Hi lovely Steemians,
Recently I have been on a little mini break to Poland with my boyfriend. I've always wanted to visit this beautiful country with such vast history and where better to start than Kraków! Kraków was the old capital and is the second largest as well as one of the oldest cities in Poland and it has a lot to offer!
When we visited we were very lucky to have a snowy picturesque backdrop, adding a white blanket to the landscape as you can see below. Arriving late in the evening the first thing to do was of-course grab some delicious pierogi, which are small dumplings typically with a sweet or savoury filling.
The next day we didn't want to waste any time and decided to look around the city centre called Rynek Glówny, and the surrounding areas. It is a modern centre, which still maintains its medieval history, looking around at the new bars and restaurants what better backdrop than Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica. We tried to cover a lot of ground walking around the city from Rynek Glówny to the Jewish quarter or Kazimierz, around the back walls of Wawel castle and the serene Vistula river. Along the way we trying to taste as much of the Polish cuisine as possible, when we visited it was Polish doughnut day and at every meal they offered us sweet doghnuts.
As a must see I was recommended the Wieliczka salt mines and we eagerly booked onto a tour, I recommend allowing a full day slot to visit the mine as it is time consuming and you may not be able to visit anything else in the day. Just to get a grasp you visit 1% of what is there and the mine spans over 300m underground and 300km in length, with intricate tunnels and stunning chapels underground.
These are the steps we descended to get to the bottom of the mine, definitely enough to cause vertigo! Of-course I had to have a make-shift halo selfie!
We also visited Auschwitz/Birkenau memorial museum, this was difficult to comprehend the atrocities that occurred in occupied Poland during the Second World War and this should not be forgotten, so this isn’t for everyone.
Further into the Jewish quarter I visited Schindler's Factory which is now a museum and tells the moving story of Oscar Schindler who saved the lives of many Jewish people and here are some snaps from the now museum :)
Kraków has some amazing restaurants and I was spoilt as I was taken for a lovely treat to the Biała Róża (translates to white rose) for a six course meal, and below you will see some of the shots taken from that:
Unfortunately time didn’t allow for us to actually go to the Wawel castle and see the fire breathing dragon, but who knows hopefully next time we will do this!
Thanks for Reading
Catch you soon
Margo
xoxo