Dorota, my Krakow friend and hostess, had a work appointment the afternoon I arrived, so we walked together to the entrance to a park near the main square and arranged to meet at the same spot later.
This gave me the opportunity to wander by myself and get a feel for the area.
As this was my first walk in Krakow, every storefront, every vehicle, every sign, was new to me.
Actually, I never stop looking at these things as I travel. No matter how long I am in a town, how many times I walk down the same path, I am always people-watching and checking out all that’s around me. But this occasion — my first walk in Krakow, was particularly exciting.
So here’s one of my first Krakow photos. The tram, the ages-old buildings, cobblestone sidewalks, even cobblestone for the tram tracks. And an electronic billboard
This is actually one of my two “memory photos” so I’d be sure to find my way back to our meeting point. It’s a tram stop and major intersection for going to the main square.
Tip: when you leave a place you must return to, take a photo of the location. Get street names if you can. Get a landmark building and something that tells you where you stood as you shot that landmark. Here is my meet-Dorota-later street sign photo. (As there’s a man in it, I wiped out his face and edited his shirt.)
From the street where we parted, I walked through the park and to the main square of Krakow. Wikipedia’s article about it says it is one of the oldest medieval town squares in Europe. It’s an incredibly active area. People were hanging out all over the place. Not just tourists. I heard a lot of English as well; there are many college students studying abroad here, and English is the common language for them to converse in.
Several streets radiate from the town square — all lined with the same great old buildings.
[Click any of the panoramas to open it bit larger. Then your keyboard’s arrow keys will take you through the set.]
For some more scenes of this areas, here’s a slideshow. There is no need to see these in any specific order. They are all of the square and the radiating streets.
(All photos on this page were taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25, my favorite camera. I highly recommend the Lumix line.)