Although, Krakow is a city with well-organised public transport, there are many obstacles to get to work, school, whatever, due to traffic jams. Recently, ZIKIT (Management of municipal infrastructure and transport in Krakow - in polish - Zarząd Infrastruktury Komunalnej i Transportu w Krakowie) has released an alternative way to get to your destination - BY BIKE. KMK Bike is a chance for those who want to travel ecologically and on time.
How to rent a bike? You need to register on www.kmkbike.pl . Click on the link and follow the instruction:
Click "Rejestracja" (Registration) the blue button under "Logowanie" (Log in). Fulfill all required fields in an online form. Then, you will receive an e-mail in which you need to click on the link to confirm information about you. Next, you will receive via SMS a conforming code that you are obligated to fill in "Szczegółowe dane" (Details). After receiving a password, recharge your account a minimum amount of 20 PLN (it is more or less 5€ - depends on current exchange rate). If you want to rent a bike, it has to be at least 10 PLN on your account!
The instruction of renting a bike:
1. Click the button "Rent"
2. Enter your mobile phone number - the same you filled in the form
3. Enter the password that you received during the registration process
4. Enter the electronic lock number to the bike are renting
5. You have only 5 minutes to taking out the bike
The instruction of returning a bike:
1. Find a place with electronic lock
2. Click the button "Return"
3. Enter your mobile phone number
4. Enter the password you received during the registration process
5. Enter the electronic lock number
6. You have only 5 minutes to plugging the bike into the electronic lock
Costs:
1. Renting a bike from 0 to 30 minutes - 0 PLN
2. Renting from 31 to 60 minutes - 3 PLN
3. Every next hour - 3 PLN
The maximum time of renting is 12 hours.
piątek, 8 sierpnia 2014
poniedziałek, 4 sierpnia 2014
Top 10 Cafes in Krakow
I prepare a ranking of top 10 cafes in Krakow, according to my suggestions.
I fell in love with Karmello at first sight. Great place with low coffee prices ( comparatively) and delicious chocolate treats.
One of the largest company in the world that have many satisfied clients. Yummy! I definitety recommend it.
Cosy and comfortable place near Main Square. If you want to drink coffee or warm chocolate in quiet place - go there.
Great place to hang out with your friends , not only with your Love. I recommend a dessert with white chocolate and strawberries!
It is a place for hipsters, I guess. They provide various cupcakes, different of each day. You can also order cupcakes earlier. A coffee is not my favour there, but you should taste cupcakes. They look amazing and taste delicious too.
Grzegorz Turnau - a great polish artist, is an owner of Nowa Prowincja. I like this place due to the atmosphere. I recommend. :)
It is not a casual place to drink coffee. I usually go there to drink something else :>. I prefer drinking wine in Bunkier.
Maybe, there is not a luxury place, but coffee is perfect. People who work in Karma are very positive!
This cafe is situated in Hotel Royal Krakow. A design of place is pretty nice. Near Wawel Castle :)
Colorful place. A little far from the Main Square, but in the neighbourhood of AGH University of Science and Technology.
What is your opinion of these cafes? Tell me :)
Gluten-free restaurants
Nowadays, more and more people suffer from coeliac disease. It is a big problem, because they cannot eat everything. In most food there is a gluten. What is a gluten? Gluten is a mix of vegetable protein, glutenins and gliadin. Intolerance of gluten causes damage in human body, especially in intestinal villi.
Depends on how long you will stay in Poland, you need to know places with gluten-free food.
1. Sweets shop "Cukiernia RED" (Zarzecze Street 9)
If you like candies, you should visit this sweets shop. They serve very popular desserts without gluten like pana cotta. You are also provided by a special place for your children, where they can draw something etc.
2. La Manzana (Miodowa Street 11)
They serve mexican food. Pretty sure, food is gluten-free.
3. Cafe Culca (Mostowa Street 14)
They prepare meals from fresh vegetables and fruit. In the wide range of meals, you will find pasta gluten-free, many salads, fishes etc.
4. Lunch Bar Ancho (Rakowicka Street 19/1)
Located near the centre of city. They specialize in vegetarian and gluten-free food. Every day, they inform their customers about new prepared meals via Facebook. You have a guarantee of quality there. There is also wifi.
5. Pod Baranem (St Gertruda Street 21)
Located near the Wawel Castle. Many famous people ate there like ministers, presidents etc.
Enjoy your meal!
Depends on how long you will stay in Poland, you need to know places with gluten-free food.
1. Sweets shop "Cukiernia RED" (Zarzecze Street 9)
If you like candies, you should visit this sweets shop. They serve very popular desserts without gluten like pana cotta. You are also provided by a special place for your children, where they can draw something etc.
2. La Manzana (Miodowa Street 11)
They serve mexican food. Pretty sure, food is gluten-free.
3. Cafe Culca (Mostowa Street 14)
They prepare meals from fresh vegetables and fruit. In the wide range of meals, you will find pasta gluten-free, many salads, fishes etc.
4. Lunch Bar Ancho (Rakowicka Street 19/1)
Located near the centre of city. They specialize in vegetarian and gluten-free food. Every day, they inform their customers about new prepared meals via Facebook. You have a guarantee of quality there. There is also wifi.
5. Pod Baranem (St Gertruda Street 21)
Located near the Wawel Castle. Many famous people ate there like ministers, presidents etc.
Enjoy your meal!
piątek, 1 sierpnia 2014
Currency in Krakow
A polish official currency is the zloty (literally "golden"). One złoty is subdivided into one hundred groszy. Most of products have price tags with an abbreviation "zł" which means the same as zloty. You can also meet PLN - a symbol of polish zloty, which is used since 1995.
Krakow as a very attractive city for tourists, has a wide range of various services. You can easily change your currency for another for e.g. USD to EUR or EUR to PLN etc. Around the Main Square you will see many currency exchange offices, in Poland so-called "Kantor". Exchange offices' owners usually show sell rate of exchange of a currency and currency purchase rate in front of an entrance, therefore are able to compare them and choose a favourable exchange rate for you.
What if you want to pay in euros?
Frankly, Poland belongs to the European Union, but not to eurozone. We use only PLN. Recently, many shops have accepted euros, therefore you can try paying in euros.
Good luck!
Krakow as a very attractive city for tourists, has a wide range of various services. You can easily change your currency for another for e.g. USD to EUR or EUR to PLN etc. Around the Main Square you will see many currency exchange offices, in Poland so-called "Kantor". Exchange offices' owners usually show sell rate of exchange of a currency and currency purchase rate in front of an entrance, therefore are able to compare them and choose a favourable exchange rate for you.
What if you want to pay in euros?
Frankly, Poland belongs to the European Union, but not to eurozone. We use only PLN. Recently, many shops have accepted euros, therefore you can try paying in euros.
Good luck!
wtorek, 15 lipca 2014
Transport in Krakow
What to know when you decide to visit Krakow?
The main railway station and the main bus station are located near each other. Ar regards trains, there are many various types of trains you can arrive and depart from Krakow to city you choose. These days, the railway station is modernizing to provide comfortable and high quality of services. On the other hand, the bus station is also well-equipped with modern air-conditioned buses. There are boxes where you can buy tickets and find out about other information you need about transport.
There are links you will problably need to travel with PKP Intercity, regional transport in Poland and in general the timetable.
Public transport
Public transport is well-organized in Krakow due to numerous of trams and buses (including daily and night transport). Most of monuments are situated round the main market therefore it is better to visit them by feet. Nevertheless, many bikes are rented by people who want to travel in ecological way. If you plan travel in long distance, check a timetable or plan your travel with JakDojade. Almost every page describing attractions have information about their location so it is necessary if you choose to travel with JakDojade, because there is a field of your current location and a destination place (sign an address of an attraction). The app shows you how to get somewhere and how long it takes. There are some types of tickets like one-trip tickets, season tickets. The price list is available on a website. The machines are available almost in every bus and tram so you are obligated to valid your ticket immediately. If there is no machine, a driver must sell you a ticket so you can travel legally through the city. There are also machines on the stop buses (menu in a few languages).
Krakowska Karta Miejsca empowers you to travel with the public transport. It's a season ticket. You can buy it in Krakow (e.g. Podwale Street) but remember you need your ID and picture of you. If you are a student, don't forget your student ID, because you are entitled to half price ticket.
środa, 9 lipca 2014
How to get to Auschwitz - Birkenau
All of you heard about Auschwitz - the concentration camp near Oświęcim (Lesser Poland) at least once in whole life. Most of you think about tour to Auschwitz from Krakow.
Every year, milions of visitors from around the world walk through the gate bearing a fallacious inscription: "Arbeit mach frei" - in English - "Work sets on free". The place has remained a living monument of death.
Trips with a private transport has a big advantage in compare with other type of transport - you might be picked up from hotel you're staying. After your guided tour of Auschwitz you will return to Hotel or City Centre - it depends on you.
Small group guided tours with a maximum of 19 people ensures personalised attention at all times. If you want to join the trip, you have some options to choose like free hotel pick up or arranged meeting at St Jan 2 Street. What is more, the lunchbox is included to the price so no worries you will not find a place to buy food. Even you are not able to undersand polish language, tours companies ensure supervision of english speaker tour leader.
In general, you can choose Auschwitz - Birkenau and Memorial Museum guided tour. This type of trip is cheaper, but food is not guaranteed. For students - surprise! Entrance fee is lower than usual for students aged up to 24 holding a valid student ID. The same case as in small group guided tours - if you do not understand polish language, you can rent a headphone (english, french, spanish, italian, german).
If you have any questions - do not hesitate - write to me. :)
Every year, milions of visitors from around the world walk through the gate bearing a fallacious inscription: "Arbeit mach frei" - in English - "Work sets on free". The place has remained a living monument of death.
Trips with a private transport has a big advantage in compare with other type of transport - you might be picked up from hotel you're staying. After your guided tour of Auschwitz you will return to Hotel or City Centre - it depends on you.
Small group guided tours with a maximum of 19 people ensures personalised attention at all times. If you want to join the trip, you have some options to choose like free hotel pick up or arranged meeting at St Jan 2 Street. What is more, the lunchbox is included to the price so no worries you will not find a place to buy food. Even you are not able to undersand polish language, tours companies ensure supervision of english speaker tour leader.
In general, you can choose Auschwitz - Birkenau and Memorial Museum guided tour. This type of trip is cheaper, but food is not guaranteed. For students - surprise! Entrance fee is lower than usual for students aged up to 24 holding a valid student ID. The same case as in small group guided tours - if you do not understand polish language, you can rent a headphone (english, french, spanish, italian, german).
If you have any questions - do not hesitate - write to me. :)
piątek, 4 lipca 2014
Groceries in Krakow
There are 3 places in Krakow where you can buy fresh vegetables and fruit.
Stary Kleparz registered to the history of the city. The market was located on main roads of trade in Europe. If you lived in that time, there was a specific market with many necessary products and goods. Only there you had a guarantee you would get what you wanted. Now, You can admire embroidered merchant's stall at Stary Kleparz with a picture of Divine Mother of Immaculate Conception with a child on her hand - a patron of merchants.
Nowadays, People who traded are fourth generation of merchants. They will always remember about poors and weakers.
Breaking news: it's started a strawberries season, please come to Stary Kleparz and buy it for a strawberry pie :)
Nowy Kleparz is situated on Długa Street. It's a similar place to Stary Kleparz but with different location.
Unfortunately, due to reorganization of public transport, it's difficult to reach a market. On sundays, you can exchange your book or something else for another goods without paying special fee like merchants usually do in such places. It's a great opportunity to have something interesting for your own. There is a hard time for merchants from Nowy Kleparz, because as you know, there are opened shops like Biedronka or Carrefour and so on. In connetion with this people prefer going to that shops which are nearer than e.g. stalls. Many people have moved from there to the central part of city too.
Plac Imbramowski is a market where people vitis rarely. It's probably because of the location. One of the advantage is that the market is larger than Stary Kleparz or Nowy Kleparz. There is much larger selection of products you might need.
In my opinion, it is better to buy fresh vegetables and fruit from a market than from supermarkets where a price is usually higher and probably food stuck on the shells for long time. Market's advantage is that you can agree on a price of what you want to, contrary to the supermarkets where level of prices is already agreed.
Stary Kleparz registered to the history of the city. The market was located on main roads of trade in Europe. If you lived in that time, there was a specific market with many necessary products and goods. Only there you had a guarantee you would get what you wanted. Now, You can admire embroidered merchant's stall at Stary Kleparz with a picture of Divine Mother of Immaculate Conception with a child on her hand - a patron of merchants.
Nowadays, People who traded are fourth generation of merchants. They will always remember about poors and weakers.
Breaking news: it's started a strawberries season, please come to Stary Kleparz and buy it for a strawberry pie :)
Nowy Kleparz is situated on Długa Street. It's a similar place to Stary Kleparz but with different location.
Unfortunately, due to reorganization of public transport, it's difficult to reach a market. On sundays, you can exchange your book or something else for another goods without paying special fee like merchants usually do in such places. It's a great opportunity to have something interesting for your own. There is a hard time for merchants from Nowy Kleparz, because as you know, there are opened shops like Biedronka or Carrefour and so on. In connetion with this people prefer going to that shops which are nearer than e.g. stalls. Many people have moved from there to the central part of city too.
Plac Imbramowski is a market where people vitis rarely. It's probably because of the location. One of the advantage is that the market is larger than Stary Kleparz or Nowy Kleparz. There is much larger selection of products you might need.
In my opinion, it is better to buy fresh vegetables and fruit from a market than from supermarkets where a price is usually higher and probably food stuck on the shells for long time. Market's advantage is that you can agree on a price of what you want to, contrary to the supermarkets where level of prices is already agreed.
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