ok..i havent been blogging since the last 2 weeks and finally there is some time to finish up this piece on my krakow trip.
The part of the old town
the famous fire blowing dragon. According to SW, it suppose to breath fire during summer
around Krakow
view from the castle
the old town during day and night
well, the trip is supposed to be a reunion with SW since I last saw her during my europe trip in June 2008. It was definately great to be able to travel with her this time after just a short stint in Berlin. Now back to the trip, we managed to book a cheap and really nice hostel in Krakow and it was actually the best hostel I stayed so far with such a luxurius bathroom..even better thn hotel!
one of the castle courtyard
one of churches
the castle
inside the castle
I was greeted by snow when I touched down in Krakow Balice airport. Flew there using easyjet, the flight took bout 2 hours. I was asked quite a lot of questions by the immigration officer..they probably think that this girl is trying to sneak into Krakow and work as something not appropriate. After about 20 mins of 'interogation', I was finnaly 'released' and able to take the bus to the train station. I got a bit shocked when I saw the station as it was not exactly a station but more like just a stop..like those komuter back in Malaysia with the sign Labu, Tiroi etc..weird
Paid about 6 zloty for the train trip to the city center and met with this brother and sister from Australia but studying in the same university as me. They were kind of shocked to see the train 'station' as well. SW picked me up from the station and we went straight to the hostel after she kept telling me how nice it looks.
By the time we reached the hostel and start the sightseeing it's already around 2pm. Had some polish food for lunch in the shopping complex. The shopping complex in Krakow reminds me of Malaysia Mid Valley. We went to the Krakow castle and see the famous dragon. Met with some Malaysians studying in Kiev and they took pictures with us. But other than them, it's reall a rare scene to see any Asians. At night we went out for some food and night photos. The temperature was minus 13 or 14 Celcius and I was wearing like 4 layers of clothes..all thick one..look more like a penguin than a human!
The second day we decided to go to Ojcow National Park since SW has been to the nazi camp. The place was beautiful but transportation is really scarce. We were stranded in the park and trying to get some warmth from a hotel where a kind old man let us in. He couldnt communicate in English, so we just sat near the heater and ate our muffins as lunch...sad..
After that, the old man managed to get hold of the park's boss and he speak quite decent English. He told us that there is a bus going to some town where we can catch another bus back to Krakow from there. We managed to get back and even slept for a few hours before going out for dinner. This time we just went to the kebab shop opposite our hostel and order some pierogi (polish dumplings)..but the nicest thing is the chilli sauce that we had. It was so nice we decided to go back the next night but it was sold out..
the third day, we went to Zakopane, a skiing town about 3 hours away from Krakow. From here I managed to catch a glimpse of the famous Carpathians mountain..famous for the home of Dracula..:)
The scenery is simply breathtaking!
The next day I flew back to Edinburgh and meet with SW 2 weeks from later for another adventure in Stockholm