The morning started with a nice short bus ride to the city center, where we disembarked at the foot of Wawel Hill on the banks of the Wisla River. Enticed by glimpses of the castle at the top of the hill, we hiked up through the main gate. Covered in moss and with a cool tower to the side, we passed into Wawel Castle. Our first sight from the top of the hill was back down the side of the hill onto a statue to the Dragon of Wawel.
Legend has it that the Dragon was eating young maidens in the city. Every week a maiden was sacrificed until the only one left was the King's daughter. The king put out a notice to the city that anyone who killed the dragon could marry his daughter. A young and poor Pole was up to the task by outsmarting the dragon. He stuffed a sheep with sulfur so that when the dragon ate the sheep, it exploded. The monument to the Dragon is now a show piece spitting fire every three minutes and guarding steps down into "his lair".
From the statue, we walked into the inner courtyards where we could see remnants of old buildings that had been burned down in fires from the 11th and the 13th centuries. On top of the hill is also a WWII hospital that was not added until around World War I, which despite its modern construction does not seem out of place. This is probably largely due to the appearance of Krakow Cathedral. The church of the castle is a monument of piecemeal architecture having been built in several portions over several centuries by various kings with vastly differing amounts in their bank accounts. This Cathedral is also the location where Pope John Paul II gave his first mass as a priest in the 1940's.
From the Cathedral, we passed into the main courtyard of the royal palace. Heavily influenced by Italian architecture, the palace was uniquely decorated with frescoes along its top, a false wall, and double tall pillars designed to allow more sun into the rooms of the royalty. Also unique to the palace was the fact that the rooms of the royalty were on the second floor while all political rooms were located on the third floor. (most places have them the other way around).
From the castle, we visited a Polish University with some very famous alumni, on the way to the city center. On the way we stopped to observe the first Baroque church in Krakow and a church next to it that had served as a fortress for residents of Krakow during Mongolian invasions. When the city was invaded, the only survivors in the city were in this church or on Wawel Hill in the castle.
The city center is a massive square. With a gorgeous church, a massive tower, the Cloth Hall (where the textile market was located), a tiny rotunda church, and the famous giant head of Poland.
For about 4 hours we had free time in the city, which we used to visit Starbucks and get Hillary a mug from Krakow, then we found pierogis (famous Polish food). The pierogis were good, but would have been better had they not been drenched in sauce. From the pierogi stand, we walked back to the cloth hall and saw a lot of souvenirs, but nothing really stood out, so I settled for a pair of postcards. With our extra time we wandered the streets of Krakow and found some really amazing gelato with a really long line, some really good hard candy, and a Subway that ran out of bread (much to my chagrin).
Overall, Krakow had the potential to be my favorite city. I loved the time that we had in the city, but I think that being able to plan my own trips makes me enjoy the cities much more. Krakow was crowded, but beautiful. Food was cheap and the architecture was incredible. I wish that I had done some planning to fill our free time, but I really am not sure what else I would have planned to see.
This weekend is Spring Break. We head to Munich tomorrow before meeting up with Molly on Monday morning in Lausanne (or maybe Geneva). From there everything is kind of up in the air except that we have school the next Monday so that Molly can spend some time in Prague. I am really excited to see my sister, have some fun adventures and get to show off my new home city!
More updates as soon as I have a computer (which wont be until after I am back on April 2 at the earliest). Happy Spring everyone!
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