Krakow, December 2017

Anyone who knows me well knows that Christmas is my favourite time of year, so it would probably come as a shock to learn that this was my first Christmas market trip abroad! Of course, I absolutely loved it and it's safe to say it won't be my last. (Next on the Christmas travel list is somewhere in Germany – recommendations welcome!) My friends and I decided we would stay a couple of nights in Krakow and then get an overnight train to Prague to continue the Christmas celebrations in another new city and, despite having a pretty horrendous cold whilst I was there, (typical) it was an awesome trip.

 

Our first stop, Krakow, had a lovely cosy feel and even though the Christmas market in the main square seemed quite small, it was brilliant. The market was filled with lots of interesting stalls, along with amazing mulled wine, and as everything was such good value I ended up buying quite a few Christmassy things to decorate the flat with... I'm already excited to get those out again next year! 

The main square itself was very pretty and had loads of nice restaurants and bars around the edge, most of which had nice outdoor areas kept warm with heaters. Food-wise, there appeared to be quite a lot of Italian choices for some reason but we avoided these and tried to find as much traditional food as possible. In my opinion, the perogies were the highlight and most places had a vegetarian filling of these along with a few different meat choices. In the Christmas market and also in a few restaurants, you could also get a smoked cheese dish called Oscypki. Soup wise the vegetarian favourite was beetroot soup which, although I tried, I can't say it's a favourite. If you have a sweet tooth, make sure you try the rose flavour filled warm doughnuts that you can buy from little hatches around the streets off the main square. They are the best things I have ever tasted, and I genuinely regret that I only managed to eat one during our time there!

On one of our full days in Krakow, we booked a full day tour to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Wieliczka salt mine. It was an extremely long day trip, and an emotional one at that, so if you have more time than us I would recommend doing the two things separately. I can't even put into words how upsetting the guided tour around Auschwitz-Birkenau was, as I'm sure you can imagine, but I hope that an educational experience like this can, in turn, prevent history repeating itself. 

The Wieliczka salt mine is a UNESCO world heritage site and was unlike anything I had seen before. By far the most impressive part of the tour is the chapel, which really is stunning, see photos below.

To continue the sightseeing on our last day we walked around Krakow castle and cathedral in the snow. The inside of the cathedral was beautiful but unfortunately, no photography was allowed so you'll need to go on your own trip to see it in its full glory. We also managed to explore a little part of the Jewish quarter before having to find shelter from the cold weather. I think when I get the chance to visit again I'll need to make sure to plan in more time for wandering around this area.