Visiting Kraków: The Lull in the Lair

“Even though I know karma is going to make me rue saying this one day, I truly believe most buildings are better with a dragon’s lair underneath.” -Old Sean

A Last City of Poland

After a brief stint working in Wroclaw, I headed south to the last Polish city on my itinerary. I next wandered east to begin visiting Kraków, a grand center of historic architecture and UNESCO heritage site.

Kraków is a major tourist city thanks to it’s numerous beautiful buildings, intact medieval structures, stunning cliffs, large town square and various heritage and cultural influences. My company made sure I understood that visiting Kraków was a prime objective for work. So upon arrival, I hit the ground running.

First Day Visiting Kraków 

Kraków is undoubtedly, my favorite city in Poland.  There are no portions of the city that aren’t utterly scenic. 

The skies are an uncommon blue and filled with great winding pillars of white clouds, interposing themselves over traditional skylines.  The walks through the city are easy, soothing and safe. There are large parks, swaths of greenery, cobbled streets, quiet alleys and entire blocks of architectural masterpieces.

Best of all, the famed Wawel Castle is almost always visable on the horizon. This structure of elegant fortifications and a strange mix of spire-styles sits on a risen hill overlooking the lower Vistula River.

Wawel Castle

Though it’s free to enter, Wawel Castle always has a rather enormous influx of tourists. Getting reservation tickets in advance or arriving at the crack of dawn is a handy way to avoid the hoard. There are also some things within the castle that cost entrance fees and it’s nice to avoid crowds during these as well.

Wawel Castle is home to beautifully rendered walls, sculpted gardens, classy, old music and several separate museums. The Gothic-style Royal Castle with Renaissance additions and redesigns also contains the Royal Palace, the Polish-spiritual hub, the Wawel Cathedral and, most impressively, a series of natural underground caverns.

Visiting Kraków in Dragon Lairs

The natural caverns of Wawel are the most interesting aspect of the fortifications. The caverns hold several famous stories, the most prominent being the legend of a dragon living in the caves.

The dragon, named Smok Wawelski, or the Wawel Dragon, appears in dozens of stories about the castle and caverns.

For modern tourists, the caves are accessible, though they’re too steep for strollers or wheelchairs. Walking into the natural, eerie tunnels eventually leads out of the base of the structure. The “Wawel Dragon’s Den” has fake-gold pools embedded in the base and mounds of gems for tourists to photograph.

Nearby the exit, there’s a bronze recreation of Smok Wawelski created by local artist Bronisław Chromy in the early 1970s. The statue has a demented look as the dragon rears back, head towards the sky. The statue is capable of spewing actual fire skyward.

Legend of Smok Wawelski

Smok Wawelski’s story tells of a viscous, three-headed creature known for devouring livestock, sheep and young maidens. Eventually, the people around Smok Wawelski’s lair ran out of virgins to appease the vile serpent, and only the King’s own daughter, Wanda, was left.

With his own family finally threatened by the wrath of the dragon, the King sent out a call for aid. He promised his daughter’s hand and a sizeable reward for any who could kill Smok Wawelski.

Wave after wave of knights answered the call, each dying as Smok Wawelski smote them. Men were cooked inside armor and even the finest archer couldn’t pierce the dragon’s scaly hide.

Finally, a poor cobbler named Krak (in some stories, Patryk) entered the fray. He was an impoverished cobbler, but braver and more cunning than all others before him.

Krak, with the help of the King’s alchemist, found a dead sheep and sewed a hefty block of valuable Sulphur inside. Then, Krak carried the dead sheep in the deepness of night up the hill. Bowed under his burden, he moved close towards the dragon’s lair.

Kneeling amongst dead plants, scorched stones and gigantic, clawed footprints, Krak knelt down. Hands steady, he lit a small fire and placed the limb of the dead sheep over it. Then, the young man darted away.

The Slaying of Smok Wawelski

Smok Wawelski emerged from his lair, trinity of heads thrashing about, sniffing mutton on the air. When the beast spotted the dead sheep, the center head lurched down and chomped it up.

For a moment, the center head reared back, smug, as the two side heads snapped and growled. But then each head began to wither, bearing fangs as the Sulphur broiled in Smok Wawelski’s stomach. The dragon stumbled from his lair, snaking towards the river.

Each head plunged into the water, gulping down as much as it could manage. The dragon’s belly soon grew engorged and misshapen as the dragon continued to appease it’s unquenchable thirst.

Finally, when half the river had vanished, they dragon simply exploded.

All across the land, people celebrated Krak’s triumph. The cobbler married Wanda, built his castle atop the dragon’s lair and the city of “Kraków” was constructed in honor of the new savior-king.

Smok Wawelski’s bones are displayed at the Wawel Cathedral to this day. His ancient den has been used as a smuggler hideaway, popular tavern, seedy brothel and tourist attraction since his death.

I’m fond of this story because it reaffirms my world-view on those in political power. I like that the King of the area refused to take direct action until literally every other maiden for miles had been eaten. It was only once his own daughter was threatened he sent out a rallying cry.

Rynek Główny

While Wawel Castle is a beautiful and engaging attraction, I was also eager to visit Rynek Główny. This central plaza is the Old Town gem of Kraków. It’s the largest market square of Europe, complete with fountains, cafés and shopping spaces. The large market space is surrounded by rows of reconstructed Polish buildings of bright pastels.

Even better, there’s a special portion of Rynek Główny known as the Rynek Underground.

Rynek Underground is an utterly bizarre attraction, somehow embedded within the very pavement of a major city.  The entire subterranean space is a museum for recently excavated discoveries. The museum displays medieval life, including merchant stalls, the history of the original settlers of Kraków and and 11th-century cemetery complete with vampire prevention burials.

Rynek Underground gets quite busy, so it was lucky I bought tickets well in advance. I spent a considerable amount of time interviewing a few staff members regarding the area, who were extremely polite.

When I emerged into the light of Rynek Główny again, I rotated through the various attractions of the area. The Cloth Hall, The Spiski Palace, Szara Kamienica, St. Mary’s Basilica (Bazylika Mariacka) and Church of St. Wojciech (Kościół Świętego Wojciecha) were all visited in rapid order.

A Moment to Breathe

Once I had finished with my rapid tour visiting Kraków, I sat myself down at a café and promptly polished off a couple of crisp Polish beers. While I relaxed, I idly submitted photos and reports, Poland now finished for this segment of work.

I had already been traveling rapidly through the width and breadth of Poland, essentially flying out of China only to hit the ground sprinting. I’m moving much faster than I normally do while traveling, so I can already feel the beginning of burnout creeping up on me.

Now, I haven’t been rigorous in citing the various restaurants and food that I’ve enjoyed since arriving in Europe, which is something I’ll work hard to remedy in the near future. 

Suffice to say, I will not be losing any weight on this trip, which means the chubby jokes may continue.

Soon, I’m due in Ostrava located in the Czech Republic. While Ostrava isn’t a necessary stop for work, I’m interested in passing through briefly. One of my friends used to live there, and she speaks of her time in Czech fondly.

But that’s the whole show for Poland.

Anyway, until Czech.

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written May 25th, 2018

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