We left the hotel at 0930 and walked to Wawel Castle situated in a spectacular setting on a limestone plateau 228 meters above the river Vistula. It was established as the royal residence in 1038 AD and throughout the centuries the castle was extended and fortified, rebuilt after a fire in 1499 AD and its courtyard is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Europe.
In 1596 the royal residence moved to Warsaw. Krakow was ravaged and looted by the Swedes in 17th and 18th centuries, then by the Prussians, followed by the Austrians. The Austrians left in 1905. It got its independence in 1918 only to be invaded again by the Nazi in 1939, luckily many of its treasures were shipped to Canada for safe keeping. After WWII it had to endure Soviet rule until the collapse of Communism just prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. How much must one country endure??
On arrival at the castle at 10.10 am, there was a queue of about 80 people, even though the ticket office had just opened at 10.00!! We waited and waited as the queue slowly drifted towards the ticket office and as the automatic display continued to count down the tickets available. It appears there is limited entry each day. By the time we got to the ticket office, 1 1/2 HOURS later, the tickets to the Royal Apartments were sold out but we did get tickets to the State Rooms. It was now 11.40 and our entrance admittance time is 1415!!
It reminded me of the best days of the Soviet era, of our visit to Soviet Union in 1988, when there was no concept of service and long queues were a fact of life. I recall arriving at the Hermitage Museum at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg and seeing a queue the equivalent of all sides of Merrion Square queueing for the National Museum.!! In those days one had to take a conducted tour of the Soviet Union so we were permitted to bypass the queue.
However, today, as is our preference, we are on our own, but had I known what a long wait it would be, I would have booked online. None of the guide books advise one of this queue - the only hint is that it takes a day to see Wawel and if one is to visit all the exhibits, one might need two!! Would you believe the long wait was due to the fact that only one lady was selling tickets and also distributing reserved tickets? There was a vast array of permutations and combinations of tickets available so each applicant spent a number of minutes at the booth!! If one was visiting all exhibits, she had to assign a particular time to each exhibit!! I thought, erroneously, that after over 25 years free of the Soviert Regime, customer service might have improved but no - it will probably take a a couple of generations to change the culture. A French couple in front of us agreed.
Having procured the tickets, we went into the castle to visit the cathedral where thankfully no tickets were necessary. The cathedral was spectacular but no photographs were allowed (typical soviet culture again) It was not as if we would be interrupting prayer; it was more like Grand Central Station than a church. It is Poland's most important cathedral and the high point is Sigismund's Chapel- a 16th century chapel, again one of the finest examples of Renaissance sacral art in Europe, designed by Santi Gucci, Padovans and Berreccio. The other attraction was the 17th century painting of the crucifixion, behind the main altar- alas no photos - tourism soviet style.
It was now 12.30, so we set off for Rynek Glowny (Market Square). One of Europe's largest squares, comprising 10 acres!! How did it survive Celtic Tiger construction lust? As we quitted the castle there was a demonstration. One young man offered me a picture of the Polish flag. I asked what the demonstration was about but, though he spoke excellent English, his explanation was most obtuse. As I looked back, I realised his hesitation; we were being observed by the police with their armoured trucks close by.
We walked down U. Groszka; known as the Royal route to the Square and the setting for royal parades in the past. It is a magnificently wide, street lined with cafes.
The day improved and the sun came out to welcome people to the sidewalk cafes. The square is enormous and initially its size is somewhat deceptive as the rather large Cloth Hall is situated in the centre and obscures a full view of the square. The Cloth Hall, erected in the 13th century was initially a covered market, selling clothes and textiles, but today it abounds with stalls selling souvenirs. The Town Hall was demolished but its tower remains.
As we approached the Square, it was 1300 and as is tradition a trumpeter from
the local Fire Brigade played a tune and cut it short. History advises that the origin of the trumpeter was that the city was saved by a trumper on watch, who seeing the enemy arriving , blew his trumpet to warn of imminent invasion; thus saving the sleeping city. Today, he waved his trumpet from the top of the Basilica's tower, many metres above us. It appears this is done on the hour, every hour 24 hours a day!!
We went into St Mary's Basilica and I managed a photograph, in your interests dear reader.
Again it was thronged with visitors. The visitors appear to be for the most part from Eastern Europe - I cannot distinguish the different Eastern European languages. The Western European visitors are few and far between!!
Having quitted the cathedral , we adjourned to a cafe for a very quick lunch as we were due back at Wawel at 14.15 to see the State apartments. I had an indifferent vegetable broth served in a bread bowl and my present companion had dumplings. The latter were rather good - not as heavy as I had expected and the meal also included some delicious bread and tapanades
We arrived at Wawel at 1400 and surprisingly were immediately admitted. The state apartments were worth a visit though after a 11/2,hour queue and an appointment at 1415, I'm not so sure it is worth it.? We were initially obstructed by a very large tour group - the size of the tour groups here is amazing - I've never seen such large groups anywhere but again that may be a throw back to Soviet control. The tapestries and the ceilings - some painted - some carved were impressive The apartments, it is said had 360 Tapestries but only 142 survived Nazi looting! For moi the high point was the Senate room where the senators met together with the Governor's Suite, which was most impressive.- again no photos allowed!!
We returned to the Square via U Kanonicza, named after clergymen from Wawel Castle, who lived here and subsequently, where Pope John Paul 11 had his apartment between 1952 and 1958, while bishop of Krakow. It is now a museum. The city is very proud of its local boy made good and he appears all over the city including the green area , adjacent the Square - where there is an open air exhibition tracing his visits, as Pope, around the world.
Back in the Square, we visited the Cloth House and admired the many Renaissance houses now functioning as restaurants. We sat in the sun for a time. I was exhausted as we had only really stopped for a brief refuelling at lunchtime.
Our final visit of the day was to a Gestapo interrogation centre c 1 kilometre from the Square. It was chilling in that it was housed in what appeared to be a nondescript suburban building.
Here Nazi torture was the order of the day 
Above a Gestapo torture chamber.
The Gestapo and their victims.
Back at the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised that they had left the kettle together with more tea bags and milk. A cup of tea hit the spot.
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