Вроцлав та королівські Прага і Краків Wroclaw and the royal Prague and Krakow

From an early age I was always told about the royal castles and distant hours of the Middle Ages, the fabulous cities of Europe, where powerful royal dynasties ruled and believed in real medieval life. Therefore, in the fall of 2016, we decided to start our acquaintance with the cities of royal glory. A good time to travel, when it is not so hot, but not too cold, you can comfortably enjoy the beauty of cities, and daylight lasts long enough. That's how I set myself up for the long-awaited trip.

We planned the trip and routes ourselves: tickets - through Wizz Air, hotels - through booking. com, visas - in the visa center at the Palace of Sports, with a considerable package of necessary documents and must be by appointment. The route we took passed through the cities Katowice-Wroclaw-Prague-Krakow-Katowice . And the once impossible stato is possible! Our first self-issued Schengen was in our hands.

Day 1, Day 2

We left Zhulyany at nine in the morning and were in Poland in two hours. The neighboring country greeted us warmly, but in the rain. From the airport to the city of Katowice arrived by bus, which was waiting for passengers at the exit of the terminal. Buses to Krakow depart from there.

In Katowice we had about 3.5 hours to explore the town, which we immediately liked. Thus began our first acquaintance with Poland.

I remember clean roadsides, modern trams, plain umbrellas (Europeans probably do not like bright colors and eye-catching patterns). The similarity of the city with Lviv was felt. Ancient decors that adorn the facades of most houses make the town cozy, atmospheric and immediately European in my understanding of architecture.

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In a few hours we went to Wroclaw. It was raining all the time, and the flat Polish roads and sleepy weather helped us fall asleep. However, the bus of the well-known carrier Polski Bus was not so convenient.

Visiting Wroclaw was prompted by the desire to discover first the real Poland, its culture, to observe the locals, to spend a few days in an ordinary Polish city. We never dreamed of seeing so much in Wroclaw! ! ! ! ! It is an extremely rich city that has exceeded all our expectations, a city with a centuries-old history that is developing rapidly, but retains its uniqueness and originality.

On the day of arrival we stayed at the Corner Hostel and had a good dinner in the city center at Restauracja? eská . And the next day they got acquainted with architectural monuments and historical values.

Discover Wroclaw helped us a free walking tour of the city.

He will conduct tours of this format for more than 11 years, remembers how he once led several tourists, and today - a few dozen interested listeners. This is his personal success and pride in the development of the city in which Adam lives. It was nice to hear his stories. And three hours flew by very quickly. You can find information about the beginning and place of the meeting with the guide on the freewalkingtour website. com.

Adam and I walked through interesting courtyards and places and visited Tumsky Island , where our walking tour ended. Everyone thanked the guide from the bottom of their hearts and did not spare a few zlotys, which can be thrown into his little red bag.

Then we continued our acquaintance with the city on our own, went inside the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

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We had lunch at the fast food restaurant Burger King with extremely tasty burgers, which we were pretty tired of at the end of our trip. But the first impression of the world-famous network was great.

Wroclaw was part of the Czech Kingdom, Prussia, Germany. After the defeat of Germany in World War II and the division of its lands, Wroclaw withdrew to Poland. Influenced by different cultures, Wroclaw formed its own unique architectural account. Most of the buildings in the city have undergone many reconstructions, reconstructions and renovations.

Today, the city impresses the colorful facades of the houses glued together, Gothic-style churches, tall towers and a cozy atmosphere.

The Oder River and its tributaries branch off through Wroclaw. That is why Wroclaw is called the "city of bridges". Another feature of the city and a nice bonus for tourists can be considered gnomes . Their little bronze figurines are found everywhere and in the most unexpected places: on poles, at the entrances to houses, on sidewalks. Wroclaw gnomes have their own website, each gnome has its own life story and craft.

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Official slogan of Wroclaw - meeting place (the meeting place, Miasto spotka? ). In Polish it sounds quite melodic - "meat of rendezvous".

Students from different countries come here to study, meet and travel while studying. My classmate did just that after graduating from university in Kyiv.

In four years he managed to get an education, see the world and meet many interesting people while traveling, namely through the CouchSurfing network. Wroclaw's advantageous geographical location makes it attractive to young people and tourists. From Wroclaw relatively close to Prague, Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw. The city opens up many opportunities for everyone! For a complete information picture, I also advise you to read an interesting article about Wroclaw. .

In 2016, Wroclaw received the status of European Capital of Culture 2016 . This is an important event in the history of the city, which influenced its development and cultural life, and even more attracted tourists. The souvenir shops have free maps, guides, booklets, stickers, and information centers.

We collected a lot of free literature at the train station. Finding information is not a problem!

In Wroclaw, we managed to climb the 90-meter tower of the Church of St.

Elizabeth (Elizabeth). Impressive height and unique view of the city from above leave an unforgettable impression. You need to climb the spiral staircase on foot, but it's worth it!

But there is much more to see and visit. Not to be overlooked is the monumental canvas Raclawice Panorama at the National Museum, painted in honor of the Polish People's Uprising led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Official website of Ratslavytsya Panorama: www. panoramaraclawicka. pl. The site has a virtual tour. You can review and think, you should include it in your program. I also read that there is a very good zoo (ZOO Wroclaw - Afrykarium) in Wroclaw. So I recommend everyone to spend at least 2 full days in Wroclaw.

And not far from the center is a very tasty donut shop Stara P? czkarnia , which in turn wants to enjoy the format of the institution, is similar to the Kyiv bakery.

We were not hungry when we saw this place, but we wanted to try and put it off until later, and when we returned, everything was closed. Did not have time to eat. So our advice to you is not to try everything at once! ! ! ! !

Day 3, Day 4

By night bus we moved to Prague. Arrived at the Central Bus Station in Florence (Florenc) quite early, everything was still closed and did not look very friendly. There were almost no vacancies to sit down and wait for the start of the working day. We spent more than an hour waiting for the opening of shops and exchange offices. But they waited and gradually began to wake up with the city.

They exchanged money and then circled around the bus station for a long time in search of land transport. We ran to a stop, which we were advised, ran back, circled and decided to go by subway, albeit with a change. We boarded the station Florenc and got off the metro Starom? Stská.

It was about 7:00 am, the streets were waking up, someone was already getting to work, someone was receiving goods in grocery stores. Sleepy, we went unnoticed to the Vltava River and before us opened the long-awaited, dreamy view of Charles Bridge and Prague Castle - the main symbols of the city.

All the pictures in children's books about kings and their magnificent royal celebrations, all the guesses about how it really was, come to life in these places. Bohemia! ! ! ! !

The most famous in Prague Charles Bridge was founded in 1357 by King Charles IV. Towers on both sides of the fortifications (Malostranska and Staromiska).

At dawn, Charles Bridge appeared before us in all its mysterious and enigmatic beauty, shrouded in a magical sense of the past. Indeed! Until late at night, the city is crowded with tourists, artists, musicians, and early in the morning you can slowly "touch the history".

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We crossed the bridge, fed the noisy swans under the bridge, climbed the old castle stairs to Prague Castle, stood on the observation deck and headed to the complex.

Prague Castle is the residence of Czech kings, a grand castle complex whose history dates back to the early Middle Ages. Entrance to the complex is free. Of particular importance to the Prague Castle is the St. Vitus Cathedral.

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Entrance to its front part is free, and to the historical part with the chapel of St. Wenceslas, where kings came to pray and where the coronation of the heirs to the throne began, entrance by ticket. You can read about all prices and routes here .

This large-scale Gothic temple impresses visitors with its height and does not fit into any lens. The space of the cathedral is divided vertically into two spheres - earthly and heavenly, filled with soft pleasant light that falls inside through the exquisite colored stained glass windows of the first and second tiers.

At 8:30 we passed the control without queuing and entered the territory, took photos, were one of the first to buy tickets. And after 10-15 minutes the territory of the complex began to fill with groups of tourists, mostly Asians, and suddenly there were long queues. We quickly went to St. Vitus Cathedral, but its walls were filled with tourists pretty quickly.

The historical part is arranged in such a way that it is necessary to move deep into the cathedral to the altar strictly between the stained glass windows and columns, describing the oval shape of the room. Entrance from the left and exit from the right. And it so happened that we broke away from each other.

I lingered to look at the stained glass, my boyfriend with the phones went ahead and we were literally lost. For ten minutes I stood in the same place where we last saw each other. During this hour, more than two dozen groups with and without guides passed by me. Some kind of continuous flow. Then I decided to leave the Cathedral, walked around the altar, surrounded by a ring of Gothic chapels, and came out to the right of the entrance. There was a guy waiting for me. It turns out that after passing through the altar, visitors are not allowed back. That is, you can not return to the left from the right. And you can't go on a ticket twice. Do not get lost in such popular and crowded places!

We descended the same stairs from Prague Castle. By that time, the stairs were filled with a huge queue of people wishing to enter the complex. How many valuable hours had to be lost by those who stood in it and the next.

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We soon reached the tram stop and went straight to our hotel. Leon Hotel & Hoste l. Good luck without transfers. The only thing we didn't anticipate was our lunch. They wanted to find something cheaper in the hotel area, but there were no cafes, no restaurants. Only school and gray buildings. It seemed that we moved to another city, not to another district. The only thing we managed to find was a lunch in the network of Asian cuisine. I did not think that I would eat rice with vegetables in Prague. But it turned out quite tasty, a lot and relatively cheap.

We liked the hotel, but we did not feel much comfort in its walls.

Although, as it turned out, it is located near the center of contemporary art (or art gallery) DOX, on the roof of some "landed" or ready to "take off" a giant airship "Gulliver" model of the early 20th century.

The authors of the project conceived the airship as a meeting place for poets and artists who should talk there on lofty themes of art. You can also just close your eyes, conditionally break away from the earth, travel somewhere Gulliver to distant fictional or dream worlds. We just decided to sleep without understanding the essence of the strange design outside the window.

After a few hours, we returned to Old Town . You can reprint many descriptions of the buildings of the Old Town, which we met on our way. Architectural masterpieces and richness of forms are everywhere. It was evening and it was raining.

But our goal was an important task that leads tourists from all over the world to Prague - to try beer at a local brewery. We were lucky and we got into one of the best U Tri Ruzi ( U Tri Ruzi)

And then until the night we wandered the streets in the historic center of the city, went to the shops, looked at puppets, prices, souvenirs.

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We took the same streets to the Old Town Square . This is the most visited and most beautiful part of the Old Town. Here is the Church of the Virgin Mary in front of Tyn and the Old Town Hall with Astronomical Times , also called the Prague Chimes or the Eagle. Every year from 9:00 to 23:00, when the Astronomical Times is ticking the clock, apostles appear in the windows above the dial to watch the chimes.

We managed to take a comfortable place in the crowd and watch this mysterious and enigmatic process.

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The next day we went to Vyshhorod to see the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul and relax from the crowded center. We reached the subway. It's easy to understand.

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Visegrad is an ancient fortress and historic district, considered one of the first centers of the Czech state. From there, a hill over the Vltava offers a magnificent view of Prague, its bridges, roofs and towers.

We spent the first part of the day there, had lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then returned to the Old Town on foot parallel to the promenade. Along the way, photos were taken near the Dancing House , a representative of modern city architecture.

We had to spend another afternoon in Prague. We could not invent anything special. Now I think it was worth climbing the Petryshyn Tower. You can get to the tower on foot or by cable car. But we preferred a real old Czech brewery with a special old Czech atmosphere inside - U Flek? . A popular and fun place, so real.

There are many halls and there is a place to hang out. We sat in the hall with long wooden tables and benches, drank beer to the accompaniment of the accordion and were in no hurry. Then we walked through the already familiar central streets of the Old Town until late at night and boarded the train.

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Day 5, Day 6, Day 7

By night train we moved to Krakow. Poland has already pleased us with Wroclaw and has not ceased to give positive impressions.

Krakow is a medieval royal city that was once the developed capital of Poland. Hardworking people lived here for a long time, crafts were developed, salt was extracted and trade was conducted. Developed trade routes led to Krakow merchants from all directions. Upon arrival, we immediately headed to the city center to Market Square , which in Krakow is called Main Market .

This place is written concisely and clearly.

We passed the fortification Barbican, through the Florian Tower on Florianska Street we came to the St. Mary's Church. It is part of the Royal Route leading to the Wawel Castle.

Krakow Barbican is a very powerful defensive structure with thick walls, watchtowers, loopholes around the perimeter and special holes from which the enemy poured boiling oil and tin.

Barbican was built to protect the Florian City Gate and was surrounded by a deep moat. Currently, exhibitions and reconstructions of historical episodes are organized near its walls, and on the site of the destroyed mighty walls of the Old Town - Planta City Park , which surrounds the historic center with a green ring.

The huge Market Square with its Covered Market Sukennice (Cloth Rows) is considered to be the largest market square in medieval Europe.

To better represent Krakow in the Early Middle Ages, I advise you to visit an unusual museum located in the Market Dungeons (Market Dungeon) . Archaeological excavations that preceded the restoration of the cobblestones of the Main Market Square in Krakó w have yielded many valuable and rare finds.

During the excavations, the remains of an early medieval settlement, many everyday objects and other hidden secrets were found. After that, the idea arose to create an unusual museum, unique in cognitive terms.

The entrance to the Market Dungeon is through a smoke screen, which projects images of the inhabitants of the medieval city, visitors are constantly heard excerpts of their conversations from hidden speakers, mysterious darkness and can travel in an hour to Krakow medieval. Centuries-old secrets are revealed to visitors, in particular, you can see a real stone road with an arched shape, which was simply excavated and freed from the upper layers, without inventing anything. A monitor is installed near each location and you have the opportunity to choose the language and read the information you need to understand.

After such a museum, I wanted to eat and relax, because I tried to reread everything there. We had breakfast and lunch at the Bar Mleczny .

This is a budget dining room with large portions of delicious, homemade food, advertised by "Eagle and Tail" and popular with budget tourists. This is exactly what Burger King and McDonald's have to do after several over the past week. Be sure to try the traditional Polish soup zhurek with egg.

And in the afternoon we went to the hotel to rest after a night's move. We liked the hotel. It is not modern, located near the house, which is about 100 years old, in the room we even had a stove and it was not difficult to guess how exactly heated the room before. The old parquet creaked under the feet of the neighbors, there was no TV, but we still felt something special in the room.

The hotel staff is friendly and generally had the right atmosphere.

Of course, we set the alarm to wake up in the evening and get to know Krakow in the evening on the first day, but we didn't go anywhere that day. The 5th day on its feet and two night crossings made themselves felt.

The next morning we went to the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Auschwitz.

Visiting such a place leaves an unforgettable and strong impression. I especially went there to understand once and for all what was really going on during the persecution and mass extermination of Jews and Gypsies during World War II. All that we learn from textbooks in the school curriculum, unfortunately, remains in memory in part. And it is worthwhile to fill in the gaps in adulthood. Tickets were bought in advance on the Internet. The tour will be held once a day in Russian.

All information here .

You can get to the museum by regular bus.

We came back in the afternoon. And walked until late at night through the central streets near the heart of royal Krakow.

On the last day> mining salts in Wieliczka > . Salt mines in Wieliczka have always aroused great interest. As early as the 15th century, they were shown to privileged persons, guests of the royal court, as a salt mining enterprise, and later as a large underground labyrinth of corridors and chambers, which causes a real admiration for its mystery. There we went down to a depth of 130 meters and tasted the walls. Almost everything you can see is carved out of salt. Unique stone buildings, a chapel and underground lakes amaze tourists. You can only take photos inside with a special permit.

But in the mine you can take a free selfie in a special machine, which will instantly send you a photo to your mail. Do not miss an interesting opportunity in Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka. You can read more about the mines here .

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In the evening we celebrated at the Main Market, tasted the traditional oscypek (Polish oscypek - smoked grilled sheep cheese) and felt happy.

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Our trip was successful and eventful.

Briefly about it: we were in Poland and the Czech Republic, saw funny gnomes in Wroclaw, climbed church towers and admired the cities from above, traveled to medieval Krakow, tasted zhurek and oscipek, caught soap bubbles in the Market Square, flew for a second serving.

a couple of minutes before the departure of the city train; drank delicious craft beer in Prague, listened to the battle of the Prague Chimes, pulled the strings of puppets, ran in the rain, walked the Royal Roads and Golden Street.

We wish everyone to travel boldly, to discover, to broaden their horizons and to be truly delighted and constantly impressed.