"THROUGH THE THORKS TO THE STARS" or "HOW TO SEE PARIS AND NOT DIE OF HAPPINESS", Part 3
Part 3. "KRAKOW - THE CITY OF KINGS AND KINGS"
Paris was left behind a comfortable plane. We are back on Polish soil, namely in Krakow. It is bright and sunny here, despite the still low temperature, but this does not diminish optimism at all. The beaten path we get from the airport to the hotel and very quickly on the spot. Alas, the number will have to wait until the legal 14.00. Well, we leave the luggage at the office and go to get acquainted with the city. From our hotel this is not a problem as it is located in the heart of old Krakow. Five minutes at a leisurely pace, and we are at the "Main Market". The weather whispers, the beauty is indescribable - people walk for their own pleasure, there are crowds of tourists. We decided to relax in a cafe with glasses of beer right on the square, contemplating the festivities with pleasure.
There was a fear that after Paris, Krakow would seem "insipid", but they disappeared after a couple of hours of stay - a great place!
A beautiful city with a history that can be seen at every turn, and it was also nice to see that the Poles respect their heritage as they should! At the appointed time, even a little earlier, we checked into our excellent room and, having dined, went further to admire the city. We didn’t make any special plans, because we understood that it was necessary to give rest to tired organisms. Tomorrow we will begin to implement our plans.
In the morning, after a sleep-failure, we quickly got dressed and went out to master what was planned in advance. Horror! This is deja vu! Everything is covered in snow and he is just ankle deep, sleet continues to fall! Blimey! After all, we planned to visit the Krakow burial mounds! The weather has once again confused us all the maps. A couple of movements by convolutions and a decision comes - we are going to Wieliczka today, because the main attraction is underground there, and snow and rain will not get there. The decision was made and approved by the family council - we are going to Wieliczka.
From Krakow, we decided to go to Wieliczka by public transport. Bus number 304 goes there from Kurniki Street (near the station and the Krakow Gallery, opposite the church). Tickets are sold in vending machines right at the bus stop, I note - not for average minds (the cost is 3.2 zł per person one way, it’s better to buy there and back right away, moreover, have small money). This bus goes through the whole city, and then the suburbs, on the road 48 minutes. There is an alternative - the train, but it is much further to stomp from it to the mines. When we got to the cash desks of the mine, we were shocked that we were late for the Russian-language tour by literally 20 minutes (the only Russian-language tour of the day starts at 11.30). Eh! What kind of bad luck? ! Having estimated all the pros and cons, we decided that we would have to come back here and get to the Russian-speaking one, since the price is not cheap (see the price in the photo) and we want to enjoy it to the fullest. What will we do? Outside, the snow had already turned into rain.
Well, okay, let's go to explore the city from above, because we are in ski suits. No sooner said than done! We're going to explore the town. We went along and across it and made sure that this is still a city of miners - a mass of abandoned mines. There is a small castle and, of course, churches.
I got into my head the idea of fixing to visit the old wooden church of St. Sebastian. Easy to say! It turned out that it is located on the highest point of the town and a rare tourist "flies" there. A long and exhausting journey along a rainy and slippery road led us to it. The church is very unusual - it is completely wooden. Despite its venerable age, it was re-covered from the outside with wood, but inside it remained the same as it always was. We quietly went inside and were dumbfounded by what we saw - the church was completely empty of parishioners, but two young priests were praying on their knees!
It shocked us to the core - we realized that it is true faith that moves the servants of God. No show! It was sincere - no one even paid much attention to us, the action continued. We sat quietly, turned to the Lord in our souls, we were pierced to the very heart. Naturally, we did not dare to take pictures there, despite the absence of prohibitions - not the situation. And there was something to see there - inside the church there are ancient frescoes and paintings on wood and sculptures from it. What a beauty! Having received a lot of positive emotions and food for thought, we left the church. No wonder we had such a hard time getting up here! We have been richly rewarded!
The old part of the city is all interesting, it is useful to wander through all the streets literally, and up and down. Which we gladly did.
Naturally, one day we reached the Wawel Castle - this is a majestic building, where the royal hand is very clearly felt. There you should definitely visit and proceed with all the legs and touch the history. From here you have a magnificent view of the Vistula. I won’t even describe all this - it’s useless! The spirit of the times hovers there, which pierces the air, regardless of the weather. Believe me, in this city and this castle it is always beautiful and interesting! I'm sure!
Also, be sure to go to every church you see in the city - it's a shock! There are so many of them that, it seems, one per capita. Everything is so different there, well-groomed, sincere and lively, and most importantly, you can feel the holy spirit there.
BRIGHT SUNDAY
Coincidentally, our trip fell on the Catholic Easter.
Naturally, we knew about this in advance, and I drew a plan for myself, namely, to buy a local paska (Easter cake), dedicate it according to local traditions and bring it home as a relic. Thursday and Friday I looked into every market in search of it - zero. Then I could not stand it and asked the girl, the office worker of our hotel: “Where can I buy THIS? ” For a long time she could not understand what they wanted from her, then she went limp and said that this was not the main thing for them, instead of paska they put a couple slices of regular bread. Confused, we left.
On Saturday, on the eve of Easter, we were just making a promenade through old Krakow with an emphasis on churches, that is, we went into every one that came across our way. I was struck by the number of parishioners and those wishing to confess, just huge queues stood for confession - you will not see this here. I was impressed by the boy, about eight years old, who stood on small knees and sincerely repented of something to the priest - he took it to the soul.
We also had a chance to visit the ceremony of consecration of Easter baskets - this is a whole ritual, and not just waving a wet broom through the ranks of believers and thirsty. We also paid attention to the baskets of the parishioners, they are mostly very small, but they are works of art, they were decorated so tastefully. It feels like everyone is competing there, but it's very nice to watch. We made sure that the girl from the office told us the absolute truth - there were no Easter cakes in the baskets. Basically, they had eggs, slices of bread, apples, but the main thing is that everyone had Krakow sausages! Only in one basket we noticed a cake similar to what we sanctify, and in the other a baked lamb - very beautiful!
ALL FAIRY TALES HAVE AN END
The day of departure was supposed to be another milestone for us on our honeymoon trip, but the weather lost that one too. It was raining so hard that even the old-timers in Krakow could not remember anything like this for Easter.
We vacated the room, as expected, at 12.00, left our luggage at the hotel office, and went for a walk around old Krakow, but it was not even possible to put our nose anywhere - it poured like a bucket. After sitting for an hour in a cafe, one of the few that were open that day, we realized that there was nothing for us here and decided to go to the airport earlier - at least it was dry there.
The road to the airport on the transfer also added to the experience - the closer we drove to Katowice, the more it snowed, turning into a real blizzard! Another deja vu, what can you do? If only they let us out of here on time, otherwise our visas will run out in a few hours! Thank God, everything ended well, despite the fact that the flight was delayed for 3 hours - we are lucky after all!
The weather, of course, puzzled us more than once, but despite this, we had a real honeymoon trip! What did you think?
In 25 years, everything should be more colorful and tastier, otherwise everything will seem faded! Now, even the sea is knee-deep.
I wish everyone thrills, otherwise it’s sad!
Thanks to everyone who had the patience to finish reading. For the rest - sorry for "a lot of bukaf", it did not work out any less, the trip and preparation for it turned out to be painfully intense.
