2026/10/07 A trip to Poland

 Today we left home to fly to Krakow for a few days. I will be writing a diary here of our trip.

Our flight from Stansted to Krakow was uneventful, other than the usual uncomfortable way RyanAir runs their airline. I did notice that the RyanAir hostesses and host announce their announcements in a totally understandable way because they do it so quickly.

The arrival into Krakow was surprisingly pleasant. The new system of border control was slightly different from our experiences in other places, but was much quicker than it was when we went to Italy earlier this year. We then, after a little confusion, managed to find the railway station in the airport and jumped on board for the 35-minute journey at a cost of about £6 for both of us.

As you would expect, Google showed us the way to our hotel, but I took a few shortcuts because, for some reason, it was taking us quite a long way round. With my usual navigational experience, we got there much quicker than Google expected. Cheap eh!?

Entry to the hotel wasn't quite so easy. We had to stand outside and phone a Polish number to get someone to let us in, although a resident of the hotel arrived as we were doing this. They were American, I think, and they let us follow them through the door as they had a card key.

Our room is on the first floor, number 11. It's a corner room with a balcony. It's very pleasant. I took a couple of photographs, which you'll be able to see below. It's spacious, with a nice en-suite bathroom, a big bed, and two single duvets, which is very much the European thing.

Once we'd done a little bit of unpacking, we girded our loins and set off in a direction for a restaurant that Val had discovered on Google, which had a good vegetarian selection. When we arrived, we found that it was nearly full or booked, and apparently is booked for at least a week or two ahead. That's the power of the internet, by the way. We managed to find a small window table with sort of children's high chairs, and we decided to stay.

We both ordered, and with the help of a very patient waiter, we ordered beer and waited for our food, which, when it did arrive, was very, very tasty. Again, we took a few photographs, which you'll see below. Once we'd finished our meal, we headed back towards the hotel and took a few diversions just to look at the neighbourhood, but arriving back in room number 11, we hit the sack as we were tired.

And now we're at the restaurant.

Val had a courgette and tofu dish, which I tasted. It was very, very nice.

This was a mushroom risotto with cheese, and it was delicious.

Wednesday, the 7th of October.

Today we intend to wander the streets of the Jewish area of Krakow, choosing cafes to refresh ourselves in, and taking pictures and recording things about the city.

Breakfast starts next door in the cafe.

https://finca-brunch-cafe.choiceqr.com/p/LSRD-yHTB

After breakfast, we started a walking tour of the Jewish area, visiting Jewish notable historic points, memorials, and synagogues.

And here's Val on our balcony doing her nails.

Once Val had done her nails, we decided to have another little walk around the old town. We had coffee in what used to be a market for Jewish storeholders, and there was a slaughterhouse, too.

The next picture is taken in the street of our balcony.

The next picture is of a Jewish prayer house. You see the two stars of David on the building.

After this, we walked from the Jewish sector across the river and stopped in a square near where Schindler had his factory. We stopped in a square for a beer.

This square is just over the bridge from the Jewish Quarter and is known as Hero Square. It's where Jewish people were herded together before being sent to concentration camps and is just down the road from the factory that is featured in Schindler's List. 65,000 people were shipped from here to various camps.

We now walked back across the river to the square where there was a Jewish place and decided to try the local food.

£16.45 Inc 2 beers!!!

This evening we headed out into the darkness to just have a little wander. We ended up in a coffee and cake store where we had a traditional Polish honey cake with good coffee. On Val's insistence, we bought a bag of mixed nuts and a bottle of Italian wine, which we brought back and sat on our balcony and watched the world go by. Tomorrow we are starting a new blog, which will be devoted to our visit to Auschwitz. Good night.