After the Rain .:. Krakow, Poland 2023 Memories...

When I do the #tbt posts, I like to travel back to the past and put myself in the exact spot when the "event" happened and in some way, re-create the memory, and confirm my previous emotions and experience... Luckily, mobile phones record different data about the photos that we take, so, for example, we can know the exact date and time when the photo was taken. Btw, this is probably the post with the most photos that I ever did... Sorry about that, but there were over 100 and I kicked out half, but I couldn't delete more... Every photo is a reminder of every step in Krakow...

So, please let me set the scene for this one...

It was 8th October 2023, in Krakow, Poland... The year before, I attended my first #HiveFest ever and had a great time, despite going there alone, without knowing anyone in "live"! As the next HiveFest was in Mexico (2023), I wasn't financially prepared for it and had to miss it! Luckily, @gtg and a few local folks organized #HiveBeeCon in Krakow a day BEFORE I took this walk... So, this was the "day after" a huge event, full of excitement, and it was perfect for summarizing the event... As HiveBeeCon lasted until the late hours, this was pretty early for us (my wife and me) for a walk... It was Sunday, 9:30 when we hit the streets of Krakow... The city was still sleeping as there were barely any people outside...

It was raining that night and it was one of those mornings when you leave your home, without knowing how the weather will turn out... We were lucky that every next photo was better than the previous one as the sun was coming out stronger and stronger...

The good thing about traveling by plane is that you don't have to think about where to park your car, if someone will break a window, or steak something, and you don't have to think of driving (and losing time) in an unknown city, in the traffic jam... Because of all that, it was great that we were able to book an apartment a few steps from the city center!

For example, this great Statue of King Władysław Jagiełło, commemorating the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, was on the next street to our accommodation!

I had to take a photo of this Polski Fiat car as some of my friends had it too! My wife's sister had one, and I remember being inside this tiny car accompanied by 4 mature women, traveling on a business trip for over 2 hours!!! Please don't ask additional questions about how "comfortable" was... 😂

On the photo on the left side, you can see the St. Florian's Church, and on the right side, another church, Church of Missionaries Vincent a Paulo (Kościół św. Wincentego à Paulo)...

I can't remember well, but I think we didn't have breakfast that morning, and we were trying to find an open bakery... As there was none until this point, I saw on the map that there was an old market close... Unfortunately, that was closed too...

At the HiveFest, Amsterdam 2022, the director of the Hive movie, @little.lamb recommended the movie The Artist and I saw the name of this cocktail bar, I had to take a photo! Not sure if it connected with that movie, but it was nice to connect another (HIVE) memory from another Hive meetup!

We are now at the Szczepanski Square and wherever you turn your view, you can see fantastic architecture!

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Moving forward to the main square (Rynek Główny), where you can find everything that you wish...

...even a woman feeding pigeons... 🙂 Btw. I have no idea who she is, but she is doing a generous task!

Here you can see the St. Mary's Basilica, built in the 14th century! It was closed for a visit at the time when we were there, so unfortunately, we didn't take any photos of the interior...

In the middle of the square, there is an Adam Mickiewicz Monument, which for some reason I forgot to take photos of, and the MNK Sukiennice building that you can see in 2 photos above and 1 under... Underneath this building, there is a museum, and in the middle, the main city market... We did visit the market, but I didn't take photos 🤦‍, and when we were there, I had no idea that there was a museum underneath! Btw, if I'm not wrong, that's the underground museum that I mentioned in my last post about Krakow! I'm sure that I will not miss it next time!

While we were strolling around the square, there was a marathon going on... Not sure if it's a yearly event, but it was rare to see suddenly so many people running... 😃

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One of the entrances to the market...

The beautiful Town Hall Tower in the middle of the square...

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Then we moved out of the old town center, walking towards the castle... As there is a huge park that is going around the town center (it's like a big wall, but instead, you have a park), we took that route, taking a few photos of buildings on the side of the park...

I have no idea how I got here 😂, but I had to take a photo of a violin concert's banner...

Before going to the castle, I had to take photos of the river and the parks around it....

The Vistula River is passing through Krakow, which makes this already beautiful city even more gorgeous!

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Back to the castle! Wawel Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski na Wawelu) is one of the most important cultural sites of Poland! The current castle was built in the 14th century, but some of the stones date way back more in the past... In 1978, this place was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the whole Historic Center of Krakow...

There was some kind of ceremony/event, and we were lucky that we could take a couple of photos of traditional costumes from the past...

On the other side, it was a pity that we didn't have a tour guide who would tell us more about this fascinating castle, but I suppose we can do that by researching on the Internet...

After the castle, we went back to the old town...

It was around noon, and we were searching for our next meeting point with other Hivians... We were already hungry, and the meeting point was a vegan restaurant on the other side of the historic city center...

I hope you enjoyed this walk and maybe we can do the walk together in some of the next Hive Meetups in Krakow!!! HiveBeeCon 2.0... Why not? 😃

Thank you for your time,

--ph--