Krakow is a splendid place, most likely number one on any visitor's to Poland list. ( However, those who do't go beyond the tourist landmarks, do miss a great deal, mind you; ask me and I'll tell you what!) There is so much history and beauty here spiced with various legends and anecdotes. Everybody in Poland has heard of the Wawel Dragon dwelling in a den in the hill on which the royal castle proudly stands to these days. This link provides a few versions of the legend: http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=11 and is a great source of information about the Royal Castle in Krakow.
Every time I go to the doctor's, the taxi drives me past the hill with the castle atop. It's such a nice view. However, it's either obstructed by other cars or the light is not right to take a good snapshot.
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| Wawel Castle, Krakow |
This picture doesn't really show the castle hilltop location with the den entrance facing the winding Wisla (Vistula) River. Prompted by these features, my memory wandered to south-western Wales. I brought a group of students there one summer in the 1990s. We stayed at a hostel near Pembroke Castle. I recall a visit to the fortress residing atop a hill and also a visit to an enormous den - a cave immediately under the castle. An amusing story related to this particular castle comes to my mind.
Wales is full of defensive castles, fortified strongholds, to keep the Gaelic country under control. There are mostly hilltop castles, or moated ones, but we also saw a castle by the beach, not far from Tenby, I think.
Anyway, I'd better go back to the story. We were travelling by coach across England and Wales and when it was feasible, would make small detours to take a closer look at any castle conveniently en route. That's how we found ourselves near a particularly impressive castle surrounded by a moat. It looked amazing against the blue sky turning pink on the horizon as the sun went down. We read about this fortress earlier and were determined to take nice pictures in the low light of a sunny summer day. From the parking place we didn't know whether to go right or left to get the best access. There was a big moat separating us from it. Without much hesitation, I asked a middle-aged woman passing by, as the the area was not at all crowded so it may have been our only chance to get directions. The friendly Welsh woman was delighted to help. She walked back to take us to the right spot and was most keen to find out where we were from and what our destination was. Pembroke! That's where her parents met. They would go on dates near the castle there. It was most romantic, according to what they told her. I trust she wouldn't mind sharing this story here.
Another interesting aspect of this encounter is that the students met a native speaker of English whose language is rather different from the one they are used to and that they actually met a Welsh person. For the woman we were the first Polish people she had ever spoken to. It was well before Poland joined the EU and Poles 'flooded' the British Isles in search of a better life. Some found it, some didn't, some are still searching...
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Below are a few of today's pictures from the Old Town:
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