First night in Krakow

As in many parts of the world, the “craft beer” scene is flourishing in Poland; well it’s certainly thriving in Krakow, as I discovered on my recent visit. Admittedly I did go looking for it – after all what else is a dedicated beer-lover supposed to do? But I’m sure that even without my active involvement, I would have stumbled across some craft beer at some time during my stay in the city.

Sunday evening marked my first night in Krakow. I was tired after getting up early to ensure I made it to the airport in time for my flight, and with the usual weekend engineering works affecting rail journeys, my journey to Gatwick took longer than it would normally have done.

My flight was on time, and touched down at Krakow’s John Paul II Airport in brilliant sunshine. I found engineering works affecting rail travel in Poland as well, which meant a rail-replacement bus into the city centre. I was fine with this as I was travelling light, with just “hand baggage,” so  was able to sit next to the window and enjoy the views of rural Poland, as we gradually approached the suburbs of Krakow.

It was a relatively short walk from the main railway station to my hotel, so after checking in and freshening up a bit, I headed into the old town. This again was just a short walk, up through one of the pleasant, tree-shaded green areas surrounding the old town. For the history buffs amongst you, these areas of parkland, follow the site of the medieval walls which once surrounded the city.

It wasn’t long before I reached the central market square known as Rynek Glówny, where I halted a while to take in the scene along with capturing some of the architecture on my camera. The square reminded me of Prague’s old town square, especially the area around Týn Church, and the sight of dozens of people, sitting out under sunshades eating and drinking, reminded me I’d only had a cheese and ham baguette since breakfast.

It was time to head off in search of both food and drink, but as the market square is more of a rectangle, with a funnel-shaped section at the southern entrance, I got quite disoriented. I was heading for C.K. Browar; Krakow’s oldest brew-pub, but for reasons outlined above I was not only looking at the map from the  wrong angle, I also failed to realise that the establishment was the other side of Planty Park – see above.

Instead I found myself at the House of Beer, tucked away in the heart of the old town. Fortunately this legendary bar was not overly crowded, at 7pm, but even so I failed to find an empty table and this meant I would have to sit at the bar. I discovered that the place was self-service anyway, and perfectly OK to eat at the bar as well as drink, so after ordering what turned out to be an excellent pulled-pork burger with fries - not very Polish according to some of my work colleagues who hail from Poland, but I remain unrepentant, I chose a beer from the extensive list.

Although House of Beer boasts that it stocks 150 different beers, most of them are bottled, so by sticking to the list of 12 draught beers available, I was able to narrow the choice down extensively.  If I was being disloyal to the country’s cuisine – albeit unknowingly, at least most of the draught beers were brewed in Poland.

I’ve mislaid my beer notes at this particular moment, but I do recall drinking two of the American style IPAs on the list – both half litres, before finishing with a small (300ml) glass of Blackberry Stout. The latter was shockingly sour, but surprisingly  refreshing. It reminded me of a Belgian Kriek, in terms of both flavour and tartness, and was a good beer to finish on.

With the inner man satisfied, I decided to call it a day. I was in need of my bed, so I headed off in a southerly direction, skirting the still busy Rynek Glówny Square, and made my way back to the hotel. It was only 9pm, but despite the darkness I felt quite safe walking through the park. The only real danger seemed to be from people whizzing up from behind on electric scooters – a means of transport which seemed to be all the rage in Krakow.

It wasn’t long after wards that I was tucked up in bed and dropping off to sleep after what, of me, had been a busy and rather tiring day.

Footnote: I found my way to C.K. Browar two days later. I wasn’t over-impressed. It was lunchtime and the place was virtually empty. Furthermore it smelt of drains – possibly something to do with its underground location. If I have time, I will elaborate in a later post.