Krakow, Poland

We started our tour of Krakow in the Jewish quarter, called Kazimierz. Before WWII, more than 70,000 Jews lived here, but now there are only 200. Only one synagogue is still used for services. The rest have been turned into museums. There are many cafes that serve Jewish food, but they are not kosher because there is no rabbi to certify them.

Former synagogue

Jewish-style restuarants

Only active synagogue in Krakow

The bus then dropped us off at Wawel Hill. We walked up the hill and saw Wawel Castle and the cathedral where Pope John Paul was bishop, arch bishop, and cardinal until 1976 when he became pope. The Polish are very religious (>90% attend church) and about 85% are Catholic, so the Pope is a great symbol of Poland. There were statues of him everywhere.

Wawel Hill

Cathedral on Wawel Hill

Interior courtyard of Wawel Castle

The dragon is the symbol of Krakow. The legend goes that a large dragon used to live in the river. He would eat 5 girls each week. No one could kill the dragon until one man killed a sheep, filled the carcass with sulfur, and left it by the dragon's den. The dragon ate the sheep. It did not kill him, but it made him so thirsty that he kept drinking water until he exploded. The man who came up with this idea was named Krak.

Phil and Julie and a view of Krakow

Royal Road connecting Wawel Hill with the Old Town

Horse carriage in the Old Town

In the center of the Old Town is the cloth market. Now they also sell all kinds of great souvenirs: dragon trinkets, amber jewelry, wooden items including chess boards, glass items, embroidered clothes and doilies, etc.

The cloth market

St. Mary's Cathedral is located on the corner of the Old Town square. The story goes that a long time ago, a trumpeter played the trumpet to warn of the invading Tartar army. However, the trumpeter got shot in the throat by an arrow in the middle of his tune. So now, someone in the tower plays the same tune on the trumpet, stops part way through, and waves his trumpet to the crowd each hour.

St. Mary's Cathedral

Beyond the square is a fortress built to protect the city.

Fortress

Bridge that reminded us of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice

City Gate at the end of the Old Town Square

Theater

Dessert pierogies
Sweet cheese, blueberry, and strawberry pierogies in a cream sauce. Very yummy!

As we were walking around the square after dinner, we saw a lot of police gathering on one side of the square and heard people chanting on the other. We were, of course, in the middle and wanted to get out before something happened. As we started to make our way through the square, we saw that the people were all wearing Polish scarves, and we realized that there must be a soccer game on TV. Police were surrounding the church and had bullet-proof vests, shields, and guns. We managed to get out of the square and later found out that the game was the Polish national championship and that Krakow was playing in the game and won.