Berlin to Odessa Day 7: Kraków

Whew! What a day. We left Wegry early in the morning (well, 10:30, that was early enough) and said some teary goodbyes to a wonderful family. Asia (pronounced Ah-sha) rode with us for part of the way, but had trouble turning back, saying she just wanted to keep riding. That is the appeal of biking.
Since we had spent an extra day in Wegry, we had to skip over Katowice and go straight to Krakow. So that meant going an extra 90km, for a day total of 186.
But yeah, we did it:

Krakow is definitely the most lively city we have been to so far. And it was devoid of the 100,000 or so student population that isn't due until October. The center city square is bustling with tourists, and really really drunk people at night. But also some very nice restaurants, and even a jazz bar.
Tonight, we checked out a combo featuring an accordion player who is a friend of and went to the same music high school as our couchsurfing host.

 

Gurgul Band playing at Harris Jazz Bar in Krakow

Cool sculpture chilling on the stairwell at the entrance to Harris Jazz Bar

And...guess who showed up to pay me a visit and cheer me along my journey!

Mylene(!), Graham, and our CS host, Margaret on a rooftop terrace overlooking Wawel (Royal) Castle

This morning, while walking towards the market square. Mylene and I made a very interesting discovery: people in Krakow love, and are crazy about Dachshunds (or Jamnik in Polish). This is not just a hobby, like the books about the different types of Dachshunds that I have seen in my dentist's office. This is an obsession. You know ''every dog has his/her day.'' Well, the people of Krakow really took this to heart when they rolled out a marching band, balloons, t-shirts, tv cameras, and a live band on a huge stage in the center square to have a parade for their beloved Jamniks.

A Polish Dachshund (Jamnik) dressed as some kind of Polish Lunchbox.

This was not only hilarious, and bewilderingly serious. People are really into these dogs here, there were hundreds of them in the parade.

Our hosts then took us on a fantastic eating, drinking, and swimming bike tour around Krakow. We went to the Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter and checked out some Synagogues that were left intact from the war. There are very few Jews left here and about 7 very well preserved synagogues. This neighborhood was where the Jews lived before they were forced into a getto on the other side of the river. Now, everything is much more blended together and the synagogues can be found right next to beauty boutiques and ice cream shops.

In front of a synagogue in the Jewish Quarter

Courtyard where the factory in Schindler's list was filmed. People still live here on the 2nd floor and there are a couple restaurants inside

Our host also showed us the greatest place to get Zapiekanka - basically huge cheesy breads with vegetables. Perfect while biking around.

Hitting up some huge Zapiekanka in the Jewish quarter. Hits the spot

Afterwards, we went to a lake in an abandonned quarry. It was already nighttime, so we got to take our second moonlight dip of the trip. It was quite refreshing to see the lake as it is located very near to the city center (about 8 minutes by bike) but it gives you the sense of isolation since it is set a ways back and the lake itself is far underneath the cliffs that surround the quarry. We also some some underwater lights from a team of divers who were trying to scavenge old car and machine parts that are found at the bottom of the lake.

Krakow is a great city and certainly merits more time than we have had to visit. As usual, our hosts were fantastic and spent the entire day showing us around - we made sure they were as stuffed with coffee and zapiekankie as humanly possible to keep them satisfied.