Recommendations for Krakow and Myślenice

I think that it must be the atmosphere in Alchemia that makes it so great, and downstairs is another venue where groups play. I am coming to Krakow in May and going back to the student pub Drukarnia , just for "old times sake of course". Krakow is a fantastic place for those who appreciate it. I just loved living there and many people are still in my heart, and always will be, even though I don't see them.

Sean, where exactly is Alchemia? Last time I was in Krakow I was walking around Kazimierz and saw those coffee shops with old family portraits on the walls. I took some pictures.

I used to go to the lyceum next to the Na Skałce church. I love that place. It was magical. Nothing better than taking your lunch break on the sunny warm day while sitting next to that fountain at the Na Skałce garden. Oh, memories. Now I'm nostalgic.

ul. Estery 5
alchemia.com.pl/eng/index.html

I could have this wrong but i am pretty sure someone else was talking about the Drunkarnia and said it had been bought over and changed.

They also loved it there, I hope I am wrong for your sake.


It's on the corner of the main square in the Jewish quarter.

Aleksander Wityński, Jacek Żakowski
5 Estery St.
(Corner of Estery St. and Nowy Sq.)
31-056 Cracow


Show us your pictures, please.


I know the Church, it is beautiful but I don't know the secondary school, it's been a while.

No this is the one, the one and only.I loved this place. It was taken over and it did change.

Oh,
The thing about Krakow really is it has so many cool basement bars (Piwnica) and funky bars on all sorts of floors, nobody must know them all.

I have been to some amazing places but I can't, for the life of me, remember where they were ha ha ha, a good time was had by all none the less.

Let us know when you come here in May and we'll go for a beer in the Drukarnia

Sean I will introduce you to my"true polish friends" They live near to the centre and are just great. It takes a long time to get to know Polish people, but once you "really know them" you really know them!.

Cool Lexi, we could see if more people from this forum would be interested in going closer to the time.
You'll have to remind me for sure, it is still snowing here, May seems far away.

Nah, they are lousy. Even worse in comparison to yours.


My lyceum was on Skałeczna Street, last building before the church on the left. The building belonged to the Na Skałce church but was "borrowed" by the communists after the war. Since 1989 it was returned to the rightful owners. I think now is seminary.

Thanks for that distorted picture of my fave fountain! Good job, Sean.

BTW: Skałeczna Street has fantastic perspective.

Impossible! :)


Oh, yeah they are not my photos, I just got those from google images.
Photos people post have a grey boarder at the top and bottom.

There was something off with that photo so I had to check. It's a montage: church + front gate (but not fountain - called in polish sadzawka świętego Stanisława)

Sean, here is the front gates to the church's garden and building of my former school behind.
skalka.paulini.pl/ggaleria/sadz_kons/sadz_kons_12.jpg

Thanks for the memories anyway.

skalka.paulini.pl/ggaleria/sadz_kons/sadz_kons_12.jpg

it takes a bit of getting used to this forum.
There are tools just above the box you type into, that you can use to post photos.


Thank you.

I absolutely loved reading through this, you have done a brilliant job Sean and I cannot wait to get back over there.

The bicycle ride to Myślenice is exactly the type of thing that I would love to do as well.
Also need to go back to the Salt mines because we had our camera stolen in Amsterdam and it had most of our Polish pictures still in the camera.:(

that's a good place to see the real Kraków
flickr.com/groups/krakow/pool

Thanks, there are loads of bike paths around Myslenice and all the way to Zakopane.

Pity about your camera.


Nice photos :)

Yeah the camera sucked, insured.. but it is the contents that are a pain of course.. but that happens.

Btw I told my friend we would be riding to Myślenice, they were not very impressed, but I am hopeful they will do it in the end :)

skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=823686 - Kraków by night

That was lovely. Thank you for the link. I still remember where all those buildings are. Not bad ...

great pictures! Barbakan and Mariacki look too dark though... and Planty at night are scary...

I have never been to Krakow, I really wanna go there I love polish.

It's not too bad, you get some interesting stories from the homeless guys there :D

P.s i back!!!! woop woop:)

Anyone know of any "pick up" football (soccer) games (or I think you call them "wild soccer" games) or practices my 17 y/o son can get into while we're visiting Krakow? He's quite a good soccer player so would enjoy playing a bit while we're on vacation.

What about futsal or indoor soccer?

Thanks.

One of the most exciting places for me in Poland are the farmer Markets.
In almost every city, town and village there is at least one and Krakow and Myślenice are not exceptions.
My favourite one in Krakow's city centre is stary Klapearz.
maps.google.pl/maps?q=Rynek+Kleparski+in+krakow+map&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=pl&ei=CsY7Sp3aKYL5_AaK99xZ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1

(Click here for map)

There are several new shopping malls that have sprung up all over Krakow in recent years and the inevitable mall rats culture has sprung up with them.

These monsters of metal, glass, escalators and elevators, make happy consumers happier, apparently?.
The homogenisation of cultures to one, unidentifiable from another.

Although this Americanisation is happening all over Europe, you must remember it was only 20 years ago since Poland had it's first semi free elections from communism.

When the shops would be empty of goods, row after row of empty shelves is a common image of bad times during communism.

But a short 5 minute walk from Galleria Krakowska (beside the railway station) is stary Klapearz, a completely different experience.
Stary Klapearz is an open air fresh produce farmer's market.
I can't put into words the smell and colours of the vegetables and fruits.
I remember being in a Tescos in London, I was shocked that the carrots were all exactly the same size, exactly the same angle of cone, a strange carrot colour and wrapped in plastic.

These markets excite all your senses
Home made cottage cheeses, every species of European fruit and veg plus a few more, meats and a whole lot more.
I never buy vegetables at the super markets here, even the fresh food is imported and doesn't taste.
And the smell of freshly baked bread wafting out of the "Piekarnie" (bakeries) hhhmmm.

Also learn a bit of Polish and have the craic with the babcie (grannies). They should be running the country ;)

So if you want to see something a bit more down to earth and you feel like cooking up some fresh food go take a look.

And by the way the food is inexpensive.

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Nice piece Seanbm, you should write tourism literature!

Yeah ha ha ha, I know how it reads.

I was almost going to put this in to the literature competition, that's why I went a little off what I was saying.

I like writing on here because it is just me, it has nothing to do with my work and i think I would like to read something like this when I look up some country or place.

Now all the obvious tourist stuff is out of the way, I can post about places I like.

I enjoyed reading it mate and the pictures top it off nicely.

The fruit in the first looks fantastic.

Thanks, I really thought nobody read this but someday, someone might.

I know this is a forum and people like to argue and spin things and I don't know how to turn this in to a debate and it is more of a monologue, it is supposed to be (a) view(s?).

In that respect it should get better because I would like to show places I think are really cool.


I took these photos yesterday, while shopping.
I have bags of the stuff in front of me :)

Keep em coming

[quote=SeanBM] have bags of the stuff in front of me :)

The blueberries i bought yesterday (supermarket) don't look so nice now.

Stary Kleparz

This market saved me from starvation during communist times. Everything was very expensive but was there. Even cielęcina! Nowadays they have those permanent kiosks, which are undeniably practical but not charming at all.

Interesting read:


Ah, yes thank you.