A Cultural and Historical Journey
Kraków, what a place!
The centre of Poland for all things Cultural and Historical pretty much. And until 1918 the capital too. Beccy and I met our friends Gill and Ed, whom we met in Bournemouth, at Kraków's airport on Friday morning. A short taxi ride away and we were in the centre of the city.
One thing that strikes you initially is the architecture. The grey and functional buildings reminiscent of an eastern block country surround the city centre, oppressive and boring, but somehow romantic and wise. In the South East corner, on the banks of the river one such area is known as Kazimierz and is the restaurant, bar, disco and sex capital of Kraków. Outside of this ring and beyond the river blocks rise as far as the eye can see. But inside is a delight for the historical architects among us, this is the area called the Old Town.
I'm not going to recount the tale chronologically as I think we did things all the wrong way round so I'll start at the end when Beccy and I took a golf buggy tour on our last day. I'd recommend it if you're visiting, head to the Main Square in the old town and by the Basilica you'll find plenty of Buggies to ride. It's 100 złote per area; the Old town, Kazimierz and the Ghetto. It's here you begin to uncover the sinister side of the modern history of Kraków.
When first occupied by the Nazis in 1940 the Kazimierz district was inhabited by 65,000 jews all of which were de-camped across the river to the Ghetto. From here they were eventually transported away for execution in Auschwitz and other places. Due in part to the famous Oscar Schindler who had a factory there 1,000 of them survived the holocaust.
Anyway, we start with the Old Town where there are about 8 million cathedrals. I don't mean small churches I mean huge edifices. You're never 50 yards from a church in the Old Town. Right in the centre is the Market Square, the largest in Europe and in the middle of this is the old cloth market.
The centre of Poland for all things Cultural and Historical pretty much. And until 1918 the capital too. Beccy and I met our friends Gill and Ed, whom we met in Bournemouth, at Kraków's airport on Friday morning. A short taxi ride away and we were in the centre of the city.
One thing that strikes you initially is the architecture. The grey and functional buildings reminiscent of an eastern block country surround the city centre, oppressive and boring, but somehow romantic and wise. In the South East corner, on the banks of the river one such area is known as Kazimierz and is the restaurant, bar, disco and sex capital of Kraków. Outside of this ring and beyond the river blocks rise as far as the eye can see. But inside is a delight for the historical architects among us, this is the area called the Old Town.
I'm not going to recount the tale chronologically as I think we did things all the wrong way round so I'll start at the end when Beccy and I took a golf buggy tour on our last day. I'd recommend it if you're visiting, head to the Main Square in the old town and by the Basilica you'll find plenty of Buggies to ride. It's 100 złote per area; the Old town, Kazimierz and the Ghetto. It's here you begin to uncover the sinister side of the modern history of Kraków.
When first occupied by the Nazis in 1940 the Kazimierz district was inhabited by 65,000 jews all of which were de-camped across the river to the Ghetto. From here they were eventually transported away for execution in Auschwitz and other places. Due in part to the famous Oscar Schindler who had a factory there 1,000 of them survived the holocaust.
Anyway, we start with the Old Town where there are about 8 million cathedrals. I don't mean small churches I mean huge edifices. You're never 50 yards from a church in the Old Town. Right in the centre is the Market Square, the largest in Europe and in the middle of this is the old cloth market.
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| The main square and cloth market... | ...at night. |
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| Gill and Ed on the square | The bustling cloth market |
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| plenty of wares | lots to look at |
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| Gill, Ed and Beccy take a stroll | The Basilica... |
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| ... dominates the North East Corner of the square | Inside the Basilica |
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| The town hall tower. | |
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| The Opera House | |
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| Statues of the 12 Apostles | |
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| Wawel (castle) | Inside the grounds of the Wawel |
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| View to the Keep and Cathedral | Wawel Cathedral |
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| Gill, Ed and Beccy inside the Keep's courtyard | Beccy and I in the courtyard |
posted by Simon @ 9:50 PM
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