By vk
The City of Krakow, Poland is becoming a hotspot for International Entrepreneurs, with leading site NomadList highlighting it’s potential as a great location for those seeking to startup their business with the right combination of environmental factors to support them!
Check out more on Nomadlist:
https://nomadlist.io/krakow-poland
By vk
If you are looking for a video of Krakow, and want to get a flavour of Krakow before Christmas, check out this terrific video from the team at Time Lapse Poland.
Thanks for sending it to us guys!
See more of the team’s work at http://www.Time-Lapse.pl
By vk
With the rise of low-cost air carriers in Europe, flying to Krakow from the UK and elsewhere in the continent has never been easier. Today there are more cheap flights to Krakow from British cities than ever before, and Poland is one of the best served countries by both Easy Jet and Ryanair, with more routes being added year on year. So, even if you don’t fly directly to Krakow airport, the city of Poland’s kings will never be more than a train ride away.
It’s no secret that choosing when to book your flight is key to getting the best price. The high and low seasons of Polish tourism, like with every other destination worldwide, have a direct influence on flight prices to the southern capital.
However, with most visitors coming to the city in May, June and July to enjoy the hot Slavic summers, the would-be visitor has got some great deals at hand, especially if they book well in advance.
It’s not uncommon for flights from Bristol to Krakow (with Ryanair) in the early summer to be around just £30 if they’re booked at least two months in advance, while the Ryanair connection to the nearby city of Katowice can sometimes be snapped up for under £20.
To secure truly cheap flights to Krakow it may sometimes be necessary to get a connecting bus or train from a nearby city. While the Polish roads may leave something to be desired, bus connections between major cities are usually very efficient and cheap.
Naturally Krakow is the best arrival point, but the nearby city of Katowice is under one hour’s travel away, and a bus direct to Krakow’s central station will cost just 9-12 euros.
Alternatively the nearby city of Wroclaw (pronounced vro-tz-wav) is also close by, and is even becoming something of a tourist prodigy itself, offering a nightlife that’s beginning to rival even Krakow’s.
Easy Jet runs the most popular flights connections from Bristol, Edinburgh and Liverpool. But, while these are usually good value for money if booked in advance, they aren’t always the cheapest flights on offer.
Ryanair flies to more Polish cities than any other airline in Europe, and is one of the best operators for cheap flights to Krakow, especially for weekend breaks that won’t require the hefty £60 add-on fee for baggage.
With Ryanair, direct flights now leave to Krakow from Liverpool, Stansted, the East Midlands, Leeds, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Many of these also have connections to Wroclaw or Katowice, but for these cities it’s also possible to fly from Bristol, Bournemouth and Glasgow.
WizzAir has also increased its connections to Poland from the UK, but still has no direct route into Krakow airport. Instead, it’s possible to fly from Liverpool, Sheffield and London Luton for arrival in either Wroclaw or Katowice.
Once you’ve booked your flight, be sure to check this useful packing list for Poland to ensure you bring everything you need to enjoy your holiday.
By vk
It’s been said that Poland is the North’s first outright Eastern European nation on the continent, and it is definitely true that there are a number of dividing factors on this geographical confluence of Germania and the east that perhaps make it a starker change to deal with for many travellers than say, France and Germany in the west. For one thing, there’s the telling Latinate-Slavic language line, starting with the Polish border on the Baltic Sea, and continuing right down into the Cyrillic states of the Balkan Med. There’s also the historical iron-curtain divides of east and west that neatly cut lines that would divide Europe’s communist states from her post-war boomers in the longer half of the 20th century. But, even with all these ostensible dissections of Slav Europe and its counterparts to the west, in 2004 Poland joined the European Union as a European state, and today the visitor to any of the countries east of the historically accepted divides, will probably be surprised how similar, not different, the countries, cities, people and way of life this side of the line actually are.
Today, while Polish traditionalism is very much alive, in cities like Krakow there’s a definite sense of a more casual and secular outlook to life emerging. For one thing, numbers of Roman Catholics are declining, indicating that the historical source of traditional customs in the country may be taking less of a commanding role over the country’s direction. That said, if there are two things inseparably entwined in Poland, it is history and religion, and today ten of the country’s thirteen national holidays are related overtly to the church. In a similar way, don’t expect to find too many shops open on a Sunday. Many people, especially from the older generation, still attend church regularly, and wouldn’t even think of working.
It’s also worth noting on the religious note, that in Krakow in particular, the prestige of John Paul II is a subject of almost city-wide zeal. Being the only Polish Pope in history, and a local Cracovian (born in Wadowice), he is highly venerated, again, particularly among older people.
But not all the Eastern nuances stem from Poland’s religious past. Firstly, with denominations of coin as low as 1 groszy (0.002 pence), it’s always good to keep a healthy supply of change when buying goods in supermarkets, or tickets from kiosks; it will definitely save you some unsavoury looks, and stop long queues building up as the poor shop assistant fumbles for the right change. With bills and tipping, the etiquette is the same as in the UK, so around 10% is normal, while with deliveries it’s often easier to just round the bill up to the nearest 5 or 10 to avoid difficulty.
Visitors to Krakow can often get caught out by some of the laws that Polish police pay special attention to. Of these there are two most worth noting. Firstly, drinking in Public in all of Poland is illegal, and hefty fines of up to 500 PLN will be given without warning. In Krakow, the law has actually worked well to stimulate local bar culture, and keep the city’s parks clean, so it’s best to resist temptation and avoid it altogether. Secondly, jaywalking, while not as serious or worthy of immediate fine as public drinking, is still punishable up to 100 PLN.
In general the prevailing customs and etiquette of life in Poland are very European. It’s a five day week, with 9-5 hours; public holidays are dotted throughout the year, so on and so forth. But, there definitely are some cultural differences, nuances in custom, and traditions that any visitor should bear in mind.
By vk
Just north of Zakopane and around one hour south of Krakow, nestled deep in the rolling foothills of the Tatra Mountains, the quaint little town of Bialy Dunajec has none of the swing and soul that one would normally associate with jazz. But, in his philosophical treatise of the late 20th century, the Polish chronicler Jozef Tischenr was unequivocal in his findings. He claimed the town was once a mecca for would-be folk musicians, who flocked the world over to master the stringed basses of the Polish Gorale (mountain men). One group of students who arrived from Africa were quick to master the style and, as the suspiciously fateful story goes, after suffering storms at sea while returning home, were left ‘with just their bows and no fiddles of basses’. It was from this demiurgic musical despair, Tischenr claims, that jazz came; ‘they used the bows to strike any kind of objects, creating the rhythms from which jazz was born’.
This Homer-esque odyssey of Bialy Dunajec’s black musicians, apocryphal or no, can fairly be seen as one of the more imaginative episodes in a 20th century musical tradition that has seen jazz music and Poland interlaced in more ways than one. Not only did jazz music sit happily in Krakow’s and Warsaw’s culture of subterranean ‘artsy’ bars, but it has been something of a defiant national identity card, syncopating Poland’s resistance that through the 20th century like the very jazz beats themselves, challenging the imperial conquests of the historical totalitarian foes on both borders, east and west.
Today, despite years of artistic repression during communist rule, Krakow remains a defiant hub for Jazz music. The mellow alto-sax ditties that issue from the smoky jazz bars in Kazimierz and the twinkling rhythms of the Old Town’s piano bars are now quite reminiscent of New York’s bohemian music villages, and stand as a symbolic manifestation of the Polish jazz renaissance that has unashamedly crowned Krakow as its capital.
Whatever the night, you’ll never be short of live music in Krakow and jazz is always on the menu. You only have to know where to look. The most famous joint in the city is right in its heart, on the Rynek Główny itself. Harris Piano bar is a small beatnik dive on the west side of the square, where punters sit nose-to-nose with musicians who pluck and blow every night of the week. The music varies, from big band to Dixieland, and it’s always a good idea to reserve tickets in advance and arrive early. (That is, if you don’t want to stand cramped at the back with the swathes of other jazz-hungry opportunists that have drifted in from the street, wooed by the ups-and-downs of the blues that issues from the unassuming entrance opposite the Sukkience.)
Just around the corner, on Szewska Street, under a blue neon sign that glows ‘Jazz’ onto the passing crowds below all night long, you’ll find another of Krakow’s legendary jazz joints. Piec’art specialises in acoustic jazz and hosts gigs 3 or 4 times a week. Like most places in Krakow, all the action happens in the basement, where the acoustics make for a rich sounding echo that’s just perfect for live jazz. It’s usually less busy than Harris’ and definitely worth a shot during the week when there are fewer crowds.
Back on the Main Square, the Piano Rouge Jazz Club boasts the best cocktails in town, and is a great option if you want to eat too. While the restaurant and concert room are separate, the jazz rhythms can still be heard echoing around the whole building, so you’re never too far from the band. Close by you can also find u Muniaka Club on the corner of Florianska Street. The entrance fee is a flat 10zl, but this place has become famous for its sax-fronted jazz bands that will often play very late into the night, and always enjoy a chat with punters at the underground bar.
With both a Summer Jazz Festival in Krakow and the upcoming Autumn Krakow Jazz Festival 2013, you can be sure there is plenty of great music around!
Krakow therefore is a wonderful city to visit and explore Jazz music. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and let our readers know if we’ve missed anywhere special!