Krakow was Poland's royal capital for five centuries and it shows in the fine architecture. Unfortunately, many of the exteriors were covered in scaffolding and being sandblasted clean in preparation for the city's status as one of the nine European Cities of Culture for the year 2000.
It was originally a walled city and the course of the ancient defences has been replaced by the Planty, a green park-come-ring-road that encircles the city and is populated by thousands of noisy birds, making the whole place feel Hitchcockian. All roads into Krakow lead to the Rynek Glowny, the main square and centre of the city's nightlife (and daylife, too). Lit up at night, its perimeter lined with bustling cafés and bars, the square almost has a Mediterranean buzz, so we settled for a restaurant that didn't sell pizza, and I had kotlet schwabow - pork cutlet- as it was the only thing on the menu (and indeed in the language) that I could say. In fact, due to this embarrassing lack of lingo, kotlet was all I ate during my stay.
Afterwards, we went underground, into one of Krakow's cellar bars, where there was excellent Polish lager on tap and a trendy, mostly local, clientele.
The next morning, I started at the university, where the Gothic (ie pointy) Collegium Maius building sits. Its austere exterior contrasts with the peaceful courtyard within, which reeks of ancient scholarly endeavours. From there, it was a short walk to the Rynek Glowny and the Sukiennice, a long, elegant cloth hall which, by day, is full of souvenir shops. Upstairs is an art gallery, but I had decided to do my sightseeing on the one Sunday of the month when all the museums in Krakow were closed.
Two other structures dominate the square - the old 14th-century town hall tower and the Gothic Mariacki church. The tower is nice enough to look at, but it is the church that can't fail to impress. Inside, the gigantic stone crucifix that adorns the nave is wonderfully, Gothically over the top.
The road winding south of the Rynek, ul Grodzka, is packed with shops and restaurants and always busy. This is the route that Polish monarchs took to Wawel Hill, where the city's cathedral and castle sit imposingly.
The road up the hill leads to the castle grounds and to the cathedral, where Pope John Paul II worked until he got the top job in 1978. The cathedral is not as immediately enchanting as the Mariacki church, but the panorama of teh city from the Zygmuntowska Tower is amazing. Many other parts of the castle and cathedral compound were undergoing renovation and were closed to visitors. In fact, the one thing that hampered my enjoyment of Krakow was the sandblasting I received from the big clean up .
So, it was a slightly cleaner class of Euro(student)trash that entered the bar mleczny (milk bar) on ul Grodzka for lunch. These establishments are the remnants of the state-run canteen system, and are where most working class Poles go for a good, square meal. So another kotlet later, I emerged, pleased with the taste of the ancién regime I had just sampled. The ultimate in utilitarian dining chic, Islington will be brimming with them before long.
• Rob Parker, 23, read biology and Spanish at the University of Manchester and is now studying in London for an MSc in environmental issues in Latin America.
