Early rise again to drive 270 kms from Wroclaw to Krakow…sustenance via sliver thin pancakes, crispy towards the edges…filled with ricotta cheese and drizzled raspberry coulis over the top. YUM!!!!!!!!!          The ancient seat of Kings and intelligentsia, Krakow evokes a magical grandeur immediately on arrival. Untouched by the fiery fate shared by most Polish cities at the end of WW2, Krakow’s centre has been largely preserved in its original form. Steeped in legend and myth from dragons under the catacombs of Wawel Castle, to Tartar hordes repelled at the gates…to pigeon-knights waiting for their King to return. It has Europe’s largest medieval market square (Rynek) and a fairy-tale castle overlooking the river (Wawel Castle). Architecturally apparently, it can match any European city arch for arch, spire, monument and gargoyle! It used to be Poland’s capital until 1596 when King Sigismund the 3rd,  moved his court to Warsaw.

Jan Matejko was a 19thC Polish painter known for painting notable historical political and miltary events, for example, “the Battle of Grunwald”.

This next incredible statue is in memory of those who died in the Battle of Grunwald (Poland and Lithuania united in fighting the Teutonic Knights in 1410).    Random photos of performance artists;  kids enjoying adults being silly;  the vibrancy and scale of the Market Square.

I signed up for a Royal Chamber Orchestra concert in the tiny 11thC St Adalbert’s Church (one the oldest stone churches in Poland. It was a very important “house of god” for the traders from all over Europe that came to the Cloth trading hall, Sukiennice, in the Market Square).

The quartet of 2 violins (lead – Kamil Skicki), viola and cello had a broad program offering – Vivaldi, Pachabel, Gerschwin, Bizet, Morricone – the acoustics were fanastic and performance enjoyed by 70 of us, tightly packed in, audience.

Some night views of the Market Square, on exiting the concert performance. A long but greatly enjoyable day!

Delicious lunch at Fiorentina Restaurant, sea bass with lentils and corn mash..and a Polish white wine ressembling Riesling.