Where Is Joey Today?

Polishing off Pierogies in Krakow

No trip to Poland should be complete without a plate of boiled or fried pierogies. Krakow, often called "the next Prague", is a bit more expensive than the rest of Eastern Europe but it still offers up some pretty good deals even in the central parts of the city. For example, U Babci Maliny, a small chain of traditional Polish restaurants, sells a massive plate of Pierogies (probably enough for two people) for between 3-7 bucks. Throw on a bowl of hot pea soup and half a liter of Zywiec and you can walk out stuffed for less than 10 bucks. It caters to tourists and locals alike.

Due to the poor weather the three days in Krakow were spent primarily at this restaurant. Day one was a tour of Nowa Huta, the Soviet response to the beautiful architecture of the main square. The goal was to create a centrally planned utopia for the industrial workers. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of this industry and most of the raw materials had to be shipped in from all over the country. Today it attracts tourists interested in the ugly style of communist architecture that cropped up one identical block at a time. We spent the afternoon at a local pizzeria and took advantage of being reasonably far from the center of town. Between the four of us we spent only about 25 bucks, including our transportation to and from.

Day two, as I already wrote, was spent at the Auschwitz memorial and Day 3 rained us out which kept us pretty local to the hostel (which was actually a welcome change). Day 4, Em and Cheryl ended up making an impromptu visit to the castle while the weather briefly cooperated and said it was great. The night train to Budapest was booked so we opted for Vienna instead.

--Joey