How We Travelled Slowly – Krakow.
In this article we’ll use our recent city break to Krakow as an example of how we have adopted the slow travel principles.
The aim is to give you ideas on how to use the slow travel philosophy and get more from your next trip.
This won’t be the usual list of top ten sights to see, top 9 places to eat or 11 best places for Instagram photos etc.
There are far better travel bloggers that can give you this sort of information.
Instead we aim to show an alternative way of travelling which we think is ideal for retirees.
It will be a gentler, more relaxed account of travelling including how we got to Krakow, what we did and how it fits with the concept of slow travel.
Briefly though, before we get in to the main points, we should explain what we mean by slow travel.
Slow travel is often defined as ‘exploring at a relaxed pace and giving you time to immerse yourself in the local culture, lifestyle and enjoy the local cuisine’ or similar.
Fine words but what does that mean in reality.
We believe that in reality travelling slowly means;
More time to appreciate the local way of life.
Reduced stress.
More relaxing.
Allows for more opportunities to try new food and drinks at a leisurely pace.
Time for thought and researching the local area.
Reduces costs by booking for longer periods of time.
Increases the option to travel on cheaper forms of transport.
Staying for a couple of weeks , or a month or two, allows you to immerse yourself in an area and get familiar with the local customs.
Booking short term accommodation is easier than ever with apps such as Airbnb or Wimdu
Alternatively you can house sit or stay with a local by using apps such as TrustedHouseSitters Couchsurfing or BeWelcome
Another advantage of slow travel is that it allows for more time to find where the local toilets are without feeling that you’re wasting precious holiday time.
For some reason this seems to appear higher up our travel agenda every year!
Our trip began well in advance of the actual travel dates.
We ordered a guide book to the city, flicked through it and worked out where we want to base ourselves and made our mental must see/ must do lists. (More and more nowadays we have to write these down or fold over the appropriate page corners).
The list included various types of the local cuisine that we intended to try.
For some reason this list was easier to remember.
Buying a guide book is a long standing habit for us and despite the proliferation of on line guide books and apps we much prefer an actual guide book in our hands.
In addition, you can’t put an app on the bookcase when you get home. We consider a well worn travel guide book and accompanying coffee stained city map the best souvenirs of all.
This is the first of our slow travel tips – buy the guide book a couple of weeks in advance, read through it and get excited about the trip ahead. That way the trip has already started before you leave home.
So, having bought our Lonely Planet guide to Krakow, (other options are available), we chose to base ourselves in the Jewish quarter, Karzimierz.
I knew in advance that I wouldn’t be able to pronounce the name but sometimes that’s part of the fun.
‘Karzimierz’. Full of history and centrally located. Sounded ideal!
Being centrally located allowed us to head ‘home’ easily when we were tired. This is the next of our slow travel tips – make sure you can get back to your accommodation easily.
It allowed us to go out again once we got our second wind on any given day.
It also meant that there was something of interest on the doorstep for the slow days when we just wanted to have a lazy day – a coffee or lunch out rather than a full days sightseeing.
Once we’d book the flights and accommodation we then began the travel plans in earnest. Noting the early morning flight time we booked a small boutique hotel near to our departure airport.
In our opinion this is the best way to start a trip and another of our slow travel tips. It broke the journey up and allowed us to have a relaxing bath and breakfast before heading the short distance to the airport.
Before we knew it we were through security and on the flight. The money saved buying drinks and meals in the airport went instead towards the hotel fee.
We arrived in Krakow and headed for the bus stop and caught a bus in to the city.
We prefer buses, local trains or undergrounds to taxis as it gives us more opportunity to mix with the locals for the first time. It’s also cheaper.
Knowing that we would be staying for a week we also bought a weekly travel card.
We loved having a local travel card as it allowed us to hope on and off the buses, trams, trains and explore the area at our own pace.
It didn’t matter if we end up going in the wrong direction. We just hopped off and got on the next one going back the other way.
It was also a great way to have a sit down, have a rest and avoid the worst of the weather.
Having booked in to the Airbnb we looked around the local area and noted the food market directly next to the apartment. Winner!
We managed to have meals from most of the food ‘trucks’ during our stay. This is something we could not have done on a quick two/three day city break.
In the few days that we spend in Krakow we managed to visit the city centre on a number of occasions, visited the underground city centre museum on one day, the castle area on another and send several hours sipping coffee.
A lot of the time we spent admiring the beautiful architecture. There’s something about sitting in beautiful surroundings that somehow makes you feel more relaxed.
Plenty of time was wasted watching the tourists and locals going about their business.
Sitting quietly and watching people rush is one the joys of retirement.
As a general rule, we tried to only visit one part of the city each day and spent the rest of that day relaxing.
This is another of our slow travel tips – pick just one attraction to see per day and take your time really getting got know all about it. After that head for coffee, lunch and relax. In Krakow the winter teas are a real treat.
On another afternoon we took a guided walking tour round the Jewish quarter in which we were staying.
It brought to life the history of the area and made us look with fresh eyes at the streets and buildings we had started to become familiar with.
We visited the factory previously run by Oscar Schindler and made famous in the film Schindler’s list.
In addition we took a day trip to the local underground salt mines and on a separate day visited the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
The Auschwitz trip was as emotionally moving as you would expect. Here again we had a guide who brought to life the horrors that took place there.
In the book shop at Auschwitz we bought a book written by one of the former prisoners.
Reading this whilst staying in Krakow meant that we could visualise all that was described. It was far more impactful as a result.
This is another of our slow travel tips – read novels or history books set in the area where you are visiting.
You can do this before or, during your trip.
Spending a week in Krakow meant that we discovered plenty of the local restaurants and worked our way through the list of traditional Polish dishes that we had compiled from our guide book.
Having an expanded timeframe to work in we were able to slow down, relax and take in the local history. It was a thoroughly enjoyable city.
On returning home we continued to read about, and watch Youtube videos, on the holocaust and Krakow in general.
We returned home somewhat more humbled by our experiences but also better informed.
This is probably the last of our slow travel tips.
The journey doesn’t have to end when you get home.
Reading about a city or area you’ve visited brings it back to life. It triggers memories of your visit and allows you to really visualise the locations described.
All in all we believe that slow travel is more rewarding than fast pace sightseeing.
It can enrich your life, provoke your thoughts, and open up a range of interests that you can pursue when you get home.
Slow travel, the future of travel? For retirees we think so.
Further information on Krakow.
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