Poland’s second-largest city was founded
on the defeat of a fire-spitting dragon –
tracking down its den on Wawel Hill is a
rite of passage for mythology lovers.
Kraków is one of the few cities
not to have been destroyed
during World War Two. The old town
radiates out from Rynek Glowny,
Europe’s largest medieval market square.
THE WAWEL DRAGON
Legend has it that the world will end the
day the Wawel dragon bones strung up
outside Kraków Cathedral fall. The
Wawel dragon is said to have gobbled
up young girls in one fiery gulp.
Unfortunately one day he wolfed down
a lamb stuffed with sulphur, drank
half the River Vistula to abate his
raging thirst and then burst. Yuk!
A statue of Kraków’s dragon
guards the entrance to his lair.
Don’t peer down
his throat – it
really does
breathe fire!
SUBTERRANEAN ADVENTURE
Salt was mined at the Wieliczka Salt Mine
for 800 years. It is a mysterious labyrinth of
underground tunnels, lakes and hollows.
Carved chambers hide crystal grottoes, a
cathedral and extraordinary salt carvings
of the Seven Dwarfs and other fairy tale
characters. The mine hosts music concerts
and films are shot here, too.
LAJKONIK
Lajkonik is a strange wizard of a
fellow who trots into town once a
year on a giant hobbyhorse. He
hits people with his mace for good
luck, demands free booty from
shopkeepers, and dances a jig with
the city mayor on Rynek Glowny. So
who is Lajkonik? The medieval hero
saved Kraków from invading Tatars,
nomadic people originally from
Asia. Afterwards he paraded
through the city victoriously
dressed in a Tatar’s
glittering glad rags.
RECORD BREAKER
Travelling on buses and trams
in Kraków is a squash and a
squeeze – public transport is
horribly crowded! In 2011, 229
students from the university
decided to cram themselves
into a city bus in order to break
a world record. The mission was
successful, although the bus
journey only lasted 57 seconds!
THE KRAKóW TRUMPETER
It is impossible to forget the time in Kraków.
Every hour on the hour a bugle call rings
out across the city from the top of a tower
at St Mary’s Basilica. The hejnał
is played by
one of seven trumpeters. The musicians
also work as the city’s firemen.
WET MONDAY
Every Easter Monday, boys in Kraków run
wild through the city throwing water over
passersby. The youngsters come out armed with
bottles, buckets, water pistols, plus anything else
they can lay their hands on. Girls who get soaked
are believed to get married within a year.
DUMPLING FEST
Polish pierogi
(dumplings) are loved so much in Kraków,
they have their own festival. Every August, millions of the
tiny moon-shaped parcels are eaten in the city. The myriad
filling options range from minced meat, cheese, cabbage,
wild mushrooms and mashed potato to sweet wild berries
from nearby forests and even chocolate!
GHETTO HEROES
During World War Two between 1.1 million and 1.5
million people died at Auschwitz, a death camp set up
by the Nazis near Kraków. Ninety per cent of people
killed were Jews, brought here by train from all over
German-occupied Europe. Many were from the Kraków
Ghetto, a part of the city where Jews had to live. Each
person was allowed no more than 100 grams (3.5
ounces) of bread a day and 200g (7oz) of sugar a month.
On Plac Bohaterów Getta a memorial by architects
Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Latak remembers the city’s
‘Ghetto heroes’. Seventy larger-than-life bronze chairs
are peppered across the big public square.