Bon Voyage & Bon Appétit

  What a busy and amazing day we’ve had in Kraków! We’re back to our regularly scheduled programming of being out all day visiting a city.  Where to start…well perhaps with the blueberry pastry, a jagodzianka, from La Baguette Bakery which we got on our way to the city centre. It was still warm and was so delicious! A perfect second breakfast.  Sunny day with a jagodzianka While still walking to the city centre, we came across the Corpus Christi Basilica. This free-entry basilica was gorgeous… just when I didn’t think that the churches in Europe could get any nicer.  Inside the basilica Finally, we got to our first big attraction of the day, Wawel Royal Castle. Prior to entering I got an obwarzanek, a type of pretzel-bagel bread that made a great snack.  Obwarzanek infront of Wawel Castle Wawel Royal Castle has a very interesting history, full of occupations and restorations. Originally built in the 13th and 14th centuries, the castle was occupied by Austria for...

  To start - a short tidbit about Bielsko-Biała, the town where we were staying with my aunt and uncle. I may have gotten so relaxed here that I forgot to write about this place. The cities of Bielsko and Biała merged in 1951 to form one city. Biała was actually under Austrian rule until 1918, and the town has now taken on the nickname of “Little Vienna” as its architecture is said to be similar to that of Vienna.  Main market square Bielsko-Biała Frog statue! A street that used to be known as “Vienna Street” To get a view of Bielsko-Biała from above, you can take a cable car to the top of Szyndzielnia Mountain. The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains and greenery, lots of options to get into nature.  Taking the cable-car up View of the city from above  ———— Today we arrived in Kraków! We’ve got two nights in this wonderful city before we take a detour from Poland to explore some other countries. As is the Polish way, we had to fill our stomachs before explorin...

  Yesterday my mom, my aunt, Liam, and I took a day trip to the mystical Tatra Mountains, a stunning mountain range separated between Poland and Slovakia.  Since it was a 3hr drive from Bielsko (where we are now), we got an early start. One of the fastest ways to get to the Tatra was to drive through Slovakia, so I guess you could say that we saw another country… the 40-minute Slovakian farmland views were quite beautiful.  Driving through the Slovakian Countryside Our entry into the Tatra mountains was through the Polish ski-resort town of Zakopane, a very unique place steeped in the culture of the Górale, the Highlander people of Poland.  Driving by a tavern  Little cheese making hut We started our day with a hike from Wierch Poroniec, which, at 1,105 metres, is one of the highest entry points into the Tatra Mountains. Our goal from here was Rusinowa Meadow, a large sheep grazing area which offers stunning views of the Tatras after just around 1hr of hiking....