New Year's Eve in Dragon City
Krakow, the ancient capital of Poland, is also called the city of the Dragon. According to one of the legends (and there are a lot of them), a dragon settled under Wawel Hill, closer to people. And he ate exclusively young Polish ladies. Naturally, few people could like this situation, and one worthy local resident named Krak killed the dragon and founded the city of Krakow in honor of the victory. Therefore, they decided to meet 2012 - the year of the Dragon, in this city.
Despite the fact that Aerosvit opened direct flights from Kyiv to Krakow back in March 2011, in early December it was no longer possible to get air tickets, and we had to take tickets with a transfer in Warsaw (LOT airline). It takes a little over an hour to fly to Warsaw and then 50 minutes to Krakow. The docking time was specially chosen to be 4 hours (and as it turned out, it was not in vain that the flight from Kyiv was delayed for an hour, and those who had a docking time of just over an hour, pretty frayed their nerves). Waiting for a flight from Warsaw to Krakow is not very tiring - firstly, a walk through the Warsaw duty free takes an hour or two, and secondly, given the way they are fed on board the LOT airline - a bag of salted crackers and a glass of juice - time for lunch too should be provided.
Airport in Krakow - terminal II (domestic flights) is very small (no duty free, keep in mind), but you don’t need to wait for luggage - it immediately appears on the tape when you exit the plane. It is not a problem to take a taxi, when you leave you will immediately be offered to use their services. Prices - only on the counter - 64 zlotys (about 15 euros) and you are in the very center of the Old Town.
We stayed at the Maksimilian *** hotel, a five-minute walk from the center of the Old Town. The hotel is new, opened in December 2010, the location is excellent, there is a 24-hour supermarket nearby, many cafes and restaurants right next to the hotel (there is a place to have a delicious breakfast if you oversleep breakfast at the hotel). As for the hotel itself, it is quite standard for a troika. There is no refrigerator in the room, but there is a safe, TV (no Russian channels), comfortable bed, hair dryer, shower, shower gel/liquid soap. In addition, a small kettle, Nessafe instant coffee/Lipton tea bags and two small bottles of water brought to the room every day. Towels are changed daily (thrown on the floor), bedding - once in 6 days of stay at the hotel. Breakfast is normal but could be better.
You can (even need to!! ) get around Krakow on foot. There is no metro, trams and buses run, you can get around the Old Town and other sights without resorting to public transport services in three to a maximum of four days.
The first thing that catches your eye in Krakow is an incredible number of churches. Moreover, they serve not only as beautiful sights, increasing the popularity of the city for tourists. Masses are constantly held in all churches, gathering a sufficient number of parishioners. For example, in the Church of St. Barbara, which houses one of the most famous Gothic figures - Lamentation, from the beginning of the 15th century, we could not get during the day. The whole day there were services in many languages.
The most recognizable church in Krakow is St. Mary's (or Church of the Virgin Mary) with two towers, one of which is higher than the other. Every hour from the northern tower you can hear the sounds of a trumpet playing the famous Mariatsky khainal. The melody breaks off at the same place, in memory of the trumpeter who announced the city of the Tatar raid and was killed by an arrow that pierced his throat. It is in the St. Mary's Church that the altar of the Virgin Mary is located, carved from linden wood by Wit Stvosh. To see it, you need to buy an entrance ticket - 6 zlotys (the exchange rate is approximately 1 zloty - 2.4 hryvnias).
The hallmark of Krakow is the Main Market Square and shopping arcade - Sukiennice. This is the center of the Old Town, from here the sightseeing usually begins. At the Market Square at the end of November, the Christmas market begins, and after the Catholic Christmas - New Year's. The fair is like a fair - mulled wine, pastries, food (tasty and cheap), various souvenirs, etc. In a word, everything that you can buy at any New Year's fair in Europe. Cloth rows are the main decoration of the Market Square. The name speaks for itself - now there are shopping arcades where they sell mainly amber jewelry, souvenirs embroidered on hand-made tablecloths. On the top floor there is an art gallery, and under the Cloth Hall there is a museum of the history of Krakow.
From the Market Square, the streets are symmetrically arranged, creating, as it were, a chess building of the Old Town. The most famous and crowded streets are Florianska and Grodska. These are very busy tourist streets, with a large number of all kinds of shops, souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants. On Florianskaya Street (closer to the Florian Gate) is the famous cafe "Yama Michalika". The cafe, or rather a confectionery, was opened at the end of the 19th century and was a meeting place for famous artists and musicians. It is worth stopping by here not only to try the cakes (which, by the way, are not very tasty, alas), but also to look at the interior and decorations in Art Nouveau style.
On Grodska Street there is the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the Roman Baroque style with twelve stone apostles in front of the entrance. In the evening, there are good concerts of classical music. The ticket price is 50 PLN.
It is also worth mentioning Grodskaya Street separately because it is here that two restaurants are located, which are recommended by the Michelin guide to restaurants and hotels in the main cities of Europe in 2011. This is a restaurant - Miod Malina (Grodska street, 40) Polish-Italian cuisine, very good desserts (especially tiramisu), Marmolada restaurant (Grodska street, 5). In addition, two more restaurants of this chain are included in the Michelin Guide - Wesele, at the Main Market Square, 10 and the Italian trattoria La Campana at Kanonichnaya Street, 7. Prices in Krakow are very moderate, a good lunch for two with wine in one of the above restaurants will cost approximately 350 - 400 PLN.
If you walk all the time straight along Grodskaya Street, you can go straight to the brick walls of Wawel. To explore this palace complex, it is better to set aside one day. You can walk around the territory for free, but to visit the Royal Palace you need to buy entrance tickets. You can buy them right at the entrance (if you enter along the Northern Road - from the side of Canonical Street). As for the Cathedral of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslas, the general entrance to the cathedral is free, and in some parts of it, for example, the tomb of the kings, there is a fee. Tickets are purchased at the box office located opposite. There you can also buy an audio guide in Russian - for 7 zł .
In general, it is better to walk around Krakow without organized excursions. A "review" of the city for 2 - 3 hours will cost from 70 euros, while you will run after the guide and try to hear at least something. We have repeatedly observed numerous groups of Russian tourists in the city center (moreover, at the most inconvenient time, either on December 31, at 8 pm, or on January 1 at 11 am). Frozen compatriots tried to listen to the guide and take pictures of themselves with their relatives against the backdrop of the city, and in the end - 3 hours of very dubious pleasure. At the hotel reception you can always find a free map of Krakow with the main places worth visiting. According to them, you can make your own personal excursion route, without being tied to any groups.
As for shopping, there are two large shopping malls in the center. These are the Kazimierz Gallery on Podgorska Street, 34 (this is the Kazimierz district, not far from the Old Synagogue) and the Krakowska Gallery, on Pavia Street, 5 (pass Matejko Square from the Florian's Gate and turn right). Shopping centers offer almost the same brands as Ukrainian shopping centers. Prices are slightly cheaper (in late December - early January discounts). There are, of course, more expensive shops, such as Passage 13 on the Main Market Square. In Passage 13, on the -1st floor, there is a good store of Italian products - all kinds of cheeses, Parma ham, olive oil, honey, jam, and so on and so forth. In addition, very good coffee beans, you can safely buy.
If you want to bring something to your friends as a souvenir from Krakow, go to the Krakowski Kredens store on Grodska Street 7 - there is a large selection of chocolate, sweets, liquor, tea, coffee, and other goodies. As for chocolate, don't miss the Karmello shop (not far from the Franciscan Church).
New Year in Krakow, locals (and not only them), as a rule, celebrate on the street with bottles of champagne in their hands. Most of the restaurants are foreign tourists. You can not book a table in the restaurant, there will certainly be a free seat. There are a lot of restaurants in the very center, the choice is large, the prices for the New Year's menu are almost the same everywhere - from 250 to 300 zł for one. Which includes a main course, an appetizer, soup (yes, they eat soup on New Year's Eve! ), side dish (garnish), a sweet buffet, a bottle of wine for two, + usually live piano music.
When we arrived at the Main Market Square on December 31 at 9 pm, we were quite surprised to find that the city center was practically empty. And silence, despite the fact that, the day before, some speakers were mounted on the Market Square. But, leaving the restaurant a few minutes before the New Year, we were even more surprised - the whole center and the surrounding streets are filled with people (where did they come from only two and a half hours? ), Music rumbles, on the walls of the Cloth Hall there is a projection of New Year's clock with congratulations different languages. With the last minute of the old year fireworks burst. Very beautiful!! ! Just very! For 20 minutes.
Personally, I have the opinion that Krakow is somehow underestimated by our tourists. On the streets you can hear French, English, Italian, many Croats, but there are not so many Russians and Ukrainians (although, maybe, it’s good Coming abroad, the last thing I want to meet is “Russians”).
Krakow left very pleasant impressions about itself - interesting architecture, many historical places that are interesting to visit, the Poles turned out to be very friendly people, quite reasonable prices in restaurants and shops, so I think I will come here again. And hopefully in the near future.
