Kraków, Poland 6
Located at the end of Długa Street, the Nowy Kleparz has been around since 1925. Trading in smaller and larger wicker products has been the marketplace's tradition for years, but perhaps we were too early for the wicker shopping. We didn't see any. Actually many shops and stalls in the marketplace were still closed. Luckily a few of cured meat shops and deli shops as well as a couple of bakeries were open. J bought a couple of Kielbasa, or Polish sausages while I was browsing baked goods. Then, we left to the other marketplace.
The Stary Kleparz is the oldest marketplace in Kraków, originally dating back to the mid-14th century. This was larger and more lively, even before 8am.
Honey is always like a magnet for me as if I were a bee... We picked up a buckwheat honey among various kinds of local honeys. Also, we bought a jar of Kamchatka berry jam.
There were some cheesemongers selling traditional Polish smoked cheese. Oscypek is made of sheep milk exclusively in Tatra Mountains, a mountain range in southern Poland and it's spindle-shaped (tapered at both ends). Gołka is made of cow milk also in the southern Poland, traditionally associated with the region of Silesia and it's cylindrical-shaped. Both cheeses have a lovely decorative pattern on the rind. I guess longer smoked cheese has deeper yellow color. J bought one in cylindrical shape, so it must be Gołka.
J was also caught by strong smoky scents from a cured meat shop...
And I saw him ordering two kinds of Kielbasa. We carried total four kinds of Kielbasa at that moment.
We didn't forget we had't had breakfast yet. After about 10 min walk, we arrived at Astrid, a Scandinavian cafe. I had a freshly squeezed orange juice but I don't remember what J's pinky drink was.
I had toast with butter and honey, topped with raspberries and ricotta cheese. It was pretty nice. J's dish was potato Rösti with smoked salmon and poached eggs. It looked very nice but the Rösti part was so oily according to J unfortunatelly.
We came back to the Old Town and dropped what we bought at our hotel. Then, we headed south to visit the Wawel Royal Castle at last!
We passed by a Paczki shop again. After all, I didn't find a right time to taste one... What a shame!
Krakow's pretzels, or Obwarzanki of this stand were neatly organized. I guess that would be a kind of reflection of the seller's personality.
Here we were!
It's a hilltop castle, which means we needed to climb up there. It was easy comparing with many hilltop castles we have been to.
The center of the top was a large green area with ruins of the old buildings (only some stone foundations), surrounded by several buildings. The brown building in the southwest was the ticket house that we visited first.
The Royal Private Apartments and State Rooms were in the buildings in the northeast.
The 14th century Wawel Thief Tower in the west was one of three fully preserved turrets on the Wawel Hill. It once had a prison in the basement.
The Wawel Cathedral stood in the northwest.
There were several exhibitions to see on the hill and you would probably need more than a day to visit all. We decided to visit two exhibitions: Castle I - Royal Private Apartments and Castle II - State Rooms.
The Wawel Castle has been the primary royal residence for rulers in Poland from the 11th to the 17th century. Much of the current castle building was built in the 14th century while it had been expanded for the next centuries. The arched gate through the pink building led us to the Castle's Renaissance inner courtyard, built in the 16th century.
First we visited Castle II - State Rooms, located on the second (third in the US floor system) floor. The grand rooms, which are higher and more spacious than those on the lower floors, once used to hold sessions of the Sejm (the lower the lower house of the Polish parliament) and Senate, royal audiences, and wedding receptions and balls.
The State rooms were decorated with paintings, Italian furniture, Polish royal portraits, etc. The most valuable objects were the 16th century tapestries, commissioned by Sigismund II Augustus,King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. They were also the only art objects preserved from the original interior decoration.
The State rooms were connected with the halls that displayed Ottoman Turkish Tents. They weren't part of the historic furnishings of the Castle, but testimony to the connections between East and West for centuries, in both times of war and peace. The largest tent dates from the 17th century.
The two smaller tents were made in the early 18th centuries. The colors of all three tents were still bright and beautiful.
The collection of the 17th century Turkish Iznik potteries was also displayed. They were lovely, too.
Next to the Ottoman Turkish Tents was the temporary exhibition of entitled 'Emotions. Lviv Rococo Sculpture' that showed preserved 18th century sculptures from the Missionary church of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Horodenka, a city in Western Ukraine. The wooden sculptures looked so delicate and incredibly vibrant. I liked the wooden scent in the exhibition hall.
The exit of Castle II took us to the courtyard. We went back to the castle to visit Castle I - Royal Private Apartments, located on the first (second in the US floor system) floor.
The former private apartments of the king and queen as well as rooms that were used for the royal attendants were certainly smaller than the upper State rooms but more intimate, decorated with more art objects and furnitures.
The tour route continued to the silver cabinet...
And the Porcelain cabinet, filled with valuable 18th century crafted works from the factory in Meissen, Germany founded by King Augustus II.
And then, the collection of the Art of the Orient.
Japanese 'Imari' porcelains!
After the Castle I tour, we also visited the Royal Gardens, located behind the castle building. To be honest, the gardens weren't impressive.
The view from the gardens wasn't special either... Nevertheless I would appreciate any kind of green space.
It was time to say Good-bye to the castle. We saved the other exhibitions of the castle that we didn't see this time as well as the Wawel Cathedral and its museum for next time.
A horse-drawn carriage was running on the tramline in the Old Town. The tram was following the carriage slowly. The tourist first in Kraków!
Ah, I had a photo of the exterior of the St. Francis Basilica after all.
Happy lunch time! We tried Kluska na Placu, a Polish restaurant specialized in Kluski Śląskie, traditional Polish dumplings that come from the historical region of Silesia - mostly today's southwest of Poland. Kraków is exactly situated in the region.
The little complimentary appetizer was served. I forgot what the filling was but I remembered it was tasty.
The restaurant provides not only Kluski Śląskie but also other dishes of Polish and Silesia cuisine, such as cabbage rolls and Silesian beef roulade. However, all I thought about was having my first Silesia dumplings there. I chose a Kluski Śląskie dish for vegetarians, which came with Bundz cheese, roasted beetroot puree, dill salad with mustard and honey vinaigrette and roasted hazelnuts. The cheese came from Stary Kleparz, one of the marketplace we visited and bought a cheese in the morning. What a coincidence! In short, I loved Kluski Śląskie. The texture was very soft, smooth and chewy, just like Mochi, or Japanese rice cake. They tasted delicate and neutral, which would go well with any kinds of sauces. Kluski Śląskie is made with mashed potatoes and potato starch, and also sometimes with eggs, by the way. The beetroot puree was tasty and the cheese was fresh and creamy. Bundz cheese is a Polish sheep's milk cheese produced in the mountainous regions south of the country. I could say this was my best dish of the trip.
J also had a Kluski Śląskie dish with Bursztyn cheese sauce and bacon. Bursztyn, another Polish cheese is a hard but slightly tender, mature cow's milk cheese, similar to traditional Swiss Gruyere. His dish looked rich and very cheesy, which J wouldn't mind, I believe.
After the new dumpling experience, we headed northwest, outside of the Old Town. Our destination was a beer store to check off an item on J's shopping list. Local craft beer!
On the way we found a large church, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The current building was built in the 17th century but the history of the church dates from the 11th century.
The painting of Our Lady of Piasek, also known as "The Lady of Kraków" in the chapel is famous with its miraculous self-defense power against fire or during wars.
The beer store wasn't so far from the church. J happily picked up five (six?) bottles.
We dropped the bottles off at the hotel and got back on a street in the Old Town so that J could feed me ice cream.
It was a pretty hot day. We walked to an ice cream shop that was relatively close from the hotel and has been reviewed well, but the place didn't look promising. We kept walking in the Old Town for a while. We came across some ice cream shops but none of them looked like selling artisan gelato, based on my judgement from the colors and the flavors. I never thought the ice cream hunt would become so challenging...
When I was almost to give up and ask J to go back the hotel, a bakery called Bread & Sandwiches was right next to us. We opened the door to just see what they have, guess what! They had ice cream!
I had ice cream flavored with fig and something... It was tasty. If my memory is correct, J had banana ice cream. We also shared an oat cookie. That was nice, too!
We walked around the northeast of the Old Town, which we haven't been to before. At the end, we must have explored the Old Town pretty much. When we were coming back to our hotel, we found a small Italian gelato shop, Lodziarnia Donizetti. They had Japanese green tea, Matcha flavor! But we have already had ice cream... J simply said, "We were on vacation! The first ice cream was very small. anyway." I admire his way to think and live. I got a small cup with Matcha. Their serving was generous. The Matcha tasted wonderful. J had a kind of flower flavor, I think, which we haven't heard before...
The main market square was getting plenty of sun. Just like we started the day there, we wrapped the day up there.
To be continued...
