well here! We will investigate them. What’s also very noticeable is the lack of litter. So tidy! 

There were beautiful horses and elaborate carriages parked ready for punters, but we declined. The horses looked healthy and cared for, not always the case for such animals. There were hundreds of pigeons. But they weren’t being normal fairly annoying pigeons, walking and fluttering around looking for scraps, they were all on the ground, huddled together, looking miserable. We realised there must have been warm air coming up from vents. 

We had a browse through the Cloth Hall, a wonderful building. We were accosted, in the nicest possible way, by a young man wanting to take us on a tour in his electric golf buggy - the place is full of them (electric golf buggies). We eventually fobbed him off, but were caught by another friendly young man, who also had an electric golf buggy. Eventually, we decided to go with him (Vlad) on a tour of the Jewish Quarter and the Ghetto. They were on our ‘must visit list’,  so why wait.

We saw Schindler’s Factory, and will return another day for a look inside. We also saw Helena Rubenstein’s birthplace.

The Empty Chairs in Zgody Square were stark. There are 33 chairs - some big, some small (adults and children) each one representing 1,000 lives of Jews murdered by the Nazis. There is only a small part of the ghetto wall left.

We had a snack in Thai cafe, and then needed a coffee and cake and found a really sweet cafe  - again, quiet music, with good coffee, and cakes galore. By this time it was getting dark. We walked back to the hotel using my map app. We’re now tucked up in our very comfortable abode for the week. We’re too tired to go and explore the gym and pool, or even the bar. (11,102 steps!)

We’ve booked a trip to the Salt Mines!