The Polska Dotty Guide to Eating in Krakow – 2019

Hawelka – still going strong (since 1876 in fact…)

The Cracovians have a saying: every other building in their city is a church. It does seem that way, as you walk around. But for some years now, I’ve adapted it: every other building is a restaurant.

The number of eateries in Cracow is mind-boggling, and even more incredible is that so many are appealing (and, by the way, good value). Often their decor is stylish and modern, housed in grand period buildings – a winning combination.

It’s been a long while since my last full blog on Krakow’s eateries: https://polskadotty.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/krakow-top-5-restaurants/. It seems high time for an update, especially as Krakow has been selected the 2019 European Capital of Gastronomic Culture.

Some of the restaurants I featured back in 2012 remain favourites now. So, we still adore Hawelka, which continues to offer tasty and elegantly presented traditional Polish food (“Staropolska”), and they’re not afraid to adapt the dishes on request (parents of fussy young eaters take note).

Steakhouse Pimiento still has the tenderest beef in town, and the most delightful leafy arbor in which to consume it. Only thing is it remains eerily quiet, at least when I go there. Maybe would-be guests fear I ate all the (steak) pies…

And Ariel remains our go to restaurant in Kazimierz – the Jewish quarter of Cracow. It not only provides the widest selection of traditional Jewish dishes, but its complex of antique furniture filled rooms, accompanied by quality klezmer music most nights, is redolent of a bygone age.

Bunkier cafe

A new favourite is Bunkier, now more popular than the adjacent museum of contemporary art to which it belongs. This is a marvellous terrace of rickety wooden tables that gives directly onto the enchanting park circling Cracow’s old town. It used to be all about tea (endless brews) and cake, but now includes a decent food menu. Halloumi sandwiches, succulent beef burgers, crispy falafel, hummus – we’ve tried all these dishes and more, and found them fresh and well prepared. Oh, and the Tyskie beer is said to be delivered within 24hrs of being brewed…

Kogel Mogel

The curiously named Kogel Mogel (after an egg yolk based dessert of Jewish origin) on Sienna is an official partner of the European Gastronomic Academy that bestowed on Krakow its 2019 honour. This is an upmarket establishment, where the food has a nouvelle cuisine feel. We enjoyed (amongst other things) the steak tartare to start, then grilled duck, and goat’s cheese salad. Eat in the peaceful courtyard to the rear if you can.

India Masala

India Masala on Maly Rynek is a home from home (Indian cuisine being the UK’s national cuisine…). The difference with this Indian restaurant – and why we love it – is you sit outside invariably in balmy sunny heat on the cuter of the two central Krakow squares. As for the food, it’s good portions of quality Indian fare at attractive prices. What’s not to like? Don’t miss out on the balti and tikka. Note the sister restaurant on Tomasza proffers similar fare from a cool (in every sense) grotto.

Kramy Dominikanskie

Kramy Dominikanskie on Stolarska is a remarkable place – really another Hawelka or Ratuszowa (the town hall cafe – see below) serving wholesome Staropolska food but at a half or even third of the price. Zurek or “sour rye” soup – a personal favourite – is as excellent here as anywhere, for the princely sum of… £1-50. Try also the bigos (hunter’s stew), and salads.

Orzo Nature Restauracja

If you’re slightly off the beaten track in Podgorze visiting the Schindler Museum or MOCAK, don’t hesitate to make a pit stop at Orzo Nature Restauracja. True to its name it’s a planet-friendly establishment, featuring a cavernous inside bedecked with foliage. Burgers/pizzas are the name of the game here; we had the latter; they were good, and the former looked appetising, too.

Other recommendations include:

Amarone – an upmarket Italian restaurant off Tomasza with a stunning vaulted glass ceiling. Between noon and 4pm they serve a 7-course taster meal.

Alchemia – a fashionable bohemian haunt in Kazimierz, serving a wide variety of street food and the like – it becomes more of a night club evenings.

Dynia – our the back of Dynia, meaning “pumpkin”, is its piece de resistance: a high walled, spacious, tranquil garden perfect for relaxing, with a feel not unlike that of Bunkier. A wide variety of good food on offer, with an emphasis on… pumpkin.

Ratuszowa – we’ve been meeting our friends at this cafe below the town hall since God was a boy. It’s more good Polish food – slightly overpriced. Its USP is the live music playing most nights. Check out The Old Metropolitan Band whilst sipping the vermouth usually on offer. Hidden gem is the inside, essential in winter, no doubt largely disguised to summer tourists.

Jonathan Lipman is the author of Polska Dotty, a handbook of Poland – which features more on Polish restaurants and cuisine…

Evolution – Krakow’s, Not Mine

I knew from the moment our taxi from the airport swept past the colourful ICE international conference centre, on the edge of Krakow, that once again I’d find the city had changed since our last visit only a year ago (actually I think the centre was finished a couple of years back but never remember it looking this complete).

There are seemingly everywhere new bars, clubs and restaurants, shops – even statues. Renovation of the impressive neo-classical town house facades continues apace. I’ve always particularly liked the way workmen replace chunky grey street bricks with ones that look… well, identical. I wonder what the old ones did wrong.

I hear less foreign voices and see less stag/hen parties. Long may this trend continue. If only they could get rid of those travelling beatboxers who deposit themselves and their thumps in front of restaurants, jump around disjointedly – and then expect a tip for their troubles!

I’m doing my best. A few days ago we were seated outside at a restaurant on the main square enjoying the cosseting heat before the weather broke. Pizza. Beer. Sun. Quiet. Then along came the beatboxers, announced with a flourish via their oversized microphones something or other in Americanised Polish about what they’d be doing, and set about ruining lunch. A Chopin piano recital would have been one thing – but this! I was up from my chair in seconds, and hot footed it to tell them to turn it down. The sight of an Englishman as oversized as their kit advancing on them barefoot (shoes off lunch) seemed to do the trick. “It’s too loud” I said in Polish (it was). “Jasne” replied Eminem – “that’s clear”. Wow!.. I thought and returned like a conquering hero to the terrace. A few nods of approval and smiles. I sat down. Five seconds later the beat resumed, perhaps marginally quieter. I sat uneasily in my chair wondering if the subliminal reduction in volume had rescued my reputation. By the end of the five minute rap concert, a small crowd had gathered and was applauding enthusiastically. Maybe not, then.

Today we cycled the Vistula c15km to Tyniec Abbey. Marzena learnt on the way that the more impressive monastery higher up on the other side of the river that she always thought was Tyniec – isn’t. We’ve named it Tyniec 2, all the same. Tyniec 1, a short climb up from the river, is a peaceful complex. No beatboxes here. Marzena instructed me to be quiet and respectful inside the main courtyard. “There’s a coffee shop in the corner – stunning view”, I whispered loudly to her from a short distance, but even this received a dark look. Let’s wheel our bikes to it, I suggested. No, we were to leave them at the entrance, Marzena replied. Out of respect. Couldn’t I hear the monks chanting? At that moment a car squeezed in unlikely fashion through the entrance arch and drove noisily to the other end of the courtyard. Seconds later, a bike followed it. Then a nun appeared like a ninja out of a side entrance, asked if we wanted a cup of tea, and told us to park our bikes anywhere we liked.

If you’re going to Tyniec abbey, take my advice: do what you like there.

They’ve opened a second Hawelka. Yes! Those familiar with Polska Dotty 1 will know Hawelka is practically a way of life for us when in Krakow. Their delicious fare has sated customers since 1876. Its quality and price has so impressed me since first coming to Krakow in the early 90s I’ve never bothered with the arguably more famous (and upmarket) Wierzynek restaurant on the opposite side of the square. In new Hawelka you eat on the ground floor of a former “Dom handlowy” (department store). Where you sit is where glamorous girls in white coats would ply passing women with offers of lipstick, rouge, eyeliner and the like. It feels a bit like eating on the ground floor of House of Fraser. I prefer Hawelka 1.

The pound is slightly stronger than last year, despite Brexit uncertainty. We found a good rate of 4.7 zlotys at one “kantor” (exchange). I asked the guy, did he know the one just up the street offered only 4.3? “Ridiculous!”… he replied angrily – “nielegalny” (illegal). I later found kantors around Florianska – the most commercialised part of town – offering a paltry 3.5 zlotys to the pound. I didn’t tell my kantor about them as I didn’t want to be complicit to murder.

There are tourist traps in every city, of course. Rip-offs, minor annoyances and the like. But Krakow remains exquisite, energetic, cultured, diverse, stylish – a city never afraid to change. Unlike me, maybe.

Krakow Changes

There’s a Hard Rock Cafe right on Rynek, the main square in Krakow, which includes David Bowie memorabilia (a signed album cover). The late, great (and ever reinventing himself) superstar would have been proud of the changes that have come Krakow’s way.

Nearly a quarter of a century ago when I first visited the city, there was of course no such cafe on Rynek. Indeed there were many fewer cafes. And fewer bank machines. And fewer (decent) toilets. Fewer of everything. Life wasn’t the easiest for cosseted Western tourists.

Now, things are different. They used to say every other building in Krakow is a church. Now, I’d say it’s an eatery. The number of restaurants in the city is just incredible – many freshly, tastefully renovated – a modern flourish here, a retro look there.

The service in such places – and other facets of life – has improved almost beyond recognition. In Polska Dotty, I railed against the poor customer service I commonly encountered in restaurants, as well as shops, banks and elsewhere. Now, the approach is generally a friendly one. An example is in restaurants, where invariably our family needs to order dishes with a twist. Could we have carbonara without the Parmesan (for our youngest)? Pierogi without the onion (for our eldest)? I usually end the conversation with an apology, in my pidgin Polish, for the complexity. “That’s not a problem at all”, the waitress usually responds, with a winsome smile. Maybe they like my Polish.

Modern tourist information offices abound seemingly on every street corner, peopled by willing young folk with excellent English.

Bank machines line up like soldiers. Back in the day, if the one machine on Rynek was out of service (which it frequently was) and the banks were closed, you really were in a predicament to get to your money. Few establishments accepted cards.

Even more museums have taken root – Krakow was always in the lead in this regard in Poland – including the impressive and unique exploration of history under the market square, and the equally avant-garde Galicia Jewish Museum in the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, which studies the history of the Jews in Poland in a new way (see my blog “Jewish Krakow – Part II”, 31 August 2016).

And on and on. I see two types of change in Krakow. The new museums and arts festivals, the constant (and tasteful) renovation of the city – stunning new squares, modern statues – Krakow has been doing well for at least as long as I’ve been visiting. The Poles have this spirit and creativity within them. But the added comforts and conveniences – these seem to me to have been parachuted in, no doubt on the wing of commercialism.

That’s good and bad of course. Around the main squares in Rynek and Kazimierz, you can hardly pass by for being accosted by those wanting to whisk you on a prosaic golf buggy tour of the city. And the incorrigible stag party made its way to Krakow, though seems recently to have departed, in search of other victim cities.

For the most part, though, the combination of new and old is a winning one. As for the old, it’s good to see some things never change. Hawelka restaurant continues to offer lovely, reasonably priced food – classically presented. Chopin concerts are offered daily, in handsome old concert rooms. The three graces in Rynek – Mariacki church, the Sukiennice cloth-hall, and the town hall tower – all look resplendent this year, apparently newly-renovated.

And don’t forget our favourites, the Old Metropolitan Jazz Band, who can be heard many an evening playing gratis at Ratuszowa – the town hall cafe. Here only three days, we’ve already taken them in twice, including the inimitable banjo player whose instrument appears to play him, and the trombonist who stares balefully at the audience in between solos. We overheard an audience member joke they’ve been playing together for half a century. I’m not sure about that, but long may they continue. After all, change is constant…

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Jewish Kraków – Part II

Well, we already knew we’d lucked out when our old friend Prof Jonathan Webber agreed to show us around the Galicia Jewish Museum, in Kraków, which he jointly founded with the late photographer Chris Schwarz. Little did we know what great insight he would provide into this museum.

Jonathan’s idea was to present the extremely delicate and complex subject of Polish Jewish life in a series of ideas – five, to be precise. This would be done by photography only, all taken in colour from the present-day – often employing a device in which two contrasting images are juxtaposed, to emphasise some tension or other. A yin and yang, if you will. So, without further ado, let’s explore the five sections…

1 – Jewish Life in Ruins

The photos in this first section capture the destruction wrought on Poland’s pre-war community of 3.3 million Jews, the vast majority of whom were murdered in the Holocaust. The gravestone you see was mentioned in Polska Dotty. It is particularly poignant because it reveals there must have been a cemetery in this part of Plaszow (the Kraków suburb where the Nazis established a concentration camp for the city’s Jews), but only one Chaim Abrahamer’s headstone remains. In addition, in this first section, there are pictures of synagogues open to the elements, or propped up by scaffolding, or with bushes growing from them. As Jonathan evocatively puts it, it is as if time just suddenly stopped – and makes a painful sight.

On a personal note, this opened my eyes. I knew Jonathan had been instrumental in restoring many places of Jewish heritage in Poland, and had in my head, somehow, that the job – if not complete – was well on its way. Whilst much has been done, I now realise there must be a huge number of such sights still abandoned, to which no-one has yet raised a restorative pick or shovel.

2 – Glimpses of the Jewish Culture that once was

In contrast to the first section, in part 2 we see remains of Jewish life that escaped the Nazi destruction. These include exquisitely decorated synagogues and tombstones. The image you see is of a prayer-room within a house in Dabrowa Tarnowska. It is still preserved today, years after its owner (who survived the War) passed away. I describe in Polska Dotty a surreal moment when a group of us visited the room during a field-trip led by Jonathan, in the summer of 1994. Suddenly, the owner, who was still then alive, began wailing. “Two years and four months! Two years and four months! My sister survived the Holocaust by hiding under the boards of this house for two years and four months!”

3 – The Holocaust: Sites of Massacre and Destruction

Whilst the museum’s approach makes it clear that the history of Polish Jewry is a rich and lengthy one, much more than only the Holocaust – evidently, the Holocaust must be tackled. Indeed, I don’t suppose this museum would exist without it. The image you see is of a last remaining part of the ghetto wall in Podgorze, Kraków. The Jews were herded into here, until being carted off to their deaths. You can easily enough find the wall. With its tombstone-like arched tops, and what it represents, it is – though just a wall – strangely moving, even upsetting. A plaque describes its significance. As you can imagine, the photographs in this section of the museum, though they don’t directly show human suffering – there are no humans in the photos until the last section – are harrowing.

4 – How the Past is being Remembered

A very interesting section, showing the great variety of remembrance. From a local library housed in a stunning, restored synagogue in the small village of Niebylec, to another synagogue used as a furniture store, with no hint of its origins – and everything in between. The picture I have included is of Belzec concentration camp. Visiting here was one of the most moving aspects of our field-trip with Jonathan all those years ago, largely because he read us an incredibly moving account of one of only 10 individuals ever to go into the death camp, and come out again alive. 500,000 Jews perished in Belzec. They have been remembered by irregular shaped boulders covering a site the size of four football pitches. In a way like the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, this seems to me an attempt to commemorate the monumental scale of the destruction by something that is also vast. When we visited Belzec all those years ago, there was virtually nothing to remember those who died there.

5 – The Revival of Jewish Life

Jonathan had promised us there would be a meaningful coda to all this – and here it was in the last part. A series of images capturing the continuation of Jewish life in Galicia, though evidently, on a much smaller scale than once was. We see images of a Jewish wedding, a concert in Tempel Synagogue (see my previous blog, Jewish Kraków – Part I, for more on this synagogue), and a Polish primary school teacher who has published 20 articles on Jewish culture. Amongst other things, the exhibition reveals how many Poles, in the past and now, have done much to protect and preserve Jewish life in Poland, in contrast to Poles who collaborated during the War, or carried out pogroms against Jews.

The photo is of a stall in Sukiennice – the old cloth-hall that bisects the central square in Kraków’s old town – selling carved Jewish as well as Polish figures. The picture intentionally shows both, continuing a key theme of the exhibition – the interplay between Polish and Jewish life in Poland. But I need to tell Jonathan: when we tried to find a Star of David pendant for my daughters in Sukiennice, there were almost none, whilst crosses abounded. Maybe that’s just good old fashioned commercialism…

I hope this blog has given you a small insight into the Galicia Jewish Museum. What it doesn’t do, for sure, is offer the full experience. There are many more photographs than I have shown, and they are brilliantly shot – including by the late Chris Schwarz, who also founded the museum, and of whom I have fond memories from that field-trip back in 1994. The museum is also spectacularly housed – in an old mill, all high ceilings and exposed beams – incorporating an avant-garde design. Take a visit.

The evergreen Prof

Jewish Kraków – Part I

The initiated amongst you will know that “Jewish Kraków”, the title of this post, really means Kazimierz. Kazimierz, named after a Polish King, lies just outside Kraków’s old town. The Jews were banished there in the late fifteenth century. Once there, they built a thriving community, which the Nazis almost entirely exterminated during WW2.

Kazimierz lay dormant for many years after the War, other than being a refuge to drunks and the homeless. What to do with the homes of so many mostly Jewish people, tragically murdered (but whose distant families might have claims on their properties)? Development was piecemeal. But I’ve been coming here for over 20 years, and can see in my visit today that what were islands of development in Kazimierz, are now linking up. Kazimierz is gentrifying. It’s an intriguing (and last) chance to see, simultaneously, what it was and is becoming. An old, decrepit tenement block here; a spanking new restaurant there.

The shop you see in the photo is run by a nice old Polish lady. You can buy, amongst other things, sepia photos of Jewish families, 10 zl a throw. They look original. When I asked, the old lady told me the bric-a-brac is harder and harder to come by. It begs that old question of the rectitude (or otherwise) of selling off this stuff (you can be sure most of those posing in the pictures, if they were Krakowian, or even more widely Polish Jews, would have perished in the Holocaust). The shop wreaks of sadness. But I’ve explored this conundrum in previous blogs, and don’t think the old lady is doing anything wrong…

On to Tempel Synagogue, the last of Kraków’s synagogues to be built. Mid-nineteenth century. Exquisite inside, after restoration, including an upstairs gallery where women sat. A Dutch-sounding man inside, evidently also a tourist, asked me if I was Jewish because I was wearing a skull-cap. I replied that everyone who came in was asked to wear one. He’d somehow avoided the ritual. But a theme was developing…

On to Wysoka (Tall) Synagogue. Rather forbidding, as you can see, from the outside. And apparently not fully restored. I decided not to go in. But in the entrance hall a couple of energetic young Hasidim importuned me. “Are you Jewish”? they asked. Maybe it wasn’t just the skull-cap. “Ye-es”, I replied, hesitating. “Come and prey with us!”. I asked, “You need one more to make a minyan?” (a quorum for prayer). “Not exactly. D’you lay tefillin?” One of them fumbled in a felt bag for the small black boxes of prayers that Jews strap to themselves. He extracted one and made for my arm. I withdrew. “Hey, ‘fraid I’m not the same type of Jew as you”, I told them. “We’re all the same!” they countered. “Maybe in God’s eyes”, I said. “You bet!” they sang back in chorus.

Outside Remuh, Kraków’s most famous Synagogue – just to the right as you look – is a stunning bronze of Jan Karski. He’s the Pole who, during WW2, working for the Polish underground, voluntarily entered a concentration camp to observe the Holocaust first-hand. He then went personally to meet Anthony Eden and Franklyn Roosevelt to enlist their support to halt the genocide, but they barely believed him. This is something he never got over, but his bravery is unquestioned. His account of his wartime exploits – Diary of a Secret State – is a must-read.

As I was observing the statue, two (different) young Hasidic Jews approached me. “Are you Jewish?” they asked. I eyed them up and down, and noted their bag of tefillin. “No”, I replied, somewhat unconvincingly, and rather for fun. I have never denied by roots when it mattered. But after all, it was lunch time… They smiled uneasily, looking genuinely perplexed, and went away.

Link to Part 2 of “Jewish Kraków” below, and you can read more about Kazimierz – and other places of Jewish interest in Poland – in the first Polska Dotty book…

Jewish Kraków – Part II

Krakow Fusion and Infusion

Sukiennice or Cloth-hall

After a full week in Zakopane and the Tatra (see my previous blog), it was time for Krakow to shine in week 2 of our holiday. Would it deliver? The answer was never in doubt, of course – but there have been real surprises along the way.

We hadn’t been back for 2 years, for one reason or another. That made that first walk onto the vast expanse of Rynek – the largest mediaeval square in Europe, 200m x 200m – all the more impactful. In recent years, everything seemed to be shrouded in scaffolding, but now the Mariacki church and Sukiennice cloth-hall and Wawel castle are all fully spruced up – and a great site they make. Most impressive of all is the Czartoryski museum: what a job they’ve done on its yellow facade. I love the way the mortar sticks decoratively out from the brick. Just a shame it’s still closed!

I said surprises. Early on in our stay, we got talking with a shop-owner in Sukiennice who has been running his business for exactly the time I’ve been coming to Krakow: 20 years. A good investment, I suggested. Yes and no, he replied. Yes in the beginning. But in recent years there’s been a downturn. So many people come into the shop, pick things up, put them back again, smile, and leave. People don’t have money, he complains. He seems a genuinely nice chap – particularly good with children, and I feel sympathetic. I’ve been buying the place up ever since. I’ve got more fridge magnets than you could shake a stick at (I’ve got sticks, too).

Is Krakow experiencing a downturn? Marzena’s and my early experiences seemed to tell us, Yes. Fewer people on the square (though it takes a lot to fill that square). Certainly fewer stag do’s, including the cussed English ones (thank God they seem to have moved on: pity the “New Krakow”, wherever that is). And less dorozki horses and carriages on Rynek.

But then a Krakowian friend of ours who we met here told us she encounters more foreigners than ever when travelling by tram, and stag do’s (and equally noisy hen ones) are not a thing of the past. I’ve myself visited several museums and attended several concerts this week, and met many, many nationalities: English, Americans, Italians, German, Austrians – and plenty of Norwegians, for some reason. And I have to admit Rynek has filled up again, and the dorozki returned (maybe our impression was skewed by arrival on a Sunday). And yet I instinctively feel something has changed: shopkeepers are more willing to haggle, prices seem generally low. It’s difficult to gauge. I’d be interested to see Krakow’s latest tourist and spend per tourist figures.

Mariacki

I made my usual pilgrimage to the Jewish quarter in Kazimierz. I use the term pilgrimate loosely, but being Jewish I do find the remnants of what was a full Jewish community and life in Krakow particularly poignant. Visiting the Schindler museum did nothing to help. It’s really well done – I thoroughly recommend – but begins with old film of Jews in Kazimierz on the eve of WW2. Jews playing chess in the park, talking politics, attending prayer, being educated, perambulating… I visited a 10-20m remnant of the ghetto wall on Ulica Lwowska, and also Plac Bohaterow Getta – Ghetto Hero Square – from where the Jews were shipped off from the ghetto to work and concentration camps. It’s movingly commemorated by multiple metal chairs permanently fixed to the square, a design of 2 Polish artists. The chairs represent what the Jews left behind as they were turfed out of their houses by the Nazis, allowed to take with them only 2 suitcases. In what was the main Jewish square, Ulica Szeroka, I visited the oldest synagogue – appropriately enough named Stara Synagoga or Old Synagogue – now a museum, and before the War the centre of Krakow Jewish life. It’s beautiful inside, but what most struck me is that none of the artefacts on display belonged to the synagogue. They were ransacked by the Nazis who used the synagogue as a warehouse. What’s on display is whatever could be gathered from pre-War Jewish life around Poland after similar ransacking all over the country. This incongruity somehow upset me.

Walking along Szeroka we ran the gauntlet of the Jewish-themed restaurants. Admittedly, it was a rainy day, but they seemed desperate for our business. Evidence of economic woes? We ate a tasty lunch at the original such restaurant – Ariel. The waiter inviting us in impressed: he had a patois in almost every language to woo customers, including, vitally, Norwegian. We ate Jewish food, and eyed the ubiquitous wooden-carved Jewish figures for sale. I’m not one for criticising this commercialisation of the Jewish past in Krakow. As long as it’s done tastefully, which it generally is. Walk 5 minutes up the road, as I did, and in the “new” Jewish cemetery you’ll see where Polish conservation students have restored many headstones, funded amongst other organisations by the local Polish authority. It’s a mix of remembrance in Kazimierz, but money is needed.

We hired bikes from the ever obliging Cruising Krakow on Basztowa and set off for Kopiec Kosciuszko, one of several man made mounds that surround Krakow. I describe them in Polska Dotty as “producing a peculiar effect that has – simultaneously – a natural and artifical air to it”. Being up close and personal does nothing to belie that description. As you climb the road – well, let’s say stagger up the final yardage pushing your youngest’s and your bikes – Kopiec Kosciuszko appears above you like a toy cake. But it’s no toy. It’s actually 35m high, and there are some sharp edges to brave. But the view atop is stunning: Krakow below you on one side, and on the other – I have to say even more beautiful – a landscape of forest and rolling hills. Even the requisite missing signage – this time for the exit – didn’t dampen our enthusiasm. We eventually, somehow, rocked up on the far side of the castle-like edifice that skirts the mound, having walked the wrong way through a waxworks exhibition (but happily avoided the entrance fee).

The marvellous Old Metropolitan Band

And finally, a visit to Krakow wouldn’t be complete without… music! At Bonerowski Palace I took in one of the nightly Chopin concerts. A young Polish pianist – Witold Wilczek, 26, but looking to me 16 (am getting old) – gave a virtuoso performance. Through Polonaises, Ballades and Mazurkas, he put so much spirit into it, for fully an hour and a quarter. In contrast, the City of Cracow Orchestra gave a somewhat subdued – and short! – performance. I’d always wanted to attend one of their performances, which take place in the elaborate Baroque St Peter and Paul church. In the end, I spent most of the gig staring at the decoration, and 40-45 minutes later, the concert was over. Check out instead the concerts in Adelbert church, on Rynek. Last time we went, a couple of years ago, the quartet was lively and the concert lasted longer.

But nothing beats for me free jazz at the town hall cafe – Ratusz. On Friday night we got lucky. The Old Metropolitan Band, a swing ensemble puffing since 1968, gave a foot tapping set. They’re kept young by their vivacious singer Ella Kulpa, who mixes traditional delivery with a touch of rap, hand gestures ‘n all. Never has Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho sounded so… happening. That’s what I call fusion – and it works. After the set, I approached the aged band leader, and suggested Ella adds plenty of life to the group. In reply, he winked at me.

So, we’ve received our annual infusion of Krakow life. I know it’s not the typical life of a Krakowian; we are, these days, essentially tourists here – albeit Krakow is my wife’s home town, her family remains here, and I’m no newcomer to the city. But the buildings and history and art and… charm, are real enough to us. We can’t wait to return.

Czartoryski Museum

Poland, This is Poland: All Change

Recent articles in Polish Radio Dla Zagranicy (http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/142724,Poles-losing-taste-for-vodka) and Krakow Post (http://www.krakowpost.com/article/6868) got me thinking about change in Poland.

The latter tells the tale of a swish new restaurant that has opened in suburban Krakow, all designer chairs and lights, and continental food. The Post comments that the restaurant “sits next to traditional rural cottages, complete with head-scarf wearing grand- mothers sitting in their doorways”.

The former article explains that total sales of vodka in Poland were down a significant 5% in the first half of this year (don’t panic, that’s still over €1b) whilst wine sales continue to rise and beer retains its no.1 spot in the alcoholic beverages market, which it achieved after the fall of Communism.

Poland is changing, of course (in case anyone hadn’t told you). And I admit my first reaction when I see a smart new eatery put down roots is one of pleasure: another great place to eat! (not that Krakow’s short of a few…).

At the same time, I have a couple of niggles – maybe more than niggles. The first is the incongruity the Post talks of when these new edifices of steel and glass spring up next to some old block in which Poles have lived for some while. I suppose it’s progress, but as I ask in Polska Dotty, what on earth do the head-scarf wearing grandmother brigade make of it all?

Secondly, and again as I’ve pointed out before, it’d be a great pity if Poland threw the baby out with the bathwater. That is, allowed modernity to impact on its wealth of old buildings and traditions. I don’t have great fears about this: Poland strikes me as a country well aware, and proud of, its past – and in any case the bureaucracy often still required in Poland to get things done should slow the pace of any unwanted demolition.

So, for now, I guess I’ll just gorge myself on some nouvelle cuisine in some chrome and mirrors nouveau restaurant on my next trip to Poland – and not worry about it too much. But I do think Poland should manage carefully its continuing and rapid transformation, and decide, for example, if it really wants the likes of a glass pyramid on the Wawel castle mount. Now there’s an idea…

Polska Dotty in Paperback

I’m delighted to say Polska Dotty is now out in paperback.

Includes an updated Foreword and a Guide to Pronunciation of Polish Letters.

Illustrator Wiesiek Kisielowski’s sketches look stunning throughout.

Buy now for insightful and humorous holiday reading!

Available on all amazon platforms, including:

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1478189142

US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1478189142

And at the Createspace estore: http://www.createspace.com/3928609

Spread the Polska Dotty word!

Cultural Cross-fertilisation – Polish Style

There’s an article on Krakow Post’s website today concerning a Pole who has made a film about mixed nationality couples living in Cracow.  Have to admit I lap up cross-cultural stories, as regular readers of this blog will know.  Something to do with my own British-Polish marriage, perchance?  Funnily enough, apparently the film features couples who are from all over the world, not just the British-Polish, French-Polish etc European bias one might expect.

Now – how to say this without sounding up my own proverbial? – the more I read contemporaneous accounts of Polish life, the more they seem to accord with my own observations of a few years back in my book Polska Dotty.  So, the film-maker, Krzysztof, says he wanted, amongst other things, to reveal foreigners living in Poland to the older Polish generation, with whom they come into contact so little.  The result?  Krzysztof’s uncles and aunts tell him he’s living in a different world – though they also tell him they’re happy to see it.

Whilst I don’t wish overly to generalise – though why break the habit of a lifetime!? – this chimes with one of the main themes in Polska Dotty: the generational divide in Poland.  By this I don’t just mean the normal such divide – my parents like Glen Miller but I prefer The Killers! – but a shift in mentality.  Young Poles, as exemplified by their international relationships, are impressively open, outgoing and tolerant.  The older generation – and I have plenty of first-hand experience – remarkably less so.

Is this what Krzysztof implies when he tells of his older relations’ reaction to his film, or am I simply inferring too much?  I hazard a guess he is implying something, and that’s a pity, because he says his film also reveals that all foreigners living in Poland wish for is to fit in.    I know the feeling!

So what about the future?  I believe things will change.  I think the older generation – not all, of course – have simply found it difficult to adapt to the freedom and the “anything goes” culture ushered in by the fall of Communism.  Who wouldn’t, and who wouldn’t on top of that feel a bitter sense of irony at the dreadful conditions through which they had to live?  There are so many complementary factors, too, such as Poland’s well documented racial and religious homogeneity.  But let’s make that the subject of another blog!  In the meantime, how to catch Krzysztof’s film from over here in UK..?

The Canadians Are Stealing Our Poles!

Ironic piece on BBC Radio 4’s iconic breakfast programme “Today” earlier this week.  Apparently, the Canadians are making a push to attract Polish workers in the UK to Canada.  They’re seen as hard-working and reliable, the sort of workers who could benefit the Canadian economy.

I say ironic because there are plenty of saddos in this country who have decried the Poles, the “they’re taking our jobs” brigade – completely ignoring the fact the Poles are doing many of the jobs our own indolent workers won’t take on.  But it’s the reason the Canadians want “our” Poles that most intrigues me – the idea that it’s because they’re such good workers.

First of all, are they?  The answer, from what I can gather, is Yes.  I’ve seen programme after programme on UK TV in which employers explain what good employees the Poles in this country are: punctual, polite, well-educated and hard-working.  I don’t think there’s any doubt the vast majority of Polish workers in UK behave in this way, and that’s why they have built a solid reputation for themselves and fitted into UK society remarkably smoothly (despite the best efforts of the likes of “Migration Watch”).

But but but: are all Polish workers built in the same way?  In Polska Dotty I devote a chapter to this topic, entitled “Work and Entrepreneurs”.  The clue is in the title, because I found, paradoxically, at once a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit in Poland as well as great apathy amongst many workers.  I’m sure it’s more complicated than this, but I put a lot of the apathy down to Poland’s difficult past – particularly its recent Communist subjugation – when for most ordinary workers working hard only contributed the fruits of your labour to the ruling Nomenklatura.

Therefore Brits should not travel to Poland expecting all workers there to be as enthusiastic as the Poles they have encountered in UK.  Rather, I agree with the consensus view of the guests on the Today programme that, as with many peoples, it’s the individuals who make the positive move to travel abroad in search of work who are predisposed to being, for the greater part, determined and diligent.  All of which means that, actually, the Canadians are no mugs enticing Polish workers to their shores.  However, they’re doing a great job here, thank you very much – to their own benefit as well as that of this country.  So we don’t want them to go, and say to the Canadians: Leave our Polish Workers Alone!