Our five-star hotel, Hotel Polski Pod Bialym Orlem, was well located in the Old Town of Krakow right at in front of the Brama Florenska, a 14th century Gothic watch tower with a statue of Pan in front and a sidewalk art gallery with manufactured paintings for sale. This allowed us to explore the area leisurely over the two days that we had time.
Florianska is a pedestrian street filled with restaurants, shops, ice cream, and bizarre tourist attractions like the Museum of Torture! (No, we didn't go.) It was also filled with tourists and local alike and maniacs on bicycles that swerved around us, frighteningly so at times. We had a sampling of a local cherry drink at Pijana Wisnia. It was a bit sweet but good, a little like the old Cherry Heering my father used to drink.
The main square was populated with a Renaissance-style market arcade with various Polish souvenirs and a 19th century Polish art museum, Sukiennice. Children were delighted with the pigeons that were as numerous as those in St. Mark's Square in Venice.
Our local representative from JayWay Travel, Adam, set us up with a tasting at a distillery, Miodula, which makes their alcohol and liqueurs from old traditional recipes. We assumed it would be similar to tasting we had done at home, but by the time we finished about 2 hours later we had tasted 14 different drinks from their best know Staropolska, a honey vodka, to the horseradish vodka, that after smelling it, I didn't want to give it a try. By then I don't think I could have had any more. After the tasting we both created our own drink with a moonshine base. She gave us about 10 ingredients from which we can use to add flavor. I remember adding honey, cloves, huckleberry, and a couple of other ingredients I can't remember. I am going to attempt to get it home. (She said the longer it sits the better it will be.) If you are reading this and want to taste it send me a text and we will have a tasting party. There is no guarantee it will be drinkable.
On our last day in Krakow we visited the Wawal Royal Castle and the famous dragon that breathes fire about every three or four minutes. Tired of guided tours, we decided to explore it on our own and with the help someone at the ticket booth we chose a ticket that included the treasury, various rooms in the castle, and the gardens. The castle was the residence of the kings of Poland and the symbol of Polish statehood. Today it is a museum that contains various artifacts, furniture, and decoration as well as hundreds of years of painting, prints, porcelain, and armor. They also had an exhibit of Turkish tapestries.
The beautiful Royal Gardens were also decorated temporarily with metal statues of people, mostly men with a few women and winged horses. The gardens also offered beautiful views of the city below. After strolling through the gardens and taking numerous photos, we set out to find the famous Wawel Dragon. It wasn't easy, but we finally realized we had to follow a path around the castle and down to the Vistula River. Once we reached the water we just had to follow the crowd. The dragon is from Polish mythology that is said to have lived in a cave under Wawal Hill before the city of Krakow was founded. I knew Ari might like to see the fire-breathing dragon, so I took a video to send him. On the way back to our hotel we passed an alcohol-free frozen mojito which was just the thing to gain enough energy to make our way back in the heat.
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