Krakow, Poland

[bjd]

I saw that Casimira is tidying after her mother's death. Since I know that she was of Polish origin, I thought Casi might appreciate a few pictures taken in Krakow two years ago. These are all in the very centre of the old city, the most touristed part, but we weren't there long.

This is the Barbakan, part of the old city walls. They have been pulled down and replaced by a park called Planty that goes all around the old city.


This is another gate leading into the old city, called Florianska, which is also the name of the street here


These musicians in their traditional local costumes are waiting for tourists to arrive.

[bjd]

Some of the architecture of the buildings along Florianska street


The most famous church in Krakow, St Mary's, on the main square


Across the square stand the Cloth hall (Sukiennice), from the 16th century. Inside is a market full of stalls selling stuff to tourists and cafés. It used to be where trade was carried out. And the tower beside is the Ratusz, the old municipal meeting hall.

[bjd]

Inside the Cloth Hall when it is closed


We are in Poland after all
space

Still on the square, this is St Adalbert's Church

[Deleted]

It looks beautiful. It is always best to start with the photos of the touristy part, because it gives people the desire to go there. It is only later that you can start suggesting the more unusual parts of the city. (If people saw only my reports about Paris and did not know that there were fabulous monuments and museums to see, I don't think that many would actually want to go there.)

[bjd]

Beside St Mary's church


This guy was singing in front of the church door, religious music of course


Right nearby is the Small Market square


When we were there, some kind of folk dance and handicrafts show was on. These girls were waiting their turn to dance

[bjd]

Old East German Trabants are used for various purposes, although the Poles used to laugh at them before.


Lots of pretzel sellers everywhere


Art Nouveau stained glass windows in the Franciscan church


Inside a church

[bjd]

The theatre


Ladies having a chat in the park after the rain




Kanoniczna Street leading towards the castle

[bjd]

Kerouac -- we were only there 2 days, so only saw the touristy stuff.

The German looking building on the left is the Collegium Maius, part of the old university buildings


Cathedral and castle


And the castle seen from across the river

[Deleted]

Bjd -- I have always been a super fast traveller and nearly always only see the tourist stuff. My saving grace (if it can be called that), is that if I like a place, I return and it gives me a chance to see more of the "real" stuff.

[bixaorellana]

Bjd, this just blows me away! Every time you post your photos of eastern Europe, it's a revelation.

One thing that really strikes me about this group of pictures is how the various styles, colors, and relatively flat facades give the place a light, almost airy look. I somehow expected dark, very ornamented, etc.

Is the Barbakan the part of the walls that is still standing? Rather shocking that they were pulled down, but perhaps they were too much of a quaint thing.

I love your chatting ladies.

[fumobici]

Love the snaps, looks well worth a visit. Thanks for posting those.

[hwinpp]

I've never spent time in Poland, a pity really.

The city looks nicely made up.

[bjd]

Thanks, everyone. "Dark, ornamented"? Why Bixa? Many older European cities had walls that have been torn down as the city grew. I think making a park (where the 2 ladies are chatting) is a good idea.

I just looked up the definition of a barbican: a tower that is part of a defensive structure, like a castle. Here, it was one of the old entrances to the city.

Krakow was not destroyed during WW2, unlike Warsaw, so many of its old buildings survived. Of course, under Soviet domination, a huge steel plant was built nearby and the pollution blowing over the city really ate away at the stone. But in the past 20 years, much has been cleaned up and painted, so it is lighter.

Also, Krakow was at the upper limit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so was under that influence too until WW1.

Now, of course, it is easily reachable by low-cost airlines within Europe, so has masses of tourism.

Of course, much of the rest of the newer city is mostly rather unattractive apartment and office buildings.

I'll have a look for some more pictures.

[bjd]

Just outside the city walls and close to the train station. I found an apartment for rent here on Plac Matejka


As I mentioned before, Krakow is full of tourists. These paintings are for sale on what is left of the city walls. You will note the tasteful paint-by-number nudes and the picture of the Pope (the important one)


There were also these attractive wooden carvings


You can also go for a carriage ride around the old city. Here, it had just poured rain so the carriages were lined up waiting for customers

[bjd]

I had once posted this picture in the Statues thread. Well, it was taken here on the square


This is the courtyard of the building we stayed in on our return to Krakow. It is in the university area, just outside the walls. All the old apartment buildings had courtyards and are being renovated. But I think they are quite expensive and most people live in newer, concrete block post-war apartment buildings.


You may have noticed, I like taking pics of shop windows


And here is one to fulfill any religious needs

[bjd]

Krakow also has buses and streetcars, though nothing within the old city walls, which is quite a small area. The yellow Trabant is advertising a music store. Komis means that the shop will sell stuff for people while taking a commission.


Entrance to the castle hill


And a church ceiling

[frenchmystiquetour]

Thanks for posting this bjd. It really brings back some memories. I visited Krakow for a few days back in 1994 and used it as a base to visit Auschwitz and the nearby famous salt mines. It has obviously been cleaned up and painted quite a bit since I was there last. Even though it was a bit dingier back then its beauty was still evident and transcended the peeling paint, dull colors and cracked plaster on the buildings.

I remember stepping off the train at which point every backpacker was swarmed by locals all seeking to offer you a place to stay. I ended up sleeping on the floor of an old mans living room with a few other backpackers and that it cost us $5 a night. He was an old man who remembered well WWII. I spoke no Polish but he spoke a smidgeon of English. I spent two nights there and each night I sat around his kitchen table with his brothers and sons and listened to them tell me stories about the old days. He had a tough life but his later years were the best years of his life as he was making more money than ever now with the arrival of tourists and the $20-$30 a day he was raking in for lodging. He loved Americans and absolutely despised Germans. He remembered the horrible stench that filled the air around the time Auschwitz was liberated. I'll never forget him or his family and the genuine interactions we shared. My lasting image of him will be looking upwards as I descended the spiral stairs from his apt. and seeing him, his brothers and his sons waving goodbye enthusiastically with huge warm smiles on their faces.

[Deleted]

Great photos, bjd. Thanks for putting these up.

[mich64]

Love love love the photos! Our goddaughter recently went there for a month with her boyfriend to meet the family and since seeing her photos, I have wanted to go myself. These have solidified that feeling, thanks!

[Deleted]

How thoughtful BJD,to post these at this time.
I do recall you mentioning your brief visit there,and of course, remember the great sculpture photo you posted some time ago.
I have always wanted to visit,and may yet someday actually hunt down some of my many, many cousins that do reside in a village not too far from Krakow.
Thank so much for these. I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Deleted]

Really excellent set of photos, bjd. And FMT's story is wonderful, too.

[gertie]

A bit late to the party, but the photos are still excellent. Seeing all those beautiful old buildings really makes me think I would like to visit. Are the people generally friendly to Americans?

[bjd]

I find that an odd question, gertie. Why wouldn't they be? Lots of Poles have family in the States and in many other countries.

They are certainly friendlier to Americans than to Russians!

[gertie]

I just wondered because I have some friends who spent a long period in the Czech Republic, then some time in I think Romania and some other country around Poland. They said people in those countries really disliked Americans, probably due to the propaganda out of Russia during the cold war. One of them spoke French, and they always let her do all the talking for them because she could sound French instead of American. I just wondered if Poland was like that, too.

[bjd]

Well, I would take the justification about Soviet propaganda during the cold war with a very large grain of salt. I think East/Central Europeans tended not to believe anything coming out of the USSR. It's true that they often didn't have many other sources of information, but they disbelieved the Russians on principle.

I can't say for the Czechs or Romanians (you do realize Romania is several thousand kilometres away from Poland?), but Poles often had family visiting from "the West", so they did get other news.

And if you remember, when the US invaded Iraq, they were supported by Poland and some other countries, "new Europe" according to Rumsfeld.

[gertie]

I was trying to nicely ask a sincere question. There are certainly parts of the world where Americans are not particularly welcomed for various reasons, and I had specific reasons why I had thought Americans weren't welcome in any of the former parts of the USSR around that area.

While Romania may not butt right up against Poland, the Czech Republic is right next to it. Czech Republic was actually the one country I was absolutely sure I had correct. I actually did recall Poland supporting the invasion, but political support could mean something a lot different than how people behave toward Americans visiting the country. For instance, supporting our invasion could possibly be expected to lead to some sort of positive return for Poland, perhaps in the form of more generous aid. I started to move this to pm, but then decided to let everyone know the true situation of my question, since maybe there was something else going on any of us planning to visit the area should know about.

I have, since my first posting, confirmed with my girlfriends the basic information I was working from. In college (would have had to be between 9 and 15 years ago, I forgot to ask them dates) they were members of an entire group who got college credit for going to various locations around the area of Poland, Czech Republic, etc while staying with local families. The first family they stayed with (in the Czech Republic) warned them Americans weren't well liked in that area of the world, and if possible pretend to be something else.

They witnessed other Americans being treated rudely and even escorted out of businesses without being served despite holding cash simply for being American. There was no mistake, that it was because they were American was made very clear. On more than one occasion they'd only walked in and said "Hello", so unless "Hello" translates to calling your mom something ugly, they hadn't done anything taboo or anything like that.

I also found out my friends saw some of this in Poland, which I didn't actually realize they'd visited. They crossed the nearby boarder a few times for day trips. They also confirmed other students in other parts of that area either were similarly warned, or had experienced poor treatment, including being told they were unwelcome in business establishments and would not be served because they were American. We discussed it and wondered if they'd misunderstood the reason told to them by their host families, and maybe it was that people were just still afraid to associate with Americans for fear of some sort of reprisals?

Whatever, it is good news to hear Americans are generally welcomed in the area now. I've always wanted to see Prague and Krakow looks lovely.

[bjd]

Sorry to hear about your friends' experiences, Gertie. I must say I'm surprised, especially since 9-15 years ago, all those countries had become independent again. I really don't know why they would have had such reactions from locals. Especially being escorted out of stores! It does sound rather excessive and peculiar.

One thing that did strike me when I was in Poland/Ukraine (on this last trip) was that in general people are not especially smiling and friendly. Once you actually talk with people, it's fine, but quite often sales staff or ticket sellers or whatever were rather surly. None of that "have a nice day!" business! ;D

I do know that in the 1990s Prague was absolutely overwhelmed with tourists, especially Americans who went to teach English and take advantage of the cheap cost of living. Maybe that caused resentment on the part of the population and your friends just got caught up in it?

[gertie]

Hm, that last may possibly have been it. They weren't teaching English, but perhaps they were in areas where Americans had come for the cheap living and been arrogant to the locals because they were locally the rich kids in town. They themselves had a good time, and still keep in contact with some of the families they met during the tour. Those people knew they were Americans, so obviously not everyone was displeased with Americans. Most of these incidents were apparently in small towns. Seems possible, based on what I know of teaching English in foreign countries, the locals might only have had contact with limited Americans, even if they weren't uncommon in the bigger cities.

I've always sort of admired those countries. The way they threw off the old rule, got themselves independent, and work hard and make the best of what they've got.

[frenchmystiquetour]

That's strange gertie, I was in Poland and The Czech Republic for a few days each in 1994 and I experienced just the opposite. I slept on the floor in the living room of an old an who was in Krakow when it was freed from German occupation and for the 2-3 days I was there when I came back from exploring in the day I would sit around his kitchen table in the evening with his brothers and sons and have a few drinks and listen to them tell stories of WWII and they very much liked Americans.

In the Czech Republic I made friends with some locals who were my age and we had such fun together I ended up staying there for almost a week. My last night there they threw an all night party for me at my hostel. I almost ended up staying and buying a pub, which at the time would have cost me $10,000. I was also treated well by many other Czech's that I met but it is true that they were starting to resent the presence of Americans over-running their city.

[Deleted]

I found the people of Prague to be sour and dour, during the first flood of 1990's tourists, if which I was one.

But I did take some nice photos which I will finally post some day.