POLAND, Part 6: Wawel Castle and Kazimierz

From Krakow's Old Town Market Square, we walked southeast a few blocks to get to Wawel Castle, where Kazimierz the Great and kings before him resided. 

The numerous buildings, courtyards and cathedrals date back to at least the early part of the 16th century and showcase beautiful examples of Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque architecture.

It was a hike just to reach the entrance!

We circled the outside before heading inward.  And we chose not to visit any of the interior exhibits, you had to pay for those.  There was plenty to delight the eye outside.

The Vistula River winds back and forth along the south side of Krakow.
(These 3 pictures show the view to the south, from left to right) 

Behind the tree on the far left of this picture lies Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter.  Across the river and directly ahead is the former Jewish Ghetto and Oskar Schindler's factory.

 Straight ahead and to the right in this picture is the direction of Krakow's airport and the road to Oswiecim (westward).

Lends new meaning to Psalm 59:16~

But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

This gives you alittle bit of an idea of how you kept climbing, the further you went into the castle.

 One of the interior garden courtyards.

From there we walked through a long arched tunnel...

...and into this breathtaking courtyard.  (left to right)

 

I loved all the cobblestone.  (I just wasn't as brave as the local women who wore heels everywhere!)

 Back out into the garden courtyard to enjoy the other side.

 As were were leaving Wawel Castle, we happened to see one of our friends from the wedding!!!  Eduard (the South African/Australian, working in Romainia) was about to tour the castle himself but decided he'd rather join us for a venture into Kazimierz.  What a small world, huh?!

So we walked a number of blocks further south into the Jewish Quarter.

 This is a primary school.

We crossed the Vistula River bridge in search of Oskar Schindler's factory, and eventually found it, though we only looked around the lobby.  It was getting close to noon, and we had decided to hike back up to the Old Town Market Quarter for lunch at a restaurant Pete's brother had told us about.

Tucked away in a basement accessed through a corridor and interior courtyard, we have no idea how Tek had found the place to begin with, but it was really interesting!  Lots of Polish handiwork and photos adorned the walls, which were wooden boards mounted on top of straw matting.  (Picture wooden planks instead of stone or brick, with straw in the place of mortar.)  Lanterns hung from either end of cattle yokes, suspended from the ceiling.  An authentic Polish kitchen and bedstead/cradle stood in one corner, and a taxidermied wild boar in another! 

My picture doesn't come close to capturing how delightfully different this place was.

Pete ordered kotlety (which is a pork cutlet pounded really thin and breaded before browned in a pan) served with potatoes and dill.  I went for the minced pork perogies with sour cream that Tek had recommended.  They were delicious!  You could tell they were homemade because the dough was super thin.  My apologies to those of you that like Mrs. T's--but you don't know what you're missing until you have the real thing!

I have no idea how many miles (or kilometers) we walked that day, but we were on our feet all day, and I got a nice little sunburn.

We said goodbye to Eduard after lunch, then spent the afternoon in the Old Town Square shopping for Polish pottery, T-shirts for the kids, a new wallet for Pete, and earrings for me.  (Poland is known for it's abundance of amber.  It exists naturally in shades of yellow, orange, brown, and green.)

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Tomorrow's post: POLAND, Part 7: Wieliczka Salt Mine