Memory lane – a very cold week in Krakow

My recent visit in Krakow involved theatre, opera, The Princes Czartoryski Museum featuring Lady with an Ermine by da Vinci, Civil War movie, medical appointments, family duties and even some shopping – all squeezed in a week, with temperatures ranging between 27 and 6 degrees Celsius. We managed a barbecue on sunny and warm Sunday, but weather-wise it all went downhill from then on.

A tiny but tasty cup of hot chocolate I ordered in a crypt cafe cost me more or less the same as a regular coffee in Stockholm’s old town. Ticket price to the museum went up by some 40% since last summer but I had booked a slot on a free entry day. Otherwise, this would have been dearer than going to Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. Just saying.

It only takes a short stroll from the Main Market Square to see that Krakow isn’t all that manicured and spotless. In fact, when I was taking a shortcut on my way to the cinema, I suddenly found myself in a rather dilapidated neighbourhood, a glimpse of a vanishing world. A brand new aparthotel was being build right next to it.

Despite freezing cold weather, Krakow’s most popular tourist traps were seen everywhere. You can smell them before you can even see them 😉

It is a tradition and a habit: I always try to see a few churches. They are usually open, and some have interiors can easily rival those I have seen in Italy. I even came across exorcised salt in the Church of St Bernard of Siena. Religion never, ever ceases to amaze me. The church is top notch, gold literally pouring out of intricate altars. What incredible skill and effort must have gone into this.

Don’t be fooled by rays of sunshine; this was the coldest week I remember, and I often go in February or November. It was colder and wetter than Manchester!

A nun, some scattered pigeons and the impressive St Peter and Paul’s church on Grodzka street; a small handful of tourists heading up the Wawel’s hill. It is rarely so deserted.

Lack of crowds revealed all the lovely nooks and crannies and the pigeons had the Main Market Square almost to themselves 🙂

More and more places I remember from my student years: bookshops, friendly eateries, non-chain cinemas are disappearing and every time I go back, another one is gone. Independent and unique shops got replaced by generic restaurants and vodka bars, evidently aimed at tourists. The Faculty of Geology building where I sat a particularly dreadful exam back in 2000 is still there though, reminding me of the past trauma 😀

I like being a tourist in my own city and although it no longer the same city I grew up in, I happily embrace what it has become. There is no stopping progress and Krakow has made one hell of a progress in the last 20 years of being on the EU. No wonder I am already outpriced: my old neighbour’s flat in a working class district of Nowa Huta is valued higher than my place in Chester.