Away for Now: Old Town

Krakow is my absolute favorite city so far.

It's small and open and inviting and romantic and quaint:

I almost got run over by one of these carriages...we won't talk about that.

The main square in Krakow is one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe. I loved how open and free it was (unlike London's crowded streets!)

The layout of the city made it very easy to navigate; by the second day I pretty much knew my way around (and for this directionally-challenged girl, that's pretty impressive!)

This was my first pre-paid (and pre-planned!) excursion through Arcadia. It was quite the relief to sit back and follow an itinerary, especially because it was right after our self-planned Scandinavian adventure. I've discovered that being an adult is overrated.. I much prefer my parents planning trips for me! ;)

After checking into Hotel Rezydent (above) on Thursday afternoon, we took an "Old Town" walking tour. It was horribly cold, but our tour guide was awesome so I really enjoyed it.

Our hilarious tour guide (above left) first showed us the Church of St. Wojciech. It is nearly 1000 years old! Paved roads were obviously made much later, so the city has since been built up around it. You can kind of see in this picture that the floor level of the church is below the present level of the square (perhaps due to reconstruction of the city hundreds of years later?) Grodkza street (right), ends abruptly here and becomes the main market square. Our hotel was on this street, so we had easy access to the center of the city!

On the other side of the square stands St. Mary's Basilica. (To give you perspective, I took the above picture as we were standing by the Church of St. Wojciech; that's how small and open the city is!)

The church was open for those who want to come in for reflection and prayer, and not for picture-taking tourists, so he didn't take us inside. I told myself I would go alone later, but never ended up going. I suppose this means I'll have to come back!

This picture is from Google Images...shows a bird's eye view of the city center. Oh my heart! :)

I think there's something special about the fact that the city square is cornered by these churches. The city collapsed and declined several times throughout history (our Polish tour guide said, "Poles are good at losing.") and was rebuilt several times. The main market square even had its name changed to "Adolf Hitler Platz" during the Nazi occupation of Poland. It's been through a lot! I find solace in the fact that these churches have stood the test of time and continue to anchor the city.

Here are some other pictures from that first tour. I usually try to jot down a few notes when I learn something, but it was so cold I didn't this time. Now that's it been a few weeks since the trip, I'm definitely regretting it! He had some really fascinating things to say about the history of the buildings.

St. Florian's Gate (Polish Gothic Tower)

I mainly took pictures of it because the artist in me got excited about the Rembrandt oil painting reproductions for sale...but the tower was cool too :)

By the time we arrived at Jagiellonian University (pictured below), we were beyond cold. Our tour guide changed course (a good tour guide pays attention to his audience!) and took us inside to the school cafe. He talked while we drank hot chocolate (Krakow has THE BEST hot chocolate...more on that later!)