The Saturday City: Overrated Krakow

The Saturday City: Overrated Krakow -

I'll put it simply: Krakow, Poland, is an overrated destination. Every time I travel through Europe, people always ask me if I'm going to visit in Krakow. "No," I answer generally. "Ohh, you're really missing out. It's one of the best cities in the world", they reply.

This year when I finally made my way through Central and Eastern Europe, I vowed to see Krakow. All my friends could not stop raving about how great the city is. A friend who studied abroad there years jumped with joy when I told her I was finally going.

But when I arrived, I was stunned and incredibly disappointed.

It is not to say that Krakow is not a great place. It is. It offers a beautiful old town well preserved from the Middle Ages, lively nightlife, good food and friendly locals. I have a lot of what I did and saw while there. The history of the old salt mines outside the city was fascinating, and I enjoyed the free historical tour of the old Jewish quarter. I loved the old castle and its botched and misshapen Italian piazza. And I spent a good day for a walk through the tree-lined park that rings the city center.

As a lover of underground attractions, I was amazed at the ruins of the old town square is buried under the new. It was interesting how many meters "above the ground" to see Krakow stand now.

And I loved especially the city's nightlife. Every night my hostel, Greg and Tom's (one of my favorites in Europe) was pub crawls and vodka samples. And no matter what day of the week, the pubs and clubs of Krakow seemed fully was.

But all this is not the greatest thing since sliced ​​bread making Krakow. Everybody talks about Krakow, as if it's some miracle, some Emerald City-like place, but when I recorded my top 20 courses in Europe, Krakow would not even the bottom of this list. When I think of the historic and beautiful medieval towns, I think of Prague, Tallinn, Brno and Sighi ? oara, just to name a few. You all are much nicer and have a much better historical atmosphere to them

I think Krakow is for a few reasons, hyped .:

First, it is hard to deny that it's nice is. People love generally medieval European towns and Krakow has a beautifully preserved historic center with old buildings, narrow streets and cobblestones. There is even talk of a fortress wall around part. In addition, the modern part of town is well built, with apparently little of the communist blandness that so most of the old Eastern bloc spots.

Moreover, it is a young city. There are a lot of students and travelers here, so you will find many youthful energy in the city are circulating. It definitely has that college town feel, which is also the reason other Krakow so popular, could explain. There are a ton of cheap alcohol is flowing in the city

It was the only thing everyone mentioned to me when they talked about Krakow. "Krakow is a cracking party", people would say. Hostels exist here travelers to get intoxicated. Pub crawls with free vodka shots and cheap, cheap drinks come every night. My hostel definitely trying hard to get drunk all. But then again, so do all the other hostels here.

Everybody comes to celebrate to Krakow. You hear about them, they expect it, and they are ready for them. On my Kneipenbummel there was even baby boomer couples shooting vodka. (I actually think that's really cool. Not because they drink heavily, but because they do not age, they can be slow and have no fear, with the twenty-something travelers to hang out.)

When They combine all three of these things (especially to drink because young travelers and students drink love), it's easy to see why everyone travels around Europe like crazy over Krakow rave.

But a party town not to make a big city. While Krakow has many wonderful features in its own right, I was incredibly disappointed.

I try to remain objective when I travel, especially when I know I'm going to write about a place. I'm trying to take over cities for what they are, not what people say they are. Expectations can often lead to disappointment. I can get flashing eyes when I think about Paris, but let's be honest -. It's expensive, too expensive, and the locals can sort rude be

I do not want to be wrapped in the hype of a place. And there are some serious hype around Krakow rotates.

If someone asked me to go to Krakow, I would definitely go back. And I would suggest that anyone go reading this blog post there and enjoy the city. You have a wonderful time to see the sights and absorb the history of the place.

But I'm not going on a mountaintop about to cry.

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