Krakow, Poland: Delicious!

Since I always planned on staying in Odessa until the end of the summer, I knew that eventually I would need a Ukrainian Visa. Foreigners without visas are only allowed to stay in the country for 90 out of 180 days without any special documents. This wasn't always the case. A few months ago, American citizens could just cross the nearest border (in my case, to Moldova), stay for a few days, then come back to Ukraine, and the "90 day period" would start all over again. Unfortunately for me, the Ukrainian border authorities have cracked down on this practice.

In order to apply for a Ukrainian visa, I needed to leave the country and visit a Ukrainian consulate in a nearby country. I heard that the best consulate to visit was in Krakow, Poland, and decided not to take my chances by visiting the closer consulate in Chisinau, Moldova. So off to Krakow I went! To be honest, never before had I ever considered visiting Krakow. Not that I wasn't interested! I just never imagined myself planning a trip to Poland. I can now honestly say, having returned from Krakow about a week ago, that it is one of the most amazing cities I have ever visited. Although most of the country was decimated in WWII, Krakow was relatively untouched, making it one of the Poland's few completely preserved medieval cities. Nowadays, Krakow is mostly a College town, as 80% of its population are university students. This mix of beautiful architecture, young population and lively atmosphere made this city an ideal spot for a week-long "escape" from daily life in Odessa. Since the theme of this blog is, of course, living vegan in Eastern Europe, I will tell all about my trip to this wonderful city that, in fact, turned out to be more vegan-friendly than I ever imagined.

On Saturday, March 13, Melissa and I headed to the train station to catch our train to Krakow. This ride turned out to be the longest train ride I had ever taken, at 22 hours. To be fair, 3+ hours were spent at the border changing rail gauges, as the former Soviet Union runs on a different rail gauge from that of the rest of Europe (surprise, surprise).



Knowing that we'd be on a train for such a long period of time, we made sure to pack enough food to get us there. We even stopped by our favorite pizza place on the way to take some dinner to-go. Luckily, we had an entire coupe to ourselves and were able to relax and enjoy the ride.

Cheeseless, hand-tossed pizza with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and pineapples. Who knew that pizza on a train could be so fun?
The next morning, we had some dried fruit and cereal. Fortunately, we had access to unlimited hot water, because I'd brought a few bags of mint tea just in case.

I really enjoy traveling by train: swaying and bumping along the tracks; the modular coupes with their retractable tables and hidden mirrors; packing everything we need for our 22-hour lives in the same bag.
For lunch I packed an avocado and two rolls. This made for a simple, delicious sandwich.
We also brought some bacon Pringles. But don't worry...
... They're vegan! Hahaha.
I don't know how that's possible, and it actually frightens me a bit.

Although it was technically spring, the view out our window proved otherwise. Thankfully, the 22-hour train ride ended and we arrived safely in Krakow! We were both too tired to do any real sight-seeing, but we did explore a little bit in the main Market Square, where our hostel was located.

That night, we asked the woman at the front desk of our hostel if she knew of any vegan-friendly restaurants in the area. To our surprise, she told us that there were in fact a few vegetarian restaurants in the area (which is basically unheard of in Ukraine). She also said that most restaurants offer vegetarian and vegan options on the menu. Nevertheless, we decided to head over to one of the restaurants she recommended, Vega.

The restaurant was basically cafeteria-style where you order a plate at the register and then seat yourself. I ordered some vegan goulash with mashed potatoes and Melissa had chickpea "cutlets" with a salad. They also had a great selection of juices, so we ordered blackberry juice and apple cider spiced with cinnamon, cloves and ginger.


After dinner, we passed out for the rest of the night. Even though we technically "slept" on the train, we both felt as if we'd stayed up all night and were in dire need of some real sleep.

Every morning, the hostel offered free breakfast which went well beyond the expected toast and jam. We never had to go out for breakfast once the entire trip, which was much appreciated. Although the breakfasts centered on ham and cheese, we were able to get by just fine with bread, vegetables, jam, margarine, cereal, and soy milk that we bought at a near-by supermarket. We were thrilled to be able to find soy milk so close to the hostel, seeing as how in Odessa, we have to travel at least 30 minutes by bus to a German supermarket outside of town whenever we want soy milk!


The first full day in Krakow, I went to the Ukrainian consulate and applied for a business visa, which was ready for pick-up the same day! Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that anymore for the rest of the trip and was able to enjoy my vacation.


These pretzel/bagel stands were all over the place. They provided a quick, cheap snack whenever we needed a little pick-me-up during a day of sight-seeing.
Our favorite part of the city was probably Kazimiers, the historic Jewish district of Krakow (not to be confused with the Jewish Ghetto of Krakow which we unfortunately were unable to visit).

While in Kazimierz, we visited Medieval and Renaissance period synagogues as well as numerous museums, cafes, craft stores, and vintage/specialty clothing shops. I could go on forever about the amazing feel of this part of town and the exciting new progressive forms of Judaism that seem to be developing in this area. In spite of these details, I was constantly reminded of the devastation of an entire Jewish community no more than 70 years ago. Before WWII, Krakow's Jews numbered 60,000, or about 25% of the population. There are less than 200 living in the city today. The attitude in Poland, however, seems to be overall optimistic. With eyes to the future, Poles can boast that they live in one of the only growing countries in the EU in this current economic crisis. Shops, restaurants, museums, art galleries are everywhere in Krakow, and they are faring quite well. In fact, Krakow (from what I hear) has the highest concentration of restaurants and bars in Europe, and we were never without things to do during our week stay.

One of the most enjoyable places we visited was found by accident. During a tour of Kazimierz, we came upon a tea house that Melissa recognized as the same as one she'd visited in Burlington, Vermont. Apparently, there are only a few of its kind in the world, and most of them are located in Eastern and Central Europe. We just happened to find one down a little street in Krakow.

This tea house specializes in rare, exotic teas. The menu is as thick as a novel, and the cafe's staff are specially trained in the art of tea blending and steeping. They even send each staff member on tea retreats around the world, allowing them to see every step in the tea making process, from growing to brewing.

We drank red and green teas, snacking on hummus, baba ganoush and candied ginger.
Another one of our favorite parts of Krakow was the Wawel castle, a medieval castle situated right on the banks of the Vistula river.

According to legend, the castle even had a fire breathing dragon who terrorized the people of Krakow.
This photograph below is a view of the Krakow skyline from one of the castle's courtyards.
If I had to pick my favorite place to eat in Krakow, I would probably choose Momo's, a bright, casual restaurant just outside of the Kazimierz district, with friendly staff and a mostly vegan menu.

I ordered a crepe-style dish filled with roasted potatoes, spicy peanut sauce and a savory vegetable soup.

Melissa ordered momo, or vegan dumplings stuffed with roasted vegetables and ground spices, served with a spicy dipping sauce. I love the peas on top. They actually fly off if you squeeze the momo too hard.


Even more amazing, Momo's offered a wide range of vegan cakes and pies. Melissa went with a chocolate carrot cake topped with fudge and pumpkin seeds...

... And I opted for the apple cake.


Since nothing like this exists in Odessa, we came to Momo's for our last full meal in Krakow and absolutely pigged out... Check out all those empty plates! Whatever, I regret nothing.

Unfortunately, our time in Krakow, like all things, had to come to an end. We packed our bags and left for Odessa, remembering to pack some Polish-style bagels and chocolate soy milk for the train ride home, of course.


All in all, I have to say that Krakow, aside from being one of the most beautiful and interesting cities I have ever visited, was also one of the most vegan-friendly.


SaM.