The frugal traveler: Krakow, Poland

Hi everyone,

Everyone should take a second Christmas in Poland! Since they leave their Christmas decorations up longer than other parts of Europe and fares are inexpensive in January, why not consider Krakow? Once the Polish centre of government, Krakow has much diversity for the frugal tourist. We toured the royal palaces, investigated the Jewish area of towne, took a day trip to a centre of prayer and adoration. Others we spoke to were provoked by a visit to Auschwitz and in seeing the relatively unchanged communist designed communities. Due to the low cost of tickets on Ryan air, Margies' finding us the Rainbow house small apartment, and our preplanning, the entire trip for both of us was less that €1,000.

No where are you likely to find more friendly people. Several times during our trip Polish people started up a conversation with me - in Polish! It felt wonderful and welcoming, inclusive and genuine - even if I was only guessing at what they were saying.

Poland, along with most of Eastern Europe has been struggling to achieve financial independence and move from being a new member of the European Union to be solvent enough to use the Euro. What this translates to is that while much of Krakow is grey and somewhat run down, much of its previous grandeur is aparent. The tour book we were using called the Kazimierz district (the old Jewish district prior to the Nazi devastation of WWII) "delapedated chic". Indeed, I felt that this could be said about much of the central area of town. As an example, going into our apartment we had a hallway with peeling paint and wooden stairs that were curved in the middle from wear. Once we reached the apartment we had a cheery and recently redone interior that was more than adequate for our needs.

Margie and I kept our costs down (due to the ever shrinking dollar) by bringing along Irish Museli, instant coffee, tea and Chinese noodles . With the addition of milk, a few veggies and some fresh mozarella cheese we had both breakfast and dinner handled. This allowed us to splurg a bit, such as on the restaurant above. Called "Once upon a time" it is at the corner of the large square which houses the oldest synagogue in the city, its cemetary and many wonderful little cafe's. We found it a fabulous place to rub elbows with history as we enjoyed fabulous food.

Well dear friends, our week was magnificent - with many stories (an more picture) to show and tell - but those I will leave for another day as we also returned home to lots of work to catch up on. I look forward to telling you about Czechtova and the glorius cathedral with the black madonna - one of the most direct experiences of the beauty of active faith that I have experienced.

Lots of love to all,
Alana