From the five ruins of castles on the trail of the Eagles’ Nests that used to guard the southern border of Poland in the age of kings and queens and jesters and inbetweens, we moved to the one that mattered the most–Wawel Castle in Krakow. Here it is, our family-friendly, kid-approved visit to Krakow on our camping road trip number 5, in pictures.
Krakow’s Wawel royal castle complex as seen from the Sandomierska watchtower (Baszta).
Kraków in a day?? It is not enough! One of the oldest and most beautiful cities in Poland, a living museum, where every street, every corner is a work of art. Story goes that Krakow apparently was so beautiful that the little angry, dog-loving, vegetarian artist with a funny moustache, himself, ordered his Nazi/Wermacht generals NOT to BOMB Krakow. Imagine that! Big Smile!
A fire-breathing dragon (Smok Wawelski) that delights both children and the young-at-hearts. Heads up! It does spits out fire or some kind of gas at certain times!
Here are some things to see with kids and only little time – 13th century Rynek square with renaissance Sukiennice market place and a gothic Mariacki church, Wawel Royal Castle (we just climbed one of the three keep towers – Baszta Sandomierska for the city view and visited Smocza Jama, Dragon’s Den to learn about the legend of the Wawel Dragon — the most friendly sighs for kiddos in the Wawel complex).
Wawel cathedral where Polish nobility were once crowned kings and queens and royal inbetweens.
Make sure not to miss Kazimierz, historic Jewish district, rich in history and culture. Within the area of Kazimierz there are 6 synagogues and 2 cemeteries, of which the Remuh synagogue is one of the third oldest in Europe. More recently, this unique neighborhood has been home to many artists and bohemian lifestyle lovers.
In search of the famed dragon in the belly of the beast. . . Krakow’s legendary dragon’s lair. SAVE yourself a lot of time and BUY your ticket from the machine, outside the cashier in the castle above, then go down tyhe dragon’s den and limestone cave to add mystery to this visit… 16 zlotys for a family of four, children under 6 for FREE!
Krakow’s Smok Wawelski (Wawel’s Dragon), which one!. . . chilling time on the river Vistula.
Any family visit would not be complete without a mandatory stop to a children’s playground (plac zabaw dla dzieci). And this unique and narrow one called “Plantuś” is smack dab in the heart of Krakow.
All lined up to shoot some arrows at the Old Town Archery of Krakow, located in the vicinity of the Wawel royal complex (hey, we don’t like to walk too much!)
In conversation about mathematics. . . NO, not the boys!.. These two old bronzified dudes, Stefan Banach and Otto Nikodym who made major contributions to the theory of topological vector spaces and abstract Boolean lattices. . . Yup, I have no freakin’ idea what that means too! Ja tez jestem dum-dumem!
Dine and drink at Kazimierz district, south of Krakow’s old town. Now, a trendy hip area with foodtrucks, art galleries and quirky little stores, Kazimierz was once the haven of Europe’s unwanted Jewish people that was welcomed by the then-king of Poland named aptly so, King Kazimierz.
Kazimierz art house? Or isn’t it?
More of Krakow’s art and humour. I don’t know what that is. I told the kids it’s for chain bicycles.
A mandatory “family selfie” (in case I go senile) at Krakow’s main market square, with Saint Mary’s Basilica in the background.
21 days of family camping road trip number 5. This time it’s all in Polska–the beautiful land of Poles.
Here’s the rest of what we plan to see and do in Poland’s south/southeast region on this year’s family camping road trip:
Olsztyn and the trail of the Eagle’s nest,
Black Madonna of Częstochowa,
Krakow and the nearby attractions (Energylandia, Wadowice, Wieliczka Salt Mine),
Pieniny mountain,
drive through Slovakia’s southern Carpathian mountain,
stop by the Saint Magdalene church in Dukla,
do some trekking in the Bieszczady mountains and cross over into cross over to Ukraine (… maybe ; ),
go see about a famous beetle in Szczebrzeszyn,
and a charming art town of Kazimierz Dolny.
Some things to see in the south/southeast of Poland during our family camping road trip. This is from a family-friendly, kid-approved book that we mainly use for planning road trips: MAPS by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski/Big Pictures Press. Go get it! Highly Recommended!(and no, NO, NOOOOoo, we are not getting paid for mentioning this!)
free electrons family 