This was never meant to be, and still is not, a political platform. However I feel a word or two must be said regarding the impending exit of the UK from the European Union. At 11pm this evening the UK will begin an eleven month 'transition' period to secure their exit from the European Union.....actually, I can't even be bothered to carry on...you can't educate pork!
Normal Blogging will resume after 6th March when I will have completed my CELTA course at the British Council, here in Krakow. See you later.
As promised, we continue with food and drink comments and observations. Today we thought we would re-visit the lovely Morskie Oko restaurant at Plac Szczepanski 8, close to the main square in the centre of Krakow. It is located in an art nouveau tenement building and every detail of the decor mirrors what a traditional 'mountain' inn in the Zakopane region of the Tatra Mountains would look like. The restaurant is really charming with candlelight all around and a pleasant smell of wood burning in the open fireplaces. The cuisine is regional Polish, including a variety of meats, such as mutton, veal, sirloin, ribs and pork knuckles, all served with savoury sauces prepared in accordance to old recipes. The speciality is home made dumplings and freshly baked cakes served for dessert. Regional alcoholic beverages are also on offer such as sweet honey vodka, liqueurs flavoured with angelica or sloe and the famous plum vodka.
To the left is Plac Szczepanski, the delightful small square where Morskie Oko is situated. The name of the restaurant comes from the most famous and biggest lake in the Tatra Mountains, which is surrounded in an aura of mystery. Many legends and folk stories were told about 'Morskie Oko', the name can be translated as 'The Eye of the Sea'. Rumour has it that there is a direct underground connection between the lake and the Adriatic Sea. Allegedly a treasure chest and a bottle from a sailing ship was recovered from the depths of the lake. Another legend tells a story of an old inn, which was flooded and lost at the bottom of 'The Eye of the Sea'. It was never discovered, until today.....
We have eaten here once before, at Easter last year and the standard of food and service is still very good. What I really like about eating out in Poland is that there is no pretension; meaning, that there is no stuffiness and if you just want a dessert and a cup of tea, beer, wine ,vodka etc then that is fine. You are not treated as some kind of lowly being, just because you are not going to spend a fortune and if you don't finish your meal, ( the portions are huge ), you can always get the leftovers packed up to take home. This is not an imposition and is done even in the classier establishments with good grace. Having worked for most of my career in the hospitality business there are certainly many chains in the UK that could learn so much from how these bars, bistros, restaurants etc operate. I have mentioned before in 'Food and drink, part 1', about uniforms, or should I say the lack of them in most restaurants. However at Morskie Oko the staff do wear a rather charming uniform of traditional 'mountain' dress and it is in keeping with the general feel and ambience of the restaurant.
We had quite a simple meal but it was delicious. I had homemade black pudding as a starter and pork rib with boiled potatoes and a spicy braised cabbage as a main. Both were excellent. Amanda had a chicken broth to start and potato pancakes as a main. We shared an ice cream dessert. It is a lovely restaurant with attentive but not overbearing staff. I would imagine this would be a great venue for a large party as well. The tables and benches are made of extremely thick wood and imitates the mountain cabin style of furniture. All in all if you are ever in Krakow I would thoroughly recommend this delightful venue.
Over in Kazimierz, at Plac Wolnica, is a relatively new restaurant called Beza Cafe Restaurant. Beza translates as 'meringue' and consequently most of the incredible home made desserts had meringue as one of the ingredients. It describes itself as an Italian restaurant, and as such had plenty on offer, making the most of lovely Mediterranean flavours. Yet again, the service was excellent and our waitress was efficient in a very professional manner. As usual I could have eaten anything on the menu. Have I told you how intolerant I am of fussy eaters? Anyway, on the chef's advice I had the octopus with gnocchi, spinach and egg and it was very, very good.
The piece-de-resistance was the dessert. Displayed in a fridge were about seven or eight, obviously, home made desserts. I had the tiramisu gateaux and Amanda had a blueberry meringue cake. For years I have been a cheese and biscuits man but here in Poland the quality of the desserts, cakes and general bakery produce is stunning. Just around the corner from where we live is a tiny bakery and the bread they make is out of this world. On the weekend we have a treat and buy a small seeded rye loaf with over fifty types of seeds in the recipe. Often it is warm and the smell is incredible, as is the queue out of the door. I digress, below are our two desserts from the rather gorgeous Beza Cafe,Restaurant.
Now, on to drink! I like a beer. Here I am spoilt for choice and am trying to eliminate the ones I'm not too keen on by tasting them all. Do you see my logic? So, the weakest beer/lager you will get here is about 5% gravity and the strongest just goes off the scale. I have settled on either Tyskie or Perla and they are both at the weaker end of the scale. For lovers of real ale, Poland, somewhat surprisingly has many to offer. Craft beers are all the rage, not my cup of tea, by a long shot, however, each to their own.
Pubs as such, do not really exist here, other than a few around the main square with such uninspiring names as 'English Bar' and 'English Football Pub'....places I tend to avoid for fear of meeting a Brexiteer! There are hundreds of wonderful subterranean wacky and weird bars to explore, so the need to visit either of the above, quite frankly, astonishes me. However the Krakow 'weekenders' do frequent these places and I often wonder why they even made the effort to come here if they are not going to step out of their comfort zone and enjoy some traditional Polish hospitality. Anyway these thoughts are for another time. I found a great small bar just off the main square which was playing non stop rock music...quite unusual for here, but after being there for an hour or so I struck up a conversation with the barman and I asked where else I could find a venue playing this type of music. Unfortunately his reply suggested that it is not very common in Krakow to have a rock music theme to a bar, something I had already sort of realised. However it seems that this place, with the rather simplistic name of Dart Pub, I guess because they have a dart board, is pretty well supported by some interesting characters. I loved it there and will certainly return. I also had the pleasure in meeting an actor from the UK. He is called Tomi May and is half Serbian and half English. Any of you that have watched the brilliant series 'Line of Duty' , might recognise him as Miroslav Minkowicz, the rather frightening Eastern European 'enforcer' for one of the oraganised crime syndicates which featured mainly in series five. Anyway, we had a drink or two and it was a really interesting hour or so for me. I don't watch must TV, but after heart surgery last year, I watched the entire five series of 'Line of Duty', back to back, and still think it is possibly the most entertaining TV show that I have ever seen. ('Peaky Blinders' coming a close second). Anyway here we are enjoying the night!
Happy New Year to you all. I would imagine many people like ourselves, have taken a stroll today to clear the head, after the excesses of the last two weeks or so. The great thing about not owning a car anymore is that you really get to see and discover so many unexpected sights and all for free. Today, for example, we decided to go to the main square via a different route than we would normally take and came across The Collegium Maius, which was built as part of the Krakow Academy (now the Jagellonian University). It is the oldest surviving university building in Poland and one of the best examples of 15th century Gothic architecture in the city. It has a magnificent arcaded courtyard and a fascinating university museum.
The college itself originated in Wawel Castle in 1364. In 1400 King Wladysslaw Jagiello bought a house on what is now Ul. Jagiellonska (Ul. in Polish is 'Street'), from a wealthy merchant family called Pecherz , to serve as the seat of the college. The house was soon extended and neighbouring houses were acquired. These buildings burnt down in the late 15th century and a purpose built college with an elegant Gothic facade took their place. Completed in 1492, when it became known as Collegium Maius, it included the arcaded cloister, from which 'professors' staircases' lead up to the professional chambers on the first and second floors.
The professors' common room, the treasury, assembly hall and library were built in 1507-19 in Gothic style. The library features a beautifully painted skyscape of the vaulted ceiling, as well as historic portraits and various rare tomes - it became the university library in 1860. The former professors' dining room has distinctive Gdansk cupboards and an extensive collection of gold and silver tableware.
The Mikolaj Kopernik Room celebrates the life of the renowned astronomer Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who studied here in 1491-95, before going on to study in Bologna, Padua and Rome. His then revolutionary theory that the sun and not the earth was the centre of the universe, and that the earth and planets revolved around the sun, was set forth in De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, which was published in 1530. Sections of the original manuscript can be seen in the Copernicus Room, together with a collection of historic portraits, astrolabes and early astronomical instruments. A 1510 golden globe, one of the first to show the New World, bears the inscription America, terra noviter reperta ( America, a newly discovered land). On September 1st, 1939, Poland was invaded by the German army. The six years occupation of the country began. It was a period of mass murder, terror and persecution. Among all countries which fought against Germany or were occupied by it, Poland suffered the worst demographic and social losses.. About 5.5 million Polish citizens lost their lives. The National Socialist policies aimed at the country's population caused a decimation of intellectuals and the society's leaders. Only uneducated Poles were to remain alive as obedient workers for German agriculture and industry. The best educated strata of the society were exterminated from the beginning of the occupation. Politicians, clergy, public officials, entrepreneurs, academic and second-grade teachers, land owners and aristocracy were either imprisoned or murdered. One episode of the repressive policy occurred in Krakow. The invaders gave it the code name, "Aktion gegen Universitatsprofessoren". After the war it became known as, "Sanderaktion Krakau". On November 6th, 1939, following the order given by the commander of the 2nd Deployment Commando, Bruno Miller, the rector of the Jagielloian University, Professor Tadeusz Lehr-Splawinski, called a meeting of all university professors to hear about the official stance of the occupying powers towards Polish education under a new political system. The meeting was to take place in Room 66 at noon, located in the Collegium Novum building. The academics both active and retired arrived in large numbers guided by by the principles of solidarity and common responsibility. In total 183 academics from the Jagiellonian University, the Mining Academy and the Trading Academy were present. Bruno Miller did not hold the lecture...the university was surrounded by the police and the professors were mistreated and arrested and transported to the Montelupi Street prison. Later they were sent to a prison in Wroclaw and finally they were imprisoned in Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg concentration camp situated north of Berlin. The professors were not given any official charges but for the German authorities Their only crimes were the fact that they had academic degrees and that they worked at a Polish university. Of all the arrested, six were honorary doctorates of foreign universities, thirteen formerly served as rectors and the majority were members of international scientific associations. Many were world renowned specialists across the spectrum of academia. They all suffered from illness, hunger,cold, beatings and general mistreatment. Under such conditions twenty professors died during their imprisonment or shortly after their release. The survivors were left with traumatic memories haunting them for the rest of their lives. Some were incapable of telling about the tragic events. The brave stance of the arrested academics during the time in prison and the concentration camps, where they showed their indomitable will, dignity and humanity is still recognised to this day in academic circles in Poland and elsewhere. If you are in Krakow on November 6th and you see many sombre black flags hanging from buildings in the Old Town, it is for the 'University Remembrance Day to honour the memory of these people.
I have commented before whilst writing some of the historical posts in this blog about how moved I am by the historical events that have occurred in Poland. Yet again, purely by chance we stumbled across this incredible place and I was very moved to read about the tragic story of the Collegium Maius. The sense that something very important had happened here was almost palpable and on another day we will return to view all of the buildings that were not open today. In the meantime I am very glad that I do not own a car.
