A Staycation in Kraków!

Spending Two Weeks In Southern Poland

After spending several weeks enjoying the Mediterranean lifestyle, it was time for a change of surroundings.

Something that will never cease to amaze me about Europe is how you can transport yourself to wildly different surroundings with only 2 or 3 hours on a plane!

We had visited 18 countries at this point, but there was still one massive gap in our European resume.

Polska! 🇵🇱

We both had Poland towards the top of our wishlists all year, and we were absolutely ecstatic that we were finally getting the opportunity to cross it off.

The biggest hurdle in the meantime was the lack of flight connections from Tirana, Albania to Kraków, Poland.

We ended up having to connect through Venice Treviso Airport, which is the secondary airport in Venice. Oddly enough, the only way to book this indirect route was by booking the two flights separately.

Despite a little anxiety about transferring our own luggage between the flights, we made it to Kraków later that evening with all of our belongings in tow.

We settled in for one of our longest stays since the beginning of the year!

If you remember, our original plan for the year was to spend an entire month in 12 different countries.

After our first 2 months, we realized that there was so much to see and not enough time for the monthly plan. We would have ended up sacrificing the opportunity to visit a lot of amazing places.

With that said, we really enjoyed our month-long stays in London, Bucharest, and Madrid. We quite literally lived in these cities!

We had enough time to assimilate into the lifestyle and get familiar with our surroundings. We developed favorite neighborhoods, bars, restaurants and walking routes.

As humans, we all have a built-in reflex to adjust and adapt to new surroundings and environments. I think we all probably noticed this a little bit during the COVID lockdowns.

Day-to-day life became drastically different in an instant, but we all found ways to find a “new normal” and continue to go about our lives.

This is something that Sidney and I have had to do countless times this year, and we have learned a lot in the process! One thing that has been pretty clear is that we digest so much more of the local culture by staying for a week or longer.

Since we had been hopping to a new location every few days for almost 2 straight months, we decided it was best to make Poland a longer term stay.

This way, we would have time to get quality videos filmed, get some editing done, and maybe even have a little time to ourselves to enjoy Polish life!

We ended up spending most of October in Poland, and almost 2 full weeks in Kraków.

We truly could not have picked a better time of the year to visit. We could just feel the spirit of Fall in the air.

The leaves were changing, we had plenty of blue skies, and the sweater weather was a perfect change of pace from the Mediterranean heat.

It took maybe half a day for Kraków to officially become one of our favorite stops of the entire year!

I feel like I say this a lot. But let me be clear, Kraków was unquestionably in the top tier of each of our rankings.

It was just exactly where we needed to be at that moment!

The European charm extended to every corner of the city we visited. The buildings were magnificently unique, and the Fall colors added so much to the overall aesthetic.

We were also big fans of Polish food, which became a major factor in our affection for life in Kraków!

The city was big enough to discover something new every day, but also small enough to see everything without having to rush through it.

Kraków is the 2nd largest city in Poland behind Warsaw. It is located in the south of the country, about 2 hours north of Slovakia and 3 hours west of Ukraine.

It was definitely the closest we had been to Ukraine since our time in Slovakia back in March.

While we did encounter some refugees and demonstrations from Ukrainian citizens in the city center, we were actually quite taken aback at how normal life in Kraków was.

Lviv, Ukraine was literally a 3 hour train ride away from us, and yet, all seemed calm.

The one thing we did notice is that there were Ukrainian flags on almost every building along with the Polish flag. The support for their neighboring country was made quite clear, which is no surprise considering the brutal history between Poland and Russia.

Polish heritage is celebrated in countless ways within Kraków. We were particularly impressed by the medieval influence of not only the architectural style, but also the city’s layout!

The entire old town of Kraków is encircled by a green space known as Planty Park. This became a staple of our daily walking routes.

It is one of the most unique shapes for a park I have ever seen! No matter where you enter the old town, you will take a brief walk through Planty.

This is where the Fall leaves really made their presence known. Walking around the perimeter of the old town was always a fun way to start the day!

The reason the park surrounds the city center is because it was originally a moat to protect the settlement from invading Mongol tribes.

Once you pass through Planty Park, there is plenty to see within the predominantly pedestrian streets of the old town, or “Stare Miasto” in Polish.

The main square of Kraków is the crowning jewel of the city. It is actually the largest square in all of Europe!

The cornerstone of this beautiful plaza is the imposing tower of St. Mary’s Church.

This massive 14th century basilica can be seen from all of the winding streets that branch off from the square.

While everything is quite easy to find within the Stare Miasto, one street that absolutely can’t be missed is the “Florianska”.

This pedestrian corridor is jam-packed with vodka bars and traditional Polish eats on either side. The tower of St. Mary’s is perfectly framed on one end, and the ancient Barbican gate flanks the other side.

Perfect execution of architectural design!

Alright, lets talk about this food I keep hinting at.

Polish cuisine is very hearty, and mostly consists of roasted meats, sausages, and potatoes.

However, two of my favorite Polish dishes had little to no meat involved.

The potato pancake, or Plački in Polish, was an unrivaled delicacy!

The complimentary pairing of potatoes, onions, and garlic all mixed together and pan-fried to golden perfection was one of our favorite ways to treat ourselves!

A side of mushrooms never hurt either!

While many plačkis were had and enjoyed, the champion of both of our Polish food rankings was unquestionably the pierogi.

Pierogis are soft, boiled dumplings with a variety of different filling options. These are a MUST while visiting Kraków, and you will have absolutely no trouble finding them!

We tried many different fillings during our stay. The most traditionally Polish style includes a tangy cottage cheese-based mixture. However, we also tried mushroom, sauerkraut, beef and onion, wild boar, and even blueberries!

You can’t go wrong, and the best move in our opinion is to order a mixed platter and compare them all.

When it comes to the savory pierogis, the ONLY way to enjoy them is with fried onions on top and a side of sour cream for dipping.

There are countless other Polish specialties to try, but one of our favorites in the street food category was the “zapiekanka”, an open-faced toasted sandwich with just about any topping of your choice!

The Jewish Quarter had an entire outdoor food court dedicated to zapiekanka! Over 20 different vendors all serve their own version of the Polish food that is meant to be enjoyed on-the-go.

Walking through the Jewish Quarter was another highlight of our time in Kraków. Some of the most rowdy bars and trendiest restaurants are in this area, and they are generally a lot more affordable than anything around the square.

With that said, Kraków is an incredibly affordable city in general!

In fact, we decided it was by far the best value of any place we have visited this year!

While we have been to a few places that are slightly cheaper, none of them offered the incredible views, delicious cuisine, and variety of activities available in Kraków.

It is truly a Western European city with Eastern European cost of living!

I could go on forever about Kraków and all of the highlights of our time there, but I am once again flirting with the email length limit.

We will definitely revisit some of the highlights of the entire year after all of the newsletters are released, so I can guarantee you will hear more about Kraków in the not-too-distant future!

This is the last newsletter I am going to release until after the holidays. I hope everyone has a very enjoyable holiday season with friends and family!

I will see you again in 2023. There is still plenty to catch up on, and I look forward to sharing it all with you!

Merry Christmas 🎄