Krakow! What an underrated city - or perhaps it just hasn't really crossed my radar until now. What I am sure of is that I’ll be back in Poland before long to explore more of what may be my new favourite European country!
The food! The people! The history!
We landed just gone 11pm on Thursday, after a tight turnaround after work, and were in our airbnb in under an hour. There’s something pretty magical about arriving by night and waking up the next day to see the new city (and country!) in all its morning glory.
After a leisurely (and oh so good value) breakfast across the street, we forayed into the old town and began a day of many steps, even more photos and even a little bit of sunburn.
We started the day in Wawel Castle, on an outcrop overlooking the Vistula River, which has been used as a refuge since the Paleolithic period. The city’s rich history is present its city walls and wonderful stained glass, as well as in institutions-turned-museums such as Oskar Schindler’s Porcelain Factory. But it certainly didn’t feel like a city of two halves because it’s so full of life in the here and now - we both agreed that it would be a dreamy place to #wfh for a few weeks.
But back to the castle, where the tulips are the true stars of the show.
After a dreamy afternoon meandering through the streets, marvelling at the beautiful buildings set against the bluest of skies and even scoring some excellent charity shop finds, we hit the pierogi and then the hay!
A rather unexpected element of our trip, thanks to a recommendation from a friend, was a day trip to Zakopane - one of Poland's ski resorts by winter and epic hiking spots by summer. Although I can't claim we did either, we did thoroughly enjoy our first experience of rural Poland, bear warnings and all...
We did a mini hike, ate an insanely good mountain lunch and met some friendly deer in the park before being refused entry to the 'fully booked' train. So, coach journey it was! Despite promptly falling asleep, I did wake in time to enjoy the views from our 1mph stint in a rather long traffic jam. It seems everyone else had spent the day in Zakopane too..
The definition of a flying visit but also of a perfect city break. I went with next to no expectations and left with Poland at the top of my bucket list. Many more planes to explore and even more pierogi to eat!