Beautiful old hotel and lovely big room overlooking a park. When we look out the window, there's a fluttering of snow. We wander off looking to find a beautiful restaurant that the daughter has googled. She's so much more organised than I am, she checks it's rating and we're there. Food is excellent - potato pancakes, mushroomy sauce with spinach on the side. Waiters friendly, service great.
And then we're ready to check out the city. The main square is full of Xmas dwellings where beautiful arts, crafts and food await us. There are big barrels where you can order hot wine and hot alcoholic tea! The cheese shops are amazing, the smoked sheep cheese is patterned and served with bacon and cranberry sauce. The pottery is stunning.
The trees are dripping Xmas lights, there are incredible peacock eye lights strung in between the beautiful houses which surprisingly were not destroyed during WW2, so everything you see is the real deal, a well preserved medieval UNESCO city.
We dine at a traditional Polish restaurant on trout with almonds and potatoes and dried plum and walnut pierogi (like ravioli) and cheap wine. All is good in the world as the staff are friendly! They're dressed traditionally and Polish music is playing. It's warm and cosy and I'm already in love with Poland.
While we're here in the dead of winter, Australia is burning. I check on family and friends and the daughter writes an article on bushfires that gets published in two online magazines, so she spends most of the night up doing interviews in Australia.
The next day, after checking that everyone is safe bushfire wise, we explore again. The old cafes and shopfronts are beautiful. We have coffee at a wonderfully cozy place and then head into the Jewish Quarter where there's the Singer Klub bar, of sewing machines, vodka and honey vodka tea. Slightly inebriated earlyish in the morning, we then lunch at Pierogi Mr Vincent, all very Van Gogh-esque. The pierogi are good but fairly heavy fare but we walk it off through the afternoon. We find another great cafe in an old half ruined building where we consume a special sweet called Cream biscuit, with whipped cream and cherries.
We wandered far and wide, through the old city, stopping to admire the Wawel Dragon Statue that can breathe fire on demand but today is taking a break and then past the Royal castle, checking out the worn, shabby doors and nuns still in traditional garb.
Then we double back into the old city where carriages are awaiting tourists, with the most elegantly dressed horses ready to take you on a ride around the square.
I go to one of the cherry liquer bars, Pijana Wisnia, for a hot cherry drink served in a lovely glass with preserved cherries at the bottom and then find an amazing chocolate shop, Goralskie Praliny where I buy a box of the unusual shaped pralines, bilberry, cranberry , blackcurrant and coconut and back home via the markets where they have grilled pierogies filled with sweet cheese and berries. Then there are the donut shops everywhere! They're traditional Polish donuts without a hole, rose cream filled with icing. Such interesting food and drinks!
We return to our first restaurant for a fantastic meal, chicken stuffed with spinach and wrapped in pancetta with a cheese sauce and soft dumplings, perched on a bed of caramelised onions, with salad for 9 euro or approximately $13 Australian.
The next morning, well fed and breakfasted in the beautiful Xmasy decorated breakfast room of the hotel, we are ready to move on to Wroklaw but Krakow has stolen our hearts.
Lovely!