Day 1 – Tuesday (04/25/2017)

We left our friends' house in Otrokovice (Czech Republic) around midnight and we took the night train to Krakow, which took about 7 hours (by car it takes less than 3 hours). We bought the tickets at Prague central station with the company Ceske Drahy and we made a point of getting a cabin just for us after a recommendation from a friend who traveled in a cabin with 6 beds.

We paid approximately 119 euros for privacy in a cabin with two bunk beds, towels, toiletries and breakfast delivered by the person in charge of the carriage. I managed to sleep well with the shaking of the train, but Celo woke up all the time with the noises inside and outside the cabin, poor thing. Some photos:

We arrived in Krakow at 7:30 am and were pleasantly surprised when we walked around the train station. It is clean, modern and functional and is connected to a very cool shopping mall with lots of shops and cafes. Our low expectations were soon surpassed…

We passed through a super nice park from the station to our accommodation, Pergamin Royal Apartments, and we were quite excited about the location of the apartment.

As we arrived very early and the check-in It wasn't possible yet, we left our things at reception and went out to walk around the city. What a wonderful walk! We went straight to the city's main square, which is huge and has very interesting buildings, and sat in the Costa Cafe to have a more substantial breakfast.

We took the opportunity to read our guide and plan the day's itinerary, which included the following points:

LEGEND: Restaurants in yellow and attractions visited in blue.

We left Costa and went straight to the ticket office. St Mary's Basilica, which is on the right side of it. We bought the tickets (10 zloty per person + 5 zloty to be able to take photos/film), but it was not possible to go straight in because it only opens at 11 am for tourists.

We then went to the central building of the square, the Sukiennice (Clothes Hall), and I felt like buying all of them souvenirs of the little shops inside: beautiful dolls, embroidered towels, typical blue ceramics, etc., but the urge passed when Celo reminded me that this is the most touristic building in the city and, therefore, the most expensive. Photos:

We entered the little church that is in the middle of the square, Church of St. Adalbert, we visited the outside of the City Hall Tower, and then we continued along the popular street Florianska with several cool shops, cafes and lots of currency exchanges.

After much research, we found that all of them only advertise the exchange of Zloty for other currencies (and not the other way around, which is what we normally want) and that the bigger the signs, the worse the rates. By the way, the the best place we found in the city to exchange Euros for Zlotys was on the parallel street, hospital, in front of Pekao bank.

We visited the St Florian's Gate and the Barbican, which are some of the remaining elements of the city's medieval fortifications, having been built between the 12th and 16th centuries. On the way back, we passed by the church Lord's Transfiguration Church, but since it was closed, we could only take photos through the bars. Cute, right?

When it was 11:30, we entered the Basilica and had a wonderful surprise! What a beautiful church! I immediately fell in love with its colors. We drooled there for a few minutes, until we were surprised by a nun opening the golden altar. What a magical moment! <3

This basilica began to be built by the city's citizens in 1355 to rival the Wawel Cathedral, which could only be visited by nobles. It was only completed at the beginning of the 16th century and at that time the masses were still held in German. Every hour on the hour there is a trumpet call and at noon the city radio broadcasts it to all listeners.

We left there very excited about what we saw and it is definitely on the list of the TOP 3 most beautiful churches we have ever visited. It is a must see in Krakow, fact.

We went to have lunch at the restaurant Miod Malina, a restaurant highly recommended on TripAdvisor (score 4.5) and in our guide as well. The atmosphere is very cozy, the service was good and the food was very tasty.

We then passed by Church of Saints Peter and Paul and in the other little church next door (I couldn't remember or find the name) and then we went to the hotel to rest.

We finally got into the room, which despite being modern was quite cramped, and after some time there, we noticed a very unpleasant smell coming from the bathroom drain. A shame, because the location is great…

We went out to dinner at a delicious restaurant very close to us, Black Duck (rated 4.5 on Trip Advisor). We ordered the house dishes, soups and wines and loved everything, especially because it cost less than 40 euros.

I'm starting to think that Poland is a great place to eat well and pay cheap. 😛

Day 2 – Wednesday (04/26/2017)

We had breakfast next to the hotel in a restaurant where you pay by the kilo and then we went to the train station to go to the famous salt mine. Wieliczka. The receptionist at our hotel explained to us that the trains there always leave from Platform 1 and that you could buy your ticket on the train from the ticket collectors, so that's exactly what we did. We paid 7 zloty (approx. 2 euros) for the two of us for the outward journey and the same amount for the return journey, meaning it's very cheap to go on your own, without a tour.

We arrived at the train station and walked less than 5 minutes to the mine following the very eye-catching signs. Although the city was empty, we saw a lot of people at the entrance to the mine, mainly groups of tourists (I think it's horrible! lol). We bought our tickets at the ticket office (84 zloty or 20 euros per person + 10 zloty to use the camera) and got in line to enter. tour in English for tourists without a group. I found it well organized…

We started the tour at the indicated time and I immediately had problems with the audio guide (the woman even goes with us on the tour, but she speaks into the device and everyone listens with headphones). We adjusted my audio and began a bizarre descent with many, many stairs. Claustrophobia set in a bit, I confess. I'm not going to tell you all the details of the tour, because I think it will be boring and also because I don't remember it that well (lol), but it was 3 hours of many "wows", if you know what I mean. We passed through several galleries with sculptures made only of salt and the one that caught my attention the most was the main one, the Chapel of St. Kinga. It is huge and everything there was made only with SALT, including the chandeliers, paintings and sculptures. It is incredibly impressive.

We left the tour We were very tired, but we still took a tour of the museum afterwards, but this time with a different guide. The tour of the museum is not mandatory, but it is nice, especially because we take a super fast elevator to go up to the street. It was a relief not having to climb all those stairs. 🙂

Some interesting facts about the mine:

• It was built 700 years ago and is still being explored.
• It is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
• Only 2km of galleries and paths are open to the public
• The deepest place we visited is 135 meters below the surface
• The temperature down there is always between 13-14 degrees Celsius

Now some photos:

We then walked around the town, which has a square with an interesting design on the ground, and took the train back for the same price as the outward journey (7 zloty for both of us). We rested a bit at the hotel and then went out for dinner at a wonderful restaurant that we had booked the day before, the Pod Aniolami. Excellent food, service and atmosphere! I think it was our favorite restaurant in the city…

Day 3 – Thursday (04/27/2017)

Attractions we visited on this day:

LEGEND: Restaurants in yellow and attractions visited in blue.

We had breakfast at a place near our hotel, the Mini Coffee, and we continue to the Wawel Castle, passing in front of the house where Pope John Paul II lived. 

We went up the hill to the castle and bought tickets for the Cathedral at the ticket office in a house across the street. We paid 12 zloty per person (you can't take pictures inside) to also go up the cathedral tower and when we were visiting the crypt, the security guards asked everyone to run away from there – Total panic!!!!

We left terrified and after a while trying to understand what was happening, we saw several police cars arriving and people moving further and further away from there, of course. Later we discovered that there was someone with a gun inside (I don't know which one), but that there had been no attack. We left the castle complex as soon as possible and the place was closed to visitors all day.

We then went to see the Jewish quarter, the Kazimierz. I found the place full of heavy energy and quite dirty too, so we didn't spend much time walking around. We passed by Nowy Square, then by Old Synagogue and we only really got into it Remuh Synagogue (20 zloty for the 2 of us). It is one of the two synagogues still in use in the city and there is one of the most important Jewish cemeteries in Europe.

We left there and went to have lunch at a restaurant self-service with flashy decor and very good prices. I think it's very local, you know? The name is Polish Restaurant.  Good food too…

We walked back to the hotel and in the middle of the street Starowilsna we stopped at a wonderful shop with original Polish porcelain (sorry, I don't remember the name!) and I wanted to buy everything!! Each one was more beautiful than the other, but unfortunately I could only take one as a souvenir. If you travel with a large suitcase and not a cabin suitcase like me, here's a tip! 😉

We rested at the hotel and went out for dinner at a restaurant with cuisine based on the French island of Corsica, the Corse (grade 4.5 in TA). We ate a spectacular fish with shrimp and squid and the white wine they recommended was also divine. Luckily for us, it was right next to our hotel… Another recommendation, huh!

Day 4 – Friday (04/28/2017)

Since we were unable to visit the Castle and its Cathedral yesterday because of the threat from the armed man, we went back there to complete the city. We stopped for coffee at Cafe Ole  and it was really bad. Don't even stop there if you pass by...

We visited the rest of the Cathedral's crypt and then bought tickets to visit the interior of the Castle (122 zloty for the 2 of us), with a set time for each of the wings we chose to see.

Since we had a little time left before our visit, we had a light lunch at the Castle restaurant and then had a wonderful hot chocolate at the café next door. Neither of the options were expensive, despite being located inside the city's main attraction.

It is not possible to take photos inside the castle, but if you DON'T want to pay to see everything we saw (State Rooms, Private Royal Apartments and Crown Treasury and Armoury), I recommend that you at least pay to see the Private Royal Apartments. THE tour You have to go with a guide and ours didn't speak English very well, but we managed to understand the basics. I found the ceilings, the Belgian carpets and the porcelain to be the highlights of the tour. tour, but don’t go in with too high expectations (it’s far from being a Versailles…).

We stopped at the hotel to pick up our bags and went to the train station, where we bought ours on the spot. Warsaw. There are trains of various prices and at various times, but as we didn't want to buy in advance, we ended up taking the most expensive one – 300 zloty for the two of us. (murphy's law, right…). The good thing is that we didn’t have to wait long and the train was very modern.

The trip to Warsaw with EIP it lasted a little over 2 hours and I told everything about our itinerary there in this post here.

Read about the entire trip to Poland in the links below:

• 10 days in the Czech Republic and Poland
• Our 30 impressions of Poland
• Krakow in 4 days
• Warsaw in 2 days