Kraków, Poland 2
The main square looked very large even though it was divided by the Cloth Hall. In fact it is the largest medieval town square in Europe.
A little kid was chasing pigeons at the other side of the Cloth Hall.
The monument of Adam Mickiewicz, the nationalist writer and poet stood between the Cloth Hall and St. Mary's Basilica.
Unfortunately one of the towers of St. Mary's Basilica was covered with scaffolding. According to the legend, two brothers were in charge of building the towers. When the elder's south tower became taller than the younger's north tower, the younger killed the elder out of jealousy. Therefore, the south tower was incomplete and shorter than the north tower.
At the south corner of the square was Church of St. Wojciech, a Romanesque church dating from the 11th century. Although the church was rebuilt in the 17th century, the original Romanesque elements are the oldest built heritage in the square.
We took a walk on historic 13th century Floriańska Street, a part of the Royal Route leading to Wawel Royal Castle and one of the first cobbled streets in Kraków. The north end of the street has St. Florian's Gate, a Medieval Gothic gate tower dating from the 14th century and adjoining the city's fortified walls.
On the left of the gate, there was the Carpenter's Tower, another element of the city walls and fortifications, built in the 14th or 15th century.
Passing through the little brick arch, we found the Church of the Transfiguration, a 18th century baroque Roman Catholic church.
We weren’t looking for the church but a bakery that was across the church. It was supposed to be a French bakery but actually it was more like a cafe in a hotel. Anyway, the hostess welcomed us politely and provided us with a table in the elegant dining room.
My first choice was a pistachio croissant. However, it wasn't available at that moment. Instead I ordered a plain croissant. Their menu was interesting. It mentioned not only the price but also the weight of each food item. Based on the weight, I guessed the plain croissant might be very small. I knew I was right when my croissant arrived at the table... The freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit mixed juice was lovely. By the way, we saw a menu with the weight information at a different restaurant. Perhaps, the calorie information might be on the menu in the States, but I haven't seen the weight information before. I still don't know if it's a Polish rule or something and what it is for.
In addition to a croissant and a glass of juice, J ordered omelette, which came with a basket of toasts, and cappuccino. It looked a proper breakfast. He enjoyed his fluffy omelette and gave me his croissant because he got full with the extra toasts. I ended up with two plain croissants, which wasn't my dream but at least made me full.
We headed south. Our destination was Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory.
Hello, the main square again!
The Paczki store nearby the main square was getting ready for the day. They looked nice but I didn't feel like munching a deep-fried donut right after two croissants...
We walked down Grodzka Street like the day before. It's another 13th century street and a part of the Royal Route leading to Wawel Royal Castle. We walked on this street probably at least once a day during our stay in the city.
The street carts who sell Obwarzanek were easily spotted around the city. Obwarzanek is a ring-shaped bread, sprinkled with salt, sesame, poppy seeds or cheese. There is a theory that the Krakow's popular snack was based on pretzel that German immigrants brought to the region that is the current southern Poland in the 14th century and also it became the origin of bagel, a famous bread in New York. How interesting! I wanted to taste an Obwarzanek but I wasn't sure how the quality of the street cart's bread would be. I hoped I could find one in an authentic bakery on this trip.
The Obwarzanek vendor was at St Mary Magdalene Square. The church of St Mary Magdalene, a medieval church used to stand here, which was dismantled in the early 19th century. Certainly the square attached to Grodzka Street looked like missing something.
The other side of Grodzka Street was the early Baroque Church of St. Peter and Paul and the next to the church was St. Andrew's Church, a 11th-century stone Romanesque church with baroque steeples. We didn't try to visit any church in the morning because it was Sunday. Perhaps another time.
We arrived at the foot of the Wawel Royal Castle! We was going to visit the castle another day.
There was an Obwarzanek vendor over there!
Like many European cities, tram lines run in the city of Krakow.
When we reached the west side of the Jewish Quarter, we took a short detour to Plac Nowy, or the New Square. It's a historical marketplace and a significant social point in the Kazimierz district. However, the square turned into a flea market on the day, maybe every Sunday. We couldn't see how the square actually looked like.
The map painted on the building nearby described the New Square as the very heart of the Jewish Quarter. Founded by by King Casimir the Great in the 14th century, Kazimierz had been an independent city until 1800, when the city lost its independence and became a district of Kraków. Meanwhile, Kazimierz was a Jewish City for centuries, known as one of the most important Jewish cultural and spiritual hubs in Europe although WWII destroyed the Jewish community. The district has been redeveloped since the political changes in 1989 and today numerous trendy restaurants, bars, cafes, shops and art galleries are generating a new culture while the remaining historical buildings including synagogues tell the long history.
We resumed our walk to Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory.
We came across the blue bridge over the Vistula river. The bridge was featured in a 1993 film, Schindler's List.
After crossing the bridge, we headed east for a while and arrived at Plac Bohaterów Getta, or Ghetto Heroes Square. The public square was the largest open space in Kraków Ghetto, that was established around the area in March 1941, and became the meeting point for Jewish residents who were gathered for their forced departure. Today there are 70 metal empty chairs in the square to commemorate the victims of the Kraków Ghetto.
We walked further east and finally arrived at Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory. A part of the former enamelware factory building houses Schindler's Factory Museum that hosts an informative exhibition about life of Kraków citizens, especially its Jewish people, before, during, and immediately after Nazi Occupation.
At the almost end of the visitor route we found Mr. Schindler's secretary's room with a typewriter on the desk, perhaps recreating the scene of making the famous list.
A replica of Mr. Schindler's desk and accessories were displayed in the next room along with many replica pots and pans made at the factory during the war.
Our next stop was a restaurant for lunch. It was getting pretty hot outside.
Gąska is a Polish restaurant serving traditional Polish cuisine. Their specialty is goose as the name suggests.
The interior was bright and cozy. We had a window table that was decorated with some pretty flowers.
A goose was sitting behind my chair.
Smalec (Polish lard spread) with pickles and bread was a complementary appetizer. We needed more bread for the jar of Smalec. Or, Smalec is basically fat. Maybe we should not consume more than a portion of Smalec for a single slice of bread per meal. It was our first time to try Smalec. The texture was just like a soft butter. The flavor was subtle.
We ordered three dishes to share. One was salad with baked goat cheese with honey, marinated pear, pomegranate fruit, lettuces, cherry tomatoes and roasted peanuts as well as honey-mustard sauce and bread. The salad was the size of a main dish! It was pretty good.
The other dishes were handmade Pielogi with spinach and smoked cottage cheese, and also stuffed cabbage rolls with goose. The Pielogi were very nice, better than those we had the day before. The Pielogi the day before were kinda watery. The Pielogi here were tasty and not watery at all. The stuffed cabbage rolls were tasty, too. The cabbage layer was crispy. Was it fried? The filling was rice and ground goose. Maybe I have never had goose before. I couldn't separate the taste of goose from the dish, though. The tomato sauce was a little spicy for me but I liked it.
It was a lovely lunch. The restaurant was J's pick. Thank you and Well done, J!!
We were still on the south side of the river. We took Uber to go to the large shopping mall north of the Old Town. It was a little too far and too hot to walk up there.
We came back to the Old Town after some shopping and found Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, a 19th century theatre-opera house at the northeast corner of the Old Town.
We had a tea time at Camelot Cafe. Their outdoor tables looked packed. We were seated inside. The interior was quirky but spacious. I don't remember if the dining room was air-conditioned but at least it was cooler than outside.
I had orange lemonade with lemon, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. That was refreshing. A couple of water melon slices were a treat. J tried rose, lavender flowers and lemon iced tea, I think.
I also ordered Szarlotka, or Polish apple cake (or pie) with whipped cream. Szarlotka is one of the traditional and most popular desserts in the country. I couldn't see what the cake looked like because of the generous whipped cream but it tasted nice and not so sweet. Although there were two forks, J didn't want any. The cake was served warm and the whipped cream started melting. I managed the entire plate by myself. No problem!
St. Mary's Basilica was open for tourists in the Sunday mid-afternoon. We were looking for the ticket house and wrongly entered another church, St. Barbara's Church, which was located just behind the Basilica.
The small Gothic church was built in the 14th century as a cemetery chapel that stood in the center of the cemetery. I would never guess that the square surrounded by the church and St. Mary's Basilica, which is busy with tourists now, used to be a cemetery.
Eventually we found a ticket house for St. Mary's Basilica, bought admission tickets and succeeded to enter the church. Originally built in the 13th century, the Basilica was reconstructed in the 14th century due to damages by the Mongol armies, which can be seen today and is recognized as one of the finest examples of Polish Gothic architecture.
The decoration in the choir was also impressive from the top to the bottom.
St. Mary's Basilica was a filming location of Schindler's List, too. The film was in black and white. I was glad to have a chance to recognize the gorgeous colors of the church in person.
To be continued...
