Poland – Krakow day 3 | alison richards | graphic designer and artworker

I was going on another walking tour today, this time of the Jewish quarter of Krakow, called Kazimierz. It wasn't until 2pm though, and I was out early again so I had lots of wandering to do! I left my accommodation at 8am and set off in the direction of the Old Town.

Early morning Krakow is really nice, as there were few tourists and even only a couple of locals walking through to get to work, so it basically felt like I had the Old Town centre to myself. I snapped a few shots that I'd made a mental note of to take when it was quieter, and just basically went on a looping walk down all of the side streets that I could.

The side of Church of St. Barbara In Krakow – I didn’t even realise there was a saint Barb!

The side of the cloth hall, with its old advertisements!

I had to go have another look at this lovely orange church!

I came back to this shop a little later to buy an antique print of Krakow

It was cold and I needed a cuppa so I stopped off at Starbucks to warm up and take a break from walking. Then I got dressed back in my winter gear (the 20 degree day in Wroclaw now seemed so long ago), and head on out again.

I found a church that no one seemed to be going into and went to have a look around. Maybe it was off the main tourist route but it was so pretty inside, the ceiling was covered in stars! I also ducked into the 15th century Jagiellonian University Museum, which I didn't take any good photos of because it was too busy at the time.

The floor was pretty in this church too!

This 15th century museum had ammonite fossils as decoration!

The Town Hall Tower opened at 10:30, so I made my way over there to walk the 110 stairs up narrow passageways (really really narrow) to the top of the tower. It had a pretty good view from up there! Wouldn't want to let too many people in at once, however, as passing them on the stairs was impossible - someone would have to reverse!

When I came down from the tower, I went for another wander, before heading back to the main square after deciding I would go next to the Basilica ticket office and see about tickets, either for today or tomorrow if it was really busy. Turned out not to be too busy so I managed to book tickets, then only had to wait outside for about 10 minutes until I was allowed in! I love it when I have good timing.

The interior of the church was something.... You can visit for free, as it is a church, but you have to stay behind a rope so can't really get up close and see it properly. There was also some scaffolding in the way so I'm glad I paid for the ticket (plus Poland is quite cheap and tickets weren't very expensive).

I think this was the actual town hall, where town hall business was done, as I went inside to take a look around and it was bustling with local people who, I assume, were there to pay bills and so on.

The Polish seemed to have a penchant for painting gorgeous patterns on the insides of their churches. I’d never really seen this before anywhere other than maybe the Notre Dame in Poitiers, though that was a lot brighter. These patterns were beautiful, really lovely.

This is the ceiling of the Basilica, covered in stars

I left the church and went looking for some lunch, as it was getting to be that time. But I kept being distracted by all the lovely buildings and sights of Krakow so it was about an hour later that I found myself at a place called Smakolyki. This place was outside of the old town, and I walked past it, then doubled back thinking it looked like a nice place to eat. The clientele seemed to be mostly Polish, which I also liked, and they served simple, hearty, and most importantly warm food! I ended up ordering a potato pancake with goulash and sour cream and it was SO GOOD. I could eat meals like that every day!

After devouring my lunch, it was time to go to the walking tour. We had to meet outside the Old Synagogue in the Jewish area of Kazimierz, and walked around the area learning about the lives of the Jews in Krakow. It was fascinating, but after 2 hours I was ready to go home and have a cuppa!

I wanted to go to this particular restaurant for dinner, Czarna Kaczka, and I turned up and asked for a table for one. I was so lucky, as I got the last table there - they were turning people away after that. Admittedly, I had turned up early because I thought I might be more likely to get one at 6pm rather than any later. Also, my table was actually a single person table, so I didn't feel bad that couples were coming in. The name means "black duck" so I felt obliged to order half of the signature duck dish. Yes it was HUGE, but it was delicious, what I managed to eat of it. Definitely a restaurant I would recommend!