Global Studies’s Updates
While in Krakow for the Seventeenth Global Studies Conference, we recommend a tour through Krakow's Old Town!
While in Krakow for the Seventeenth Global Studies Conference, we recommend a tour through Krakow's Old Town!
If you only have time for one thing to do in Krakow, seeing the city's Old Town should be top of your list. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, this attraction has been a thriving commercial center for roughly 1,000 years.
While Krakow's Old Town has a maze of cobblestone streets, it's always easy to find your way back to its center: Rynek Glowny (Market Square), Europe's largest medieval town square. Check out the Cloth Hall, an iconic
Renaissance-style structure that brims with souvenir shops–a throwback to its golden age some 600 year ago, when the building bustled with international traders swapping exotic imports with Polish salt from the Wieliczka Salt Mine.
Situated just outside the Cloth Hall, the Town Hall Tower offers panoramic views of Krakow from its highest floor. You can also see the mechanism behind the structure's antique clock, which relies on radio waves from Mainflingen, Germany to stay accurate.
Other Old Town highlights include Royal Road (a thoroughfare flanked by historic sites that starts at St. Florian's Gate), St. Mary's Basilica, the Pharmacy Museum, and the Church of St. Anne. But beyond offering hours of touring, the Old Town is simply a great place to relax with some coffee and cake at one of the many outdoor cafés in the area.
Did anyone actually go to the walking tour? First, I was there on time and waited 15 minutes and no one showed up; second, it started to rain and people were either seeking shelter underneath the trees or left. I was all wet. So where was the tour?
Please post the meeting point, thank you.
Wawel Dragon (between the Wawel Castle and the River Vístula)
I booked and paid the tour but so far has not received any notification as of what time/where to meet whom to meet, etc. Hope its not scam LOL?
Wawel Dragon (between the Wawel Castle and the River Vístula)
Hi Megan,
If you signed up for the tour, how do you receive confirmation of participation? I have a receipt indicating that I paid but have not yet received a schedule or meeting point.
Thank you!
Donna Tonini,
University of Illinois
Wawel Dragon (between the Wawel Castle and the River Vístula)