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.

Sightseeing Scenes from Krakow, Poland

We had a few factors limiting just how ground we could cover during our 4 night stay in Krakow. First, we got to our Airbnb around 8pm on arrival 'day', which left us with just a couple waking hours. But we made the most of it. Second, the weather was dicey. Cool, cloudy, with periods of rain. Nothing too awful, but it put a bit of a damper on things. And there was one 15-minute stretch where we took shelter under the Sukiennice arcade listening to Norwegian high school student sing a few current global pop favorites. Third, I had to work for parts of two of the three days we had in town, so I didn't have as much free time as I would like to fully range around and see everything I wanted to. All that said, there were some highlights.

Of course we strolled around the Rynek Głowny quite a bit. Much of it organically as our Airbnb was on the southern edge of Stare Miasto and we criss crossed the main drags of central Krakow as we moved from point to point. Weather wasn't really conducive to parking ourselves at one of the many restaurant patios ringing all edges of the square. But the scenery was still impressive, even with a bit of rain in the mix.

On Saturday afternoon / evening we had a 'food tour' by scooter. Tour itself was not great. Guide was cranky. We were the only two people in the group who didn't cancel. So it was effectively a 3-hour private tour with temps in the low 50s / high 40s led by a grumpy dude who clearly wanted to be somewhere else. And while we did not love the guide -- and wished we had thought to bring gloves because scooting around in the wind for 3 hours under those conditions is tough on the hands -- this tour was a pivotal part of our vacation overall. Neither of us had previously been on a scooter. I booked this tour as a way to get our feet wet with the idea. Success. For the next 10 days we were scooting fiends all across Poland, using both the Bolt and Lime scooters in Wrocław, Poznan, Gdynia, and Sopot.
We did the obligatory couple-with-their-scooters pose in front of Wawel Castle.

We took the obligatory picture of the fire-breathing dragon.

We saw the musical clock at Collegium Maius.

And we scooted our way to Plac Nowy in Kazimierz for an obligatory sampling of the famous Zapiekanka, which was okay. Judy noted correctly it was like Stouffer's garlic bread with a bunch of stuff on it.

Sunday midday we went to see the inside of Wawel Castle. First time I had done a self-guided tour with the audio guide. Useful. Skipped it along as I didn't need to soak in every detail about the provenance of every painting or desk. But it was pretty interesting. Not the most impressive castle / palace I have visited. Not the worst.

Monday morning it was a walking tour of Kazimierz and the Jewish Ghetto. If you take one and see this guy as your guide, you're in good hands.

He's well suited to his work. First, he's 6'7" with a strong voice. Two traits that serve him well in herding his group around a busy tourist area. Second, he's a historian and Krakow native with a good storytelling streak. So we spent a couple hours getting the history sprinkled with some Schindler's List tidbits. And I took a bunch of 'vibe' shots as we walked.

With that we wrapped our official 'sightseeing' rounds in Krakow. Rest of the time was spent exploring and eating, and I'll have some 'mini reviews' posted soon-ish on the restaurants we tried.

First night in Krakow, Poland - enjoying an unexpected market in Rynek Głowny

We touched down in Krakow, Poland at about 7:30 on a Friday night after a long trip from Mexico City via Frankfurt. The ride into the city was smooth and pretty pleasant. Our Bolt driver took a route through what appeared to be nice suburban streets maybe just north of this park.

In my experience the areas around major airports are generically light-industrial at best and kind of unkempt and fringe-y feeling at worst. By comparison the ride from KRK to our lodging in Stare Miasto was rather lovely.

We settled into our Airbnb quickly and rallied to head out and make what we could of our short first night in Krakow.

We aimed straight for Rynek Głowny, of course, and to our happy surprise we found a temporary market set up with a few dozen cabin-like stalls selling traditional food and handicrafts/souvenirs. It was time to eat a little something anyway, so this was perfect.
We started with the pumpkin soup. Tasty, with some spice to it. Good way to kick things off on a cool evening.

Could not pass up the opportunity for some pierogies. We got a variety plate of 5 flavors. Did not keep notes of which they were. I loved them. But I was also hungry and feeling the high of being in a new place and happy with our luck that this market was happening. Judy was a bit more critical, insisting that pierogies must be finished with a bit of a pan saute action.

Then what we did not need but got anyway (again, adrenaline was kicking in) was a plate of sausage and potatoes from this stand with some nice mustard. Great, of course, but really unnecessary.

What we should have gotten, but did not, was this grilled cheese item.

We later learned that these things are delicious with a bit of the blueberry jam they offer. Would have been much more reasonable than the heaping plate of sausage and potatoes.

Regardless, all in all it was a great first night in Krakow. Below is a short video to show the vibe.

Quick Review: Pascal Bistro (Roma Norte, CDMX)

Given it is Judy's birthday week, I agreed to break my usual pattern and expand my travel radius for dinner out. Usually I'm content with one of the various (and mostly casual) options that is within a 10-minute walking radius from our condo. But it's not about me this week, so we ventured the 20-minute drive to Roma Norte for a lovely dinner at Pascal Bistro.

It's a small place and there was a group of 10+ seated when we arrived, so the options left for us were (a) one of the two-tops on the sidewalk or (b) the counter, facing the open kitchen. We opted to try the two-top outside but had to pivot to the counter after about 3 minutes. It was unseasonably chilly last night and windy. Sitting on the sidewalk, as pleasant as it was with the mood lighting and general cool atmosphere of Calle Orizaba, was not viable for the next hour. And though we went inside to the counter out of necessity this time, I'd say it would probably be our first choice next time. Reminded us of going to Francesca's on Bryn Mawr back in the day. Cozy.

We started with the parmesan soup, which was delicious and a great fit for the cool evening.

For mains I got the Pascal burger with gruyere. Strong burger. Fries on the side just okay. Not really seasoned. Very thin cut, crispy. Fine, but not my preferred fry style. Judy's enjoyed her pork chop, but was a little sad at the very restrained portion size of the pure de camote on the side.

Overall, a nice night out. Service was excellent from the initial greeting through the final goodbye. Watching the chefs preparing everything felt a bit like being close up at a cooking show. Professional 3-man operation. Good Thursday night. Would recommend.

Today's music lesson: Los Ángeles Azules ("de Iztapalapa para el mundo")

I've been known to dig a little cumbia. Gilda's 'no me arrepiento de este amor' has been on some of my playlists for more than a few years now. But I'm not a serious enthusiast by any means. I hear it, I dig it, I don't think much more of it. Exhibit A of this would be 'Cómo te voy a olvidar'. I have heard this particular song 500+ times. One of our colleagues at Bazar San Ángel has it in heavy circulation on the playlist every Saturday. 4 years of Saturdays, at least 2x per Saturday, plus all the other times I've heard it just kicking around Mexico for 11+ years, maybe I've heard it 1000 times. Never bothered to figure out who sings it. Today it popped up and I stopped to check: Los Ángeles Azules, of course.

These guys are icons. They have played concerts in the Zocalo mulitple times.


So now I'm working my way through their discography and realizing that Cómo te voy a olvidar is just one of many, many songs by Los Ángeles Azules that I know. Better late than never.