Krakow is not all Auschwitz.
Oscar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, the Museum of Nazi Occupation, the Ethnography Museum with its collection of Christmas nativity cribs ( “Scopki”), Poisonous Plants one and even an Insurance museum with one of the world’s largest collection of insurance policies.
They are the best and better-known of Krakow’s museums and offbeat tourist attractions.
One of the newest is the Living Bagel Museum near the 800-year-old Stary Kleparz Farmers’ Market in the north of the city beyond the Plany – the inner green space and former moat fortifications around the thirteenth century Old Town.
Its curator ,Marta Krzysek-Siudak specializes in twisted logic.
“Polish are chewier, larger and have wider holes. Germans are darker. Montreal ones have tighter holes.”
Says the city’s dough historian: ““An obwarzenek is a Krakovian bagel. But isn’t really a bagel. Or a pretzel either. That’s German and Austrian. It’s related to the Russian bublik and Turkish simt. And similar to the Greek koulouri. Bagels were once given to women during childbirth. To chew or bite on, I don’t know!”
“Obwarzanek” means “parboiled” and students learn to braid and roll ( “warcocz” and “sulka”).
The bagel is first mentioned in Poland in 1392. In`1257 Bolestav the Chaste granted ring-shaped plaited bagel makers- “jatkiepiekanski”-their own guild. And a tower to defend. Now 150000 are made and sold every day in Krakow by eight bakeries.”
Marta gives workshops and teaches you how to roll ( “Sulka”) and braid ( warcocz”) your own bagel.
“Also, a Polish king was once baked a stirrup-shaped bread in honour of his horsemanship. No one knows obwarnek’s origins except 150,00 are consumed daily in Krakow and there are 200 blue obwarzanka street carts. You cannot move for obwarzanka.”
The ring-shaped, plaited bread snack is the symbol of Krakow. A lesson is a must on food tours.
In Poland its either “sniadanie”, “obiad” ( lunch), “kolacja”( diner), “dugie sniadanie” ( second breakfast of the day ) , or “podwiecznoek” (supper). It’s always food o’clock.
Poland also has a gingerbread and a pancake museum. And a pinball museum. Also in Krakow.
Venom!” “ Battle The Green Goblin!” “Charge the Knight On The Hill!” “Beat the Villain!” “ Complete COFFIN to collect 2,000,00 Jackpot!” “Be the Super Hero!”
Krakow throws down many challenges.
In Gothic cellar behind a squash club is the “Ineraktywne Muzeum Fillperow”.
Once the “Hop Bar”, its customers wear “ Make Pinball Great Again” baseball caps.
“We had two hundred beers and one machine. Now we have 50 machines and one beer,” says the museum’s co-founder Makiej Olesiak.
“The earliest is a 1967 “Jolly Roger”. We have a rare 1979 Harlem Globetrotters game. The 1980 and 90s machines are very collectible. Banzai Run was made in 1981 and Centaur 11 1983. One pinball machine can go for 10000 Euros. Not only very nostalgic they are great works of electronic engineering as well as graphic design. And very nostalgic for the pre-gaming generation. They were the first digital games. Literally!”
“ We rescue them from everywhere. We found one in a chicken coop with eggs in it. One from Greece came with a lizard. Each one is unique and has its own story. Pinballs bridge generations.”
In 1869 Cincinnati-based British inventor Montague Redgrave started making tabletop pinball games and in 1871 was granted the first patent. His “Parlor Bagatelle” occupied the unemployed youth of Depression-era America. The table was under glass. Artists began to design eye-catching backglass graphics. Flashing electric lights and sound became standard features. “Marble games” or “pin games” ( named after the metal wickets ) began to appear in drugstores and taverns across the US.
David Gottlieb’s 1931 “BaffleBall” gave the pinball craze extra momentum. Side button flippers came with the 1947 “Humpty Dumpty”.
But, seen as a form of gambling, the games were banned and the machines destroyed. Pinball only became legal in New York in 1976. Gottlieb and Stern” are perhaps the largest modern manufacturers.
Krakow’s pinball wizardry museum is the place to go for real retro fun. It will flip you out.
As will the food in Krakow.
“For bulls’ testicles I’d go for a light red wine like French Poulsard. Or an aromatic white Hibernal from Winnica Jakubów.
“For brains, an orange wine like an Austrian Gelber Muskateller or a Meinklang winery Graupert.”
Maciek Murzyniec is an expert in fine wines and kendo. You don’t doubt him or even call him a sommelier. He prefers “wine director” and directs you towards pairings for authentic Polish offal dining at Krakow’s on-trend “Karakter Restaurant” in the city’s Kazimierz old Jewish quarter.
Warsaw may have the “Michelin” stars but Poland’s royal city now has the status. Few know it was chosen as the inaugural uropean Capital of Gastronomic Culture 2019, beating off Lisbon for the honour conferred by the Paris-based European Academy of Gastronomy.
Food tours are becoming popular in Poland, catering not only to tourists but Polish “jedling”- foodies. And everyone is wishing each other “Smacznego!” – Wishing you tastiness.”
“The past is back. But is not bad. Hospitality is in our blood. We need to feed people,” says Karolina Milezanowska of haveabite.com – the city’s gastro portal which publishes a foodies’ map.
“Palates are getting more educated. More demanding and more curious.”
In 2013, Warsaw’s Wojceich Modest Amaro became the first Polish chef to be accorded a “Michelin” star.
Michelin-recommended Marcin Filipkiewicz of the “Copernicus Hotel”
Says : “People don’t associate Poland with fine dining. That’s so wrong.
“The chef to Prince Alexander, Stanislaw Czerniecki produced our first cookbook in 1682 – “Compendium Ferculorum”. We have a rich gastronomic heritage and we are rediscovering it. And re-interpreting it.”
Other city restaurants include “Pod Roza” (Under The Roses), “Wierzynek” and “Pod barinem” near Wawel Castle , seat of Polish kings for five hundred years.
On Europe’s largest market square, the thirteenth century Rynek Glowny, is “Szar Ges” (Grey Goose) with chef Michal Stezalski’s signature dessert, a milk chocolate goose egg with a mango mousse yolk. Goose is a speciality in November throughout Krakow.