My family and I finally made it to Poland! We were blown away by how beautiful Krakow was and the country as a whole. In this entry, I’ll be sharing the highlights: the places, foods, and churches.
Places –
We stayed in Old Town, a neighborhood full of beautiful architecture and the famous Market Square. Here, you can wine and dine, go souvenir shopping outside and inside the central hall, and check out the less advertised Rynek Underground Museum beneath the market square – in 2005, ruins were excavated and are now displayed in a beautifully designed exhibition space.
We took a wonderful bike ride around the entire city. We stopped along the Vistula River, which is a fifteen minute walk from our Airbnb. Right on the river, you can also find the massive Wawel Royal Castle that sits above it on the hill.
While on our bike tour towards the Jewish Quarters, we stopped along this Jewish cemetery that was damaged and desecrated by Nazis during their occupation of Poland. While sad to see so many headstones split apart and broken, it was comforting to see the surrounding nature cradle the graves.
On another tour, we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines, which was absolutely stunning to see. We were guided dozens and dozens of floors beneath the ground and guided through miles of tunnels. While the tour was kind of boring, the intrigue of the caverns were not. Below, you can see a venue space created hundreds of feet beneath the ground. Many sculptures are made from salt, even the chandeliers, and everything is supported by timber.
Of course, we couldn’t travel to this region without visiting the infamous Aushwitz concentration camp. It was a very heavy visit – as one could imagine. If you plan to visit, dress respectfully and save the selfies for another destination. This visit is a time to reflect and learn. Be prepared to walk A LOT and feel a big, large knot in your throat the whole time.
Foods –
Every street corner seems to have these. These skinny looking bagels are called Obwarzanek krakowski and are a must to try while you are visiting. I personally prefer the poppy seed ones! If you don’t try one, you’ll definitely find yourself buying one as a pick-me-up throughout the day.
There are a number of foods to try, and lucky for you, they usually come together. You have the classic pierogis, which you can have stuffed with meat or cheese and potato or slaw. You also have kielbasa, a yummy sausage that pairs best with mustard. Lastly, you have highlander food, which is a smoky cheese that you dip in jam. The last of these three classic foods was a first for me and I loved it! It would be a crime to not try any of these during your visit.
Hey, I’m not really a salad person either, but you should definitely try the salads with a medley of sweet nuts, fruits, and – you guessed it – beets! Beets are another traditional ingredient of the Slavic world. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, so I’ll forgive you if you don’t try this one.
Not so Slavic, but more-so Jewish: visit the Jewish Quarters to get your hummus on. You’ll find all the yummy food in the image below if you visit Hamsa Hummus in the central square of the quarters. I highly recommend eating here – after all, haven’t you had enough pierogis by now?
Churches –
Move over Notre Dame (R.I.P. as well), St. Mary’s Basilica of Krakow, located in the Market Square, has become my favorite church of all time. Its interior is colorful, decadent, and painstakingly designed and… not allowed to be photographed. But hey, now you’re curious. Now you need to go visit to see it – don’t cheat and Google it, c’mon.
Additionally, a cool dude with a bugle pops out of the tower every hour to toot his own horn. He’s cool enough that he’ll wave at you when he’s done – you can even climb the tower to shake his hand.
The next beautiful church is actually deep underground in the salt mines. I tried my best to document how epic this place is, but it just doesn’t do it justice. Those miners needed somewhere to pray – so they whittled from the walls this pretty number.
There are literally dozens of more churches you could visit. Up at the castle, along a random road…the possibilities are endless. These people really love building churches.
For my last church, it’s more of a chapel…well, more of a cemetery. But, it’s important because it houses a ton of my ancestors. We drove about two hours to the town of Rzeszow to find Ziobro’s and much more. It was a nice way to end this trip.
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