Krakow, Poland, Europe

Today had an absolutely horrible start. As I expected, I could hardly sleep last night because every time anyone in the dorm moved, the beds made a horrific noise that woke us all up. It was just ridiculous. So I was awake at 7:30am and got all my stuff ready to go. The signs in the hostel said that checkout was from 9am so I hung around until then to try and checkout and leave my bags for the day while I went to explore.

Unfortunately, it turns out no one starts working at Mish Mash Hostel until 2pm so there was nowhere to leave my bags. I decided to bring my bags to the bus station where I was getting the bus to Krakow from (which was 3 miles south of my hostel and I had to take a tram). I finally got down there and found out that this crappy bus station doesn’t even have lockers and the guy from the bus company wouldn’t let me leave them in his office. What was more annoying was the number of backpacks and suitcases that other people had clearly left in the office, but for some reason I wasn’t allowed.

So I had to leave there and go to the Central bus station where they do have lockers so I could leave my bags. This required a metro and then a bit of a walk, but I finally got rid of the bags. Then it was another metro ride into the old town. I got there at about 11am and had time for a quick walk around the castle square before meeting my friends at 11:30am.

I met Hannah (who I’ve been travelling with for the last few days) and Michael (who is from Berlin but I met him in Israel). It was really good to see them and have some much needed lunch. Between the bus ride yesterday and the shenanigans this morning, I hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday. We had pirogies at a traditional Polish restaurant, and they were awesome! I had five filled with meat and five with turkey and carrots, both kinds were great. It was good to catch up with Michael as well. Hopefully I’ll see him in Berlin when I get there.

I left them around 1pm and went back to the station to get my bags and then on to the bus station. I got my Polskibus at 2:30pm and it was a pretty easy five hour ride to Krakow. It’s a shame I didn’t have more time in Warsaw because it actually looked pretty nice. A few people had told me not to bother spending time in Warsaw and just get straight to Krakow, but I don’t know why. I’ll have to get back there someday.

I arrived in Krakow around 8:15pm and had an easy 1.2 mile walk to Atlantis Hostel. I like to be able to walk to my hostel from bus stations. It allows me to get my bearings in a new city. The hostel is pretty nice, a lot better than the one last night. I’m in a four bed dorm, but they are all just beds on the floor, so no top bunks at all. It also has pretty good wifi and a bunch of tours are offered through the hostel. I’m going to stay here for a few nights so I can check out all of Krakow, and a few things outside of the city.

I went out for dinner tonight and found the Hard Rock Cafe of Krakow. Of course, I couldn’t avoid this one, so I went in and had another great meal courtesy of HRC. I had a quick walk around the main square in the old town and then came back to the hostel. I’m going on a walking tour of the city tomorrow morning, so I’ll get to see a lot more of it then, but I like the look of this city so far.