Days 14-15: Krakow part 1, the search for the perfect pierogi

Thus begins the solo adventures of a not-so young man in search of the perfect pierogi.

Or something like that.

With L still in the UK hanging with her mum and great aunt, I’ve got a couple of days in Krakow. I’ve been here before, seen many of the sights, so I’m unlikely to regale you with tourist tales of all that Krakow offers.

I’m writing this about half way through my second day here, and so far all I can say is that I’ve slept a lot, and walked a lot. I think that I might have a touch of jet lag, as my sleep patterns are a bit out, finding myself wide awake at 2am after a couple of hours sleep, being incapable of getting out of bed before 11, and getting bursts of energy in the early evening. It’s probably also that the first day here was cloudy, so I had issues orienting, and the sun doesn’t set until 9pm so my body is just really confused.

I’ve been eating okay, even some vegetables (okay, they were spinach and cheese pierogis, so that counts, right? (Actually it does, because spinach around here is of the silverbeet variety.) I’ve gone easy on the coffee, only one cup yesterday, and one so far today. And not huge amounts of alcohol (just one beer and one shot of Zybrowka yesterday, and only a beer so far today).

Writing this bit from a 650-year-old cellar, where the music is only slightly younger (currently Neil Diamond, previously Elvis, and The Platters, among others), I’m sipping a Polish lager. And it’s pretty good, certainly a lot better than what Australia calls lager in that I can taste the malt, a hint of fruit, the hops are balanced and it isn’t chilled to sub-zero temperatures.

I’ve taken so long to write this post that I’ve ordered another beer, this one a wheat beer. It’s good too, true to the style, not the most amazing but with good flavour, that hint of banana ester. Fairly easy to drink and recogniseable.

Last night’s beer was pretty outstanding, Miloslaw Niefiltrowane, an open fermented and unfiltered lager that is full of fruit flavours, some esters, rounded mellow malt with a hint of sweetness, and again the hops not overpowering the malt. The sweetness surprised me. I’d happily drink this again.

So that’s my summary of Polish beer so far.

Now to the main course: the pierogi, or the dumplings of the gods. Much as I love a good chinese dumpling, they can be light on the filling. While I love a good stodgy british dumpling in a hearty stew, they are heavy and depend on the stew. Pierogi, oth the other hand, are greasy, full of yummy filling, and great all the time (unless you’re looking for a light snack, as I’m yes to find a place that sells less than 10 per serve). Looking for a breakfast: pierogi. Lunch? Pierogi. Lining the stomach before the Zybrowka? You guessed it. While I’ve never (I think) had a Polish hangover, I’m betting pierogi would fix that, too. These aren’t light, delicate pillows, they are solid, and well-packed with treasures like meat, onion, cheese and potato, or cheese and spinach. Just what a long walking body like mine needs. And in Krakow, there are little shops serving these 24 hours a day.

Walking, yup, done a lot of that. Old town Krakow is a little bit of a maze. One theory I’m proposing is that when the sun goes down, they run around, move street signs and re-orient restaurants and towers and statues. The other theory, implausible I know, is that I’m just a little tired and easily confused by street signs with sounds I’m unfamiliar with making the maze-like streets even mazier. I’m going with theory number 1. My settling in walk on the first night went for probably 40 minutes longer than I’d hoped as it took me a few more laps of the old square to find the right exit.

At least here I’m aware of the tourist scams. While I am obviously an incredibly handsome man, I figure that any time a woman who looks half my age comes up to me and invites me to come drink with her in a nearby bar, it’s probably an attempt to extract either all of my money or internal organs. To give credit where it’s due, they aren’t pushy, and a quick no thanks is all that is required. There’s none of the scammer then following, rattling through a list.

Conversely, by day, as a solo traveller I’ve found that the touts for city tours ignore me: they are looking for couples or groups up to 4 to fill their electric golf buggy or horse cart. A single fare is just wasted real estate, so I’m so far almost harrasment free by day.

Krakow is a city that is mostly flat, there is a slight incline in some places but no big hills, so it’s easy to walk. It’s also, from what I can tell, an organic rather than a planned city, so it is certainly not grid-like. It has the bonus of many streets leading out of the main square in a star-like fashion, giving the bonus prize of a scarcity of right angles, so four left turns can take you anywhere except where you started from. So right now, in all honesty, my feet hurt a bit. I also have, for the first time in a while, incredible muscle definition in my calves.

Last night I did my laundry. Normally this isn’t noteworthy, but normally I don’t do laundry at Cafe Frania. Mathematicians (fuck is that spelt right? I write these posts first in Wordpad and there’s no spell checker and I couldn’t tell you the last time I had to spell that word but i may not have been this century, and no matter how I shuffle the vowels it never *looks* right) and astronomers know that Poland is a country of geniuses, and now launderers can realise this too. Cafe Frania, where for 73z I got a load of washing done, drying on the gentle temperatures, a serve of pierogi, a beer, two coffees, chocolate cake, and a shot of ice-cold Zybrowka. How awesome is that. If I also added free wifi, would you too want to do laundry forever? Wanting a change from pierogi? They do burgers. Think it’s too early for pierogi? They do a breakfast menu. Not after a big meal? They have icecream. Genius. Hand me the trip advisor review link ( https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g274772-d2360402-Reviews-Frania_Cafe-Krakow_Lesser_Poland_Province_Southern_Poland.html)

This morning’s late breakfast was so late that it was lunch, so I went for zurek (I think), a meat and potato soup served in a hollowed out loaf of bread (I really should ask someone one day what happens to all of the insides of loaves, as I can’t say I’ve seen any food that strike me as being the repository for this — not huge amounts of crumbed foods but I could be wrong). The soup was good, hearty, and with the bonus of the edible soup bowl.

So what’s next? L arrives after 11 tonight, and then we should be off to the salt mines and other touristy things tomorrow. Until then some pierogi, or big pork, or something.