Travel / Just back from Krakow [120]

I've just got back from Krakow too. It's my second trip out there.

I was introduced to "The Bull" by an English friend who lived out there, which made me smile, although I had to point out to the bar staff that although it was a good attempt at an English Pub, there was one small mistake. We don't have European Buffalo in the UK, so having 2 of their heads mounted on the wall was a bit odd!

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't find the Polish grumpy or sad at all. Most of them smiled when I spoke to them. Or maybe they were laughing at my attempts at Polish!

I was concerned that there seems to be an England Football bar in Krakow now. I popped in there for one beer, and left very quickly after necking it. It really does have the distilled essence of why I can't stand football!

I didn't have any problems with the public transport. I even got myself down to Zakopane via coach, although going on a Sunday was a mistake... I was hoping to hire a snowboard and bounce down the mountain. Oh well... Next time I'll know the hire shops are shut on a Sunday! Or maybe I'll just take my own snowboard with me and pay the baggage fee. :-)

My only concern is that Krakow might be in danger of loosing some of it's identity. Last year when I went, I was horrified to find a McDonalds in the old town. Now there is a KFC and a Pizza Hut. Although it's hard to complain when KFC do deliveries (yum), I really think these businesses should be kept as far away from the main square as possible. After all, there are enough restaurant in the old town to keep you happy for years... Some of the best being hidden away below the court yards :-) Can't remember the name of it, but traditional Polish food is yum... What's the name of the soup that comes in a big round hollowed out loaf of bread? It has eggs and sausage in it. Very good on a cold day.

Now if only I could get to grips with the language a bit more...

Dwa Żywiec prosze :o)

Travel / Just back from Krakow [120]


Cheers, I'll mention that to my ex-pat friend and see if he knows of the place.


The Bull was quite a giggle, but I did leave at about 8pm. From what I heard from a couple I'd got friendly with, it got a bit pissed uk brits doing the pushy shovey later, which is a pity.


I've never actually been there in the summer. Last year it was the beginning of December, and weirdly warm. This year it was the middle of November and 8 inches deep in snow!

I also got out of the town and out into the country to stay with a Polish friend of mine and her family. That was quite interesting, staying in a little Polish mining town where I was the only non-Pole. Actually I think I was the only non-villager! No complains though, I think I might be addicted to Polish cheesecake now. :-D

I made it down to Zakopane on the coach, and enjoyed the scenery, the pierogi (my Polish spelling sucks!), and the hot beer with fruit juice. I'm going to go back for a Long weekend in January and this time I'm bringing my snowboard. Look out below! :o)

Travel / Just back from Krakow [120]

Damn, you beat me to it! lol!

Travel / Where can I find detailed maps/sat Poland images online? [10]

Thanks for that, the images do seem to be better than maps.google or maps.live, but there still seems to be some big areas that are very low res.

Is there such a thing as a polish railway network map with the stations shown? I don't mind if the page is in polish, I can work round that, I just don't know the phrase to search for it myself.

Travel / Where can I find detailed maps/sat Poland images online? [10]

Yup, the Google and Microsoft sat images for big patches of Poland as very low res. Zumi was better, but still annoyingly patchy in places.