4D3N Poland Trip: The Main Market Square of Krakow
"Everything you want is a dream away. Under this pressure, under this weight, we are diamonds taking shape."
Hello Tuesday, how are you? How I wish I can roam free on this nice day? The sky was not actually that blue in Singapore. It was more grayish like it's about to cry its heart out. Maybe it's feeling what I'm feeling everytime I have to make my walk to the office to earn some ka-ching. But you ain't go anywhere in the world without God's grace and this grace can come in the form of ka-ching so let's work with gratitude in order to travel and see the world. Hahaha.
Our adventure today continues at the historic Old Town of Krakow or also known as Stare Miasto. In the medieval age, this old town district was surrounded by 3km-long fortified wall. Times are turbulent back then (not that it's peaceful now, to be honest). We had wandered into the south part of the Old District, the Wawel Hill area where the Royal Castle and Krakow Cathedral are located in my previous post. So now, let's explore the centerpiece of the Old Town Krakow, the Main Market Square (also known locally as Rynek).
The centerpiece of the Main Market Square is dominated by the Cloth Hall (or Sukiennice) which is also home to the Gallery of the National Museum and the Underground Museum (I had no chance to visit this museum, dang!).
A lot of arts and crafts market stalls are set up in the Main Market Square too. If you go hungry and want to try out one of Krakow's street food, how about a pretzel for 150 Zloty?
A lot of well-known cafes and restaurants are located in the surrounding of the Main Market Square too. For instance, you can find Hard Rock cafe here which occupies 2 or 3 storeys of this building. Quite big feat. You can sit al-fresco too when the weather is nice.
Did I mention about arts and crafts stall earlier? You can find anything from jeweler to cloth to dragon plush toys which I suppose are inspired from the local Krakow's folklore. The dragons looks so cute and harmless in their plush toys form.
Flower market is in session too back then when I was wandering around one fine November day. Too bad it's kinda pointless to buy fresh flowers when you are travelling from one place to another. It will be too much of a hassle to bring and maintain the flowers. XD
Another famous and important landmark in the Main Market Square of Krakow is St Mary's church. The church is so tall up to the point my camera is unable to take a shot of its full height. You can come in and climb the church's tower but you would have to pay a fee, I think.
Okay, here comes the top part of St Mary's church which has twin asymmetrical towers. From the higher tower, Hejnal, Krakow's signature tune is played by volunteer trumpeters from Krakow's fire brigade on the hour, every hour. Some travel website said that if you wave at him, he will wave back but I did not get a chance to wave at him during my trip. Too bad. Hahaha.
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