Poland has long held most peoples imagination with its mixture of mediaeval architecture, 20^th Century history and the exciting atmosphere of a country reinventing itself.

While Warsaw is now the capital of Poland, Krakow is still the embodiment of Poland’s heart, soul and culture, providing the perfect introduction to this amazing country.

And the very heart is just a five minute stroll from our apartment on Krupnicza.

Krupnicza is a historic street in itself. Bookended by the Bagatela Theatre open since 1912 and the Jozef Mehoffer museum sited in the famous Polish artist’s final home and a time capsule of 1930’s Krakow.

Leaving Krupnicza and crossing the street you will enter the Planty. This garden park, which surrounds the Old Town, marks the path of the original town walls and today insulates the Old Town from the bustle of modern Krakow.

Next you will find yourself on Szewska Street and within the environs of the 13th Century city.  Since at least 1309 this street has been named for the Shoemakers who used to fill the small rows of shops. Their shoes becoming so famous that in the 14th Century long toed shoes in the style of the Szewska Street shoemakers became internationally known as' Krakows'!

The shoemakers have long gone, but they are replaced with boutique shopping, unique bistros and coffee shops. 

At the end of Szewska you will step straight out onto the cultural heart of Poland, Krakow’s Głowny Rynek or Main Square

This was the biggest square in Medieval Europe and still remains amongst the biggest today.

Surrounded by the umbrellas of outdoor bars and cafes that open late into the evening the square holds as its centrepiece the Sukiennice or cloth hall. Which in its golden era of the15^th  century served as Southern Poland’s marketplace.International merchants gathered to trade exotic goods from the East as well as local lead, salt from the mines at Wieliczka and of course cloth textiles.