I was signed up to present my work at the 2nd European conference on probiotics and their applications (Euprobio 2008)
The Conference was based in Krakow, Poland and it provided Rosa and me with a good opportunity to visit Poland.
Moreover, as the university would be meeting my conference costs, it was also a discounted holiday opportunity for us.
We still had to get a visa for entry into Poland and it proved to be a nightmarish experience. To cut the story short, we ended up getting the visa a day before I was to leave! That doesn't speak very high for Polish efficiency!
Passport control prior to entry into this former communist nation was no better, I spent a few tense moments as the immigration officers spent loads of time trying to work out how to clear my passport.I dont think they receive too many Indians there!
However, once out of the airport the city was more welcoming. My hotel turned out to be fairly basic but clean enough. However, I soon worked out that even though English was the most popular foreign language in Poland, hardly anyone could speak English! To make matters worse, all the shops and signs were marked in Polish alone making it quite hard for the non-polish speaking tourist to find his way around.
Before the start of the conference, I had a bit of time and I decided to explore the town. I noticed that Krakow was largely a touristy place and there were a lot of shops and souvenirs aimed at the tourist.
However, the shop at every street corner sold a local produce - bread! different types of it which was mostly consumed by the locals as a snack. These shops are a feature of the Polish streetscape.
There were a lot of currency exchange places too, which offered exchange from all the major currencies including Euros, Pounds and Dollars into the local Zloty currency. I didn't expect to find a member of the European union still using its own currency.
There were a lot of street vendors, some selling their skills
and others their wares...
The Polish seem to love their flowers and we did come across a lot of them on sale in Krakow.
The city is set with all the major tourist attractions built in the centre and the rest of the buildings built around it. Right in the heart of the centre is the famous "cloth market" which incidentally doesn't sell cloth, but is aimed at the tourist.
around the cloth market is a large flower market selling a variety of beautiful flowers, which I would guess originates from all over Europe.
Pigeons are abundant in the centre and like a lot of other major European cities and feeding them is an attraction.
Although we chose to walk, there are many options to tour the city depending on how much you are willing to pay.
a horse driven carriage is one of the more majestic options...
but for the more modern minded tourist, there are also motorised golf carts.
Bicycle hire is another option too.
the city shops in itself are vibrant selling a wide variety of products, most of which are a lot cheaper than the rest of Europe.
Trams are common as buses and trains and public transport within the city is well developed.
An interesting feature to note on the streets of Krakow was the presence of numerous Kebab shops . These seem to have caught on as a popular fast food in Poland.
However, the international fast food giants are never far anywhere in the world, and offers a safe option for a confused tourist who doesn't understand any other language! (read as - me!)
I got some opportunities to try out Polish food at the conference venue and I must say it isn't too bad, although the Polish are notorious for including a lot of cabbage in their food! A popular food item is a kind of dumpling - pierogi stuffed with anything from cabbage to meat to strawberries.
On the second night I met a Polish friend at the conference and we went out for dinner to what seemed to be an authentic Polish restaurant.
For starters we were served with pig fat! just plain pig fat to spread on bread and eat with salt...I thought the Polish were more imaginative than that!
However, the meal I ordered turned out to be better but not exceptional..
My friend later told me that it was not really authentic Polish food and that the restaurant was mainly geared towards the tourist.
Rosa wasn't able to join me until the weekend as she had classes to attend. When she finally came over, we once again faced delays at immigration.They even wanted to speak with me and see my passport again..inspite of it being the same officer who originally supervised my entry!
Rosa immediately found the urge to try out some of the Polish bread based delicacies on offer on our way back from the airport.
While the preceding days were rainy and dull, Rosa's arrival brought the sunshine with her and it remained so until we left.
However, the temperatures continued to drop and it did get a fair bit cold in Poland during our stay.
Once she came over we went about exploring the city centre and its offerings:
with prices aimed at the tourist, but converted into zlotys it did get a bit confusing working out weather an item was actually cheap or expensive compared with England.
We decided to leg it out and see most of the city on our first day.
One of the things we had to try out was the local bread. We went for the first type that caught our attention and it turned out to be nice and sweet.
however, the second time we bought bread it turned out to be an outrageously salty variety.
besides bread, locally produced cheese was also on sale.We gave it a try but it turned out to be an immature type, more like the taste of Paneer!
The city is remarkably intact for a nation which has been repeatedly conquered by the Austrians, Scandinavians, Russians and Germans at various points of time.
There is still construction and renovation happening in the historical buildings.
..and unlike some other nations, seem to have a skill at mixing the old with the new.
Notice in the below building that the windows are not real windows but a part of an advertisement boarding.
A sunny weekend in the city brought with it the amusements ...these statue like objects are actually live people
while some..like the ones below specialise in standing still, the one above preferred to scare little children and Rosa!.
However, she found this mime artist particularly amusing.....
...as he jocularly went about mocking his donors and the crowd, without uttering a word.
One of the most remarkable sights in Krakow is the St. Mary's Basilica. It stands as an unmistakable structure in the central square
on its doors are the figures of what looks like popes to me and saints to Rosa...
either way, they were impressive enough to attract our attention.
What we saw inside the church truly took our breath away. This surely must rank among the most beautiful church interiors in the world. Unfortunately photography was not permitted inside, but as this not so great image from wikipedia shows, the stained glass and carved wooden altar, along with the roof and wall paintings are nothing short of spectacular!
in addition, every hour, one of the many windows of the church steeple opens and a trumpeter plays from it...the tune is captivating but breaks off midway to commemorate a trumpeter who was shot in the throat when sounding the alarm during an invasion of the city.
at the centre is a statue dedicated to a Polish Romantic poet. This statue was destroyed by the Nazis during the 2nd world war but most of the figures were later recovered from scrap markets and restored.
Rosa found a stall selling crochet material ...
...and takes a good look at Polish crochet skills.
I must mention that during our stay in Krakow, we were stared at a lot by the locals there.
I wasn't sure if that was because they haven't seen many Asians around or if we just made an exceptionally good couple!
we decided to try the polish Kebab for lunch and wandered into the first stall where a very Asian looking guy asked us where we were from...It turned out that he was from Pakistan ! A streak of adventure led to him coming to Poland and learning polish. He is well established there now.
Our next destination was the Archbishops palace which was Pope John Paul II's last residence prior to leaving for the vatican.
In the above photos you can see the "papal window", from which he used to meet the crowds.
Inside the courtyard is a statue of the Pope and a guestbook, which Rosa is signing below.
Also on display inside are photographs of his life, including his visit to India.
Below, Rosa checks out a Polish wedding:
We then headed out to the Wawel Hill, which houses an architectural complex that includes among others
the Wavwel castle, where the Kings of Poland were coronated.
Wavel was also the centre of political and Christian power in Poland for a long time.
The hill has history dating back from the prehistoric times and its buildings range from the 9th century to the 20th century.
The hill and the castle are situated on the banks of the Vistula river , which is quite a scenic sight.
It was getting quite dark by the time we got half way past the walk on the Vistula river and we had the opportunity to take in the sun set in the horizon.
Before bidiing farewell to the Wawel hill, we realised we still had one important landmark to visit
- The Wawel Dragon! The dragon is a character from Polish folklore. It supposedly lived during the time of the founding king of Krakow - King Krakus. Apparently the dragon was a dreaded one which could only be appeased by eating young virgins.
It ate every girl in the village and when only one -the kings daughter was left, the king offered her hand in return to anyone who could kill the dragon. Many tried and failed. Finally a cobbler stuffed a lamb with sulphur and offered it to the dragon who after eating it became insatiably thirsty and exploded!
We soon returned to the city centre where the city had grown to become even more beautiful by night
We still had to have dinner and went about looking for a restaurant offering polish food.
After roaming half the city we finally settled on one which although not offering genuine polish cuisine, offered us a dinner worth remembering.
After an exhausting but enjoyable day of Krakow watching we headed back to our hotel to retire for the night. On the next day we planned to head to the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine, but that would have to wait for another post.
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