The Craic on Krakow.....

Krakow is a whole load of everything rolled up into one compact city which is good news for worn out walking feet. We really enjoyed hanging out there for a few days... lots of eating pierogi, zapiekankas and kebabs. We were introduced to zapiekankas the first night when we rolled into the city late and went in search of something to eat. In the Jewish quarter we found a square whose sides were lined with bars and in the centre of the square was a series of window hatches selling cheap food of the "lining the stomach" variety. Zapiekankas .. toasted french bread rolls with pizza topping and a trade mark squiggle of ketchup replaces the ice-cream phenomena that we've seen elsewhere. It's worth saying that we've got to the stage where we are dying for a spicy Chinese. There's been a couple of instances where we've loitered outside the window of a Chinese restaurant peering in to see if there are real Chinese cooking the food. I'm pretty sure the irony will come back to bite us in a couple of months when we are in the middle of china crying out for a pizza!



Krakow's old walled town houses the 2nd largest square in the world (or so it claims) and is overlooked by a castle and cathedral. The old town is magnificently restored and has achieved a lovely balance of having all the chain shops most European capitals have without ruining the old feel and charm of the city. A tasteful golden arches is always a welcome sign.... We spent a couple of days checking out the old town's small streets, taking in the views from the castle, visiting the little markets and generally soaking up the Krakow laid back atmosphere.



After four nights in one place the Krakow dorm room (with the creakiest beds in the world) began to feel like a home. We'd seen people come and go in all of the other beds in the room and I fear we started to get territorial over who "owned" the table and how much space everyone else was entitled to on "our" clothes horse. I caught myself straightening up the beds and picking stray bits of paper from from floor. A sure sign that it was time to move!


So taking stock so far - we're a month on the road and still enjoying it. Despite some long journeys we haven't reached for the iPods or books just yet which has surprised us both. Our approach was to ease ourselves into the travelling rather than burning out too much at the start. We seem to be almost too good at the taking it easy ...excluding the compulsory frantic last minute sprints for trains! Over the last few stops there are less and less people on holidays and more people doing longer trips like ourselves so we're picking up lots of tips for future destinations. Hostels full of long haul travellers tend to very social places so there are plenty of laughs, stories and good times along the way.