Category: Blog

(Wawel Cathedral)

The jewel of Krakow is the complex atop Wawel Hill comprised of Wawel Castle and Cathedral. The site of kings and their coronations in bygone centuries and the burial place of many of those same kings and also of many important holy men, the whole place exudes so much history you can just about feel it seeping right out of the stones.

(Wawel Castle Tower)

Like nearly every medieval castle, the builders went straight for the high ground, a commanding position above a bend in the Vistula River. Construction of Wawel Castle in something like its present form was begun in the middle 1300’s during the reign of Casimir the Great. But Polish kings had lived and ruled from Wawel for hundreds of years before that, dating back to at least the 9^th century, and people had inhabited the hill for millenia prior to this as well.

(Street view of the Castle from outside the walls)

Continue reading “Krakow Part 2 – Wawel Castle and Cathedral” →

(St. Mary’s Basilica and Rynek Glowny)

So, the obvious questions first: why Poland, and why Krakow? For us, the answers are fairly simple: family ties, close by to Ukraine, cheap prices. Getting the most out of our traveling dollars is always a priority as we are not by any means the rich, jet-setting types, and although Poland and the Czech Republic (our second destination) are now European Union members, they are still a comparative travel bargain compared to most other European countries.

(Grunwald Monument in Matejki Square)

Since my wife, Irina, is Ukrainian and has family living there, our first stop and home base when traveling in Europe is the small town of Letychiv situated midway between the large cities of Vinnitsa and Khmielnitsky in west-central Ukraine. We spend some time in Letychiv visiting with her family, then use it as our launching pad to other locales. To the west a bit further is Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine. From Lviv you can catch an all-night train west to Krakow, and that is exactly what we did. It’s not a long trip, about eight hours including a lengthy border stop – more lengthy than we ever imagined, but I’ll come back to that later.

(Ground transportation in Rynek Glowny)

Continue reading “Poland, Krakow Part 1” →

(Tulip fields of Skagit Valley) 

Can’t make it over the pond to the Netherlands to check out the spring tulips? Well, here’s the next best thing if you’re anywhere near Washington state. Located about an hour north of Seattle just off the I-5 corridor, near the small town of Mount Vernon, is the flat and fertile Skagit Valley. Every April this sleepy farming community comes alive and gets stampeded, overrun and generally trampled by hordes of gawking tourists/flower lovers flocking to the tulip fields. On display are a riotous rainbow of brilliant blossoms, a cornucopia of just about every possible color combination you could ever imagine, acres upon acres, row after row marching off into the distance, petals so bright they threaten to burn out your retinas.

(Entrance to Tulip Town)

Continue reading “Skagit Valley Tulip Festival” →