Last year, my aunt and I visited Krakow to do our Christmas shopping. While there, we stayed just off the main market square in a neat little hostel. Every morning we were awoken to the smell of fresh food coming from the market below. It was the perfect place to find homemade, tasty foods and drinks for the family. I bought everything from honey, homemade wine to delicious handmade biscuits. It was perfect. The snowy landscape made the hot foods even better, as it warmed you from the inside out. I enjoyed it so much I'm hoping to go back next year.

The Rynek, Market Square, Old Town
Google map: bit.ly/v0TgXw

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Last December I took my teenage niece to Krakow. For under £100 we had three nights in a clean, warm, twin room with our own bathroom. Even breakfast was included; it was pretty basic but who cared? We were surrounded by cheap and wonderful eateries and fun bars. Our hostel (better than hotels for meeting other young people) overlooked Rynek Główny, Europe’s largest medieval town square, with its massive underground museum (advance booking recommended) and a lovely Xmas market. Between us we bought loads of interesting presents: parents, boyfriend, grandparents, toddlers, school friends. There was some rubbishy tat, but not much, and Kay still had change from her Saturday job money. And on one day we went to Auschwitz. The tour was very informative and, of course, harrowing. It certainly put the commercial pressures of Christmas into perspective and, as Kay put it: “Made me so grateful to be born when I was, into the life I have.”

mhk.pl/oddzialy/podziemia_rynku (the Underground Museum)
www.hostelrynek7.pl/en_,hostel.php (Hostel Rynek7)

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The Wieliczka Salt Mine is only 80 km from Krakow and a great experience. The mine has been producing salt since the 1200s and was the source of one-third of Poland's total income under King Kazimierz the Great. In the 1800s the miners started creating sculptures and even carved the largest among underground chapels carved in rock salt and embellished with salty sculptures, salt chandeliers and bas-reliefs. There are over 200 miles of tunnels and chambers that are currently maintained by former miners. The tour inside the mine is informative and fun. Also, if you suffer from asthma or breathing problems (like me) you will love being down there as the air in the mine contains large quantities of sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium ions which help control and improve the respiratory system. This is also the reason why the salt mine has its own Underground Rehabilitation and Respiratory Treatment Camp.

Daniłowicza Street 10, 32-020 Kraków, Poland
+48 12 278 73 75
Google map: bit.ly/qSBb3k
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is only 80 km from Krakow. There are organised tours which take you there or you can catch a local bus www.krakow-info.com/wielicz.htm

The Respiratory Rehabilitation Camp has its own website: www.kopalnia.pl

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A legendary cave found hidden in the western slope of Wawel Hill, where visitors can journey down a tight, spiral staircase into the 81m cavernous dragon's den below. Children and adults alike will enjoy the rich 12th century story and history attached to the cave and, better yet, the metal sculpture of the dragon itself that breathes fire every few minutes.

www.wawel.krakow.pl
Zamek Wawel 5, Kraków, Poland
+48 12 422 51 55 ext. 219
Google map: bit.ly/qQ2QKu

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Founded in 1945 The Groteska Puppet, Mask and Actor Theatre in Cracow, is one of the earliest puppet theatres in Poland. Every one of its art directors had a clear vision of creating the best quality puppet theatre in the country. It really worked and now, after more than 60 years the Groteska Theatre gives around 450 performances a year with an audience of more than 100,000 people. Its productions are not only for children, there are also two stages for adults: one with pieces by Sophocles, Voltaire and Bulhakow just to name a few, and one for concerts, dance performances and cabarets with their most famous Reality Shopka Szol played usually in February. There is also lot of activities and workshops for children, young people and teachers.
The theatre runs an annual Great Dragon Parade, one of them was made in cooperation with Wales, Ireland, Portugal and Czech Republic as a part of Myths and Legends of Europe Festival in 2007. There are Dragon Family Picnics held on the banks of Vistula River and lots of events for the youngest.
The Groteska Theatre is world famous and it is awarded on many theatre festivals around the world and it can be easily called the modern cultural centre.
It is in the walking distance from Main Square and I would strongly recommend to visit it. Their work is really worth seeing and admiring not only by people who love puppets.

www.groteska.pl/english.php
2 Skarbowa Street, 31-121 Cracow, Poland
+48 12 633 48 22
Google map: bit.ly/pAwiSn

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A charming restaurant with superb food great service and Reasonable prices. It also has a court yard that you can sit out in and have your meal - very nice!

www.aperitif.com.pl/
Sienna 9, 31-000 Kraków, Poland
+48 12 432 33 33
Google map: bit.ly/nEK2DE

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Prefect place to stay on a tight budget. We spent four nights in August. Very good location at Plac Nowy, center of Krakow's Kazimierz. Friendly atmosphere, clean basic rooms, plenty of showers and toilets. Lot of hot water. Kitchen well equipped, breakfast rather basic but very tasty. Staff, specially Karolina very helpful, she gave us very good tips where to eat or what to see. Location is perfect for exploring Krakow, not too commercial area plenty of cheap places to eat. We recommend for all.

www.balloonhostel.pl
ul. Estery 12, 31-151 Kraków
+48 12 421 07 59
Google map: bit.ly/ofByRF

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As the sun rests easily on your shoulders and unhurried tanned bodies pass by, you might pause on the boulevard to watch the breakdancers show their moves. Then on to the white beach where you can already hear the soulful strains of a live reggae band. Later on a crowd will gather around the stage; a sea of bright faces freed from care. As the sun sets and the colourful beer flows, you can get lost in this place that comes alive for two months of the year. Enveloped in darkness you can still see the stars and the glint of the Baltic as the music soothes you. This is why in Poland they say “to nasza Kalifornia przez 2 miesiace”: “it’s our California for two months”.

www.mielno.pl/
www.staypoland.com/about_mielno.htm
Google map: bit.ly/iyvDzc

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The longest notionally pedestrianised street (police cars, taxi's, residents and rickshaws regularly travel up and down it) in Europe at five km. Some of the best selection of bars, restaurants and with some shopping, are to be found on this street, with outside bars during the summer.
There are many fine buildings on this street and you will also find the former home and statue of Artur Rubinstein, born in Lodz 1887.

In the centre of Lodz about a kilometre west, of the main railway and bus station, Lodz Fabryczna.
Google map: bit.ly/edtpVq

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For the best zapiekanka (called the Polish pizza - half a baguette, covered with cheese and any number of variety of toppings) visit this place in the fascinating and historic old Jewish quarter of Krakow (Kazimierz). Set in the middle of the square, the queues will tell you that you have chosen well and the cheap delicious take away, will keep you filled and satisfied for a long time.

+48 12 429 37 54
Plac Nowy 4, Krakow
Google map: bit.ly/hPgPuJ

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I don't recommend going to Auschwitz unless you're prepared. When I visited with my aunt, I was very under prepared. We watched a video on the coach up there, which helped a little in my understanding of the camp itself. I hadn't done it in school so I wasn't entirely sound with what happened in WWII regarding the concentration camps.
I stepped off the bus into thick snow as it was a week before Christmas. Even in my four layers I was still freezing. Everything is very bleak in the first camp. Although the buildings are large red brick and very neatly arranged, everything seemed dead.
In Auschwitz, you can feel the silence. Nothing really moves. Even when my aunt would stumble in the snow or mutter something under her breath, I couldn't pay any attention. It was like something was stopping me from seeing this place in the 21st Century.
I'm seventeen with blonde hair and blue eyes. I'm not religious, I have no serious disorders and am pretty normal I suppose. My aunt is gay and very openly so. Standing next to her, realizing that I would never had been considered for a place like this where she would have been without question made me feel hideous.
Going to the Birkenau camp was actually a lot easier than Auschwitz. The landscape is so open and freeing that I couldn't quite get my head around the awful things that happened there.
To anyone going to visit the camps, I highly recommend taking a tour. It is a lot less stressful, you get every single piece of information you could possibly take in and they are very professional.
Also, I think it's best to go in the winter. A summer trip would be no where near as moving than standing beneath the entrance, freezing cold realizing that this was the last thing many people ever felt.

en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/
+48 33 844 8100
Google map: bit.ly/fPTbjI

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It's one of a few original (not damaged in war) well preserved city centres in Poland. According to size it's third in Poland after Krakow and Torun.
It has very unique renaissance and baroque architecture - many thin tenament houses, neogothic castle on the hill, great "Krakowska" and "Trynitarska" towers, beautiful baroque Archicathedral (completely restored a few years ago - interiors are stunning). In the castle there is a Gothic chapel unique in the whole world - it is a church build in western Gothic style, but has original - eastern style polichromies inside - it is on the UNESCO world heritage list.
In the castle there is a museum of Polish art (well known Jan Matejko painting "Unia Lubelska" is here), weapons, and many seasonal exhibitions.
Old City in Lublin is a must to see at night.
Lublin lies on hills, and there is vast system of underground cellars connecting to each other under the "Stare Miasto" - part of it are available to the tourists

Google map: bit.ly/e2FHAa

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Zamosc is a beautiful Renaissance town in the east of Poland. Combine a visit with walking or cycling in the nearby Roztocze national park. Fabulous flowers and trees, small villages, very friendly, helpful people.

www.zamosc.wonder.pl/start_en
Google map: bit.ly/fYcQdE

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A holiday break in Warsaw would not be complete without a visit on Sunday to Lazienki Park to sit on the benches or grass surrounding the imposing memorial to Frederic Chopin. Here world-famous pianists, laureates from renowned festivals and professors from leading music academies of music perform his immortal piano solos. It is an incomparable moment as silence descends upon the gathered audience and only the notes of the piano fill the air.

Royal Lazienki Park bus stop on Aleje Ujadowskie, enter park and monument is opposite. Concerts are FREE Sundays at noon and again at 4.00pm from mid May until end of September.
Google map: bit.ly/fWUF0s

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Most eastern European cities have a beautiful town square tucked away somewhere, but Warsaw's Old Town Market Place (Rynek Starego Miasta) is unique. The old town was completely flattened in World WarII - one of Warsaw's 'sister' cities is Coventry. Between 1946 and 1980 this square, and the rest of the old centre, was painstakingly re-built, using as many of the existing bricks and detail as could be salvaged from the rubble. Warsaw is truly a phoenix city.
The whole area is now a World Heritage site and there is a castle, cobbles and horse-drawn carriages to beat the best of them. The Warsaw Historical Museum is in the square if you want to find out more. Afterwards, watch the world go by at one of the square's restaurants - try some serious Polish food such as pork knuckle with sauerkraut.

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Beautiful, cozy vegetarian restaurant with a candlelit, cozy atmosphere. You can relax in the stunning interior, while listening to the score from Amelie (well, when I was there anyway). The food is delicious and you get traditional Polish food, vegetarian style! A real treasure!

Wolnica Square 7, Kraków, Małopolska (30-061) (at Krakowska St)
www.cafemlynek.pl‎
+48 124306202
Google map: bit.ly/ffjt0b

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Hala Targowa is a bit off the beaten track in Krakow - I found it by getting lost - but is a genuine market for locals, piled up with produce from nearby farms, and also cheap. I bought 1kg of succulent strawberries for 2zl last summer. Wonderful fruit and veg in mouthwatering displays, as well as flowers with cheese, bread and meat to the side. There's also haberdashery, clothes etc. A short walk away is where pigeon and rabbit swapping goes on in another small market at Plac Nowy twice a week: you have to get up early but it's worth it.

Hala Targowa is to the south-east of Wawel Castle on Grzegorzecka street close to the viaduct. Plac Nowy is in the Jewish Kazimierz district.
Google map: bit.ly/glfOSv

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Lublin castle is a neo-gothic 1820's construction, with gardens and rooms of Polish art history. There is an amazing ethnography section with modern folk art. Most importantly, it is where I discovered the work of Stanislaw Ignancy Witkiewicz or Witkacy (1885 - 1939) as he is better known. This wonderfully imaginative, boundary pushing creator was home educated by his poet/painter father in the belle epoque of Krakov's intellegensia surrounded by artists, poets and performers. He travelled with the famous anthropologist Malinowski to Papua New Guinea and Australia after the fiance he cheated on shot herself. He was part of the 'formists' group influenced by cubism and futurism. His best work are his portraits of his friends painted under the influence of drugs - he wildly captures their characters like Quentin Blake on acid, sometimes noting the drugs consumed during the session on the portraits!
He also worked massively on avant garde theatre before committing suicide himself and is a national hero/treasure.

eng.zamek.lublin.pl/index.php?l=pl&r=1
ul. Zamkowa 9, 21-117 Lublin
+ 48 8153 250 01 to 03
Google map: bit.ly/i3Il2w

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Kazimierz is the old Jewish quarter of Krakow. With its labyrinthine streets and serene synagogues, the area evokes a blend of melancholy and hope - an inspiring literary place. Hidden behind the crumbling facades of pre-war architecture are some of the city's most exquisite bars and restaurants. Of particular note, is the Alef, a kosher restaurant that was regularly frequented by Steven Speilberg during the making of Schindler's List. A traditional band plays Klezmer music whilst Borscht is served piping hot. The decor captures a place and time history has almost forgotten. A place to escape and to reflect, Kazimierz is a truly inspirational place.

Alef Restaurant, Szeroka 17, Kazimierz
Kraków, Poland
www.alef.pl/
+48 12 424 31 31
Google map: bit.ly/fBi08K

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Tucked away down a side street on the east side of Krakow is ‘Massolit Books and Cafe’. If you ever wanted your favourite second hand bookshop to have comfy sofa’s, good coffee and excellent cake here it is. Although I don’t read much at home, I love to read authors of the country I’m visiting but it’s not always easy to find them translated. Here you can. Could take you an hour, could take you all morning, the sun gently filtering through the blinds.

Ul. Felicjanek 4, 31-104 Kraków
+12 432 41 50
www.massolit.com
Google map: bit.ly/c3p231

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