Hello there, folks!
On a windy and gloomy day like this (here at least) there is nothing better than a virtual walk. Isn't it? So I am here today to invite you for a ...
... too early for the pub crawl but just okay for a light stroll around Krakow's main square or Rynek Główny as they call it. Krakow itself is one of the oldest cities in Poland with a thousand-year history. The heart of modern Kraków is the Old Town, from which, like concentric circles, go an ancient stone wall, a cozy green park, an inner ring road with tram tracks, an outer ring road in the form of a boulevard, and so on and on...
We will enter through St. Florian's Gate and go along Florianska Street. This street hasn't changed its name since... the old times.
 |  |
|---|
Inside, the old city is built in the form of a grid so you never get lost. And if you look up on any of those streets you will most likely see the tops of either of Saint Mary's Basilica (or Kościół Mariacki) or City Hall. Heading on their direction you can easily get to the Main Square. Everything there is on a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Here, everything is about "the most". The oldest square of Krakow, and the largest medieval market square in Europe. 200m x * 200m = 4 hectares - WOW! But honestly, you feel it once you are here.
The square was built after the city received Magdeburg law. Initially, it was the property of the king, and later he gave up his property in favor of the city.
I cannot say what is the main attraction here, so let's look at the Cloth Hall first.
Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) divides the square into 2 parts. It was built here so that merchants who come to the city have enough space for their goods. You can buy souvenirs here get a cup of coffee or visit the Museum of History which is located in a basement. Although souvenirs here were too expensive for me.
There were smaller markets in the adjacent quarters, like the Salt Market or The Coil Market.
 |  |
|---|
This gorgeous brick gothic church is Saint Mary's Basilica. There are 2 famous legends about it. The first one tells the story of why the two towers of the church differ in height. It's because they were built by 2 stonemason brothers who competed to build the tallest tower. In the end, one brother killed the other because his tower was higher, but after realizing of what he had done, he could not live any longer and ended his life by sticking a knife in his stomach. Very detailed legend. They also say the knife is still sticking out of the wall of the Cloth Hall but I didn't find it.
The second legend is about a trumpeter who climbed to the highest of the towers (photo on the left) to sound the alarm and was killed by his enemies. This is all I remember. In his memory, a trumpeter plays the trumpet every half hour every day now. This is a fact and I can witness it. But initially, the trumpet was played twice - at dawn and sunset, and it was the signal of opening/closing of the city gates.
If you look closely you might see that the dome of the tower consists of many baby-towers. Awww 😍
Speaking about the other facts, the interior of the Saint Mary's Basilica is really impressive, as a mixture of Gothic, Baroque and modern, which was created by Polish, Italian and German artists at different times. The altar is a true masterpiece... they say... but you can come closer only if you came for a service, and no photos are allowed. Just take my word.
Here on the main square, rent a carriage with a coachman, drawn by a pair of horses, and drive down the royal road, imagining that you are the High King. All horses are well-groomed and luxuriously dressed. High class!
 |  |
|---|
City Hall.
The tower is all that survived. Initially, it was expanded with a granary. Long ago, a bolt of lightning hit it and now its "angle" is 0,5 m. Actually, you may notice it if you look very carefully.... Or not. I am not sure.
In former days, I would definitely climb to the top of it (and other tops as well). But not this time. Usually, my husband is my motivator and amplifier, but he wasn't with me.
There is also a golden crown on every significant building along the Royal Road. Because of this, Krakow sometimes reminded me of Stockholm. On other days, it reminded me of my hometown which is in the west of Ukraine which was under the rule of the Kingdom of Poland for some time.
(Today I am building sentences in the style of Zabuzhko - a modern Ukrainian writer, and author of "The Longest Trip", an essay on two plans of this war, 30-year and 300-year. It has already been published in Poland, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Norway, and Latvia. I ordered it a few days ago and hope to make my own opinion soon but I really recommend you to read it too.)
And we move on. Behind the Basilica there is a lovely Small Market Square. It looks fascinating at any time of the day (I verified).
These are all my stories for today. Now you have free time to enjoy walking cozy streets and stopping in one of the local cafes which are hundreds here and taste pierogi or a piece of cake. Or both 😇 And a beer 🤣.
Enjoy, and see you again soon!
 |  |
|---|
💙
Well lol, unless you mentioned it I would not have realised the different tower heights, I just thought it was perspective!! What a great back story.
i look forward tom the longest trip being published in english, it is already on my books to read list 2024!!
Now I see it too 😅
It would be great to discuss it!
yes I have had a look for it and unable to find it in english language, which is annoying!
I have just finished this about the battles at Voznesensk, I feel very humble seeing the bravery of such ordinary, normal people.
Slava Ukraini
Everything has its time. Zabuzhko style of writing, thinking and speaking is far not easy to translate into English. Although I am not a professional translator. But I think the work is in progress.
Spoiler: you will like it! 😉
I shall await with baited breath x
Soo cool! I'll be visiting Krakow this month and your post is super helpful! Just in time to do my research. I will reread this! 😁
Thanks for sharing. 🥰
And greetings from Romania.
Awesome! I am happy to be helpful, even though I am a little bit jealous 😁
The museum in the basement of the Cloth Hall is highly recommended. It is the inly one I wanted to visit but didn't get there coz all tickets were sold a week in advance!
I wish you a most exciting and safe journey. Sending you !LUV from Kyiv 🤗
I'll look into it, thank for mentioning it. I'll look it up, though maybe we'll be in your situation too. But will be end of November when we'll visit, so a little bit of luck is possible.
Thank you! I honestly can't wait to go. I'm curious what this city has to offer. Also we'll br visiting Warsaw too.
🥰🥰
They have online booking 😉
I know. But I wonder if online booking is possible like for the day, not a specific hour.
For example, Schindler's Museum. I look it up and for the tickets, you had to reserve/buy them on a specific hour.
And I dont want to depend on that hour. I dont know what that day will bring us.
Thats why I thought we'll see then.
We have only one day in Krakow.
I've read all your recent posts about Krakow and I think you mentioned u were visiting in 2010 too.
So I'm guessing maybe you have a favorite spot here? Do you have a favorite place or whats your top top to visit? In your opinion.
💓💓
Oh dear, 1 day is too little 😊 Now I see why you don't want to be bound by the exact time.
In 2010, I had only 1 day too. We had all day walking, visited Waeel Castle, including the Cathedral, but no museums.
I know its too little 😭. But it is what it is. I'm really curious to see how the day goes. I guess I will be happy with whatever we'll be doing, as long as the day will be an enjoyable one.
Aww, I'm so glad to read your post about Krakow, right at the end of this month I'm scheduled to visit Poland which includes Krakow.
Btw, the pictures are very beautiful I can't wait to discover Krakow.
Sounds exciting! I hope you will love Krakow.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a nice trip!
You're welcome.
Thank you for bringing us around there, Krakow is one of the cities of my dreams. I've never been to Poland in general, but I hope I'll be able to do it soon :)
Hugs from Sardinia, Italy!
You live in such a beautiful place! I must confess Sardinia was on my list. War ruined so many plans and dreams, but I still hope that I and my husband will be able to travel together again, one day. :)
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I'm so sorry to hear this. Political crap seems to exist only to ruin our lives and deprive us of serenity, beauty and freedom. Your dream is the dream of all of us, and I hope you'll be able to fulfill it soon.
If you need tips or inspiration about Sardinia don't hesitate, just send me a message.
I wish you all the best, from the deep of my heart :)
Alessandro
Thank you for your kind words, dear Alessandro!
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Travel Digest #2060.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Thank you, @ybanezkim26 💙
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
This post has been selected for upvote from our token accounts by @watchlist! Based on your tags you received upvotes from the following account(s):
- @dhedge.bonus
- @dhedge.pob
- @dhedge.cent
- @dhedge.neoxag
- @dhedge.waiv
@watchlist has 3 vote calls left today.
Hold 10 or more DHEDGE to unlock daily dividends and gain access to upvote rounds on your posts from @dhedge. Hold 100 or more DHEDGE to unlock thread votes. Calling in our curation accounts currently has a minimum holding requirement of 100 DHEDGE. The more DHEDGE you hold, the higher upvote you can call in. Buy DHEDGE on Tribaldex or earn some daily by joining one of our many delegation pools at app.dhedge.cc.
I greatly appreciate it, @watchlist!
Thank you, dear @ewkaw! ❤️
You're very welcome :)
Love Kraków 😍 Sure one of my favourite cities in Poland. I haven’t visited for quite a few years. Might need to do so during my next visit in Poland 💙
I feel you, @fantagira! This was my first conscious visit, and now I very much look forward to visit it again ❤️
Oh, you learned so much about Krakow and made some beautiful shots. 😍
I mostly chitchatted for 4 days 😂 but yes, I also took a few photos, but they are still sleeping and waiting for their moment to come. One day 😁
I deleted (forever) 2 folders with my photos, accidently, and I never published them even didn't have time to view and edit. I was so upset, and I decided that I better publish this and so my photos will be safe, at least for a while ))
Oh dear, you deleted 2 folders of photos? 🥲
I suppose it was painful.
We accidentally deleted the folder with photos from our wedding hahaha 😂
But we recovered it later ;)
Very 😨
Lucky! :) I probably could recover it too but don't have a tool for that, and I was so upset that didn't want even to try.
This is teh city that is on our list to visit. But hubby wants Ireland first, love the pictures
And the horse !
Love from me
A horse? His own horse? Wooow 😀
Thanks to annual HiveFest, I have an excuse to change the situation. Maybe we will meet next year 😉
Sending you hugs and !LUV
Congratulations @zirochka! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next payout target is 35000 HP.
The unit is Hive Power equivalent because post and comment rewards can be split into HP and HBD
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPSince 15 years or more I plan to go to Krakow. I hope some day I will fulfill this plan. Such a beautiful city!
My daughter was 15 or 16 when we visited Krakow for the first time. I must admit that she didn't remember much about that journey so I think your visit will be at the right time.
Thank you for stopping by!
Hello zirochka!
It's nice to let you know that your article won 🥈 place.
Your post is among the best articles voted 7 days ago by the @hive-lu | King Lucoin Curator by hallmann
You and your curator receive 0.2980 Lu (Lucoin) investment token and a 8.54% share of the reward from Daily Report 118. Additionally, you can also receive a unique LUSILVER token for taking 2nd place. All you need to do is reblog this report of the day with your winnings.
Buy Lu on the Hive-Engine exchange | World of Lu created by @szejq
STOPor to resume write a wordSTART