Day 5: Kraków [Poland]
Poland was one of the places Nicole really wanted to go to on this trip. A couple years ago we visited Ellis Island in New York and found some family on Nicole's side that was from Poland. Some day, we will go to that small town where her family was from, but we were just not comfortable diving into a new country all on our own. Using the tour as a means to become introduced to Poland was very nice! We can't wait to go back! ....sorry, back to the tour! :)
We kicked off the day with a walking tour with our local guide, Anna. She was so happy to share this wonderful place with us! We started with some information on the square, since it was just a short walk from our hotel. From the square we made our way to the University then onto the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Church Pope John Paul II attended during his time as the Bishop of Kraków. This Church is extremely well taken care of and is open to the public, definitely worth seeing in person (also has a nice Catholic gift shop)! From there, we took a walk up the hill to Wawel Castle, built under Casimir III the Great. We toured the interior of the Church and took a break in the beautiful courtyard that was filled with flowers!
We kicked off the day with a walking tour with our local guide, Anna. She was so happy to share this wonderful place with us! We started with some information on the square, since it was just a short walk from our hotel. From the square we made our way to the University then onto the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Church Pope John Paul II attended during his time as the Bishop of Kraków. This Church is extremely well taken care of and is open to the public, definitely worth seeing in person (also has a nice Catholic gift shop)! From there, we took a walk up the hill to Wawel Castle, built under Casimir III the Great. We toured the interior of the Church and took a break in the beautiful courtyard that was filled with flowers!
Just before the break we noticed that we had added two more members to our tour group! How exciting! Anna had mentioned we were taking a 20 minute break and we were going to meet right back up at the same location to continue on. Our new friends we right back there with us 20 minutes later, so Nicole posed for a picture with them...then they left shortly after. :(
We wrapped up our walking tour by making our way through the old Castle District and back to the main square. Our tour guide Anna was so awesome as she was pointing out places we should see, or places we should eat on our free time! We had spotted the local "Milk Bar" that is referenced in the guidebook and were definitely going to try that out for lunch!
We had arrived back at the Square and made our way to the side entrance to Saint Mary's Basilica. One very cool fact about the towers is that is where the Saint Mary's Trumpeter plays, every hour, on the hour. Be sure to be in the Square at some point during your visit on the hour! Moving along, we made our way into the Basilica and were welcomed with an overwhelming alter-piece. Keep in mind there is a fee to take pictures while in Saint Mary's, it is only a couple of zloties, but keep that in mind! It comes in the form of a sticker, so if you get done with your photos early, maybe another shutter-bug in the group would like to snap a few pics!
And that was our walking tour! Anna was excellent in keeping us oriented to the town and how we could easily reference locations off the map based on the Square. From there, we were turned loose in Kraków!
It was about lunch time and we managed to convince Ruth and Terry to join us for lunch again at the Milk Bar, Bar Mleczny. The Milk Bar was very cheap, gave very nice portions and was certainly a cultural experience! We would recommend stopping in for lunch!
After lunch we decided to take this time to take care of some laundry! Luckily there is a very good source to do that about a fifteen minute walk from the square, or a quick bus ride. We grabbed our stuff at the hotel and hit the road! Frania Café, yes, a cafe, is where you would want to head for laundry in Kraków. We sorted our things into what type of loads we wanted to run and paid the extra few zlotties for the full service, your vacation time is too valuable to spend doing laundry! A few hours later, we picked up our stuff without a hitch, worked out perfectly!
On the way back to the Square we stopped into one of the Pharmacy stores, Nicole "had" to have some shampoo. Just keep in mind you do not have to pack everything for every situation while on your trip! Believe it or not, you can probably buy what you use everyday in the states in Europe as well! :)
It was about lunch time and we managed to convince Ruth and Terry to join us for lunch again at the Milk Bar, Bar Mleczny. The Milk Bar was very cheap, gave very nice portions and was certainly a cultural experience! We would recommend stopping in for lunch!
After lunch we decided to take this time to take care of some laundry! Luckily there is a very good source to do that about a fifteen minute walk from the square, or a quick bus ride. We grabbed our stuff at the hotel and hit the road! Frania Café, yes, a cafe, is where you would want to head for laundry in Kraków. We sorted our things into what type of loads we wanted to run and paid the extra few zlotties for the full service, your vacation time is too valuable to spend doing laundry! A few hours later, we picked up our stuff without a hitch, worked out perfectly!
On the way back to the Square we stopped into one of the Pharmacy stores, Nicole "had" to have some shampoo. Just keep in mind you do not have to pack everything for every situation while on your trip! Believe it or not, you can probably buy what you use everyday in the states in Europe as well! :)
While we waited for the laundry to be done, we headed back to check out the Pope John Paul II museum as well as his apartment. There are lots of personal possessions and gifts within the sites, we recommend visiting if you are interested...or of the Catholic faith of course!
From there, we meandered back to the Square, and there was a flea market setup and taking place! There were many nice things for sale and Nicole managed to pickup another magnet for our fridge. We were going to attend mass a Saint Mary's Cathedral this evening....and what a beautiful place it was to attend mass! After mass, we were hungry [no, not in Hungary..well, not yet :) ] We ended up at a Cyklop pizza, it is recommended in the guidebook and we recommend it as well! It is a small place, so you may try to beat the dinner rush if you want to get in!
Tip! Nicole wanted to buy the famous Amber while in Poland. Katka pointed us to a store that had certificates of Authentication and was very reasonably priced.
It was about time to pickup our laundry and head back to the hotel, but first we wanted to stop in some of the stores on the square. The square was alive and well in the evening and many of the stores had great handcrafted toys! We picked up a truck for our little nephew! Also, there is a store on the North-East side of the Square that sells advance tickets to the Underground Museum. We grabbed some tickets to use during our free-time tomorrow morning!
We snagged our laundry and went back to the hotel for some sleep! We walked our tails off today!
Tip! Some people planned there own excursions Nowa Huta District Tour: Through Crazyguides.com, and John Paul tours. Book this prior to your trip as they were filled when we got there! Also, if you are interested in the Salt Mine, our guide set up a car for those who were interested. PLAN AHEAD IN KRAKOW!
From there, we meandered back to the Square, and there was a flea market setup and taking place! There were many nice things for sale and Nicole managed to pickup another magnet for our fridge. We were going to attend mass a Saint Mary's Cathedral this evening....and what a beautiful place it was to attend mass! After mass, we were hungry [no, not in Hungary..well, not yet :) ] We ended up at a Cyklop pizza, it is recommended in the guidebook and we recommend it as well! It is a small place, so you may try to beat the dinner rush if you want to get in!
Tip! Nicole wanted to buy the famous Amber while in Poland. Katka pointed us to a store that had certificates of Authentication and was very reasonably priced.
It was about time to pickup our laundry and head back to the hotel, but first we wanted to stop in some of the stores on the square. The square was alive and well in the evening and many of the stores had great handcrafted toys! We picked up a truck for our little nephew! Also, there is a store on the North-East side of the Square that sells advance tickets to the Underground Museum. We grabbed some tickets to use during our free-time tomorrow morning!
We snagged our laundry and went back to the hotel for some sleep! We walked our tails off today!
Tip! Some people planned there own excursions Nowa Huta District Tour: Through Crazyguides.com, and John Paul tours. Book this prior to your trip as they were filled when we got there! Also, if you are interested in the Salt Mine, our guide set up a car for those who were interested. PLAN AHEAD IN KRAKOW!