It has been a while since I’ve wrote one of these bad boys but god am I glad to be back travelling again! With flights for £40 return and a hotel for £50 each, we couldn’t turn down an opportunity to go to Krakow, Poland.
We flew out on Friday evening at 7.45pm from Manchester and after 2 hours we landed in Krakow airport and were welcomed by weather very similar to the UK, which I was very grateful for, as I thought it was going to be significantly colder. We jumped in a taxi for 15 minutes and then arrived at our hotel, The Golden Tulip, Krakow Kazimierz. We booked this hotel on Booking.com and it did not disappoint. It was clean, spacious, the staff were very friendly and the bed was super comfy and for £50 per person for the 2 nights we were there, we couldn’t really complain! We got in quite late so decided to get to bed as we were up early the next day.
We started the day with a delicious buffet breakfast and then met our tour guide and minibus pick up outside. Prior to arriving in Krakow, we had booked onto a trip to visit the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau that are historically known worldwide from when the Nazi’s occupied Poland in World War Two. Visiting these camps was something that we both decided we needed to do out of respect and solidarity for those who lost their lives there during the war, it obviously was not a positive or pleasant experience but a necessary one nonetheless. We booked the tour using Viator and the link can be accessed here. Overall, the tour was exactly what we expected and provided an insightful and respectful opportunity to learn more about what happened.
It did take up most of the day (we left at 9:30am and got back at 5:30pm) and so afterwards we got dropped off in the centre of Krakow, wandered around for a bit and then found somewhere to get something to eat. We decided on Alchemia in the Jewish quarter on Ploc Nowy square which served a variety of dishes, specialising in vegetarian and vegan food. We shared plates of satay chicken and peanut sauce, Mediterranean hummus with vegetables and rye bread as well as red curry and rice (not Polish food by any scope of the imagination!). Afterwards we wandered around the Jewish Quarter and stumbled into a couple of quirky bars where I soon found out that a double measure in Poland is more than a quad, but I wasn’t going to complain!
With another hearty breakfast consumed, we started Sunday morning with a quick stroll to the city centre and met our tour guide for a free walking tour outside St Florian’s Gate. We booked our free talking tour via this website and I couldn’t fault it at all. Our guide gave us an incredible overview of the city’s history in just over two hours and we really felt that we got a fantastic whistle stop tour of the city.
Here’s some of my favourite spots of the tour…
After the tour we decided to rent the e-scooters dotted around the city and head over to an area called Zabłocie where the famous factory of Oskar Schindler is located. If you haven’t watched Schindler’s List I highly recommend giving it a watch (prepare to cry!) and if you have watched it you can imagine how it felt to stand outside the real factory, it was poignant to say the least.
After I almost collided head first with my scooter and a bollard, we decided to park up and find somewhere to go for lunch. We ended up in a cosy cafe called Camelot in the Old Town of Krakow where I ended up just getting a slice of apple pie and ice cream and Stu got a salmon and avocado salad which looked delicious. If you can grab a space in this small cafe it’s worth going even if it’s just for a coffee!
We were pretty exhausted by this point as we’d already done a lot of walking so we decided to camp out in another coffee shop to relax and recharge a little bit. I was very keen to try the Polish delicacy of pierogi which are basically filled dumplings with a savoury or sweet filling, cooked in boiling water and are often pan-fried. I did some research, found a highly recommended pierogi specialist and bought some roast chicken pierogi. These did not disappoint! They were very fresh, delicious and packed with flavour. Check out Przypiecek if you’re after some pierogi!
After walking a bit more around the Old Town in the evening and also checking out Wawel Castle for a second time whilst it was lit up we decided it was probably time to head back to the airport for our flight.
So we really did have a whistle-stop tour of Krakow but honestly I think we got to see a lot of what we wanted to see, despite only being in the city for 48 hours! Krakow is truly an incredibly beautiful city packed with history and a fantastic culture and I really would recommend people go and visit for a long weekend, flights can be super cheap so don’t miss out on a chance to go and explore!
Over and out,
Danni
x
Daniela Mizzen 
Leave a comment