24 Hours in Krakow

A couple of weeks ago I ventured down to Krakow to see what all the tourists were talking about. In the South of Poland, Krakow was once the capital before it was moved North to Warsaw in the Middle Ages. It was a quaint, highly-manageable town of less than a million people. And its infrastructure strikingly similar to Warsaw's. Krakow's attractions include the Wawel Castle and the main market square in the city's hill.

My hostel was overrun with tourists and my being an English speaker was welcomed by all. In my room were two Aussies, a Canadian, and a Brit. And I didn't fall asleep until three as we stayed up talking about the world and our differences in culture, though we all were speaking, perhaps with the exception of the Aussies, standard English.

Though I did not make it to Auschwitz, which is less than an hour away by train (requiring me to return during my tenure in Poland at some point), Krakow was charming. Again, like Quito and Cuenca in Ecuador as you might have read, one is the administrative hulk filled with politicians and commerce while the latter is filled with culture and quieter pace of life. That is the best way to characterize the relationship between Warsaw and Krakow.

Wawel Castle (pronouced in Polish with the 'w' being a 'v' in English, hence Vavel), as I said, was not the main attraction, rather the city square in the "Old Town" of Krakow. But I thought it the most aesthetically pleasing perhaps:

Arriving in the afternoon on a train from Warsaw where I found a group of American students who had jumped on without seats using their Eurail passes (which don't work in Poland, but they were able to talk their way out of it with the train staff). They were studying for their tests and biding their time before midterms. I just couldn't help thinking to myself I get to travel around Europe and not worry about homework. What a blessing.