This is part two of my ‘On the road to Lviv‘ series.

23rd September 2016, we arrive in Kraków

We arrived in Kraków sometime in the late afternoon and headed across town to our AirBnB booking, a light-filled room in a shared flat.   Herbert took the bed-settee and I made do with a mattress on the floor. It wasn’t quite what I’d expected but the place was clean and tidy, the mattress comfy and the walls lined with shelves heaving with books, which will always make me happy.

We tidied ourselves up and headed out to central Kraków for beer and dinner in the beautiful central square.

The next morning we were up bright and early(ish) and headed down to the river Vistula.



We then headed off into the Kazimierz neighbourhood, the old Jewish quarter. Along the way we came across the Cooperative “Ogniwo”, which describes itself as:

“A friendly space for social and political activity with cafe and a bookstore…Members of Ogniwo Cooperative include, among others, architects, translators, graphic designers and psychologists.”

Sadly, it was too early for any food or coffee but we had a good chat with a young woman who told us all about the place and its many events and projects.

She invited us to join the next day’s big demo in protest at the Polish government’s proposed anti-abortion laws.  And we most certainly would have done so if we weren’t catching the sleeper to Lviv that evening.

We ventured deeper into Kazimierz, our hunger growing, until we saw Cafe Mlynek and knew immediately this was our stop for breakfast.

Okay, so we didn’t realise it’s a veggie/vegan cafe but that didn’t matter, the food was a wonder and the coffee a delight.

We left the cafe refreshed and happy to simply wander the streets…

Returning to Kazimierz we came across this powerful memorial to the Rosak family who had lived in the neighbourhood from 1633 to 1941.  One family representing a community of thousands, slaughtered by the nazis.

With a few hours to kill before our sleeper to Lviv, we found the Ursa Maior bar and enjoyed some excellent Polish beer (the finest beer of the entire trip as it goes!).

As night fell we made our way to the station to catch the Lviv train, happy in the knowledge we’d be returning to the fine city of Kraków later in the week.

Onwards to Ukraine!

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