Pierogis and Pisankis March 6, 2018
"The beast from the east", as the NY Times has dubbed the winter weather here in Europe, is aptly named, as far as we're concerned! It's cold!! Last week the Times reported that one recent day the recorded temps in this area were actually colder than those at the North Pole. Yikes! Hot mulled wine has become my new friend. Even with a second pair of gloves worn atop my first pair, my hands survive only if I keep them up balled up inside my pockets. Of course, I can't keep them there for long, not when there are photo op's. Older women wearing fur coats are a common sight. Young folks swathe themselves in long scarves, wrapped multiple times around the neck. Ah, well, Sunday was a bit warmer, with families out walking on a rare sunny day. Monday, our day to leave town, promised to be balmy, with temps predicted to be in the 40's. We spent the day on a bus traveling back to Prague - with gray skies following us!
Despite the frigid temps, we have enjoyed Krakow a lot! It's a beautiful old, old city, almost fairy tale-like, with its historic buildings left intact after a troubled history in this part of the world. ("Troubled history" is an understatement.)
Located in the southern part of Poland, not far from the Slovakian border, Krakow was the capital of Poland prior to the 1600's. It's been a stop on the trade route from the east for a thousand years. While Poland, like Hungary, is oriented to the west now, I think it's fair to say that it has been influenced by its proximity to Moscow and the Ukraine.
Long a center of culture and learning, the city is home to Jagiellonian University, which was founded in 1364, making it one of the oldest surviving universities in the world. The current 50,000 member student body brings a liveliness to the city. One of our favorite tours was of the Collegium Maius, the oldest building at the university. We had originally ducked into the courtyard just to see the medieval timepiece show of wooden figures that pop out of a window and parade across to another window - on every odd hour. Then we discovered the warm gift shop! We ended up with a tour of the building, along with 3 other hardy souls. Two of them were friends, a Pole and a Japanese, on a quirky adventure, chasing Chopin. They had come to see a temporary display highlighting the relationship between Chopin and his female Scots benefactor, Jane Stirling. The official tour focused on one of the university's most famous alums, Copernicus. We saw his scientific equipment and also the first globe to ever depict the American continent (in 1510)!
Being the smallest of the three cities that we've visited, Krakow is easy to get around on foot. Everything begins with the Old Town, where the fabulous plaza, called the Rynek, is ringed by gorgeous old buildings.
On our first day in town, we toured the underground excavations under the Rynek. At home in Maine, sister-in-law Monika, a Polish native, had arranged tickets for us, along with a personal guide! It was pretty amazing to see the remains of medieval Krakow life, unearthed directly below the busy plaza, including 500-year-old artifacts, such as pottery shards, gold rings, weights, leather shoes, even fragile pieces of fabric. Outside, up on the present day Rynek, all the typical signs of a vibrant 2018 city are on display: speakers, hawkers, picturesque horse & carriages, tourists, students, and more.
One of the main attractions on the plaza is St. Mary's Basilica. From its tower, the hejnal is played every hour. Legend has it that a trumpeter was in the process of alerting the townsfolk to an imminent attack by the Mongols - in the 1200's - when he was shot in the throat by an arrow, abruptly stopping his musical warning. In remembrance, a live trumpeter plays the same tune, the hejnal, every hour, 24 hours a day! stopping at the same place in the song. I had learned about this tradition through reading The Trumpeter of Krakow, a delightful Young Adult book, written by an American, Eric Kelly, who had lived in Poland (and, coincidentally, retired to Chebeague Island, off the coast of Portland, Maine :).
Bookended with the tour of the Underground Rynek, on our last day in Krakow, we visited the Ethnographic Museum, which is much more interesting than the name would suggest - especially for me :). Even Bruce, my anti-museum guy, was impressed by the reconstructed country houses from the last century. A typical old, one-room school, complete with a massive tiled stove, reaching from floor to ceiling, and a photo on the wall of the king, along with a crucifix, and fancy traditional cut-paper window decor, called to me.
An astonishingly large display of mannequins wearing typical folk outfits from the various regions of Poland stretched the length of a long room. It was colorful and charming with embroidered vests, flowery headpieces, and white blouses on the women, and hunter's caps, white wool pants, and dark cloaks featuring decorative buttons on the men.
I loved the temporary spring display of intricately decorated Easter eggs - pisankis - a special Polish folk art that I had forgotten about. In retrospect, there was little commercialism in Krakow around the approaching Easter holiday, as we've seen in Western European cities.
Like Prague and Budapest, Krakow has a Jewish town, Kazimierz, where Jews have lived for hundreds of years. In fact, over the centuries, Kazimierz was a destination for Jews fleeing from all over Europe. The ghetto that was created by the Nazi across the Vistula River is where Schindler's factory was located. Nowadays, several synagogues can be seen in Kazimierz, along with a lively resto scene, many featuring Jewish food and klezmer music, as well as galleries and bars, etc., similar to Budapest.
We chose to visit the Galicia Jewish Museum, housed in an old factory, which tells the story of Polish Jews in a new way. Under the creative direction of two Brits, a photographer and a social anthropologist, photographs of Jewish sites in cities and small villages, now mostly forgotten and abandoned, are displayed with stories about the rich culture that has been lost. It evokes sadness at this loss and at the horrific events that led to it. The good news is that Jewish life in Poland is making a steady comeback. Coincidentally, an American man heads up the Jewish Community Center here. We know that, because he wrote a letter in the NY Times last week, regarding Poland's current situation in relation to Jews. He was hopeful, which is encouraging.
On that note, Bruce has written a piece about our trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a difficult day but one that, after much internal struggle, I finally decided to undertake. I'm glad now that I could witness and pay homage to the victims by my simple presence.
By contrast, the St. Francis Basilica was an unexpectedly happy venue. I had wanted to see the stained glass windows by the acclaimed art nouveau artist, Stanislaw Wyspianski. The windows were lovely, but I was totally taken aback by the incredibly gorgeous painted walls and ceilings! A starry sapphire blue sky looked down on walls of sunflowers and pansies and colorful designs. Everywhere that I turned, another visual delight awaited. The National Museum has more of this amazing artist's work, mostly pastels, and I ventured off on my own one day for a look at them. In writing this blog piece, I learned that Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a young monk at St. Francis Basilica. With a nearby church at home bearing his name, we had been moved when we were reacquainted with his story of sacrifice during our tour of Auschwitz, where he died.
Speaking of religion, I have been surprised to see men in brown robes and women in habits - and they are young! Of course, this is the city where beloved Pope John Paul served before he became Pope. The church still seems to play a strong role in the life of the Polish people.
Pickle soup, sour rye soup, mushroom soup in a bread bowl, brilliantly colored and flavored clear beet soup, grilled Polish sauage, potato pancakes with sour cream, boiled potatoes with dill and butter, stuffed cabbage rolls, doughnuts, street pretzels - and pierogis, pierogis, pierogis, those lovely little stuffed pasta turnovers (referred to here as dumplings)! Kinda skimpy on fresh fruit and green salad but such a delicious food heritage, especially for cold weather!
We stumbled upon a resto, Morskie Oko, serving delicious food and meeting all of our other requirements, too - cozy setting with candles, a fireplace sending off warm waves of heat, and fiddle music - all in a folkloric setting featuring typical lace tablecloths, sturdy wooden furniture, & mountain village artifacts. We visited 3 times in our week in Krakow. One day we even had a young waiter give us a 10 minute lesson in Polish pronunciation and spelling ("orthography", as he called it)! http://www.morskieoko.krakow.pl/
We have learned a lot about Poland during our seven days in the charming city of Krakow. With Monika, Tomek, and Marek as part of our family, this city and nation hold a special fondness for us.
We are now on an indirect pathway to South Africa, via Prague & London. As the Senior Nomads note, what do we have, if not time? Btw, I really enjoy their blog: http://seniornomads.com/#home-section
By late Friday afternoon, we should be in Cape Town, South Africa, where a severe water shortage is taking place! We're already brushing up on ways to save water!
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