Krakow is known for both the largest square in Poland, as well as being the capital of the country during the time of Polish kings. It's a beautiful city. In addition to the history, there's great shopping, and of course, delicious food.
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| The cite of Wawel Castle |
We started our first full day in Krakow with the most exciting breakfast!
I could have squealed when I saw the fabulous spread. There was so much to choose from! After careful thought, I went for a crepe with two sauces. The red one was a raspberry sauce and the creamy colored one was a vanilla sauce.
Additionally, I went for the tomato and mozzarella salad with pesto sauce. I realize that may be a bit of a strange breakfast duo, but hey, why not?
After that refreshing breakfast, I was ready for the day!
When lunch time came around, we selected a restaurant with one of our favorite Polish foods: Mushroom soup.
We seated ourselves outside and had a great conversation with a very friendly waiter. He seemed eager to practice his English, and we were happy to help.
Once the food arrived, however, there was no time for small-talk.
There was really no good way to photograph this soup. No picture could have captured its awesomeness. So I gave it my best shot.
The soup itself had a broth-base and was full of a variety of mushrooms. The little green bubbles on top told me that there was olive a fair amount of olive oil as well. When topped with garlic croutons (homemade at that) it was perfect!
Nina makes a mushroom soup at home that we adore! Hers is very different from this, but I still think it's possible to love both.
Later that afternoon, we went to the Salt Mines. Walking through underground tunnels can sure make you work up an appetite. Thank goodness there's always some lody nearby!
I never got tired of this beautiful swirly tower. There is something so wonderful about Polish ice cream. Where else can you order an ice cream that reaches half way up your arm? It's perfect.
As this was our last night of the tour, we had dinner with the group. The weather took a turn for the worst that evening, so instead of a the leisurely stroll we'd planned, Ela had our bus driver, Darek, drive us to the restaurant.
It was a really cool place. The decor was very fun and Polish-countryside-esque. There was even a live band, which added to the festive mood.
Our first course was a medley of salads. These looked similar to the ones we'd eaten in Torun. I was no greater fan of it this time than I was before. I don't know what it is. I just must not be a cabbage person.
Of course, there were plenty of people who offered to finish my plate, so there was no waste this time!
I was, however, fully capable of finishing off my entree.
This was the first meal where Mom and I were not getting something different from everyone else. It was...unexpected. But, no worries, because this was fabulous!
The meat was turkey, stuffed with a mushroom and cheese filling. This. Was. Delicious. Who would have thought to stuff turkey with mushrooms and cheese? Not me! But it really worked.
The only sad thing was that the smaller piece of meat didn't have as much filling in it. But the addition of the sour cream and dill sauce made up for it. We actually ended up liking the sauce so much that we tried to replicate it at home. (We're still working on it...)
I could have ended my meal there, but of course, we were brought dessert.
This cheesecake was unfortunately grainy and bland. I ate about one-third of it before I decided it just wasn't worth it. :( But I still had the good memory of dinner, so it wasn't all bad.
The next morning, I had the same thing for breakfast as the day before. I was really on a roll with the tomato and mozzarella salad! I think part of the novelty was being able to eat something like that for breakfast. But it was so good.
Lunch was another repeat...or at least we thought it would be a repeat. We went back to the same restaurant, ordered the same mushroom soup, and received this!
It looked so different! Go ahead, scroll up and compare.... See what I mean? This one is so much lighter and yellower than the one before. It didn't taste as good either. I mean, it was still very yummy... but there was something slightly off.
At least you know they're making the soup fresh every day. But, still. You'd think they'd have a recipe or something so the soup would be the same, regardless of who was making it. It was kind of disappointing.
Since no good vacation meal is complete without dessert, Mom and I set off in search of the cake made famous by none other than Pope John Paul himself, Kremowka.
Pronounced Kreh-MOOF-ka, this dessert is the pride of Krakow. Mom and I had to put our heads together to remember the name of the street and then navigate to it from the market square.
We found it in hardly any time at all, and after placing our order, we carried our cakes to the seating area in the back room.
Despite it being particularly hot that day, the back room was quite comfortable. It had two large windows that faced a little garden, adding to the relaxing atmosphere. Mom and I were so excited to have found the place.
But enough talk! You wanna see pictures, don't you?
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| Look at them in all of their glory. |
Actually, a lot of the desserts in this cafe looked delicious. If we weren't leaving the next day, I may have been tempted to try something besides the Kremowka. But we didn't have that luxury, and I was not missing the Pope cake.
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If you are ever in Krakow, you have to try this. It was the best dessert I had during my time in Poland, hands down. You will not be disappointed.
And if the Pope liked it, it must be heavenly.
For our last night in Poland, we made reservations at a restaurant that came highly recommended by our hotel's concierge.
The name of the hotel was Polish for wedding, and the inside was decorated like a traditional Polish wedding would be. It was so quaint and welcoming! We sat right next to the window, so even though the restaurant didn't have air conditioning (and it was hot!) it was almost like we were sitting outside.
For some reason, I was feeling adventurous that night. I knew that I wanted to have pierogies, but I'd been eating pierogie Ruskie since the beginning of the trip and wanted something different. When I glanced over the menu and noticed sweet cheese pierogies, I thought, "why not?"
What exactly is a sweet cheese pierogie? You know, I'm not totally sure. But I was going to find out.
In the mean time, Mom and ordered an appetizer. To our utmost pleasure, we found our Oscypek on the menu! What luck! It didn't even matter how the rest of the meal went. We'd found our favorite cheese (the kind we'd discovered in Gdansk), and nothing else mattered.
But, of course, the meal does actually matter. When mine came I was really unsure of what to think. Actually, I'm still really unsure of what to think.
You see, these pierogies were topped with sweetened sour cream, cranberry sauce, and powdered sugar. (And that random orange slice for decoration.) And they were...sweet.
Call me a purist, but I've only every had my pierogies with savory fillings, which, isn't even totally a purist approach because there are traditionally sweet fillings for pierogies, too. But the idea of a sweet pierogie was, to me, very strange.
So why did I order it? Honestly, I have no idea. I wanted to try something new. And this was certainly new for me. So, in that respect, mission accomplished.
Was it the way I wanted to end my meals in Poland? Erm....maybe? I'm not sure. It wasn't bad. It was just different. But I am learning that different doesn't always mean bad. Different can be good, too. It really just depends.
As you can tell, my verdict is still out on these sweet cheese pierogies. I think I may have to try them again to give you a better opinion. But as I would have to travel back to Krakow to do that, the verdict may be out for a while.
Being that this was our last night in Poland, Mom and I wanted to end with some lody. We searched and searched (for some reason we were having a lot of difficulty locating ice cream) and eventually found a little restaurant serving mediterranean food where we could buy some of our precious lody.
The cone was kind of squat, but it held a surprising amount of ice cream. Satisfied, we walked back to the hotel, ice cream in hand. We had our lody. Our trip was complete.
The next morning was an early one. We had to catch a 6am flight from Krakow to Warsaw, and then settle in for a 6 hour layover before our flight from Warsaw to JFK.
When we arrived at the gate, we stumbled upon a chocolate shop we'd seen in the market square in Krakow. And where can you get better hot chocolate than at at a store dedicated to the sweet stuff?
I happily ordered a mug of the classic chocolate and sat down.
This was the most delicious hot chocolate of the entire trip. It reminded me of my most favorite hot chocolate in the world, Angelina's, that I discovered on a trip to Paris. Angelina's hot chocolate was so rich and creamy. It literally coated the spoon. It was sublime.
This hot chocolate is the only hot chocolate I've ever tasted that has even come close to Angelina's. It was so chocolatey they brought a little glass of water along with it. And yes, you will need the water to get through the whole mug (which isn't that big, but is very chocolatey).
It was such a wonderful way to begin our layover in the Warsaw airport.
While I drank my hot chocolate, Mom and I also ordered a sandwich to split.
It was a tomato and mozzarella sandwich with olives and basil. And, despite the fact that it came from a chocolate shop, it was really good!! I am loving the mozz and tomato combo, and feel like I need to start doing more of that during the summer months. It's really light and fresh tasting.
About an hour before we were supposed to begin boarding, we learned that our plane was going to be delayed another three hours. This meant that our six hour layover was now a nine hour layover. The idea was horrendous. Everyone was upset. Now we were going to miss our connecting flight from JFK to BWI.
I hit up the hot chocolate shop again, using the hot, creamy beverage as a crutch to keep me from facing the reality of our situation. As long as I had my hot chocolate, I was good.
At some point, someone decided that the hungry, disgruntled, and (sort of) patient passengers waiting for this delayed flight should have something to eat. Thus, we were given a smoked cheese and pepper sandwich and a bottle of water.
Since Mom and I knew that our food options on the plane would be pork or pork, we decided to save our sandwiches for the flight.
When the plane finally did arrive, and we finally did get to eat, we discovered that the sandwiches were actually good! The smoked cheese was awesome. Think of the best smoked gouda you've ever tasted, but better. We really lucked out with the sandwiches, especially since the smell of whatever pork dish they were making on the plane made both of us want to vomit.
Our trip home became more and more harrowing as the hours ticked by: annoying teenagers ran up and down the aisles, storms rolled into the New York area, we got lost in the airport, and our plane sat on the tarmac for two hours at JFK, burning off fuel so we wouldn't be too heavy to land in Baltimore.
All in all it was quite a flight. But we made it home. And now we have many fond memories of our time in Poland, and of course, the food we ate while we were there.
It was a wonderful trip, one I will not soon forget. Before we left I had no idea what to expect, but Poland definitely exceeded all of my expectations. It was wonderful, and I hope to return one day.
So that's all from Poland. Until next time, I wish you happy hearts and full bellies.
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