Krakow, Abel Hostel

A very, very, very hot day. We have had some weather for our holiday. We pinched a couple of apples to have during the day from the breakfast bar. It was the really nice receptionist, Anna, who was on duty most of the day. There is also Anna who looks after the kitchen and there is Marta who cleans the rooms and changes beds etc.

After breakfast we read for a while. I downloaded a biography of John Wesley from the internet. I’ve done all my reading on the Android tablet. If fact I’ve used it for everything. I’ve updated my website and have all documents like plane boarding passes, copies of our passports, ticket for Auschwitz, etc stored on it.

We left at 9.15 to walk up to near Krakow Glowny to 12/3 Zacisze to the Betel Christian Baptist Church.

The people were lovely. A girl translated the sermon to English for us. It was a long service – nearly two hours.

Then we came down from the Florian gate by the parks to the bottom of the old town, then Wawel Castle and into Kazimierz.

We rested and had our lunch – rolls and cheese, the awful salt and butter flavoured crisps and the apple from the breakfast bar. Then a snooze like any Sunday.

After that we walked down the river, ie. east. We went maybe 2.5 miles there and back. It was incredibly hot so we went slowly and kept stopping for a rest. We had a biscuit and drink of water on the way. All that water we have been boiling and cooling.

This is an apple tree that we rested under. The black things are electric cables from the pylons.





Krakow has some really industrial views.









We hadn’t a clue what kind of leaf this is.

When we got back as well as collecting our keys from Anna, we asked for our passports and plane boarding passes which we had left with the blonde girl on Tuesday. To my horror she couldn’t find them! The thought of being stranded out here was almost more than I could handle. However 10 minutes later Anna knocked on our door with the lost items.

We put our card with 200 zl to her for herself, Anna in the kitchen and Marta. It is only £40.

We listened to one of Hugh’s sermons and then had our tea. Another roll and cheese, a peach, the horrible buttery crisps and a half Twix. I had a can of Pepsi, my Sunday treat. We didn’t feel it was right to go out for a meal on the Sabbath.

So we have to pack and get ready for off. It has been a lovely and most interesting holiday but It will be great to get home!

Anne’s photos





Anne took a photo of the deplorable crisps.

‘Masla z sola’ – ‘Butter with salt’ (the butter tasted rancid). Oh for a packet of “The Real McCoy” crisps from home. When we bought them we couldn’t tell what was in the packet, we went with the picture.

‘Wiejskie ziemniaczki’ – ‘Rural potatoes’ (explains a lot).

‘polskie smaki
polskie ziemniaki
bez konserwantow’

‘Polish flavours
Polish potatoes
No preservatives’



Of course we ended back at Wawel Castle and this sign was outside it. We never noticed it before. Edinburgh is 1670 km away (1038 miles).