Podgórze
This has to be the best view in the city. In
front of me, hilltop Wawel Castle rises above
the Old Town, while to the let is a tree-illed
former quarry that’s soon to be turned into a
park. There’s a group of hills behind, but on a
clear day you can see all the way to the Tatra
Mountains, marking the border with Slovakia.
Krakow has four man-made hills, all with
rather hazy origins. The one I’m standing
on, Krakus, is named for the city’s mythical
founder and is thought to have been built by
the ancient Slavs at least a millennium ago.
“Podgórze has always been diferent; a small
town within a big town,” my guide, Szymon,
says. Just across the Vistula from Kazimierz,
this area feels suburban by comparison,
its streets lined with villa-like homes and
neighbourhood restaurants. At the junction of
Staromostowa and Kazimierza Brodzińskiego,
we buy cones of tart blueberry ice cream from
old-school grocery shop Delikatesowo. “This is
the most international food corner in Krakow
— you have Italian, Vietnamese, Basque,” says
Szymon. “Fiteen years ago, there was nothing.
The pedestrian bridge opened in 2009 and
everything changed,” he adds. Thanks to the
Father Bernatka Bridge, more visitors are
straying south of the river.Under Nazi occupation, Podgórze was home
to the Jewish Ghetto, and the district honours
its history on Plac Bohaterów Getta (Ghetto
Heroes Square) with a powerful memorial:
33 oversized, empty metal chairs. Nearby, a
pharmacy whose owners passed on food and
information to ghetto residents, Apteka Pod
Orłem, has been turned into a museum, as has
Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, a short walk
away in Zabłocie.
On the riverbank, another piece of history
has found a new purpose. The hulking
brutalist Forum Hotel opened in 1988, and in
the years ater its closure in 2002 its bedrooms
were abandoned. Today, the ground loor
has been given over to Forum Przestrzenie, a
bar, club and gig space that hosts raves in the
former kitchen and conference rooms.
Robert, part of the team behind the venue,
takes me to the basement bar, Klub 89, which
has been kept almost exactly as it was in
its Eighties heyday. It’s a David Lynch-style
dream of red lights, carpeted walls and leather
booths. If the bedrooms were available and
looked anything like this, I’d check in.
“Everything inside needs rebuilding,”
Robert tells me. With the bar and club
being temporary, the Forum’s future is still
up in the air.PĄCZKI
On Tłusty Czwartek (Fat
Thursday), the last Thursday
before Lent, it’s traditional in
Poland to eat pączki (doughnuts).
Some of the best are to be had
just outside the Old Town, at
Cukiernia Michałek, where the
illings include rose jam.OLD TOWN
Krakow’s crowning glory is its
medieval Old Town. Highlights
include Wawel Castle, and central
square, Rynek Główny, where
you’ll ind the beautiful Cloth Hall,
worth visiting for its architecture
rather than its pricey souvenirs.TYTANO
A complex of bars, restaurants,
nightclubs and arts spaces set
in a former tobacco factory just
outside the Old Town. Pick up
a beer at Weźże Krata and a
carnivore’s dream sandwich at
‘meat bar’ Meat & Go, before a gig
at live music venue Zet Pe Te.PLANTY
Encircling the Old Town, this park
is made up of 30 gardens, dotted
with lowerbeds, water features
and statues of historical Polish
igures, like Nicolaus Copernicus.OBWARZANKI
Created here in the 15th century as
a git for the king, the obwarzanek
is a sort of proto bagel, still sold
from street-corner carts around
the city. Crusty and slightly sweet,
it’s lighter than its Jewish cousin,
and while it’s not illed, it usually
comes topped with poppy seeds,
or sometimes salt or cheese.When in Krakow...
IMAGES: BARTOSZ CYGAN; ALAMY; AWL IMAGES
PREVIOUS PAGES: View over Krakow’s
medieval Old Town
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Mehoffer
Garden; Wawel Castle; Pączki (doughnuts);
Szeroka Street, KazimierzOctober 2019 69NEIGHBOURHOOD