Sunday, August 17 – Train to Krakow
A cab picked us up at our hotel at 10 am and took us to the central railroad station in Poznan. He even helped us with our bags and made sure we got to the correct platform. I think if you could read Polish and were familiar with the station, it would be no problem. But as first-time visitors with little knowledge of the language, it could seem overwhelming, as it was a big station. I will also note that I saw no attendants or help desks. We had first class seats in a shared six-person compartment for the five-hour ride to Krakow.
We easily found our driver at the Krakow station and we were taken to our hotel near the city’s central plaza (the biggest in Europe). We had the rest of the day to ourselves, so we settled into our room at the Columbus Hotel. The room was nice, but quite a bit smaller than the room in Poznan. We had air conditioning here, so that was nice, even if the weather had cooled down a bit. It was still in the mid-80s. We did some walking around the plaza, checking out the shops and restaurants. Again, the atmosphere is rather amazing with all the people and the huge cobblestone plazas.
It must have been our lucky day as they were having a pierogi festival near the main square. They had an amazing variety of fillings. There was even a band playing. So of course that was our dinner, including some Polish beer. There were desserts as well, and we shared a blueberry filled treat.
We found a church (Krakow has a lot of churches) with an evening Mass, so attended that, and called it a day.