An unexpected favorite

Welcome back!

On Tuesday morning, Alyssa and I took a 7 hour train from Prague to Kraków. Our main reason for traveling to Poland was to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was the Nazi’s largest concentration and extermination camp. I will be discussing this experience in a later post, as there is still a lot for me to process and reflect on. For now, I will share some light-hearted stories from our time in Kraków!

We arrived in Kraków at about 5pm on Tuesday. After such a long train ride, we were eager to explore the city on foot… so that’s exactly what we did! We hadn’t searched for any “must-see” places prior to arriving in Kraków, so we just walked towards whatever caught our eyes first. It was fun to explore a new city this way!

On our way from the train station to our hostel, we stumbled upon what turned out to be St. Florian’s Gate and Kraków Barbican. Of course, we didn’t actually know what these medieval structures were when we first saw them. We just stopped to admire their beauty and looked up the history later.

Both of these structures were built during the Middle Ages to protect the city. The gate shut enemies out, and the barbican was used as a defense tower. The barbican used to be connected to the city walls, but it isn’t anymore. There also used to be a moat, but as you can see that doesn’t exist anymore either.

As Alyssa and I approached our hostel, we realized that there was a Christmas market just down the road from where we were staying! We quickly checked into our hostel (a private room for just $10 per night!) and went to check out the market.

The square was filled with vendors, and everything was decorated beautifully. There were a lot of products that I hadn’t seen at any other Christmas market! For example, there were vendors selling Polish cheese, pierogies (Polish dumplings), and beautiful fabric. One of my favorite parts of the market was the massive Christmas tree that stood next to the basilica!

We ended up eating dinner at a sit-in pierogi place. I had homemade mushroom and cabbage pierogies, and they were the BEST EVER! It had been years since I’d eaten pierogies… I forgot how much I love them! I have a feeling I will be craving pierogies for a while now.

After dinner, we went back to the main square. This is where we unknowingly saw nearly all of Kraków’s best attractions: the Town Hall Tower, the Eros Bendato sculpture, and St. Mary’s Basilica.

The following night, Alyssa and I were sitting in the square talking and drinking mead —having “mead time” rather than “tea time”— when we heard a trumpet playing from the tower of St. Mary’s Basilica. We were not expecting the performance at all, so we just sat there looking at each other and then up at the tower with surprise. After the performance, the trumpet player waved to everyone down at the square. It was magical!!! We both agreed that we will forever be replaying that moment in our minds.

Apparently, this trumpet call has been played at St. Mary’s Basilica for hundreds of years. It is played every hour on the hour, and the tune is played in all four directions. Originally, the purpose of the trumpet player was to warn the city of a threat. During one particular invasion, the trumpet player was shot in the throat with an arrow mid-performance. Thanks to him, though, the city was able to protect themselves from their enemies.

I have to say, I never expected to travel to Poland while studying abroad. It wasn’t very high on my bucket list, and I’m not exactly sure why. Perhaps, it’s because I hadn’t heard much about the country other than what comes up in the news. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Kraków was even better than I had envisioned. The food was delicious, the people were lovely, everything was super cheap, and I felt very safe walking around the city at night. I hope to go back for longer someday!!!

That’s all for now.

Until next time,

Clara