KRAKOW, POLAND

 POLAND’S OLD TOWN

This cultural, educational, and industrial city is located on the Wisla  (Vistula) River. (Overseas maps  list the city, rivers and attractions in the native language, but many times the English spelling follows or is included----accounting for the different spellings)

This architecturally and historically rich city is compact within an area of Old Town that is only 800 X 1200 meters in size. The second oldest university, founded in 1364, is in Krakow. Jagiellonian University, the first university in Poland was the alma mater of the astronomer, Copernicus. Standing in the rather pretty courtyard we saw many of the ancient buildings, including the one in which Copernicus studied. Awesome!

Our city guide told us, “Old Town, or the inner city, was surrounded by a wall in medieval times, as were most European cities. The Barbican built in the 15^th century to protect the walled city, and is one of the largest and oldest left in Europe. Only one of the original seven gates remains. Originally the wall had 47 towers. The moat was twenty meters wide and seven meters deep. In the 20^th century the moat was filled and now forms a green ring around the inner city.”

Each side of the 13^th century market square measures 200 meters, and is the largest such square in Europe. St. Andrews, an 11^th century church, is the oldest in the square.

St. Mary’s Gothic church, 1359, the common people’s church, has two uneven towers and sits on one corner of the square. The tallest tower served as a lookout tower and belongs to the city. Today every hour, on the hour, one can hear a trumpet call from the tower recalling the 13^th century trumpeter who was killed by a Tarter arrow in the middle of sounding a warning. To maintain tradition, a live person, not a modern day recording, plays the trumpet call. The lower tower belongs to the church.The main altar of St Mary’s consists of five panels, 350 carvings, and measures eleven by seven meters. This 1489 altarpiece is the finest and largest sculptural work of Gothic art in Poland. Of the 130 churches in Krakow, 75 of them are in Old Town. Canon Street is the oldest in the city and is where the church clergy lived.

SOME IRISH TRIVIA

IRISH TRIVIA

            The Irish accent is famed the world over for its romantic and lyrical lilt. However, accents around the country differ just as English accents do in this country. The real key to the Irish lilt is the speed at which it is spoken.  Renowned for loving to tell a story the Irish are proud of their race and their language.

Ireland is a country of young people. The high tech industry has reduced unemployment from 17% to 3-4%. As part of the European Union, Ireland is being forced into the 21^st century. Being required to accept imports has hurt some of the numerous cottage industries, thus impacting  some of the traditional culture. Since my visit, hard times have once again visited Ireland so I cannot speak to the present day economy. I hope it is good.

A cow culture still exists where the sheep and cattle think they own the streets and often are found wandering on country lanes. They get out of the way at their pace and on their terms. We experienced this with sheep several times while riding through the country side.

I found the many dry-set stone walls marking ancient boundaries across the country picturesque. Roads throughout the country are very narrow and have no shoulders. The soil is often soft on the roadsides because of the abundance of peat bog/soil. We traveled in a van so were able to get to many places over roads a tour bus could not. Many times a stone wall was at the edge of the road so there was no chance of pulling off the pavement. It would be wise for a driver to be a good backer upper! People drive on the left side of the road, which for me causes a lot of confusion when one has to cope with the numerous traffic circles. Maybe traffic circles solve the need for traffic lights, as we found lights rather few and far between outside the big cities.

            Most farms are located in the central part of the country where it is very green most of the year. It was amazing to see the vivid bright emerald  rolling hills. Wet winters mean 93% of the grasslands are good for grazing all year.

Irish pipes are quite different from Scottish bag pipes, and I think are much mellower and melodious. They are dry as all the wind comes from two bags. The pipes are heavy and the piper sits with them across his lap. We spent a very interesting couple of hours with a piper who explained the instrument and played some lovely music for us.