Pilgrimage to Krakow

My Grandmother (Grammy) is Polish. Her parents arrived in the US around the turn of the century from the countryside around Krakow. My great great grandfather was the sheriff of a town named Pilzno a little east of Krakow, so visiting Krakow felt like I was uncovering my Polish roots.

Poland has had a history of foreign occupation and was hit hard in world war II, only to be followed by 45 years of soviet communist rule. My parents and Grammy visited Poland in the 1980s and found the country run down. Since the end of Soviet rule in 1989, the country has made huge strides. Krakow has a beautiful old town, with great architecture, a walled castle overlooking the city, and a town square bustling not just with tourists, but residents as well. The city is proud of their most famous former resident, Pope John Paul II. We visited the church where he presided as Archbishop before heading to the Vatican.

In Poland, it seemed as if everything was marked down by 50%. Meals were incredibly cheap and our hostel was a bargain as well. We tried glumkis (cabbage stuffed with meat), perogies, and plenty of other local specialties. The glumkis couldn't quite match up to Grammy's recipe, but were pretty good nonetheless.