Kraków, Poland 1
We traveled to Kraków, the historical capital of Poland in late August. We arrived there by early evening. The Old Town was lively with lots of visitors. Surprisingly it was hotter there than Wiesbaden, Germany. We headed to Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter in Kraków, located south of the Old Town to find a place for late lunch.
We tried Kuchnia u Doroty, a restaurant with traditional Polish cuisine. The place was packed and three or four groups were waiting for a table. We didn't have any alternative at that moment. We were told that we would be seated in about 15 minutes. Hoping it would be true, we joined the waiting crowds.
I didn't check a clock but we didn't wait too long. Actually the restaurant was bigger than what looked like from outside. Our table was at the back of the large basement dining room. I don't like to dine in a basement, but at least there was an electronic fan right behind J's chair that provided us a breeze. We both started with Żurek, a sour soup with fermented rye starter (the source of the sourness), fresh white pork sausage, and boiled egg. I think this version also had potato. On the other hand, smoked bacon is a common ingredient but I don't remember whether this had any. It was tasty. The sour broth offset the richness of the sausage.
We ordered two dishes to share. One was Beef Stroganoff. It looked and tasted different from a Russian style with a mushroom and sour cream sauce. I would call it "Beef Paprikash." Anyway, it tasted ok but kinda salty for my taste.
The other was pierogi, traditional Polish dumplings. Our choice of the filling was classic potato and cheese. They were simple and good. At that time we hadn't known we would have better pierogi later...
On our way to our hotel, we found a pinball museum by chance. J likes pinball games, so we stopped by the museum, which was located in a basement. Yes, again, in a basement... Their rule is you buy a hour or a day-ticket, you can enter the museum and play with any machine for a hour or a day for free. We bought a hour ticket for each. I watched him playing happily.
We also found a Polish pottery shop and briefly checked it out. We didn't buy any, though.
There was a Paczki shop, too! Paczki are Polish deep-fried doughnuts filled with something sweet such as fruit jam, custard cream, chocolate, etc. It was on my must-eat list, but looked a little too heavy for me to enjoy in the early evening, especially after the rich meaty late lunch. It was still the first day in Kraków anyway. I thought I would have another chance to taste a Paczki or two.
Rynek Główny, the main square of the Old Town was very crowded.
We quickly walked into Sukiennice, or the Cloth Hall, located at the center of the square. The original Cloth Hall was built in the 13th century, which consisted of two rows of stone trading stalls for cloth merchants. The current Renaissance-style market arcade was built in the 16th century and was renovated throughly in the 19th century. There were many people in the hall and we just walked through the half way. The hall appeared filled with gifts and souvenir shops, which weren't interesting for us.
It was time to go back to hotel and rest. We were sure that we would take a better look at the square in the early morning of the next day.
To be continued...
