Slovakia to Poland

It was meant to be a quick stop to Poland but there wasn't anything quick about today. The snow that had been falling since our arrival at Stary Smokovec continued to fall with a vengence. It was as if the snow knew it had some catching up to do. Unfortunately for us, that meant difficult driving conditions. Combined with holiday traffic, it turned our 3 hour drive to Krakow across the Tatras into a 6 hour drive with the bus often not moving at all. Martin used this time to school us on all things Poland...and then all things Krakow, before moving on to Polish architecture and economics. When he finished, we were still nowhere near Krakow!

Snowy scenes

Never ending snow...

Mal had his entertainment sorted

By this time, strict driving regulations also meant our driver was required to have a 45 minute break. We had a traditional Polish meal booked for lunch at Krakow which we had to cancel. Martin, our guide, did well to find an alternative. A cosy and rustic restaurant seemingly in the middle of nowhere! The waitresses even wore traditional dress and shoes. The family braved Barszcz czerwony (beetroot soup with dumpling), zurec (sour soup with sausage, egg and potato) and pierogi (the polish version of the Slovak dumplings with meat). The meals were heavy, hearty but delicious. Best of all, the total for all 11 of us including alcohol and tip came to AUD90! We were hoping that the traffic would have eased during lunch but it was not to be. The van crawled its way towards Krakow and we finally arrived at 4:30pm. By now, it was dark and wet. We unanimoulsy decided to can our Old Town walking tour. Martin will instead try to squeeze one it tomorrow.

Look at the decor!

Let's move from sitting on the bus to sitting in a restaurant!

Zurek!

Our hotel was in Kazimierz, the historical Jewish Quarter. We explored the surrounding restaurants but settled for Chinese. We didn't even bother to make a token protest. The food was not authentic but was "chinese" enough. It was quick, it was hot and it was cheap. Win!!

It always stumps me how being in a car or a bus all day can be tiring. I mean, I'm not physically exerting myself...how does that translate to exhaustion?!? Having my asthma play up probably didn't help. My chest wall hurt and I've had enough of nocturnal coughing. Darn you Sydney smoke, what have you done to my lungs!?! I'm hoping this will resolve quickly...

Boutique hotel in a newly renovated old building

we had a large room

Spacious bathroom

Funky food trucks all closed because we were too early!

Chinese it is!