Every visitor loves to discover a real spirit of the visited city or country. Traditions, culture, tastes of local cuisine are those factors which influnence most on our overall impression about the spotted place. Today we’d like to focus on Krakow’s folklore — below you can find our top 5 picks for best folklore experience you can get in our lovely city:
– Emmaus. On Easter Monday, the congregation in Catholic churches listen to the Gospel about disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. On that day, the people of Kraków go to the local Emaus — Church of the Holy Saviour in Zwierzyniec (Krakow’s district located next to the Vistula river). Next to the church, you can find a big folk festivity with many stands offering sweets, toys and competitions. Remember that Easter Monday is also being called “Wet Monday” — don’t be offended when someone pour water over you, that’s also part of our tradition!
– Lajkonik Festival organized every year on Thursday after Corpus Christi. In 2014 it will be 26 June, in 2015 11 June. On this day, you can watch Lajkonik do the legwork. En route, the energetic larrikin dances, jumps, greets passers-by, pops into cafés, collects donations and strikes people with his mace (it’s said to bring good luck).
– folklore shopping in Sukiennice — if you want to bring home a nice souvenir from Krakow visit Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) located on the Main Market Square. Over there, you will be able to find a real hand-made products from Krakow and listen to their story. Our favs are wooden toys and boxes as well as crystal glasses and dolls wearing traditional costumes.
– Visit Ethnographic Museum in Krakow. Majority of the objects come from the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Relics of folklore, crafts, art and archival photographs allow the visitor to experience historical – often long lost – Krakow. You can visit this Museum with and English-speaking guide on Evening Folk Tour operated by Krakowshuttle. See details here.
– Folklore on a plate — traditional Polish cuisine. There are few restaurants in Krakow where you can taste a real tradition: dumplings, beetrot, cabbage soup and many more. Our recommendations are: Polskie Smaki,Chłopskie Jadło and Wesele. You can also visit one of the retsaurants located out od Krakow — KrakowShuttle will take you there on Evening Folk Tour as well.
