Even if you walk in Krakow without a guide, it would be difficult to miss the Wawel Castle. It is the southernmost point of Krakow Old Town that connects two ends of a green belt of Planty Park like a precious buckle.
From the Main Square where we stopped last time, just go south down the Grodzka street. If you cross the wide street with tram lines and see The Church of St. Francis of Assisi (in the photo below) - you are on the right track.
You will see lots of cafes with chocolate, ice cream and delicate sweets in their windows on both sides. Also with cold beer or prosecco or cappuccino with soft airy foam, dumplings (pierogi), donuts, fresh pasta or pizza or fragrant smoked sausages ... stop! Stop. This is the wrong way. Be careful, as once you come in, sit and bite their tempting treats you can get lost in time and forget about your family and friends and the purpose of your walk for hours... Like poor Edward from The Chronicles of Narnia. So, I warned you.
Kanonicza (Сanonical) street runs toward Wawel castle in parallel with Grodzka Street which is still a Royal Path. And if I am not mistaken, Kanonicza is the oldest street in Krakow. Also, this is a quarter of Bishop's residences. The name comes from the canons of the Wawel Cathedral, whose houses have been located here since the 14th century. They were rebuilt several times in accordance with the fashion of the epoche - Gothic, Renaissance, or Baroque.
A quick quiz: can you see the unicorn in these photos?
My visit to Wawel Castle was like a siege. On the first day, I didn't know if I wanted to go inside along with the noisy and endless multilingual flow of people. The words from guidebooks like "Everyone who comes to Krakow wants to go to Wawel" make me scared. So I was just walking in a circle around it like the Jews who circled ancient Jericho until it was defeated.
Also, I must confess that I didn't walk alone and I would like to tag @gtg here who waited patiently for me along the way while I was taking more and more pictures of it from all possible points and angles on both sides of the Vistula River. Here he can see what came out of it... He walked with me not as a local guide and sometimes we couldn't decide who is more stranger here in Krakow. But thanks to him, I am still more focused on the better side of this small but memorable segment of my life.
BTW, this is another question how its Polish name Wisła gained "t" and "u" and turned into Vistula. Another one because first I wondered where the Wawel name came from. Later, I found out that Wawel is from Polish word meaning "hill". So here everything is clear, simple and logical. But I dug deeper and found that maybe this word came from "a place where there is a guard". Sounds logical as well.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
This was the last thing I expected to see somewhere outside of Ukraine, more precisely, in those places where we expected the Russian invaders to attack in 2022. All road signs with the names of streets or settlements were painted over or covered with protective film (although not to protect but rather to hide or confuse). Just like this sign. But in this case, it was protected as all this area was under repairing.
I said to @phortun that I have no photo of Wawel Dragon or Smok Wawelski but actually I have one! If the poor creature could be seen in this image. I remember him from my first 1-day visit of Krakow back in 2010 and I can witness that time had no effect on him.
The avenue of stars goes along the high castle wall. I captured this one dedicated to Tim Roth coz I am a kind of his fan.😁
On the other day, I was strolling on my own along Adama Mickiewicza Alley and ended up near the castle again. Maybe because of a good mood or a nice weather or a small amount of visitors at that time, but I said to myself - why not? After all, the entrance is free. 😉 Let's see what I remember from the first visit.
 |  |
|---|
 |  |  |
|---|
The one thing I like the most about a solo trip. It is moving in my own pace, when I never need to choose between listening to the story and taking pictures. My brain can process only 1 task at a time.😉
So, everything here has the name Wawel - the whole highlands and the Castle and the Cathedral. The Castle started its royal history in 1038-1039 and ended in 1609 when the royal residence was moved to Warsaw. In addition to the fact that real kings lived and were buried here, the biography of the castle is similar to fate of the Bishop's residence - over time, it changed its style from Gothic to Renaissance, which was facilitated by fires that partially destroyed it. Also, the castle was burned, destroyed and looted by enemy armies in different years.
This explains its appearance both from the outside and from the inside. When I hear the word eclectic, Wawel Castle is the first thing that comes to mind.
During the Austrian rule, part of the royal hill was rebuilt as military buildings, barracks and a hospital. Saying "military" I immediately think of my husband who is somewhere on the east of Ukraine and of the first snow we had yesterday in Ukraine...
By the way, I finally found out what are the bricks with names on the wall along the way up to the main gates. The year 1922 1923 is indicated on most of them - these are memorial bricks with inscriptions in honor of the donors. Such a noble way to convey your name to posterity.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
I will not pretend the guide of a historian, there is a plenty of printed, audio and human guides about The Castle and The Cathedral (Bazylika archikatedralna św. Stanisława i św. Wacława). This time, it was very peaceful and cozy. The yard is very spacious, with a lot of what a tourist needs most. What do you think it is? Correct, a place to sit and rest, and a toilet.
 |  |
|---|
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
| As a thank you for your time and attention, here is an interesting fact about Ukraine that you might not know. |  |
|---|
The Ukrainian language has been banned and suppressed 134 times over the past 400 years. In most cases, these were prohibitions from the Russian tsars and the Russian church. These were bans on studying, using in official institutions, printing books, holding church services or theatrical performances, even giving Ukrainian names to children.
Before the invasion of 2022, 450,000 schoolchildren in Ukraine studied the Russian language. At the same time, 10 million Ukrainians living in Russia have 0 Ukrainian schools.
This is all for today
Take care, and see you!
@zirochka
❤️
It has been many years since I have seen such a vessel. I remembered watching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Ah, film! Before you said it, I started thinking that probably you're kind of immortal 😊😄
Boats like this are available for reservation for a trip down along the Vistula river, and I think it might be an exciting adventure as well.
As a child, we made our own toys, and one of the things that most amused me was making boats driven by flappers, the motor was a rubber band that we rolled up and enjoyed…
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on Wikipedia
p
I used to make furniture for my doll :D
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?
You have gone to a very good place, I liked the view that even small flowers were seen there. Another very good site which you have given very good information about.
I am glad you like it. The flowerbed of the courtyard was a popular background for selfies and photos so I barely could find a chance to photograph it 🙂🙂
!BEER
View or trade
BEER.Hey @qurator, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @zirochka for you. Enjoy it!Did you know that <a href='https://dcity.io/cityyou can use BEER at dCity game to buy cards to rule the world.
Beautiful pictures 😍😻
Hi @zirochka. I am happy to be a part of this community and hope to make many friends here. Now I start my new life after prison. I will be grateful for your support.
It is a wonderful walk. For me, who lives on the other side of the world where there are no such big and beautiful castles, it is surprising. I really want the war between Russia and Ukraine to stop. May the conflict be resolved and lives and valuable cultural heritage not be lost.
I wish this war never started. But now, delving into historical essays and analysis, it becomes clear to anyone that it was impossible to avoid Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2022. It could have been done earlier. But the whole world, without exception, thought that this war would not affect them. The bad news is that this is not true, and the old order of things is obviously outdated.
To find a solution and stop the (third world) war, we need to remember 1939-1645. The Soviet totalitarian regime was as much to blame for the start of the WWII as the Third Reich. The difference is that the Reich was punished, and the Soviet Union was not. Now we have Russia and its wars as a result.
Congratulations on the beautiful photos you show. Thank you for sharing your visit. These days Ukraine is at the center of the news. I hope they stop the war now. Hopefully these beautiful buildings can preserve their beauty to be known by future generations. Thanks for sharing your walk.
Thank you
Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Travel Digest #2065.
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:
!LUV
I'm so excited to read your thoughts about all these places. And all these info! 💗
I will surely re re read your article for next week, when we'll be in Krakow.
Great post btw. Its not easy to put all these words and photos together.
Thank you! It took me more than 3 hours 😬
I figured it must have taken longer than 2 hrs. I really love your formating and everything. Its easy to read your travel posts and get into the virtual tour as well! 😁 😊🤗
💓💓
Thanks 😊
Absolutely beautiful. Thanks so much for the tour and history lessons. I'm wondering if early germanic influences may have contributed to the 'Vistula' question. They do pronounce a 'w' with a 'v' sound....in german the 'w' is called doublavay (pronounced that way ((doo-blah-vay)) but spelling is wrong).
Always a delight to read your posts.
Blessed Be.
Thank you for your meaningful comment ❤
Very nice and well documented post especially as next week I will visit Krakow, and yes your post helped me a lot in organizing my visit there.
Wow, Krakow is very popular fall destination!
Have a great trip!
I hope I will have some perfect days there, I want to explore this city.
Good luck!
Thank you very much.
Hello zirochka!
It's nice to let you know that your article will take 10th place.
Your post is among 15 Best articles voted 7 days ago by the @hive-lu | King Lucoin Curator by hallmann
You receive 🎖 1.5 unique LUBEST tokens as a reward. You can support Lu world and your curator, then he and you will receive 10x more of the winning token. There is a buyout offer waiting for him on the stock exchange. All you need to do is reblog Daily Report 123 with your winnings.
Buy Lu on the Hive-Engine exchange | World of Lu created by szejq
STOPor to resume write a wordSTART