Krakow Highlights

Lately, we kept visiting to a city every month and the city of the month is Krakow! Personally, I always wanted to go there, since all my best friends from my international organization days are all Polish and I knew I would enjoy being there. Plus, we kept hearing how cheap the place was - so we wanted to give it a shot for 3 days - mostly because we didn't have flight connections every day, but it turns out we made an amazing plan!



 Here are the highlights about our trip: 

1. Auschwitz:  OK, after visiting Hiroshima last year, we kept talking about visiting Auschwitz and we mostly decided to visit Krakow to visit here. The camp side is about 1,5 hours away from the city center with a direct connection. 

Visiting the camp side is officially for free, even though you need to have an entry pass that you can get either online or from the ticket office. Yet, I highly suggest to book your trip in advance - especially if you want to enter the museum in the timing you wish. The museum also provides a guided tour option in many languages - which requires a payment. You might try your chances with the ticket office once there, but it is highly recommended to organize your trip a few weeks before. 

About the visit itself, let me tell you: it's no joy! We attended a guided tour that takes about 3 hours and I believe that I cried for 1 hour. Still, it's a must!

Entrance: for free

Guided tour: 50 zloty/person

Transportation: 12 zloty/person 1 way 

2. Wieliczka Salt Mines: About 10km outside the city, a UNESCO heritage salt mine is located that is worth a visit if you have the time. The mines are so popular, I asked some Instagram friends about what to do in Krakow and I heard from literally everyone to visit the mines!



So I was wondering why they made such a big deal out of the mines, and I got my answer: there is literally an art museum made of salt under the ground!

There are literally churches, sculptures, ceremony rooms, chandelier and even a salt imitation of the Last Supper by da Vinci!

They offer two routes: a touristic and a miner route and we decided to take the touristic one. Yet, I left the museum wondering about the miner's route! Maybe the next time..

3. Wawel Hill: In the medieval times, when Poland had a king and a royal family living in Krakow, this is where they used to live. Up in the hill, there is the Wawel castle that surrounds the residences and the cathedral.



The entrance to the castle is for free, while you might need to purchase a ticket to see some of the collections. I have to admit at this point that we just skipped all the exhibitions in the castle and just had a walk around.

The hill also provides a panaromic view to the Vistula river.

4. Main Market Square: Krakow is an amazing medieval town and in the 16th century, the market square of Krakow was the biggest in Europe and trust me, I believe this! The square is huge and with many attractions all at once. In fact, it is so huge that it looks pretty strange in such a small city.

The biggest landmark of the square is the St. Mary's Basilica. Besides thousands of other cathedrals and churches around the overall city, this is the biggest and the most impressive one.

One of the most popular tourist attractions here is to rent a horse carriage. Even though I try to protest using animals in unfair circumstances, I cannot help but admit that they look extra medieval and magical :(

The square is divided by a cloth hall, which currently is used as a traditional and oriental market place of the town. There are many shops that sell souvenirs and jewelry. This was cute and everything but after the Grand Bazaar, our reaction couldn't be more than "awww, that's cute. where is the rest?"

The old town used to be surrounded by the city walls in the ancient times. In the modern times, the walls are torn down and replaced by Planty Park which is an amazing urban transformation example! It's definitely worth a walk in it. 

5. Kamizierz: This is the Jewish quarter of Krakow. Before the WW2, more than 25% of the Krakow population was Jewish and maybe that is why the most exciting and the newest spot in town is the Jewish neighborhood.



The streets are full of exciting restaurants and bars that feels like an interesting/weird combination of oriental and hipster.


  

Again, I feel like I could not get enough walking around the streets and capturing the buildings and people in this region. Look at these beauties and tell me if I'm wrong!







In Krakow, our favorite restaurant was Hamsa Hummus and Happiness, which was the only restaurant to where we went twice during a long weekend trip because it was amazing and cheap! They serve middle east/Israeli food in the cutest environment. I have to admit that it is a bit pricy compared to the average Krakow restaurants, but somehow we didn't have too much alternatives to have falafel.



Last but not least, especially on Saturdays and Sundays you can see amazing flea markets in this neighborhood. Of course, all flea markets are amazing to search for some antiques or house holds as souvenirs.



Besides, you will also appreciate many war memories, items from the Soviet rule, books, old photos, postcards, and many items that you cannot even comprehend. It is so emotional that you really should not miss a visit!

Close to the Heroes Square, you can visit the Schindler's factory, which became a WW2 museum recently. The museum is all about the Krakow before the war, under invasion and the after effects. Even though it was a really well made museum, we expected to see some memorial or some stories about the factory itself and Oscar Schindler, but we found almost none. The entrance is for free on mondays. 

Enjoy!