We caught a train to Krakow. Along the sides of the train tracks were many gorgeous wild flowers and I tried and tried to photograph them but the train flew past too quickly.
While in Poland in the mid seventies we visited a Krakow market to stock up with food but didn't go into the city centre. However we did visit Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps, so this time we spent time around the old city.
We stayed at a very nice place- a renovated apartment in an old Soviet style residential block a few tram stops from the centre.
Krakow is much nicer and more interesting than Warsaw and of course it was full of tourists. It was the royal capital of Poland till 1596. It has Europe's largest medieval town square (200m by 200m) with the 16th century Renaissance Cloth Hall in the middle. The square surrounding the market is full of restaurants and bars and people dining 'al fresco'. It just buzzes in the warm evenings.
It was so nice to see so much fresh fruit for sale after Russian where there didn't seem to be much at all. It reminds us of the fruits in our garden.
We visited Kazimierz which was founded in 1335. In the 15th century, Jews were expelled from Krakow and forced to live here. It later became home to Jews fleeing persecution in other parts of Europe. During World War 2, the Nazis exterminated Jews in a nearby concentration camp that was featured in the film "Schindler's List".
In the 90s some Jewish families were given compensation and some of their properties back so today many of those people are rebuilding and setting up businesses again. We visited the old synagogue and I think it is the first time we have ever been in a synagogue so that was interesting for us.
There are remnants of the old city wall and barbican and some lovely parks where the locals were dressed in traditional clothes playing local folk tunes.
Like Russia there are so many drunks on the streets and in the parks- some are old, some are young, some are females but most are males.
On a hill overlooking the city and river is the 14th century Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral. There are so any visitors to the sight that they limit the number of tickets they sell to the various museums and rooms.
