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Zapiekanka

 


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 a very long time. It was only returned to Poland in 1905, when the Austrian occupation ended. 

Looking up at the Wawel Basilica

Inside the castle complex

A fun Canada-related fact is that many of the famed Wawel tapestries were actually evacuated to Canada during World War II, and returned in the years after the war as restoration on the castle progressed. 

One of the Wawel tapestries

You could easily spend a whole day at the castle, but we chose to see one level of the castle (Castle I), the gardens, and the viewpoint tower. 

Looking up at the castle tower

View of Wawel Castle from above

An important legend tied to the castle is that of the dragon! He lived in a cave under the castle and terrorized surrounding village, until a clever cobbler tricked the dragon into drinking the whole Vistula river… and so the dragon burst and there was peace.

Wawel dragon breathing fire!

After a lot of time spent at the castle, we got hungry! So for lunch we went to a vegetarian milk bar called “Chimera”. It was so affordable and quite good! The inside was all full of green plants and it was the perfect rest from the busy city.

Inside the Chimera eatery

A yummy refreshing lunch

After lunch, we went around the corner to visit the Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in Europe! This university has a rich history and I’ll mention just a few interesting points. 

Happy in the university courtyard

From 1491 - 1495 Nicolaus Copernicus, creator of the heliocentric theory, studied here!

Plaque commemorating Copernicus 

Housed inside the university museum is a copy of the Szczerbiec, an ancient Polish coronation sword. The oldest scientific instrument in Poland, an astrolabe originating from Cordoba made in 1054 (Spain-we’ve been there!) is also found here… under beautifully painted vaulted ceilings. 

Copy of the szczerbiec

Oldest scientific instrument in Poland

Beautiful vaulted ceilings 

After enjoying the university, we headed to the renowned St. Mary’s Church. This is one of the most beautiful gothic churches in all of Europe. I didn’t really know what to expect, but entering took my breath away. 

Outside of St. Mary’s Basilica

Every inch of the church is covered in beautiful paintings and carvings. The ceiling is a stunning, deep blue with golden stars and the walls are intricate patterns of paint and bricks. We sat here for about 15 minutes, just admiring the beauty. 



What stood out to me in Kraków was how intact all the old town is and how beautifully decorated the churches remain. With some research, I found out that Kraków surrendered fairly quickly to Nazi occupation during WWII, allowing most of the city to remain unscathed from large damage… in contrast to Gdańsk which suffered huge destruction. There’s a rather interesting article on it here.

Now our last two stops of the day… well they were food-related of course.  

The first: a Polish zapiekanka from Endzior Bar. This is essentially an open faced melted-cheese sandwich with mushrooms! We got it also with fried onion and ketchup… so good! It’s perfect for all your cravings… and not too hard to make at home :)

Happy Liam with our zapiekanka

Luckily, we only had one zapiekanka to split because on our walk home we came across an affordable Michelin Star Bistro called Zazie. Liam decided to treat us to our first Michelin meal ever! 

Outside Zazie Bistro

We got two appetizers with intriguing flavour combinations, some lemonade, and a delicious dessert. One appetizer was a Parmesan churro with salmon, fennel, cucumber, and mayo-wasabi and the other was goat cheese in filo pastry with a fruity sauce with strawberries and seeds. What a fun experience! Definitely won’t be our last time at a restaurant of this caliber… but we’ll have to same up some more money first. 

Enjoying our drinks and appetizers

Cheesecake for dessert! With mango-passion fruit sauce and confit apples


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