Days 16-17, Krakow part 2
Krakow is a lovely town, and I think I’ll always be happy spending a couple of days here, just wandering the old town and surrounds, eating the food, drinking the vodka and beer. But after a couple of days, once I’ve figured out the maze of streets, it can start to get a little difficult to find ways to amuse myself between eats and drinks.
So aside from it obviously being great to see L after her her few days in the UK, I enjoyed being with her as she discovered Krakow, seeing her fascination for the old streets and beautiful historic buildings, and as I’d only ever been to Krakow alone before, hearing her observations and points of view of the town.
Which is really just my long winded way of saying it was great to see L, and as we’ve done a whole lot of walking already on this trip, we chose to blow off the 3 hour walking tour of the salt mines and just wander around the old town and castle. We probably ended up doing as much if not more walking, just at a gentler pace and with more stops to shop and eat.
The first food stop was a market behind the main town square, where I had dinner before L arrived, a big plate of black sausage and potatoes. The black sausage was good, hearty, a crumbly texture and full of flavour, very enjoyable but could possibly use a bit more seasoning. Add the potatoes and it was a hearty meal, solid and filling. I topped this off with some oscypki, a smoked cheese from the region, that is then heated on a grill and served topped with cranberry jam. It’s an interesting mix of smoky, salty and sweet, and dangerously tasty, it would be easy to eat a lot of. Also gluten free, so a good place for L.
The next food stop was Cakester, a gluten free restaurant I’d stumbled across in my wanderings, offering all manner of pancakes and breakfasts and, most importantly, gluten free pierogi. We went for sweet and savoury, the cheese and potato, and the blueberry. Gluten free they were a little grainier than regular pierogi, but still packed with filling and flavour.
More walking ensued, including a stroll down to the castle. Wavel castle is, as you’d expect, big and dominating, plonked right on top of the biggest hill in the old town. While the castle is free to enter the grounds, it has a number of cool places to see within its walls that to have to buy tickets for, and there are daily limits. As it was early afternoon, the cool stuff L was interested — the armoury and the state rooms — had sold their allocations, so we just wantered through the free areas, including the massive square that is surrounded by the state rooms and other chambers. L was asked by a group of tourists to take their group picture, and when we told them we’re from Australia, they replied, “Ah, that’s why you’re so nice”.
Most of our second day was spent with L’s second cousin M, and family, who we got to meet for the first time. You’ll have to check out L’s far more interesting and better written travel blog, https://twoweeksaway.wordpress.com/, for the full details, as I think it’s only right that she gets to talk about her own family history. For me, I had an enjoyable, real afternoon, trying to communicate with strangers who happily and generously opened up their houses to us, fed us flavoursome, home cooked meals which included a simply wonderful real chicken soup and crumbed chicken schnitzel with potatoes and dill, honest, clean flavours that I could eat every day. There was also a visit to another cousin, who proceeded to fill me full of beer and a wonderful smoked polish sausage, full of pork, garlic, onion and smoky flavour, with a lovely slightly crumbly texture. I was obviously enjoying this so much that he gave me the rest of the sausage to take away.
L’s second night in Krakow involved a laundry trip to Cafe Frania, where I had the duck pierogi, those warm, yummy parcels full of flavour, and L had a massive cheese platter.
Then it was back to the hotel for sorting, packing, and generally getting organised for heading back to Frankfurt for three days with some of L’s other cousins.