Can you say "Szlak Orlich Gniazd"?
⬆intro next ➡Day 1 ~ 28 June ~ London to Kraków
As is our custom when we have an early flight, we've come up the night before and stayed in the Premier Inn. However, we've got ourselves a bit confused as I seem to have booked a slightly different place to the actual terminal hotel, which is the building looming to the left. It's not a long walk (and we probably saved ourselves a few quid) but clearly I wasn't paying proper attention when I booked, because I didn't even realise there were two North Terminal options.
Studying the map more closely, I now realise that there are no fewer than four Premier Inns in total. "London Gatwick Airport" is the furthest from the airport, though closer to the South Terminal; "London Gatwick Airport South (London Road)" is closer to South but still a shuttle bus ride; "London Gatwick Airport (A23)" is where we are, a few minutes walk from North Terminal; and "London Gatwick Airport (North Terminal)" is literally the other side of the road from the terminal building. I do hope they don't open any more.
Oh, and why hasn't Amanda got an luggage apart from a small backpack? Because we dropped our big bags the night before. We're flying Easyjet, but for a no-frills airline they do make life quite easy. As it happens, we didn't choose this flight because it was cheaper, but because it was the best fit for our schedule, so it's a bit of a win-win.
And as if by magic, she's walked all the way to Poland.
If you've read our Girona blog (and if you haven't why not? But I'll be kind: it's here if you want to catch up) you'll know that we were rather unpleasantly introduced to the post-Brexit-for-real world. I'm pleased to be able to report that Kraków is much more efficient and we quickly pass through the formalities.
First thing I need to do, though, is buy a local SIM for my smartphone. I get 6GB for the princely sum of £1! Fortunately, the girl at the shop speaks good English because when I look at what she's given me, I have almost no idea of what I have bought. It turns out that the packaging, which doesn't have a word of English on it, goes into great detail about top-up options and special offers, mainly intended for people who want tens or hundreds of GB every month, but I won't know that until later when I dig into it. Right now, I just put the card in my phone and it works!
[The other thing that surprised me was that I needed to present my passport in order to buy it. I don't know whether this is just an airport thing or Poland-wide.]
We have worked out, or if I'm being honest, Google Maps has worked out, that the easiest way to get to our accommodation is to catch the train and then walk for about ten minutes from the station in Kraków, and Iga (principal of BikeTrip) has confirmed it. If the weather was bad, we'd probably just say "sod it" and get a taxi, but it's not so we don't.
The platform is only a very short walk from Arrivals, but we're initially a little confused because the station we think we want, Kraków Grzegórzki, doesn't seem to be showing on a big map. Fortunately, when I show the ticket office man my phone with the station name on it, he knows exactly what we want. He sells us our tickets, tells us "seven stops", and we realise that the map only shows the more important stations on the route.
Clean and not at all crowded. Obviously a quiet time for airport arrivals.
On arrival, we follow Google's directions to the square in the Jewish Quarter where we are staying. Number 30, Szeroka. But we can't find it! Yes, there's a number 30, but it's just a money changer's office next to a bar. Right road? Yes, definitely...
Eventually we figure it out: the official address of the building is on the square but the actual entrance to the apartments is at the back in another street entirely!
Found it.
Well this is disappointing! The bedroom is a concrete box and we have a shared bathroom!
We contact Iga and she's mortified - this was not at all what she'd agreed with the owner when she booked it for us. Unfortunately, we're now a bit stuffed. Accommodation was already hard to find when we were organising the trip because of a Jewish festival taking place this weekend, and there's simply no alternative for the next couple of nights.
We will just have to be philosophical. At least it's clean, and the room has aircon, which is definitely needed.
Anyway, we need a spot of lunch and as there are several cafes in the square, there seems little need to go further afield just yet.
First beer of the holiday!
It's a locally brewed wheat beer, and very nice it is too. Seems I'm not the only one who thinks so, because on the brewery's web site, we read (translated by Google)
"How did Beer from Busk end up at Wawel [the former royal castle in Kraków]? Well, when Queen Jadwiga took her healing baths, Władysław Jagiełło marveled at the local beer, which was later delivered to the royal court."
Some mezze and soup to eat.
After lunch, we just go for a little bit of a wander in the locality.
Flash Gordon has got a DJ spot at a local bar. Or something.
And Planet of the Apes meets Legoland?
We're not quite sure we understand. Let's try something a bit more traditional.
Aha! The Corpus Christi Basilica is a bit more like it. Some proper bling here.
"Corpus Christi Basilica houses the largest organs in Krakow. The main instrument was built between 1958-1963 using some elements of the old organ dating back to the 1770’s. It was designed for 83 pitches and consists of two parts. The main organ placed on the choir and side organs located in the chancel. The organs have a total of 5950 pipes and 25 bells"
At the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel, there's a wedding going on, so we just look in through the open door. Below it, though, there's a crypt which is open to the public for a few zloty.
Well this is a bit more than an underground cave!
A very fancy last resting place indeed.
An artwork in the grounds. The origin and purpose of the colours here is not entirely obvious. There are other monoliths and statues, but they are all plain.
Close up, it looks like someone being annointed with guano, but I'm sure that's not the correct interpretation.
The basilica as seen from the river side.
And this is what you see when you turn around and look in the other direction. The spherical thing is actually a tethered balloon which offers you city views from 150 metres up.
[Later I find that it's surprisingly expensive at PLN 115 for a standard adult ticket - about £23. Now I grant you that tickets for, say, the London Eye start at £29, but that goes almost as high and you get a much longer ride. Moreover, our general impression is that Kraków is far cheaper than London,]
We are most taken by the name of this restaurant! Might need to check it out at some point.
Philosophy!
What is this curious wooden carving?
Courier lockers, of course! It makes the InPost facility near our home look distinctly unimpressive. No graffiti either.
It wouldn't be true to say that there's no graffiti whatsoever - indeed, you can see some just across the road here - but you certainly don't see masses of it everywhere, nor is there much litter. This is a very clean city.
For dinner, we just pick another of the restaurants in the square, Arial, which bills itself as offering traditional Jewish cuisine.
Amanda chooses a little poorly: stodge and gloop are not her favourites.
The rest of the food is better, although still nothing we'd rave about.
Interesting wine, though. We have to say we know essentially nothing about Israeli wine, and I don't think I've drunk any since one occasion in the mid-80s when I was curious about a kosher wine I came across in the East Croydon Safeway [a long-gone supermarket brand name for our younger readers]. It had some Hebrew that I couldn't understand and a statement of religious provenance, something like, "This wine has been passed by the Beth Din". And that's exactly how it tasted! Yuck!
But this is excellent!
Interestingly, you can buy it in the UK for over £21 a bottle retail from Vinatis who wax lyrical about it:
"This magnificent white wine from the Golan Heights [...]. An exceptional vintage [...]. To be discovered as soon as possible!"I'm not quite sure what we paid as we didn't keep the bill, but on their website, they have other Yarden wines listed at about £29 -- after restaurant mark-up!
Neither the best nor the worst meal we've ever had... Well, I say that, but for Amanda at least, it will turn out to be the worst meal of the holiday. I've been luckier in my choice. Not silly expensive, though, and a pleasant evening to sit out on the square.
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