Krakow, Poland: A little bit of old and new
japra | Jan 14, 2009 | Comments 13
Finally, here are some more photos from our trip to Krakow, Poland last October. My terrible computer woes are all better now. Yay!
If you are interested, my other Poland posts include:
And other posts containing photos of Krakow:
I am going to try to wrap up these Poland posts soon since our February break is right around the corner. I still need to go back and fill in a bit more on Munich and Paris, but one city at a time…
Krakow
I love looking at these notice boards. The collage artist in me wants to peel off all of those posters to use in my own art.
In other countries, these little kiosks sometimes house toilets. I am not sure about Poland.
The Planty is a city park surrounding the Old Town. In the early 1800s, the government decided to take out the crumbling old medieval wall and put in this lovely green belt.
Here is something that surprised me. Right in front of this building, someone set up a little sidewalk shop–no tables, just cardboard boxes. What were they selling? CDs? Sunglasses? Cheap tourist items? No. They were normal things like fruit and toilet paper. I wonder if this type of vendor is something left over from the War? Do they need a license? Don’t the other stores mind?
I liked the ship near the top of this old building.
The ubiquitous obwarzanki vendor. We passed these little carts over and over again. Not wanting to spoil our appetites for pierogi and other polish delicacies, we kept telling ourselves we’d try these “later”. We finally did try them later–on our way to the airport! Obwarzanki is a cross between a New York bagel and a soft pretzel, leaning more toward a soft pretzel. They are topped with salt, poppy seeds or sesame seeds. I did see some with cheese and something that could have been an “everything” obwarzanki. They are inexpensive, about 1.25 zloty, or about 40 cents US.
In general, the cars are a lot bigger in Poland than here in England. But I had to take a photo of this little red cutie, charming in its vintage-ness.
The Krakow Barbican was built in the late 1400s. Apparently it is only one of three of its type remaining in Europe. 
The Florian Gate is the entrance into Krakow’s Old Town (this is taken inside the Old Town looking back toward the Barbican). This gate was built in the 1300s and is the lone survivor of eight original gates that surrounded the old city. Royalty and other important guests processed through this gate up to Wawel Hill (separate post to come).
Beautiful St. Mary’s church is deserving of her own post as well. She sits in the middle of Market Square…
… where there are street musicians, souvenir vendors (not too tacky), and cafes with lots of good people watching.
Oh, and lots of pigeons too, of course. That’s the Cloth Market on the right (yellow building).
I liked this lady with her baseball hat and old fashioned wicker pram.
More to come…
Filed Under: Blog • Destinations • Krakow • Poland
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
Very nice! We’re going to Krakow in March, so this little primer was well-timed.
Very nice photos indeed. Thanks.
Greetings from London.
Your Poland photos are unique, I love the lady in the baseball cap and the street musicians.
MikeH–I think you’ll enjoy it!
A Cuban in London–Thank you for your kind words… and for stopping by!
Cynthia–Hello and welcome! Yes, isn’t that lady something? And it looks like she’s wearing an apron of sorts under her sweater. I wish I had gotten a peek inside that pram, though.
Hi Japra
Another great travelogue.It looks a beautiful place. Much nicer than it sounds !Thank you !
Krakow looks beautiful through your eyes, thanks for sharing.
JaPRA, happy computer news! How nice that your summer vacation was so full that it can stretch all the way to your winter vacation. The poster art shots are fun. Thanks for the tour!
My jaw dropped when you mentioned the other day how many photos you had on your computer . . . no wonder it crashed! These are all excellent, and I really enjoyed your commentary.
I’m really hungry for an obwarzanki. Do you think that I should go make some dinner?
You got some great photos on your trip. Just think we were both there just a week apart! :)
I loved this peek at Krakow. I’ve never been there and this was so interesting!!
Barbara–Krakow is a beautiful place. I can’t believe I was there! It always seemed so far away.
Christine–I took too many photos… Glad you liked them :-)
Sarah–I know it looks like summer, but it was the end of October! We were blessed with balmy weather for most of the time.
Bee–Dearest, I am sure whatever you made for dinner was far superior to the obwarzanki. Glad you liked the photos!
Akelamalu–Thank you, and I know! I can’t get over that either :-)
Pamela–It is always so amazing to go to the places I’ve only read about. I usually spend the first day pinching myself and muttering, “This is real.” Heady stuff.
Hi, I’ve been lurking and had to comment. Great pics! can’t wait to see more. I’m Polish and it’s very cool to see actual pics of Poland (not just the kinds in books). Enjoyable! Thanks for sharing!
Sheila–Thanks for de-lurking to comment! We loved Poland and would love to return one day. I’ll try to get a couple more Krakow posts up this week. :-)