Due to the location of our apartment there was a bit of street noise outside throughout the night from people enjoying their Sunday night out on the town. That aside, the beds are comfortable (there are 4 single ones) and the apartment is spacious.

We awoke excitedly to a forecast of snow, finally! Irene already got to witness a light sprinkling throughout the morning. We got ready and headed outside. The Sukiennicza markets were first on our list of activities. There were many stalls selling souvenirs, clothing and lots of Baltic amber jewellery. After the markets we went to a restaurant for a meal, where we ordered a round of Irish coffees and Michele and Irene decided on dessert for breakfast. Creme brûlée and a walnut sundae….yum! Teresa had kielbasa. This restaurant was in the heart of the main square with a view of the Mariacka church.

The snow began to fall more heavily, so we cheerfully walked across the square. Our flight on Wednesday is to Berlin with Ryan Air. They warn you that if you do not print a boarding pass beforehand, the airport will charge you 50€ each to print at the airport. Our accommodation reception was on the other side of the square but they were very obliging and printed our passes for us, as well as arranging an airport shuttle.

We began to walk toward Wawel Castle but got sidetracked by a hairdresser, so we made an appointment and found a restaurant to base ourselves in. While Teresa and Michele were getting salon ready Irene stayed at a table in the restaurant feeling like she had been stood up on a first date. Looking fabulous once more, we joined Irene and enjoyed some good old Polish food. Soups were goulash and two kinds of Zurek, with egg for Teresa and no egg for Michele. To follow we shared a plate of placki (potato pancakes) served with sour cream, which were crispy and amazing.

After our meals we continued our walk to Wawel Castle just as the sun was setting at around 3:30pm. The snow was still falling but much lighter. The darkness surrounding the castle only made it look more magical. The legendary Wawel dragon unfortunately was closed until the 31st of March but we enjoyed wandering the scenic grounds anyway. Before he passed away, Mikołaj (Dziadek) had told Irene that she had to visit the “castle with the dragon in Kraków” when she came to Poland. She had a lock of his hair to bring to Poland, his homeland, and she felt that this was the place to leave it. Kocham Cię Tata/ Dziadek💕

We began making our way back to the old town but were distracted by a vodka bar that Teresa, Michele and Scott had been to on a previous trip. Here you get a tasting “paddle” of six shots of vodka. The bar had 100 different flavours to choose from, so we asked the barman to choose a selection for us. Our two paddles included flavours such as: lemon/chilli, chocolate, hazelnut, grapefruit, strawberry, salted caramel, lemon and original, among others. Needless to say that we left here quite merry.

Dinner was back at the same restaurant that we had breakfast at, as we liked the authentic look of the food. Here we ordered pierogi, mushroom soup and Zurek. More vodka was ordered and we spent most of the time laughing. We retired to our room for the second night, ready for more adventures tomorrow. Dobranoc!