We had no big plans for October 9th, save for a little souvenir shopping. I was still hoping to find some art to bring home, and maybe some trinkets for Bill’s grandchildren. For breakfast, we ordered more eggs with croissants. The croissants were initially forgotten, but the guy who brought us our breakfast later came back with them.

The weather was slightly cooler, so I wore a sweater. We decided to walk in the opposite direction, to see if we might see something noteworthy in that area. Perhaps we did see some notable things, but we were clearly headed away from the touristy area, so we did a loop that eventually took us back to the market square. Below are some photos from that leisurely stroll. It was interesting to walk that way, if only because I noticed the little old ladies selling obwarzanek krakowski, a Polish ring shaped bread roll that are kind of like bagels. They were selling them cheaper outside of the square…

There was a “bazaar” type shopping arcade in the middle of the market square, where vendors were selling souvenirs. It was pretty crowded in there, and we didn’t really see what we were hoping to find, which was original artwork. Instead, we found a lot of touristy stuff, so we walked out and sat down by the Town Hall Tower. Those who are ambitious can climb the tower and learn all about its history, which dates from the end of the 14th century. It’s the only remnant left of the old Krakow Town Hall, which was demolished in 1820.

It was getting close to lunchtime, so we went looking for a place to have lunch. I didn’t really want to dine in the market square, though, because I knew prices would be higher, and likely, the food would be mediocre. I was thinking about patronizing one place, but was turned off when someone from the adjacent restaurant came out and tried to lure us in. I noticed this was a big thing in Krakow… people hired to draw in tourists. I know they do it to drum up business, but I find it off putting.

After a short rest in a park, Bill and I continued walking, and soon oriented ourselves. We were near the main drag that leads to the market square. After a short time, looking for a lunch stop, I noticed a place in a corridor that offered Tuscan food.

Il Toscano turned out to be a sandwich shop, which was not exactly what I thought I wanted. It turned out to be a good place to stop, anyway. We had a leisurely light lunch. I had a tuna sandwich with capers and sundried tomatoes. Bill had a sandwich with mortadella and mozzarella cheese. We had water and prosecco, while 80s music played. It was just enough, and not very expensive, either!

After lunch, we stopped in a couple of souvenir shops to pick up a few things for the grandchildren and Bill’s daughter. I also got a new mug, which I’ve been using a lot this week, as I’ve been drinking a lot of hot tea to help me get over this sickness. Unfortunately, I still didn’t find any art I wanted. The art sellers in the market square only had prints that depicted scenes from Krakow.

After a brief rest in our apartment, which allowed us to drop off our souvenirs in the car, we ventured out again and stopped at a cool looking cafe/bar at the end of Kanonicza Street. We had a of round of beer, then switched to coffee drinks. We people watched, horse watched, and listened to folks socialize… I really liked Pianola. What a quirky place!

And then we walked around some more… just to take in the sights. On the way back toward the market square, a man tried to get us to go to the Georgian restaurant. We were interested, but it was too early for dinner. We walked around some more, and stopped by Bania Luka for a beer and a pee stop. 😉

On the way back, we ran into the same breakdancers from the day before. Since I was more sober and the weather was better, we stopped to watch them again, so I could get a better video. Their show was slightly different. I think maybe they had one or two different guys dancing.

Then, when we ran into the guy from the Georgian restaurant wanting us to come in for a meal, we said yes. He told us it was his second day doing that job. I’m sure he got credit for bringing us in, but the truth is, we had planned to go there, anyway. Bill and I love Georgian food. You can see Bill helping me out by removing the mushrooms from my chicken shashlik!

After dinner, we decided to call it a night. But on our way back to the hotel, we stopped in the candy shop and picked up a lot of goodies for the grandkids! I kind of wish we’d bought more for ourselves.

Yes, I know we should have done more cultural stuff in Krakow, but we definitely had a good time. I hope we can visit again before too long and see even more of this fabulous city. What a great place to visit.

In my next post, we’ll be moving onward to Dresden. Stay tuned!