Krakow, Poland
Merry Christmas, everyone! Josh and I had a magical, snowy Christmas in Krakow, Poland today.
Our walking tour guide today said, “I imagine you’re here in Krakow for Christmas because you want to see Christmas done right.” That couldn’t be more true. Today really was the perfect Christmas Day.
I’ll ignore the seriously stress inducing (but, thankfully, short) flight on a beat-up 90s era propeller plane and move straight into the spectacular day.
Our hotel, located in the old city section, was a short train ride from the airport followed by a quick walk. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so the hotel actually upgraded us to a nicer room that was ready. We dropped our bags just in time for the noon Old City History Walking Tour.
Our tour guide, Pawel, was really engaging. We visited on all the main sites of the Old City - including the Market Square, St. Mary’s Cathedral, JagiellonIan University (the second oldest university in Central Europe), Wawel Castle and several other sites.
During the tour, a light snow started. As the tour progressed, the snow picked up. The snow flakes were huge and falling straight down without wind or ice. It was so beautiful and the tour gude even commented on how unusually perfect the snow was today. It didn’t hinder the tour one bit as we made our way through the squares and streets of very walkable Old Town Krakow.
Krakow used to be the capital city of Poland for most the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It is the only major Polish city left largely intack after WWII - so many of the buildings are hundreds of years old.
One of the most interesting/fun legends our tour guide told us was the legand of the Dragon of Wawel Castle. He showed us the cave entrance going under the castle walls where the dragon was said to have lived.
The dragon terrorized the town, killing people and livestock.
Legend has it that royalty and knights tried and tried to kill the dragon for a reward but none were successful until a regular joe kind of guy from the town filled a lamb with hot spices and left it for the dragon. The dragon ate the lamb, it was so hot that the Dragon went to the lake to drink water to cool his mouth. He ended up drinking so much water that he exploded.
There are two bones - said to be dragon bones - hanging above the cathedral inside the castle walls. The belief is that as long as the dragon bones hang there, the cathedral and the castle around it will stand. Our tour guides told us that a few years ago one of those ghost hunter shows came to Krakow and did an investigation of the dragon bones. Unfortunately, they turned out to be a whale bone and a mammoth bone (which is still pretty cool in my book!).
After the tour ended, we did our own walk through the Old Town and had a warm and hearty lunch of tomato soup and Pierogi. Pierogi is a Polish comfort food of soft dumpling wrapped around either sweet or savory fillings. We had our Pierogi “Russian Style” which the server said was filled with potato and cottage cheese. They were
amazing (I’m thinking her description of the cheese may have been off - because there was definitely a cheesy flavor, but I don’t think it was cottage cheese). Soft and doughy with crispy things on top that looked like bacon, but were actually sweet and fruity tasting. I can see why, Pawel, our tour guide said it was difficult to walk away from his mother’s Christmas pierogi to come to work.
After lunch we had a few minutes to freshen up in the hotel before going to our classical Christmas music concert put on by the Royal Chamber Orchestra in the Chopin Gallery. The gallery was a little less frou-frou than I anticipated. Up five flights of stairs in a 15th century building, which used to be where the royal families‘ Master of the Hunt lived. It was a small room with great aucostics and a really intimate atmosphere.
The chamber orchestra played traditional Christmas carols like jungle bells, Silent Night, What Child is This, Corelli’s Christmas Concerto and a few modern songs like Frosty the Snowman and (their final number) Jungle Bell Rock.
Surpisingly, the Old Town area was fairly busy despite the snow and the holiday. We spent the rest of the evening until dinner exploring the market square and the Christmas Markets. Christmas Markets are not a traditionally Polish - however, they still set them up (mostly for tourists) - and I am happy to indulge in this break from tradition. Especially, sinice in both Budapest and here a lot of the market stalls feature handmade products from local artisans.
Our Christmas dinner reservations were at Wierzynek - the oldest restaurant in Poland. Originally opened in 1364 when a wealthy merchant hosted a huge feast for the royal families of Europe on behalf of the Polish king. The celebration last for 20 days and nights and feasts have been hosted at this location ever since.
This was by far the fanciest establishment in which Josh and I have dined. The service was impeccable - white gloved waiters attending to our every need - even bringing out an appetizer of goose pate and cranberry, “compliments of the chef on Christmas.”
A few notable dishes we had were Sour Soup (a traditional polish soup made of a broth of fermented rye) with soft boiled egg and polish sausage. It was really hearty and while I didn’t like the sausage, the broth was uniquely delicious and the soft boiled egg yolk was a really nice touch.
I also had wild boar with pumpkin purée, pickled veggies and black pudding. The boar tasted like a beef more than a pork - which was an interesting discovery. For dessert, Josh has halva cheesecake (halva is one of our favorite desserts which we first had at a remote mountain restaurant in Istanbul and recently discovered at our local Lidl).
All in all, it was a perfect Christmas Day!
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