Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 5 and 6): Krakow, Poland
The whole of day 5 is actually wholly spent on commuting by bus from Prague to Krakow. The distance from Prague to Krakow can be covered within 6 hours but there is a mandatory rest period required for the bus and the bus driver and non-compliance can result in a huge amount of penalty for the driver and ultimately, the tour guide, because the driver usually will not have enough cash to pay for the fine in the event of random police check along the way. The EU regulator is pretty strict on this driving hours so better be safe than sorry. With that being said, my travel story effectively only continued on day 6 in the city of Krakow in Poland. I started the day by visiting Wawel Royal Castle complex. The tour bus passed by the longest river in Krakow, Vistula, while making the way toward the castle complex.
Similar to setting of the royal castles in other European countries, Wawel Royal Castle is located in the old town district of Krakow. This means that a bit of walking if required because the bus can only bring us to certain proximity. The drop off point was near to a castle somewhere downhill. I don’t mind a bit of walking especially I did not have the chance to walk at all the day before.
After walking for 5 to 8 minutes away from the drop off point, I reached the vantage point to view Vistula River. The river runs through various different cities in Poland like Krakow, Warsawa, Plock, Tczew, etc. There is a park and walking path at the riverbank. I believe this makes a one beautiful spot for running or taking an evening stroll in Krakow. The Vistula River is also functioning as a source of irrigation for the country and it is also called the “Queen of Polish Rivers”. It gathers waters from the southern mountains near Krakow and stretches them peacefully over a thousand kilometres to the Baltic Sea in the far north at Gdansk. While the river looks calm and harmless from the picture, it created a havoc of flooding back in the year 2010. I suppose nature can be harmful at times in this fallen earth.
There is one particular interesting statue built at one section of the riverbank. It is the statue of Wawel Dragon, a famous mythical dragon from Polish mythology who live in a cave at the foot of Wawel Hill. The dragon was actually a very bad dragon which likes to destroy houses and eat up the villagers’ young daughters. Yikes, really one heck of a creepy dragon. Thankfully, this Polish mythology ended up in a happy ending as a brave cobbler managed to kill the dragon by feeding it lamb stuffed with sulphur. Once the dragon got thirsty, it filled itself with the water from the river and died from explosion. Turns out you don’t have to use any weapon at all to kill a dragon in this story.
Despite the interesting story of Vistula river and the Wawel dragon, the main attraction of Krakow is definitely Wawel Castle, which is perched on top of the hill of the same name at the south of the Old Town. The castle is the symbol of national pride, hope, and patriotism. It is even described somewhere in the tourist book as a uniquely Polish version of the British Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey rolled into one (I do think both palace painted in different colors though so I kinda doubt the resemblance, but anyway). The construction of the castle was heavily influenced by the Romanesque, Renaissance and Gothic architecture dating from around the 14th century onwards. A full tour of Wawel Castle can take an entire day so do gauge your timing carefully if you want to include a complete tour of the castle in your itinerary. Being in a tour, obviously I only had the chance to admire the castle from outside. Sadz.
If you’d like to purchase tickets for the exhibitions inside the royal castle, you need to go to the main ticket office at the Visitor Centre. The Visitor Centre fills the entire ground floor building no. 9, a nice building constructed in the second half of the 19th century. The building looks so pretty with the red leaves all over the wall.
Tickets for the exhibition in the Castle is very popular with the tourists, and they are only sold at limited number per day for specific entrance times (sounds like Disneysea’s Fastpass?). If you are coming in a group, advance reservation is required. The main ticket office opens at these timings:-
April 1 - 28: Mon 9am - 11.45am, Tue to Fri 9am - 3.45pm, Sat and Sun 9.30am to 3.45pm
April 29 - 30: Mon 9.30am - 6.45pm
May - June: Daily 9am - 5.45pm (Sat and Sun 9.30am - 5.45pm)
July - August: Daily 9am - 6pm (Sat and Sun 9.30am - 6pm)
September - October: Daily 9am - 4.45pm (Sat and Sun 9.30am - 4.45pm)
November - March: Tue to Sun 9am - 2.45pm (Sun 9.30am - 2.45pm), Mon closed