Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Poland - Krakow & Boleslawiec

Last weekend we headed to Poland with the Baines duo. That's right...another trip with the Baines' :) We drove from Prague to a lovely town just across the Polish border, called Boleslawiec. It was a VERY quiet weekend in the town because of the Easter holiday, and Poland is almost completely Catholic so everyone was either in church or with their families. But we enjoyed wandering around & checking out the architecture all by ourselves.Next, we headed to Krakow. We arrived in the early evening and checked into our hotel. It was located next to the Vistula River that runs through the city. We walked into the center to check it out. On our way, we stopped at a number of churches. They were all incredibly beautiful and well kept up. They were all aglow and preparing for their Easter services.The Krakow city center was beautiful. There's a very large square surrounded by restaurants, shops and churches. There was also a night market with great local artwork and hot wine...yummy! These pics are from the square including a Catholic procession around one of the churches in the square. The next day we explored the city a bit. There were more churches to see of course... This one we were lucky enough to come across just as the Eton College boys' choir was performing. They were really incredible. It was such a nice treat!
Krakow has a number of mounds that they build up in honor of certain people. Here's one that we climbed (Cisco's on top with his arms in the air) and a picture of the city scape behind us.We also went back to the city center to explore it in the daytime. Beautiful! Here's the center square.And here are a few pics of Krakow Castle.We love exploring new places! And Poland is such a beautiful country...