Kraków - a city of rich history

I have visited Kraków with my family many years ago. I remember our trip very well as we chose to come in April hoping for nice spring weather, and we ended up buying winter jackets and gloves because it was so cold. We spent 4 days in the city, and I thought that we explored it quite well until I visited Kraków again a couple of months ago. We were surprised with my husband to see how big Kraków is. We didn't remember it this way, so it was good that we came again as it was like we have never been there before.

We arrived on Friday morning in time to enjoy delicious breakfast in our hotel. After our breakfast, my husband stayed in the room to work and I was ready to explore the city...

Let's have a look together!

I didn't really have a destination in mind, so I decided to simply walk around and see what Kraków has to offer. And let me tell you that it is much more than I expected.

One thing that I immediately noticed is that there are so many sacral buildings. It's like there is a church behind each and every corner. I love architecture of churches and I also enjoy sitting inside in silence, so I already knew that I would enter a few of them that day. Many of them reminded me of churches in Italy and I was curious to see if the interior is similar too.

The St. Peter and Paul’s Church caught my attention as there were large statues of the apostles placed in front of the church. I could see from afar that the door was open, so this would be the first church to enter.

It's one of the younger churches dating back to the 16th century. It's a stunning baroque construction and I found interesting that it doesn't have a tower. I thought that the churches would be similar to the ones in Slovakia and I don't recall seeing a church without a tower there.

At the time of its construction there was a lot of money invested in sacral buildings, and we can see large spendings on the facade. There is so much details, various materials, pillars and statues. Let's admire the facade a bit more before going inside...

I was expecting that the interior would be as pompous as the exterior, but I was surprised to see that it was rather simple. The walls were painted white, and the only part that gave it some color was the dome with the marble main altar. This centerpiece is an eyecatcher!

The St. Peter and Paul’s Church might be missing some color (in my opinion), but it definitely doesn't miss out on beautifully carved stucco decorations...

On both sides of the broad nave are some sort of aisles with various statues and altars. I liked this set up as praying visitors don't get so disturbed by tourists walking around...

Here we can see the aisle on the other side...

One of the most precious items in The St. Peter and Paul’s Church is this pipe organ. This amazing musical instrument is decorated with golden details and sculptures. It's a real piece of art! There is a good acoustic in this church, so there are regular concerts held here. Our schedule was full already, and we didn't manage to attend a concert, but I can imagine that it's a great experience.

In front of the church there is this miniature model showing also another church right next to this one. I told you there are many of them 😊

Let's check it out!

The St. Andrew’s Church is much older as it dates back to the 11th century. Here we even have two towers!

I only saw this one entrance and followed some people inside. Later, I learned that there must have been another entrance which is open only during the services. It looks like that what I visited was a chapel of Religious Order of Poor Clares. I must say that I thought something must be wrong as it looked like such a huge church and the interior was so small. Well, next time I'll try to find the right entrance!

There were only a couple of benches, and this altarpiece. It was so beautiful! I didn't expect to find such rich decorations, so many colors, and statues. I didn't stay long as at some point the nuns came to the chapel and I didn't feel comfortable to stay.

Those two churches look like one complex, with the St. Peter and Paul’s Church being the younger brother.

From there I walked a bit to The Main Market Square. This square is exactly how I remember it! It's a large open space surrounded by many restaurants and buzzing with life. It was around lunchtime, so all terraces were full of people enjoying their meals which reminded me that I would eat something too. But there was no time as I had a lot to see!

In the center of the square is The Cloth Hall. It reminds me of buildings in Morocco and when you enter inside it actually feels like a bazaar in Morocco. There are plenty of stands with many things to sell and even more people walking around. It was also originally built as some sort of a medieval shopping mall.

There is a cool underground museum here which we visited years ago, but it became so popular that we were not able to get tickets during our stay. Lesson learned - when you go there, book the tickets in advance.

There was a constant flow of people and it was impossible to take a photo with no photobombers. It looks like the most popular place in the city!

On the western side of the Market square is The Town Hall Tower. It's a 75 meters tall medieval tower that hosts a museum, and I couldn't miss out on climbing it to enjoy the views.

The tower was built in the 14th century, and it's the only standing part of the town hall that was demolished. Tower

The ticket office is on the ground floor of the tower. It costs 18 zloty which is about 4 EUR to climb the tower. My hip was not at its best that day, so I asked how many stairs there were. The lady told me that it's 110 steps which didn't sound too bad.

Well, little did I know that each step was up to my knee which was very uncomfortable for my hip, but I was not going to give up. The staircase is narrow, so I was lucky that there were not many people as it took me some time to go up.

On the way, there are a couple of floors with some information and items to see. I enjoy looking at models to understand how the place looked like before...

Here we can see the town hall which is demolished now...

There was a bigger model of the tower and the town hall in the time of their glory.

On the other side of the room was a small exposition of the society and various communities in medieval Kraków. I enjoyed the exposition, but I enjoyed the soft light coming through the windows much more 😊

Only a peek of another floor that was not accessible.

When I reached the top of the tower I was disappointed to see that the windows couldn't be opened! The views were amazing nonetheless, but people were looking strangely when I was putting my phone on the glass to take the photos. It was challenging to find a spot which was not marked with fingerprints!

All restaurants have the same parasols 😊

I wonder if one of the roofs close to the Wavel Royal castle belongs to the hotel where we were staying...

On top floor is also the machinery of the clock tower. I stared at it for a few moments, but I still had no idea how it works.

Walking down was even more challenging for me than walking up...

Instead of taking the same way back to the hotel I decided to walk around the old town to The Barbican and from there through the park, and back to the hotel from another side of the old town. It does sound complicated!

St. Florian's Gate is one of the three towers that were part of the defense system of Kraków.

Next to the tower was this open space gallery which I loved. I talked with the curator of the gallery and took his business card as I want to purchase one artwork from this wall that they can deliver to me. Which one do you think I chose?

I saw the miniature model of the Barbican, but I missed the real one. I blame it on being too hungry, and therefore blind 😊

But I've seen this building which probably has zero importance, but its former glamour caught my eye. Imagine how it looked like a hundred years ago.

And there were many other churches to see on such short distance. This one was unfortunately under construction (inside), so I couldn't visit it, but look at how it's placed between residential buildings. I'm used to the churches having their own square, and here it is attached by two walls to another buildings!

My favorite was The Church Of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. Look how cute it is!

And its interior didn't disappoint me either. There were quite a few people inside, but it was completely quiet. I think that the service was about to start as more and more people kept coming.

There was still so much to see in the old town, but I was getting really hungry, so I had to return back to the hotel to pick up my husband for lunch in this cool restaurant.

Kraków treated us very well and we are sure that we will come back again.

Thank you for reading,

Cheers!
Martina