It feels like I haven't stopped living la vida loca in MONTHS!! But, then again, looking back at my diary since July, it's TRUE!!!
So it was strangely pleasant to have a few days of nothing much, at home in Munich. I had a few lunch & dinner appointments, and I also had the stress of trying to sort out some plumbing problems in my flat in the UK, but mostly I was able to just chill out and start getting ready for the next phase of my adventures in November. In the suddenly freezing cold - even snowy - weather, I wasn't up for much more than that in any case.
There was one more excitement in store for me, however: a weekend in Cracow with Béné. Ladies & gentlemen, I HAD A NEW COUNTRY!!!!!! Having never been to Poland, I was very excited about this trip.
We drove to Memmingen airport (ludicrously referred to as "Munich West" - although, the actual Munich airport is also really quite far from town) and flew from there to Katowice in Silesia. From there we got the bus transfer to Kraków, which took 90 minutes - as long as the flight, in other words.
Once we'd arrived in Cracow we walked through the historic Old Town, taking in some of the sights but mostly just hoping the rain wouldn't get any heavier. Our hotel was in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter of the city, just south of the Old Town and east of the Wawel castle. After checking in we headed out to look for a restaurant.
There were lots of restaurants and bars in the area, but they all seemed very empty. In the end we plumped for a place specialising in pierogi, small dumplings with a variety of fillings. We had a portion of lamb & rosemary, a portion of liver & bacon, and a portion of plums & cinnamon. Tasty! Following that, we had a couple of drinks in a bar and then headed back to the hotel.
Sunday was a full day, with lots of sightseeing and - thankfully - no rain. We walked up to the Wawel castle, and from there on into the Old Town, visiting church after church. So many of them were full of worshippers! The Poles take their religion seriously. The church of St Mary on the main square is fabulous.
We were a bit thirsty after all that sightseeing, so we found a funky bar with newspaper clippings all over the walls and had a beer. Then we went to a splendid restaurant called Miód Malina for a delicious lunch of Polish specialities. I had bigos, a kind of meat & cabbage stew. Yum! After a couple of schnapses (I had a DIVINE sliwowica or plum schnaps) and a portion of plum dumplings just like the ones you get in Austria, we headed to the tourist info office and joined a tour group to the salt mines at Wieliczka.
The mines were fascinating! Some 350m deep, although tourists only go down half that far, they have been worked since the middle ages and only recently stopped producing salt. There is cavern after cavern down there, many decorated with salt sculptures, salt altars, and even a whole salt church, with every bit of it carved out of the walls of the cavern. Well worth a visit!
When we got back to Kraków, it was already dark. We decided to attend a concert of chamber music in the church of St Peter & St Paul. The pianist was technically excellent but he lacked expression. Actually, what he lacked was warmth of spirit. Pity. The string quintet were also impressive. But by the end of the concert we were both FREEZING!
We rushed across the Old Town to a restaurant called Chlopskie Jadlo, recommended by Aleks and warmed ourselves over piles of hearty food: bread smeared with lard and sour cream & chives; a warming sour cream & potato soup; smoked mackerel in a creamy apple & onion sauce; roast pork with prunes; turkey pieces in a creamy mushroom sauce. Funnily enough, we didn't have space for a dessert! But then again, my hot beer with fruit compote in it was sort of desserty...
Suitably warmed, we made our way back through town at a more leisurely pace. I took lots of atmospheric photos. It felt really quite Christmassy. I can imagine Kraków being a great place to do Xmas markets - provided you're wearing your thermals.
On Monday we did lots more sightseeing. We took in Kazimierz, visiting the Old Synagogue which is now a museum. Then a few churches - just for a change! Then we found ourselves on the bank of the Vistula river. And - shock horror - the sun was out! We took our climatic cue and hopped on board a floating bar for a cheeky lunchtime beer with views onto the Wawel castle. By the time we'd finished our beers, the sun was gone again. But no matter: we'd needed our sunglasses after all!
Just by our bar was the take-off and landing platform for a tethered hot-air balloon that affords views over the whole city. Neither Béné nor I had ever been in a balloon, so we jumped at the chance. I have to admit, it was a whole lot scarier than I thought it would be! I had a few visions of the cable snapping and us drifting off into the wild grey yonder, or of the balloon collapsing and us hurtling back to the ground. But mostly I tried to take my mind off these thoughts by enjoying the view - and shivering in the icy wind.
Back on terra firma, we walked past Wawel and into the Old Town from the other side. We headed to a Georgian restaurant for a late lunch of khatchapuri, or cheesy bread with roast vegetables and chicken, and a bottle of just-about-not-too-sweet Georgian red wine. After the meal we continued our meanderings through the Old Town, exploring the northern end a bit more. Churches, some churches, and a few churches. Oh, and a theatre!
After some more scenic nighttime photos, we wound up in a cellar bar and, following the waitress' advice, drank some lemon curaçao shooters. Not quite sure why now, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Then we headed back to the hotel for a quick freshen-up before finding a bite to eat nearby and one last drink before turning in.
And suddenly it was Tuesday morning and time for us to leave. The weather decided to be sad at our departure and it was rainy and nasty for the short walk to the tram stop. The tram was packed solid, but we were only in it for about eight minutes. And at the bus station we found our minibus quickly. An hour and a half later we were at the airport, with a few hours to wait.
The weather cleared up somewhere over Austria, and I had a fabulous view of the Alps as we came in south of Munich to land at Memmingen. Sunny & almost warm! That made it a lot easier to be home again after a fab weekend with Béné.
