Biking Poland

21-22 June 2023, Krakow
Studio in City Centre 142zł [R652]

Kraków was not destroyed during World War II.
"The entire medieval old town is among the first sites chosen for the UNESCO's original World Heritage List.
It is one of the most famous old districts in Poland today and was the centre of Poland's political life from 1038 until King Sigismund III Vasa relocated his court to Warsaw in 1596.
Medieval Kraków was surrounded by a 3km defensive wall complete with 46 towers and seven main entrances leading through them. (In the 19th century most of the Old Town fortifications were demolished. The moat encircling the walls was filled in and turned into a green belt known as Planty Park.) The fortifications around the Old Town were erected over the course of two centuries. The architectural plan was drawn up in 1257 after the destruction of the city during the Tatar invasions of 1241.
The district features the Main Square, the largest medieval town square of any European city. At the centre of the plaza, surrounded by kamienice (row houses) and noble residences, stands the Renaissance cloth hall...
The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland. The Route... passes the Barbican built in 1499, and enters through the Florian Gate. It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel, the former seat of Polish royalty overlooking the Vistula river."
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We took our last stroll through the park that surrounds the old town, visiting the Barbican (a defensive gate to the north of the original city wall), and the Florian Gate with the section of wall and towers and armoury still intact. Lovely.