Global
Add a review
Hotel review
Travel story
Attraction review
Question to tourists
Forum thread

Royal Krakow on New Year's Eve by Petrotur Service

04 November 2008 • Travel time: with 28 December 2007 on 03 January 2008
Reputation: +139
Add a Friend
Send message

Foreword...

For some reason, I suddenly decided that the next New Year in rainy St. Petersburg under Verka Serduchka, a bowl of Olivier and explosions of firecrackers in the yard, bored me in order. I wanted to go somewhere to travel, get a lot of new emotions, see how advanced Europeans celebrate this magical holiday of childhood. Well, and so - how the idea came to mind at 9 am, and paid for an unplanned vacation at 6 pm, then they scraped together only for Poland, but what about Poland - not Europe ? ! We will see...

We booked a ticket at the Petrotur Service travel agency, received visas, paid money (it seems that something like 2.000 rubles per person), and took 3.000 rubles with us in reserve.

Start on December 28 from Varshavsky railway station at 7 pm.

It was possible to take a reserved seat and a compartment, we decided that the journey was already quite tiring, it was worth resting at least on the train, we took a compartment.


And then I remember well how we jumped over the steps in the subway, how we rushed along the platform, catastrophically missed the train, miraculously managed, I still wonder ... ))

On the platform, the guide Yuriy was waiting for us, who quickly “threw” us into the car with tickets, and frankly speaking, it didn’t matter to us where to jump and in which direction to move. We sat, caught our breath, strangely we are in a reserved seat, but what about the coupe ? ! In short, they “threw” us in the wrong place, then they transplanted us. By the way, the train is branded, protective boards are made on the second floor, bedding is included in the ticket price, tea is sold for 4 rubles!

Arrival in Brest

We arrived in Brest on December 29 early in the morning, disembarked and quickly ran to the bus, which was already waiting for us. We got acquainted with the group, the age range is completely different, the bus is full. If you are not ready to put up with the eccentricities and habits of outsiders 50 people, then this tour is clearly not for you!

Abstract from negative emotions, concentrate on positive ones and then everything will be HO-RO-SHO! )))

Border crossing

So, let's go ...literally after 4 km we find ourselves at the border with Poland, we arrive there first of the whole mass of sightseeing buses, because we sat down in Brest quickly! At customs, we wait 2 hours to the border, and after crossing another 2 hours, in general, standard time was spent. Of course, this is not necessarily the time to sit on the bus - you can go out to warm up, but you absolutely cannot take pictures!

Time passes, the guide Yury talks about the rules of conduct in Poland, it turns out that there is a device on the bus, it seems like a “washer”, a kind of disk on which traffic violations are recorded, these include: a long (more than 8 hours) stay of the driver on the road, exceeding speed and so on, at customs, the disk is checked, if there is a violation, an insane fine is paid!


Therefore, if you are afraid of dashing drivers, transport Europe is for you! But these restrictions are also imposed on our excursion program, respectively, you can’t be late and linger, everything is fast and organized!

We enter Poland, small neat little cottages appear outside the window, eagerly peer into the flickering landscapes, but the first impression is deceptive. Frankly speaking, Poland still bears little resemblance to Europe, the post-Soviet past is felt very clearly!

Pajero tourist complex on the way

First stop at Pajero Tourist Complex. Wonderful place!

All buildings are made of wood, framed with wrought iron, the roofs are covered with straw, on the territory there are large wooden swings, a stone waterfall, islands, ponds, carts, tubs, sculptures, in general, a small ethnic village.

The whole group, led by a guide, went to change money for pennies and zloty, to shops (called "Sklep") and to the dining room.

While we were rushing around the territory, while taking pictures, changing money already in splendid isolation, we poked ourselves into the dining room - a lot of people, the stop time is limited, we went to the K Zagrodzie restaurant. Beauties!

There are practically no people, a two-level structure - everything is made of wood, straw, there are stoves, huge “weeping candles”, shaggy green “paws” of a spruce forest, a delicate aroma of resin is felt, chests and spinning wheels are on the second floor. Even the sinks in the toilet are made in the form of huge tubs like in the village.

By the way, not very expensive, very tasty soups.

On the territory of Pajero there are: a restaurant, a hotel, a bathhouse, a grocery and souvenir shop, an exchanger, a dining room, a telephone, it seems like a gas station.

Then a few more technical stops and in the evening we drive into Warsaw!

Galloping through Warsaw

We leave the bus, disembark, go to the city center.

The first thing that strikes you is the huge Christmas trees, they really are like in Europe! We walk through the squares and narrow streets of the old city, everything glitters and shimmers from New Year's garlands.


At the entrance to the square on the right side stands the Royal Castle (yellow-beige inconspicuous building). Previously, there was a wooden fortress here, then a palace was built, around which the Old Town grew over time. After the transfer of the capital from Krakow to Warsaw, the castle became the official royal residence. The western gates - Shlyakhetsky - go out onto the square, you can understand this by the clock tower.

They say that this castle was once famous for its ghosts, for example, the ghost of his deceased beloved wife Barbara appeared to Sigismund Augustus, then the “white lady” twice appeared to Stanislav Poniatowski, who brought some bad news, now about the partition of Poland, now about the war, then about death king. They were fond of alchemy in the castle, they tried to “weld” gold.

We head along Sventojanska street, we meet Polish gentry in national clothes. On the right side stands the oldest Warsaw church - St. John's Cathedral (brown brick building), 13-14th century. century, here the papal court resolved the dispute between Poland and the Teutonic Order, Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Romuald Traugutt prayed here, Piotr Skarga delivered his famous sermons here, Stanislav Leshchinsky and Stanislav August Poniatowski were crowned. Under the floor of the temple lies the ashes of the princes of Mazovia, noble citizens.

Outstanding Poles are also lying there - Nobel Prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz and the first president of independent Poland Gabriel Narutowicz. The old temple did not survive, in this territory during the war there were heavy battles with the participation of tanks, so the one that we see is a remake.

Inside, on both sides of the temple, there are tombstones and entire sculptural compositions. Near and inside many temples, compositions on biblical themes are composed, in St. John's Cathedral - the birth of Jesus.

Next, we head to the market square, it is surrounded by colorful houses, as in the picture. It feels like you are in a theatrical setting. Here we meet a strictly organ grinder and pan-ataman Tauride (I don’t know what his name is, but I called him that), in fact, as in any historical center of any city, you can take a picture with any character you like, the main thing is don’t forget to put a couple of zlotys.


In the center stands the symbol of Warsaw - this half-woman, half-fish Siren, who lived in the waters of the Vistula, she predicted to the fishermen that a great city would be founded here.

However, there is another legend of the founding of Warsaw: a long time ago, a king named Kazimierz went hunting and got lost in pursuit of the beast. Fortunately, I saw a forester's hut standing on a hillock. The owner sheltered the king, and when he rested, he noticed two babies - the children of the forester. In gratitude, he decided to give them names: he named the girl Sava, and the boy Var (or Vars - there are no documents on this subject). And, of course, he made the owner rich. When Var and Sava grew up, a rich estate was erected on the site of the hut. Soon a village appeared around it, and then a city. It was called Varsava, and then Warsaw. Like this!

Departing from history, I’ll tell you that in Poland delicious bagels for 20 groszy and casseroles are sold on the streets, they call them that, in general - it’s figuratively speaking a hot dog, but for some reason with sweet ketchup, we didn’t like it, but the Poles love it.

Then we go to the Barbican, a defensive fortification at the North Gate, there used to be a drawbridge here, but it has not been preserved. This is a very beautiful light.

We are heading down the street, along the fortress walls, we see a monument to the children - the defenders of Warsaw, there is a little boy with a rifle in his hands.

Then the information was erased from my memory, I remember several monuments, including those to the victims of Katyn.

Our time in Warsaw began to come to an end, we had to run, we decided to run to the presidential palace - a beautiful monumental building, I tell you that it impresses! Now we run to the bus, and quickly, quickly...

We leave for Krakow.

Royal Krakow

We got there at 2 am, terribly sleepy, we settled in a student hostel. Half of the group goes to one hostel, the other half walks to another, not for long, 10-15 minutes. We are in the second group, we came, we settled.


Here I stopped focusing my attention on the pluses and focused on the minuses: the group is of different sexes and different ages, and for some reason double rooms were not booked for us as planned (and which we paid for), but there are mostly triple and quadruple rooms. Therefore, my husband and I are invited to settle in a triple room either with my grandmother or with my grandfather, I don’t remember exactly. By the way, I am not offered, that is, no one asks my will, but the keys are already solemnly handed over to me!

And then “Ostap suffered, ” there were other jambs, but I wrote that we don’t pay attention to the minuses, but living for a young married couple in the new year with an outside grandparent is already too much!

Here, the love for our guide has passed completely and irrevocably, especially since he (and he was with a girl) for some reason got a double room.

After “Ostap suffered” (that is, me), we were given a quadruple room for two! Of course, I’m a little ashamed of my behavior, but I didn’t swear), I just said that upon arrival I was applying to the appropriate authorities to reimburse the cost of the tour and my moral damage, and I’d also write a couple of lines on the Internet, so I’m writing ... ) ))

The joy was not long, the room was icy, during the night in the cup the water was covered with a crust of ice, our guide (of course) didn’t care. But I firmly believe that bad deeds return, and in Brest we watched a picture of how he cursed (by the way, obscenity) with the hotel administrator because his room was cool)))). That's female bitchiness ... )))

About the hotel: this is a student hostel, but not a simple institute, but the level of St. Petersburg State University.

Spacious, bright, renovated rooms with new furniture: a bed, small closets nearby, a closet, a table with a tablecloth, served with dishes (cups, saucers, spoons). The room has a radio, kettle and refrigerator, shower and toilet.

The first hostel was called Zhachek, I don't remember ours. During our visit, there were vacations, but some of the students lived in their rooms, students - like all students, our presence was perceived normally.

December 31.2007

Climb! Running around the room to warm up and for breakfast!

Bright spacious dining room with white tablecloths and flowers on the tables. We have a buffet, the food is delicious: cereals, cuts, fruits, and cereals. Breakfast like at home.

Gathering of the group, we are heading to the historical center of the city, to the Sukkenitsy.


From the hotel Zhachek to the right along the street, we run into the tram tracks, we cross the road - we are in the central park, we go straight - we go out to the destination.

By the way, the trams in Krakow are silent, if you sneak up on them, you won't notice!

Let's go no more than half an hour. In the center of the square, we get the CC - we meet in 2 hours at the Matejki square. If someone decides to get lost or lost, there is no need to hide in shopping centers and museums, on the contrary, you need to wander around the center, since security cameras are installed everywhere, the city is at a glance. If a tourist is lost, the guides look for him on monitors in the police.

Well, well, it’s understandable, we begin to look around in the center, where will it go?

We examine the external Sukkenitsy, inside the shopping arcade - we will go later, now we are limited in time. For the first time, the back was built in 1300 by King Boleslav the Shy, then two existing cloth rows were connected under one roof. The modern building was built in the 14th century by King Casimir the Great. After a fire in 1555, it was rebuilt, various decorations, mascarons (masks) appeared.

In front of the Sukkenitsy stands a monument to Adam Mickiewicz, a Polish poet. The figures on the pedestal of the monument are very interesting: towards the street. Sienna - Fatherland, st. Florianska - science, to the Cloth - courage, and to the Church of St. Wojciech - poetry.

We are heading to the St. Mary's Church, a tall brick building in the Gothic style, in the center in front of the entrance there is a pedestal (it seems) with Pope Jan II, luxurious decoration inside, but you can’t take pictures.

Every day at a certain time in one of the towers a historical film adaptation is held: a trumpeter plays in the four directions of the world, at the end the music stops, ...the historical fact is this: “according to legend, the trumpeter was the first to notice the enemy approaching the city walls, and managed to give a signal about danger. But at the same time, he died, being struck down by a Tatar arrow that pierced his throat.


First, the melody is played towards the Wawel side for the king (south side), then towards the town hall for the city authorities (to the west), then towards the city gate for the guards, and finally towards the fire department (the fire station is still located a few hundred meters today , near the main post office).

Tourists usually gather "for listening" in the courtyard behind St. Mary's Church. On the other side, the trumpeter plays for the last time, and then he waves to the tourists, which is a good omen. ”

We don’t have much time ....we go around the Church, there are living sculptures, the “silver” one with a crooked nose and a huge wart especially attracts attention, what a believable make-up - a cloak torn to shreds, a lantern in his hands, a terrible look, already goosebumps, of course throw 5 zloty into the hat, start posing. Photo for memory!

Fast, fast...

we run to the Florian Gate, do not forget to run into the Orsay store (huge discounts are painted on the windows), well, wow discounts! Knitted coat - 400 rubles, I dreamed about this for a long time, grab it, run away! Let's run with the package now! )))

The gate is very pretty - this is one of the 4 towers of the fortress prices, motorcades of monarchs and ambassadors entered through this gate! You can notice them by the bas-relief of St. Florian, as well as by the street art gallery, located from the gate on the left side. We enjoyed admiring the creations of contemporary artists studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. A little further away (also on the left side) is McDonald's - this is for the hungry!

We leave to the city arsenal. The arsenal located near the fortress walls is located on the street. Pijarska, between the Floriansky and Slavkovsky gates. Built from broken sandstone, the building was designed to store guns, cannons and gunpowder.


We're heading to the barbican. Previously, it was possible to get into the city only through the barbican, the whole city was surrounded by a deep moat. On the western side of the wall hangs a commemorative plaque about the hero of defense Marcin Oratsevich. There is a legend according to which the defenders of the barbican ran out of ammunition after a hard battle, and then Marchin loaded the gun with a button from his clothes, took aim and ...hit the head of the leader of the Russian troops, Colonel Panin. The troops, having lost their commander, retreated, and the battle was won. In general, in Krakow, each house has its own legend, half a fairy tale, half a true story!

Hurrah! We went to Mateyka Square! There is a group meeting here, we have another half an hour, it would be nice to have a bite to eat. Near the square there is not a single decent institution, eateries, in which people who are prone to drinking hard liquor warm themselves.

For the sake of justice, I remember that there was one decent restaurant there, but the prices seemed very high to us, there was not a single visitor, the service staff put things in order before New Year's Eve, the tables were all sorted, we had to look for another place.

We went out onto a perpendicular street (I wonder which one? ), On the right side we found a canteen (a la the USSR), we read the menu, order coffee and bring literally - pies (with an emphasis on "o") in Russian. Bring coffee and dumplings! )))

We run to Matejki Square, a group gathers, the tour begins.

So, in the center of the square there is an equestrian monument. On the horse sits King Vladislav Jagiello, the winner in the battle of 1410 near Grunwald, where the Polish-Lithuanian troops defeated the Crusaders. Standing in front, leaning on a sword, is Prince Witold. And at his feet lies the defeated leader of the Crusaders, Ulrich von Jungingen.

The warriors seem to have frozen for a short moment, and now all the action will begin to move, the battle will continue...

Then we return to the barbican, then to the center of the old city, to the sukkenits...

And we have already seen everything, because we read the guide, on the site - http://www. krakow. ru. We offer you to turn to him, very informative, well done author!


The second part of our trip will take place in Wawel. We climb a steep slope, in front of the entrance we are met by a monument to the national hero of Poland, the leader of the uprising of 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko. There is an interesting story associated with the monument. During the Second World War, the Governor-General, located in the castle, ordered the demolition of the monument. And so it was done ...And after the end of the war in Germany, they cast a copy of the destroyed monument, brought it to the Wawel Castle and installed it in its original place.

However, experts note that Kosciuszko "changed his horse": instead of the former Polish one, he now sits on a fatter German stallion.

We pass through the royal gate to the territory of the castle. The first thing we see is the Cathedral of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslas. This is both the coronation cathedral and the tomb of Polish kings. We buy tickets, you can not take pictures on the territory of the cathedral. It's a pity! In the cathedral itself there are very beautiful tombs, tombstones, monuments to the dead, below in the dungeon there are sarcophagi with the ashes of the dead. For some reason, they don’t give us a tour, we adjoin one or another Russian-speaking groups.

Coming to the square, we see two chapels with a green and yellow dome, this is the Sigismund chapel. On the right is the Jagiellonian chapel, which contains the tombstones of kings Sigismund the Old, Sigismund Augustus and Anna Jagielonka, as well as a silver altar made in Nuremberg.

Our guide Yuri ran over us, it seems they are to blame, they should have come earlier. There is a certain amount of food and drink for each table. Our group squinted at us hostilely, saying that we ourselves were closely, and you also came here, stood at the entrance for about 15 minutes, no one moved, there was a desire to turn around and leave. The holiday was hopelessly spoiled, you won’t go to shove your own compatriots, and also this look ....(((I don’t understand, if we arrived on time, would we take empty places by storm or what? ! seats according to the number of paid tickets. You stand all so beautiful, ready to burst into tears on New Year's Eve, a fairy tale is simple (((The guys from our group, Muscovites with children, seeing apparently my mournful state, invited me to sit at their table, thank you very much! After that I I decided that now NG - I will meet only with my family, you are always welcome there!!!

01.12. 2008

At the foot of the Tatras _ Zakopane


In the morning we go to see the real winter! What is so lacking in slushy St. Petersburg? ! Huge snow caps, crisp snow-white crust under your feet...

Zakopane is located in the intermountain basin between the Tatras and the Gubał ó wka ridge at an altitude of 850 - 1120 m. We will definitely climb there, don't even hesitate!

Oh miracle! What a couple of hours and we find ourselves in a real snow-white fairy tale!

A local guide sits on the bus and begins to monotonously talk about the history of the city, but the information is clearly useless - “He was born here, got married here ... ”, obviously does not represent historical value. We are circling the narrow city streets, looking at unremarkable houses, time is catastrophically limited, and outside the window are snow-white mountain peaks, happy skiers and snowboarders flash by, headlong flying along mountain slopes, it is getting dark ...

The situation is corrected by a visit to the Church of St.

Paul, this place is really worth seeing - a huge church, inside completely finished with wood, in the center the face of the Madonna and Child, blinded by bright rays, leaves a reverent impression before someone else's faith. On the territory, at the entrance, there are stands depicting satanic signs with warnings, graves of church ministers strewn with flowers, below there is a chapel (? ), with a wooden facade depicting the fall of man from Eve and Adam to the crucifixion of Christ.

We sit down on the bus, again we start circling the streets, the time is inexorably approaching the departure, and the mountain peaks have not been conquered! One more stop, we leave, we warn our guide that we already have enough information, we run away from the bus ...

The lower station is located on the street, which is called Na Gubaluwke, you need to go through the market, there is a glass pavilion, like a subway, every 10 minutes a funicular departs from it. Round trip tickets cost 8 zl.


If anyone does not know what it is - a cable car, two trains that, due to the "weight effect", pull each other, it's entertaining! Especially when a few centimeters apart, at a very decent speed, they diverge on the same path.

Yeah! Here is a beauty! 1 123 m! Multi-colored tiny lights flicker below, people are not visible - just black dots. Restaurants are located at the top - the people are dark, it was not possible to eat, it took a very long time to wait for the order.

We wandered around Gubalowka, admired the surrounding view, envied the skiers flying down, went down. We promised ourselves that we would definitely come back here, ride!

We walked down the pedestrian street, ordered a hot pizza, rushed to the bus.

Yes, this is my revenge, you fellow citizens, for New Year's Eve! Look at me eating delicious pizza! (shared only with Muscovites)

I think it was the most terrible revenge that you could think of, no matter how ridiculous it looked, our group managed to visit only the market, almost no one climbed the mountain, and we managed almost everything we wanted, and the pizza was just overeating after a whole day in the fresh mountain air! )))

02.01. 2008 Velichka. Salt mines.

Yeah, in vain I was mischievous yesterday, that's for sure - bad deeds are returning!

We overslept, yesterday we switched off after the mountains, in the morning we did not hear the alarm clock. And our program is all scheduled by the minute, it is absolutely impossible to be late, there are a couple of minutes left before leaving the room, you still need to collect all your things, get dressed! In vain I still mischievous! Uhhh, how we rushed around the room like a typhoon! We flew down to the meeting place of the group, ....and waited another 15 minutes for those who were late! )))

I was really looking forward to this excursion - it seemed to me an exciting adventure - to go down 135 meters underground, walk 2 km on foot, and around there is only salt, salt, salt ....but what! Highly artistic! It's amazing what a man can do with salt! Sculptures, chapels, altars, depicting legendary scenes...


Everything is described in great detail on the website - http://wieliczka. krakow. ru/info. htm. But personal impressions are stronger! It makes no sense to repeat what is written on the site, but this place is really breathtaking! ...

...the legend of the salt princess King ("The legend says that the daughter of the Hungarian king Bela IV, before getting married, threw her wedding ring into the salt mine in Maramures. And this ring miraculously, along with salt deposits, was brought to Wieliczka Miners, gouging a mine in the place indicated by the princess, found salt, and in the first salt stone that was mined was the wedding ring of the princess.

underground chapels with altars, faces of saints, bas-reliefs from the Bible;

...underground lakes! Such a long time to remember!

By the way, they say that the air there is very healthy - it was said to breathe deeply!

Then a long road back to Brest, arrived at night, settled in the hotel "Intourist". We got a warm room, cheers!

But the hotel, of course, left a depressing impression - I can’t say that it’s dirty or ragged, everything seems to be decent, but during the entire stay I saw bedbugs and cockroaches, I don’t know what kind of obsessions, but the sensations were most unpleasant. After that, a brilliant idea came to me - to take a set of bed linen with me, and probably throw it away after spending the night in such hotels!

True, it was completely strange to contemplate breakfast in this hotel, we did not count on anything decent, we saw - we were surprised, delicious, home-style, a lot!

03.01. 2008. Brest

Today is VERY cold, below 20 degrees below zero.

According to the plan, we have an excursion to the Brest Fortress. I have long wanted to see this place of military glory and dedication! Monument to human heroism! I read a lot, but now I can see with my own eyes ...

Dreaming! ((Before the monumental history, you forget about the base ...that Russia and Belarus are now different countries and we have different money. And we seem to speak completely different languages, but now I don’t mean Russian and Belarusian, their progenitor is all the same one is Slavonic, and it's sad about different human languages!


We've arrived! A huge stone block in the shape of a star rises above our heads, the voice of Levitan thunders, the many-voiced choir echoes “Get up, huge country, get up for a mortal battle ... ”.

Even without knowing the history of this place, you feel with all your being that the earth is saturated with human blood, the spirit of heroism and invincibility of a united close-knit people in the face of a mortal enemy is in the air ...There are no gentle words here, silence is more expensive, and I don’t want to talk, I want to commemorate unknown heroes.

You pass by giant monuments, peer into stone eye sockets and understand this should not happen again! But it repeats, ....I don’t want to write about it, it’s too scary!

P. S: I made an introduction to this part about human essence and various banknotes, and now I thought that I would not describe the negative that the lady at the entrance to the museum gave me, declaring to me that no matter how much I wanted to bow before the Brest land , I can do this only for the "bunnies", which I did not have!

It’s her own fault, I had to think (((I didn’t bow, no matter how I begged, neither for Russian rubles, nor for European euros ....(((It’s my own fault, ...(((

Okay, now to the station, home to St. Petersburg!

It seems to me that our trip was very informative, dynamic and economical! And don't worry about the rest! )))

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
To add or remove photos in a story, go to album of this story
Прибытие из Спб в Брест
Туристический центр Паджеро
внутри_ туристический центр Паджеро
Рождественская ёлка в Варшаве
Польские шляхтичи
Президентский дворец в Варшаве
Рыночная площадь в Кракове
Мариацкий костёл
Музыканты у барбакана
Площадь Матейки_памятник грюнвальдской битве
Театр
Флорианская улица
Современное искусство
Закопане. Костёл.
Внутри костёла
Понорама Татр
Брест. Крепость.
Брест. Крепость.
Similar stories
Comments (0) leave a comment
Show other comments …
avatar

© 2006–2025 TurPravda.com — Help • Advertising • Hotel owners • Export information • Privacy Policy • Terms of use

TurPravda - reviews of tourists about hotels | Rating of hotels and resorts according to tourist reviews

Hundreds of hotel reviews of all popular resorts are presented to your attention.You will learn the whole truth about hotels "first hand".The opinions of real tourists about hotels and resorts will help you make a decision about choosing a hotel.Read reviews of tourists - use the experience of other travelers!