5 things to see in Krakow

In April I went to Krakow and I stayed there for 4 days: luckily, I arrived on the week before Easter, so in the city centre, called Rynek Główny, there were a lot of stands with typical products, from food to handmade wooden products, from clothes to chocolate (I bought a piece of chocolate in the shape of an old giant key).

the Market

This post will be different from the one where I spoke about my travel in Portugal (click here if you want to read it): in fact, if you keep on reading, you will find 5 places I think you should absolutely visit if you're planning to go to Krakow.

1) Town Hall Tower and city centre

If you are in Krakow, you have to go to Rynek Główny, the main square of the Old Town, which was one of the largest medieval town square in Europe. There you can see the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in the Renaissance style, where, on top of it, are located some masks representing caricatures of the city inhabitants. Inside of it, nowadays, you can find a lot of stands of souvenirs with good prices (remember that the currency of Poland isn't the euro but the złoty), while in the 15th century, the hall was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the East. In one of the entrance a knife is hanged, which was a sort of warning for thieves.

Cloth Hall

Other important buildings are the 10th century Church of St. Adalbert (Kościół św. Wojciecha) which was originally made by wood; the Adam Mickiewicz Monument (pomnik Adama Mickiewicza), the greatest Polish Romantic poet of the 19th century; the Gothic towers of St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki), where, on every hour, a trumpet signal (Hejnał mariacki) is played from the top of the taller of St. Mary's two towers.

St. Mary's Church

What stroke me the most was the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa )  the only remaining part of the old Krakow Town Hall (the city's administrative hub and seat of the great council, magistrate, and mayor from the 14th until the early 19th century).

Town Hall Tower

Over the entrance is the original Gothic portal with the city coat-of-arms and the emblem of Poland. There are also two stone lions guarding the entrance; the tower is open to the public: I climbed the 110 steps to reach the top of the tower (75 m high), 

the tiny steps of the Tower

where you can find the machinery of the ancient clock and also you can look at the square from an upper view.

view from the Town Hall Tower

2) Wawel Castle

Built at the behest of King Casimir III the Great, it consists of a number of structures situated around the Italian-styled main courtyard. The castle, being one of the largest in Poland, represents nearly all European architectural styles of medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. It had been for centuries the residence of the kings of Poland but, when  in 1609 King Sigismund moved the capital to Warsaw, the castle was abandoned and occupied by the Sweden and then by the Prussian Army at the end of the XVIII century. It was demolished and then the remaining part was modernised by Austrians with defensive walls. During the World War II, the castle became the residence of the general governor of the occupied Poland.

The castle has its own Cathedral, the Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus (królewska bazylika archikatedralna śś. Stanisława i Wacława), also known as the Wawel Cathedral. On the inside there are about 18 chapels: the most important one is the Sigismund's Chapel, or Zygmunt Chapel (Kaplica Zygmuntowska), a square-based chapel with a golden dome.

A curiosity: on the walls there are white bricks with names of people and Polish people and associations who contributed to restore the castle.

3) Collegium Maius and Jagiellonian University

I choose these two places for two reasons, that can be considered as opposite: one, in fact, is amusement, the other is historical. The Collegium Maius, which is the oldest building of the Jagiellonian University (it dates back to XV century) had, as his famous student, Nicolaus Copernicus (there is also a statue near the entrance): you can see the old clock of the courtyard which, every hour, plays a melody together with a sort of parade of wooden sculptures, representing figures connected with university.

Jagiellonian University (Uniwersytet Jagielloński) is the oldest university in Poland, founded by Casimir III the Great in 1364. The event I want to remember is related to World War II: on November 6, 1939, 184 professors were arrested and deported firstly to a prison in Poland and then to Sachsenhausen concentration camp during an operation codenamed Sonderaktion Krakau. The purpose was to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite to spread easily German culture. Thank to international protests, 101 professors older than 40 were released on February 8, 1940. Additional academics were released later. Many elderly professors did not survive the conditions of the camp: twelve died within three months, and another five within days of release.

Jagiellonian University, Collegium Novus

4) Schindler's Factory

Taking the tram from the centre Schindler's Factory can be easily reached. I hadn't planned to go there, but I'm really glad I visited it.

Maybe you know something about Oskar Schindler from the film "Schindler's List" directed by Steven Spielberg, even though the only thing in common between Schindler and the museum is the location: the museum is situated in the spaces where once there was the German Enamelware Factory (Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik), but in it you won't find anything specific about Schindler's life. There is, instead, the exhibit called 'Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945’. The itinerary is very interesting and there are a lot of  period artifacts, photos and documents with multimedia and set-piece arrangements in an attempt to create a full-immersion experience.

5) Kazimierz

Kazimierz is the name of a historical district of Krakow, which got its name from King Kasimir III of Poland in 1335. Today it is situated in the city centre, but in the past it used to be a separate town. In 1495 Jews who lived in the west part of Krakow was forced to move to Kazimierz. They established their own cemetery there and built synagogues and houses of prayer. The Jewish part of Kazimierz became a true Oppidum Judeorum, clearly separated from the Christian one. When after 1795 (in the Third Partition of Poland) Austria acquired the city of Krakow, Kazimierz lost its status as a separate city and became a district of Krakow.

During the Second World War, the Jews of Krakow, including those in Kazimierz, were forced by the Nazis into a crowded ghetto in Podgórze, across the river. Most of them were later killed during the liquidation of the ghetto or in death camps.

With out tour guide, we saw the most important places in this district, as the Tempel Synagogue, the Isaac Synagogue, the Stara Synagoga, the house of Helena Rubinstein, the Remuh Synagogue and the monument dedicated to Jews

Tempel Synagogue

monument dedicated to the Jews

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These are the places I think you should visit if you're planning to go to Krakow. Of course, there are a lot of other interesting places, but these stroke me the most. Remember, also, to taste the traditional cuisine, in particular the sour rye soup (called żurek) and pierogi (here the link of one of my favourite restaurants, not far from the city centre).

In my next post I will write about 2 other places to visit, not far from Krakow: the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the concentration camp of Auschwitz (Oświęcim) and Birkenau.

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Bye for now,

Yours, Silvia

Kumquat+stroopwafels+beer=Artigiano In Fiera

What I love most is meeting people from other countries: I’m very interested in knowing more about their traditions, religion, way of living in general, so, as I took the chance of working in Expo last year, I decided to go to the Artigiano In Fiera, a fair located in Rho-fiera (not far from Milan) where visitors can see the products displayed in a sort of indoor street market.

There are six pavilions, three dedicated to Italian products, one dedicated to Europe and Africa, one to South-Asia and the last one to Asia, Oceania and America. It is literally a tour around the world, because you can learn a lot about manufactures and food, from clothing to eating, from music to beauty.

I visited this fair two years ago for the first time, but I had focused more on objects rather than on the full experience. This time, instead, I wanted to taste new flavours and so I wandered around looking for something new.  

I arrived in Rho-fiera by train, just before midday: at first I went to the pavilion which hosted the European countries and there I ate the delicious “croque monsieur”, a double toast with ham and cheese in it and with other cheese on top, that can be found in the French area. Then I looked for the Germany stands to have a beer.

I discovered that the concert of Saor Patrol – a Scottish band who plays traditional music – would have been at 2 pm not so far from there, so I had lunch and then I decided to visit another pavilion, the Asian one. I bought a soft and shiny scarf in the “Indian zone” to my sister and then I bumped into a giant Vietnamese stand full of candied fruit. There I met a very kind salesgirl who let me taste some of their typical fruits: starfruit, kumquat, cranberry…and hibiscus. They are not only beautiful in their bright colours but also very savoury.

After that, I came back to the European pavilion and, on the way to the little concert, I found the Netherlands stand with some sweets I already knew: the Stroopwafels, which are some very thin rounded waffles filled with caramel-like syrup and with a light cinnamon flavour. They are so tasty that you could eat them all at once!

"Artigiano In Fiera" lasts nine days, from the 3rd to the 11^th of December so, if you are in Italy, go there and have a walk surrounded by different smells and tastes.

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Bye for now

Yours, Silvia

A piece of history - Ditta Guenzati (Milan)

As I mentioned in my Google+ profile some time ago, I would like to write about something that happened to me on the 26^th of July.

On that morning, I was on Facebook when I noticed a post in a page I follow which recounted the story of a historical shop in Milan, the oldest one, which might close after 248 years of business –sad, but true.

In this post, it was said that it was possible to go and sign a petition to help this shop not to disappear: the shop could be considered as a heritage of our culture, so it could become a historical place. There is also the online petition, but I was in Milan so I decided to go and visit the shop.

It was like to go back in the past, because I think that the shop is exactly how it could have looked like centuries ago. I think that it represents the tradition and the importance of not forgetting the path which lead us where we are today. It is like a door which shows another side of the present, a different reality, original and unique.

If you have ever seen films or TVs series set in the XIX century or even before, this is what you could discover. From the outside it seems a tiny shop, with three windows overlooking Via Mercanti (not far from Piazza Duomo in Milan), while, on the inside, you can admire this breathtaking wooden counters and shelves which contain dry goods, neckties, hats, bags, gloves, coats, umbrellas, all representing the British and Irish style.

As I said in some previous posts, I love England and I would also like to visit Ireland, so I felt very happy to find a place which connects Italy with them- and not so far from me.

If you are in Milan, look for this beautiful shop, with its special atmosphere and the kind clerks who try to keep this place as amazing as it has always been (and, if you can't, sign the petition!)

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Bye for now

Yours, Silvia

The Floating Piers

As I said in my previous post, now I'm going to write about The Floating Piers, which is a project of the artists Christo (Vladimir Yavachev) and Jeanne-Claude.

You can read this on the official website: "For sixteen days – June 18 through July 3, 2016 – Italy’s Lake Iseo was reimagined. 100,000 square meters of shimmering yellow fabric, carried by a modular floating dock system of 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes, undulated with the movement of the waves as The Floating Piers rose just above the surface of the water".

Due to the fact that I didn't go to the Lake Iseo to see this artwork, I asked one of my friend, Beatrice, to tell me something about her experience.

Me: how did you get to know about The Floating Piers?

Beatrice: some friends of mine got to know about it from some of their friends who live in Sarnico (a town on the side of the Lake Iseo)

Me: Why did you decide to go to see it?

Beatrice: I decided to go to spend some time with my friends and to do something different, also considering that it was a temporary installation.

Me: Did you have any expectations?

Beatrice: I had a precise idea about the Floating Piers: I thought it would be more “rustic”, made by wood (or, at least, a kind of wood), like a Tibetan bridge. Also, I imagined it could have been more narrow, so that a smaller number of people could walk keeping a line. I also thought it could have had ropes on the extremities and another colour, not so bright as it was.

Me: when and how did you get there?

Beatrice: I went there early in the morning, to avoid the queue on the entrance and the hours of the day with the hottest weather.

Due to the fact that the shuttle bus service wasn't totally operative, we had to walk for 8 km from Iseo to Sulzano.

Me: what did you feel when you arrived at the Piers?

Beatrice: you could feel that you were floating but this sensation disappeared after some minutes.

Beatrice's photo

Me: Do you have some critics? What did you dislike?

Beatrice: The prices were very high, people were rude and they often threw garbage in the lake; the covering of the piers made you stumble and I think that the access should have been denied to dogs and little children because of the risks for their health (as faints and collapses) – there were ambulances and places where you could buy water in Montisola. The queue for the shuttle buses was very long, you could wait also for three hours. The pier wasn't anything special - it had the role of a boat -  but it was good for those who worked there.

Me: Instead, what did you like?

Beatrice: I liked the environment and especially Montisola, but it's a place I already knew because I went there a lot of times in the past.

Beatrice's photo

Me: did you suggest to anyone to see this artwork?

Beatrice: I didn't suggest to anybody to go there, but if someone told me that they would have liked to go, my advice was to visit the Piers early in the morning to avoid queues.

Here there's a map of the Lake Iseo

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See you soon

Yours, Silvia

Once upon a time in Portugal

BEM-VINDO EM PORTUGAL!

(welcome to Portugal!)

Finally I have some free time to write about my travel in Portugal, which took place between the 29th of April and the 3nd of May. I visited three cities, Aveiro, Porto and Lisbon.

My friend Beatrice and I went there by plane from the Milano Malpensa airport to the Lisbon airport (the flight lasted almost two hours and a half), then we catched the train to go to Aveiro (the trains are not very comfortable: I don't know why, but the seats haven't headrests), where our friend Lorena is attending some courses for university.

We arrived in Aveiro at 6 pm and we had a brief walk around the city before dinner. It is a very pretty place with colourful houses and the streets are made with Sampietrini which, often, forms beautiful decorations:

We tasted the tipical Portuguese food in a restaurant called O Telheiro: my favourite one was the delicious "bacalhau com natas" (salted codfish with cream):

We ate also sardines, octopus and shrimps in each of the three cities: Portugal is a perfect destination if you love dishes of fish, like I do. You can find a lot of combinations in which the main ingredient is the salted codfish and all of them are delicious.

A thing I appreciated (which I don't see in my country) is the habit of sharing meals: in fact, in the restaurants where we had lunch - or dinner - the waiters asked us if we wanted to order three or four dishes and put them in the centre of the table, so that we could try different typical food together. I think it is a very good idea having a sort of "culinary tour": the places you visit are full of beautiful things to see, but the tradition of a country includes also its food and its unique flavours.

On the following day (the 30th of April) we went to Porto, a magic city in the north, not far from Aveiro. There we lived the Portuguese atmosphere, we saw a lot of craft shops with the typical objects made with cork, we walked into the narrow rises of the city, we sat on the bank of the river Douro, crossed by boats and seagulls:

Then we came back to Aveiro and we spent a day at the ocean (the 1st of May), with our feet in the thin sand and the freezing water. It was very windy, so it seemed that the temperature was colder, but if you sat down indoor, you felt very hot. There weren't clouds in the sky and the seaside wasn't crowded so we enjoyed the calm and the sound of the bursting waves.

We ate the "tosta mista" (pronounced 'toʃta), a particular sandwich with caseiro (home-made) bread covered with manteiga (butter) and filled with ham and cheese (there are a lot of variations).
Late in the evening we catched the train to go to Lisbon, which we visited on the 2nd of May. We decided not to follow a specific schedule, but to walk around without restrictions.

After we had left the hotel, we noticed in the distance the Elevador De Santa Justa, so we decided to go there. But, when we arrived, there was a long queue and we changed idea, because we had only one day to visit the city. We walked until we reached the Praça do Comércio, an astonishing square near the Tagus river and also known as the Terreiro do Paço (Palace Yard) because it was the location of the Paços da Ribeira (Royal Ribeira Palace) until it was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Then we climbed a lot of steps and we visited the Castelo De São Jorge, situated on the highest hill of the historical city centre. 

After we had lunch in a restaurant near the Praça do Comércio, we took the typical Lisbon tram to go to Belém, a civil parish of Lisbon where we saw the Mosteiro Dos Jerónimos, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) and the Bélem Tower.

At our last night in Lisbon, we tasted the Vinho Do Porto, a Portuguese red and sweet fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley. 

On the 3rd of May, we had breakfast and then we took our flight.

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See you soon

 

 

Yours, Silvia

Simply London

I didn't know what to write today: imagine you are in front of a little door and you see a crowd coming. They are approaching, but suddenly they get stuck at the threshold, because each of them want to pass first.

This is what happened to me: I have a list with all the things I would like to write, but they all are important to me, so it's difficult to choose!

Then I realise that I haven't already written anything about something I will love forever: London (and England in general).

 

Actually, I have written a post about England (click here if you are curious), but it was just a brief story of the beginning of my passion for that beautiful country.

 

I think it could be enough to put here some photos I took in 2013, like this one of the Tower Bridge

or this one of the Globe Theatre

I went to England also in 2014 and now I feel nostalgic because I would be really happy if I could go there as soon as possible. I notice that sometimes it happens to me to stop for a while thinking about the places I visited and I become melancholic, because I remember the emotions I experienced.

 

This summer, in July, I thought about the first time I went to England: it had been a wonderful trip, much more than a simple dream.

 

Everything seemed perfect, I was never sad, I savoured every moment, every second.

( the British Museum, the House of Parliament with the Big Ben,

the National Gallery, the Tower of London, the Millenium Bridge)

 



It is just indescribable the amount of joy and astonishment I felt.

I believe that London is surrounded by magic, a kind of magic which can speak directly to my heart.

I visited other beautiful cities, like Berlin and Florence which leave something to me: Berlin represents the strength to carry on, to rise out of the ashes of a terrible past; Florence displays the genius, the power of art in all its forms.

But London is different.

Maybe it's because I have carried it in my heart for years as a dream and it finally became true. Even looking at these photos make me happy: I personally took them, I had been there.

Everyone has a special place.

Mine is London.

And yours?

A moment, a love, a dream, aloud - ENGLAND

Today I would like to tell you a story.

The best part of this story is the fact that it is about a dream.

A dream which came true.

I have always loved England. Since I was 9 years-old, this country has enchanted me, for its history, language (I love English), culture, traditions, landscapes, museums...almost everything.

When I was at school, every year my teacher planned a study-trip in England, with a duration of two weeks, so every year (yes, even now I am just a little bit stubborn) I asked my parents to let me go, but every year they said that I was too young. Exasperated by my insistence, they promised me that when I would come of age, I could do this study trip.

Two years ago I went to England. Only if you have a dream which is becoming true, you can understand that feeling, as if you are going to wake up, as if you can't believe your own eyes.

                                         St. James's Park (London, UK)

This experience teaches me not to abandon my dreams. Maybe it's not the time for them to be fulfiled, but you don't have to give up on them.

I leave you with the song ''Sweet disposition'', which comes in my mind writing this post (the title is a part of the song).

See you soon

Yours, Silvia

p.s. I will tell you more about my study-trip in another post, stay tuned ;)

FLORENCE, the city of magic

Hello everyone!

How are you? I'm at home now and I'm a bit sad because my trip is ended too soon :(

I'm happy anyway: these days have been very intense, I have seen a lot of monuments, portraits, sculptures and now it seems that my eyes have been fulfilled with art and magic.

I have already written about my first day, so now I'm going to describe the rest of my beautiful trip.

On August 12th, I woke up at 8.30 am, I had breakfast and then I left the hotel to start the real adventure: I had planned to see a lot of things on that day and, luckily, at the end I saw them all. In the morning, I visited the Brancacci's Chapel with the Masaccio's frescoes "Expulsion Of Adam and Eve from Eden" and the Masolino one "Temptation of Adam".

(Masaccio's Expulsion of Adam and Eve)

Then I kept on walking and I reached Pitti's Palace with the astonishing Boboli's Gardens (I also met a cat wondering around the tree-lined roads): there were also an exhibition of some ancient objects made with porcelain and some others made with lapis lazuli.

(Pitti's Palace)

I had lunch and in the afternoon I visited the Brunelleschi's Dome

the Giotto's Bell Tower

the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

and the Battistero (I bought an ice cream: in general, I climbed a number of steps not far from a thousand, so I deserved a dessert).
Before dinner, I also had enough time to visit the Arnolfo's Tower and the museum of Palazzo Vecchio (this museum made me think back to the time when I went to London for the first time: I had the same sense of wonder which kept me speechless).

On the following day I went to the Medici's Chapel, which has some Michelangelo's sculptures, and to the Gallery of the Academy (where you can find the famous David of Michelangelo).

I visited the Museum of Anthropology and I also reached the Dante Alighieri's house, but I didn't enter in it.

Then it was the time of shopping (I bought just a pair of shoes); I also found the Hard Rock Café, where I took a cup of tea, and I reached the San Lorenzo's Market (with tons of leather bags, leather wallet, leather rucksacks, leather jackets...).

On August 14th I came back home.

In only few days, I managed to see a lot of important places: I enjoyed a full experience, absorbed in a city full to the brim with culture.

Walking inside Pitti's Palace and Palazzo Vecchio you can imagine how it would be to live surrounded by frescoes, precious objects and famous artists.

Climbing the Brunelleschi's Dome, instead, you can understand the genius of Brunelleschi and the hard work behind the construction of such a masterpiece of architecture and engineering, in addition to the breath-taking view of Florence.

Crossing the Boboli's Gardens you can feel a sense of peace, especially if you can arrive in its higher part and you can look at all the trees and the hills around it.

I hope to come back soon, because I would like to see a lot of other places, like Uffizi's Gallery, the Michelangelo's House, Santa Croce...

I put here some other photos ^^

     

I hope you llike the post ^^

Bye for now

Yours, Silvia