This morning meet your guide in your hotel lobby at 10AM for the short walk to Wawel Hill to visit the Renaissance Royal Castle and Cathedral. Converted from a Gothic style in the early 1500’s by a Florentine architect, the tiered courtyard of the castle is reminiscent of an opulent Italian palazzo. Inside the castle, view the State Rooms, which feature the splendid assembly of Flanders tapestries, scattered throughout the first and second floors.
You may also visit Wawel Cathedral. The cathedral, as in few cathedrals of the world, speaks the history of Poland. Adorned with a mass of side chapels, endowed by subsequent Polish monarchs and aristocratic families too, the present brick and sandstone basilica is essentially Gothic, dating from the year 1306.
This afternoon, your guide will introduce you to Krakow’s Old Town. The Gothic houses of the 13th-century burgesses still remain, although they were rebuilt and given Renaissance or neoclassical facades. You will see the medieval Sukiennice, rebuilt in the 1550’s, is one of the most distinctive sights in the country – a vast cloth hall, topped by a sixteenth-century attic dripping with gargoyles. Its commercial traditions are perpetuated by a covered market, which bustles with tourists and street sellers at almost every time of the year.
Note: All touring today is on foot through mostly pedestrian areas. Please wear appropriate footwear.
