2nd June - 2nd entry

2nd June
Krakow

I bought bus tickets from reception and rode the bus into the city. I had to walk the last bit; about 10 minutes. The city was jumping with peeple and when I got to the main square, I realised why.... There was a free open air concert being held. I think it's something to do with a 750th anniversary for the city, but not sure exactly what. I was absolutely starving by this stage, as I'd only had breakfast to eat all day, and it was a real struggle to get through the throng, but I finally made it to the opposite side of the square and bought a kebab. Kebab and drink - 3 euro. Ha ha....gotta love Poland for it's cheapness. I wolfed it down like I'd never seen food.

The rain was coming down quite heavily by this stage, so I nipped in through a large gate to a pub complex. It was a bit strange.... Imagine a Glasgow tenement close and the whole thing has been converted, top to bottom, into pubs and clubs. Not a commercial building originally; flats. Large rooms with 12 foot ceilings with ornamental ceiling roses and cornicing. Holes had been knocked through the walls to join the rooms together. One room was the bar area, the next larger room was the dancefloor, another had been converted into the toilets (the skankiest of which I've had the displeasure to use in a long time!). Anyway, it was dry, the beer was cheap and the music was good. Where I was at was handbag/ cheese tunes, next door in the flat across the landing was industrial. I stayed for a couple of hours and then left to try elsewhere. The rain had eased off by this stage and I found another bar that was jumping and headed in there for a few, got talking to a Polish lad, discussing how it's so cheap in Poland. Basically, because the wages are crap and unemployment is high. Hopefully their membership of the EU will do the country some good in that department.

I left and was lucky enough to find a taxi who was just dropping off some people, so I was back at the campsite in no time and the fare was reasonable at about 7 euro. So, good first impressions of Krakow, although I only got to see it in the failing light, but it looks like a really nice city and has a fair buzz about it. More exploration to be done tomorrow after chores of washing clothes are done!