KRAKON TO KRAKOW

!4th - 16th May 2022

St Mary's Basilica in the Rynek Glowny (main square)

Krakow (pronounced Krakov....all 'w's in Polski are pronounced 'v') contains a very picturesqe medieval 'Old Town' and, as such, is a major tourist attraction. 

After a night in Warsaw (Varsava in local-speak) I decided to be attracted and took the 11.55am train which arrived in Krackow at 2.30pm. It was another smart, comfortable and swift train to another smart and modern station which is surrounded by an extensive two level shopping mall plus the bus and tram termini. I must say the Polish transport system makes ours (in UK) look somewhat clapped-out, chaotic and seedy in comparison!

Left: A map of the walled Old Town. Click on to enlarge. Rynek Glowney square and St Mary's Bassilica at the north end and Wawel Castle at the bottom overlooking the Vistula river.

The square, measuring 200m by 200m is the largest medieval town square in Europe.

It is surrounded by cafés, bars and restaurants which all seemed to be doing good business. The weather was sunny and the place was fairly packed with tourists.

Left: Some of which seemed to go out of their way to attract the 'wrong' sort of tourist.

.....and unfortunately they succeeded with several rather uncouth, tattooed, thick-necked, knuckle-dragging, unshaven and foul-mouthed British tourists with lower lips like wash hand basins who advertised their presence very loudly. And that was just the women! It makes you embarrassed to be British.

Left: A typical and very civilised square-side bar.

Right: The Cloth Hall, on the west side of the square. This originated in the 14th century and was once the centre of Krakow's medieval clothing trade. It has gone through several re-builds.

Left: On the ground floor if houses a 108m long busy trading centre for jewellery, crafts, souvenirs and tat. The upper floor is an art gallery, apparently.

Right: The Town Hall Tower which is all that remains of the 15th century town hall, dismantled in the 1820s. Don't know why.

Left: There were lots of gaily decorated horses and carts which took people for clip-clop tours around the town. Probably rather expensively.

For some reason they were all driven by flaboyantly uniformed ladies, most very smartly dressed with ribboned hats, riding boots and long whips. This cart (right) had a driver who, from a distance, looked as if she was topless!

Left: These Segway tours were popular. They are indeed popular in many parts of the world but have never caught on in UK. They are probably banned...like so much else here, on 'elf 'n safely' grounds.

Right: I'm not sure what this "Gentleman's Club' had to offer. Probably affiliated with some of the smarter Clubs in London, but I didn't find out.

Left: Every hour, on the hour, there is a bugle call from the top white window of the  higher tower of St Mary's Basilica (see photo at top). This is known as Krakow's Call, or the 'hejnal'. It originates from the 13th/14th century period when the city was frequently  attacked by Tartar invaders. On one occasion when the watchman bugler on duty spotted the enemy he duly sounded the alarm to rouse the defenders. It breaks off abruptly as legend has it that the bugler was shot through the throat by a Tartar arrow mid-bar (considering the window is about 200ft up and 500m from the city walls it must have been a very long and fluky shot!). The city managed to defend itself successfully and as such the tune has stayed that way ever since.

It is now played by a uniformed fireman and you can just see the tip of his bugle throught the open window. Perhaps he is worried about another unfortunate Tartar arrow?

I duly paid for a ticket to climb the spiral staircase to the top of the tower. There were 270 steps! Quite knackering. I was up there until 4.45pm and missed a trick because if I'd just waited until 5.00pm I would have met the bugler. I had forgotten about him sadly.

But I did get a good view of the square below (right) and a panoramic one of the city.

At some point there was a loud 'demo' going in support of Ukraine. I was wearing my recently purchased Ukrainian baseball cap, so blended in well.

That will have to do for now. More to come from Krakow.......