On Friday and Saturday I spent the time to explore the city Krakow. Krakow is one of the oldest and second largest city in Poland. Historically, this place is renowned for its culture, education and art of Poland. In essence, the cultural and economic center of Poland.
Krakow is also located next to the Vistula River. And this river is significant as it separates the old Krakow with the new, more modern Krakow. To explain, let’s look at the following map:
Map of Krakow
As you can see, old Krakow city is surrounded by parks. Let me note that these parks used to be castle walls. But according to residents, it was torn down by authorities and instead they created parks. Residents don’t complain much about it, but they prefer to see those walls.
South of the Old Krakow city is the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. This place has its own vibe and life compared to old Krakow. It’s more silent during the day, but for some reason, the nights are filled with parties. I guess that’s how you live up the Middle Eastern culture. Night life all the way ๐
Once you cross the bridge from the Jewish Quarter, this part of Krakow is slowly transformed to the Soviet Era and modernized touch. You’ll notice the architecture is different here compared to the old Krakow city and Jewish Quarter.
Not to mention, Krakow is the home for the famous Schindler! Krakow has a museum dedicated to the history of Krakow during the World War II period. The museum is called Schindler’s Museum, and the building is Schindler’s own factory, and I was very glad to have had the opportunity to visit it.
I don’t want to write too much since it’ll be TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read), but here are some photos of the things I’ve seen and caption to explain it:
Photos
Walking along side Vistula River in Krakow
Castles, Ferries and Vistula River in Krakow
A building on the outskirts of Old Krakow
View of the River from a bridge
Construction of new buildings across the Vistula River
A view of Vistula River and Church
I found this hilarious...found by the River
These are locks that represent a relationship that have been put up by couples ๐
More pictures are on Facebook. But the following are the videos.
Videos
Rynek Gลรณwny (Main Square) of Old Krakow is filled with culture, restaurant and cafes. It’s rich with life and definitely among the places to see if you are visiting Krakow the first time:
After spending some time downtown, it was time to move to Blonia Park. Blonia Park is a historical area that is 48 hectres. I’d recommend you read more about it on Wiki. Here is a glimpse of Polish football fans going towards the screening of the EuroCup 2012 match between Poland and Czech Republic:
To enter Blonia Park, there was a security checkpoint to ensure the safety and security of spectators. I intentionally took this video to bring comfort to my mother’s worry:
Once I entered the park, this place was PACKED with people waiting to see Polish football players to score a goal against Czech Republic. People chanted, blew their Vuvuzelas, and sang the anthem as loudly as possible in hope that their sporty spirit will inspire the Polish players to rock the game:
After the Czech Republic and Poland match, there was a group that was conducting Modern Dancing for those who are not too fond of EuroCup. Caught the end of the program, but hardly seen much. But here is a small clip of it: