Visiting Stary Kleparz & Hala Targowa: Krakow, Poland

We enjoy food hunting, or food window shopping, more than anything else when we travel. So when I'm researching the destinations we will be visting I make sure to pin places like Stary Kleparz and Hala Targowa as 'must check out' sights.

Stary Kleparz is wonderful.

It's on the north side of the city center, just 3 minutes walking from the Krakow Barbican. If we lived in Krakow or were doing an extended slow travel type stay in Krakow I'm certain Judy would be here multiple times per week. It has a lot of the basic groceries you'd need, plus some elevated gourmet level products, traditional and artisanal products (jams, honey, sweets, breads). There are multiple stalls riding the Dubai Chocolate craze. And a number of quick, convenient take away options from a variety of backgrounds (Portuguese, Italian, Tunisian?).

And if you're looking to rest up after your visit or fuel up before your visit, Kawa i Wino looked like a solid option. Had we more time we would have checked it out.

But I wanted to keep it moving and cover some ground, so we headed over toward Hala Targowa. We weren't so hurried that we couldn't check out the first of approximately one million paczki shops we would come across over the next 12 days.

Always game to check out markets, but I had also read about some sausage cart that supposedly posts up near there. Unfortunately our visit didn't coincide with their schedule, so no sausage for us. But it was still good to see what more of a 'standard' market looked and felt like in a less touristy pocket of the city center. Reminded us of the markets we have here in Mexico City, where each colonia has their own that serves as a hub and heartbeat of the area (like ours, here).

That 'feels like home' vibe was emphasized when we heard some spanish and saw a little Mexican place on the side. Note the "Jarritos" umbrella.

We took advantage of having some common language speakers available to find out where the closest public bathroom was. Not super easy to find around Poland. We learned it's not common for grocery stores to have a public restroom. And smaller restaurants / take away shops do not have them either. So you need to keep your eyes peeled for useful opportunities. The good news is most accept credit card payment with a tap and for 3-5zł you can take a pit stop.