Wake up kind of late (for us), to the warbling of the pigeons who have taken over the Dec family balcony. Poles, or Krakowians at least, seem to love their pigeons. I did not love them, at least not early in the morning. We were staying in the apartment where Kaska grew up, though her parents have moved back to her mom's hometown and only visit now and then. It was in a block of socialist-looking apartment buildings and it was smallish but homey and full of pictures of Pope John Paul, who is not the patron saint of Poland yet but it may not take too long. We'd have some breakfast and get on a tram headed to the Old Town.
Hannover has an Old Town too, but it's mostly reconstructed and full of buildings that were moved there from other parts of the city after WWII. Many German cities are that way. But in Krakow, we saw the original stuff - city walls, churches, marketplaces, synagogues, just as they had been since the 1400s and even earlier. The Bastova (Barbican in English, maybe?) is the main entrance to the Old Town (Stare Miasto in Polish) and is where the moat and the big drawbridge were. It's connected to St. Florian's gate. St. Florian is the patron saint of Poland and a sort of holy fireman martyr. His legend is that he scared ancient Romans away from burning him at the stake and they ended up drowning him instead. Now he protects against fire (not against drowning). I learned that Krakow is a city of legends, and Kaska seems to know them all.
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| St. Florian's Gate |
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| Musicians in traditional Krakow costumes |
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| The Bastova |
Off of Florianska street, Brian found a hat store down an alley. Those of you who know my husband understand that he likes hats a lot. The old woman running the shop brought out stacks and stacks of hats in different shapes and sizes and said something (in Polish) along the lines of "any hat looks good on a handsome man". So even though Brian only bought one of them, he probably made her day.
Krakow's market square (according to Kaska tours) is the largest medieval square in Europe. It's surrounded by white horse carriages, which line up and wait drive tourists all over the city. Flower sellers and a big fountain, but much of the square belongs to the pigeons, the school groups, and the people who meander just like us.
St Mary's Basilica is a major Krakow landmark and the focal point of the market square. I've seen a lot of old churches in Europe, but this one was different. What struck me was the color on the inside - every surface was painted with stars and flowers and angels and Bible stories. There was no bare stone or polished marble. And the altar is what's especially famous. It is the biggest Gothic alterpiece in the world. During WWII it was dismantled, shipped to Nuremburg, Germany, and later returned to St. Mary's.
Here's another legend for you: Every hour, a trumpeter plays an unfinished song from one of the St. Mary's towers. The song is cut off in the middle to commemorate the trumpeter who was shot in the throat during the Mongol attack on Krakow in the 1200s.
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| Brian (with new hat), Thorsten and Kaska |
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| Inside St. Mary's |
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| Me in the square with St. Mary's behind me |
In the middle of the square is the old cloth market building. This is where the old-time trading took place - cloth, salt, and probably pierogies were traded for spices, silk, and egg rolls from the East. There's still some trading in there, but it's mostly for souvenirs, amber jewelry, and funny walking sticks. You have to buy your pierogies elsewhere (which, of course, we did).
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| The cloth hall |
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