Poland - Krakow
Poland - Krakow · 11 November 2020
We arrived at the Salt Mine (https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/) by coach from the centre of Krakow. From the car park at the mine we had a brief walk to the entrance at the Daniłowicz Shaft, where we walked down approx. 380 wooden steps to Level I (64 m below ground) of the Mine. We eventually returned to the surface by a miners’ lift from Level III (135 m deep underground) after about two hours, having seemingly walked miles and climbed about 800 steps. Tourists have been visiting these...
Poland - Krakow · 05 April 2019
Pod Aniolami is located in an 18th century building on the Royal Route from the old market square to the mediaeval Wawel or King’s Castle and cathedral. For over three hundred years the building was the residence of Krakow’s goldsmiths. We were welcomed in off the hot street in an early evening and were lucky to be offered an unreserved table in the covered garden area, near to part of the kitchen that included the barbecue. This suited us fine as kitchens are always interesting to watch....
Poland - Krakow · 05 April 2019
Quacking good restaurant! Despite not booking ahead, the maitre d' found us a comfortable corner on a busy evening in August, and we were promptly and helpfully served. We had starters of carpaccio of duck and oven cooked pierogi of duck washed down with a local Okocim white beer. For mains one of us tasted a dish of half a roast duck cooked in a local samartian style stuffed with red lentils and served with pumpkin and blackcurrant sauce, delicious but very filling. The other had an equally...
Poland - Krakow · 05 April 2019
We wanted music with our dinner and found this restaurant just down the road from our aparthotel on Golebia Street. It offered a dinner of Polish cuisine in a candle-lit courtyard gently accompanied by a very good guitarist on a warm summer’s night. The restaurant is long established and family run and provides delicious food and careful service. We were gently looked after by a waiter who helped us choose some Polish red wine which was light but well bodied, a bit like a Beaujolais and we...
Poland - Krakow · 05 April 2019
On our first night in Krakow we set out to find a Polish restaurant near our apartment. After an early evening local beer in the main square of the old town listening to jazz, we found this restaurant in a nearby side street offering only Polish food. In its courtyard we were fortunate to get a table. We decided to go for a three course meal, choosing toasted smoked cheese and local meat dumplings (pierogi) for starters washed down with red and white Polish wine. The dishes were tasty and...
Poland - Krakow · 05 April 2019
To the East of the old market square lies the beautiful baroque church of St Anne and the Collegium Maius, a fifteenth century part of the Jagellionian University where Copernicus studied. It is one of the oldest in Europe. Built round a cool courtyard, its rooms are beautifully lined with wooden panelling and it holds a wealth of art and science treasures, including a copy of Galileo's treatise on the heliocentric universe, which was revolutionary in its day and banned by the Roman Catholic...
Poland - Krakow · 05 April 2019
A spacious, well-lit and beautiful high-ceilinged room of old brick in an old brick built apartment block with a small sink, fridge and cooking unit, a sofa, table and two chairs and a built in shower room with toilet. The bed was comfortable if only of a standard double-bed width. The air-con was very efficient fortunately as outside temperatures were in the top 20s at least. On the ground floor was a cafe that served breakfasts until well into the morning. Portions were generous whether...
Poland - Krakow · 04 April 2019
The square in the middle of Krakow old town is vast, with many restaurants on every side of it and in the middle by the cloth workers hall, which also hides three interesting sites, a covered market at street level, an art gallery up stairs, and hidden in the basement an amazing museum, the Rynek Underground Museum showing the layers oh history underneath the present square. Some of the restaurants in the square have jazz playing, at least at night, one offered concerts of Chopin’s music....
Poland - Krakow · 04 April 2019
How the clarinet laughed! We heard an excellent late afternoon concert of Klezmer music - from the villages and ghettos of Eastern Europe where Jewish troubadours mixed Jewish, East European and Asia Minor melodies and harmonies, both secular and religious - in the Chopin Gallery in Krakow as part of regular series of concerts. It was played on clarinet, accordion and double bass by a very accomplished Trio, Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim. A shame that the audience was small and the gallery difficult...