You're guaranteed a Krak-ing time | Must do things on your visit to Krakow.

I'm back! I bet you're all surprised that I didn't disappear for a good year like usual, but that's the old Katie!

The new Katie is here to bring you another travel post! This time about my 5 day city break to Krakow, Poland!

Like Budapest, Krakow was a popular city break destination last year and it goes by no surprise. With it's beautiful scenery , very cheap food and alcohol it's a hit for tourists.

Me and my two friends booked to go to Krakow spontaneously in February 2019 and we jetted off in the Easter holidays as a little treat from me to me and a break from uni - very much needed! Easter was also a perfect time to go as it was warm but you often had breezy days.

I took it upon myself to be the mum of the group and sort out the hotel and flights (mainly because we'd end up in a barn in a random field in the middle of no where if I left it up to them) We wanted to find somewhere central but still cheap and cheerful! I eventually found somewhere which was situated in the Jewish quarter of Krakow, Kazimierz, only a couple of minutes walk through some beautiful gardens to the Old town with all the shops and restaurants.

We did a fair bit of research of places to eat and things to do beforehand and booked all our activities before we went. I would highly recommend doing this especially for Auschwitz and the Salt mines as the queue for tickets on the day were super long!

We booked all of our trips though a service called Krakow Bob. This was recommend to us by a family friend and we are so glad we took her advice to book through him! He would get your tickets  at a discounted price and would take you from destination to destination, with no hassle!

We first went to Auschwitz on the Friday, the day after we arrived. We were just expecting a normal taxi service from our hotel to Auschwitz but oh boy were we wrong. We come outside our hotel after breakfast and Bob is stood with a cardboard of our names displayed to welcome us! We get in the 8 seater taxi, with plenty of leg room and are told all about the history of Auschwitz, he even shows us documentaries of interesting facts that aren't often told, it was a real eye opener. Even before our booked slot he took us round some other monuments related to the Holocaust, something you wouldn't get on the tour! Aside from the very serious tone of the outing he ensured to keep our spirits high, playing some old classic songs getting us all to sing along, it was a definitely one way to keep the hour long journey there and back entertaining.

We decided to go for a tour of the camp instead of doing it solo so we can really take everything in and learn about this tragic event even more thoroughly, it also makes the process easier as you feel you are at a museum rather than a concentration camp, which is bizarre in its own way.

Nothing can really prepare you for what you're about to experience as you enter the concentration camps at Auschwitz, especially when you see people posing underneath the "Arbeit macht frei” sign which translate to "Work sets you free". One thing that will always stay with me was the pain of others that are still expressed to this day, school girls and boys crying and running out of one of the gas chambers. As you can guess, I was lost for words when walking around the camp and still thinking about it almost a year on i'm still very unsure on how to describe my experience.

This was not a happy visit but a necessary one to remember what happened to and never forget it. I would recommend you all visit it at least once in your life as it's a learning experience.

We also used Krakow Bobs taxi services to go to the Salt mines. We were all very unsure what the salt mines would entail because it definitely doesn't seem like our kind of thing! But, yet again we were very wrong and shocked at how interesting it was.

I would recommend the guided tour again as, if like us, you know nothing about the Salt mines it would be quite boring just going around not understanding what used to happen down there. There was some spectacular sculptures and interactive things to do so is a great thing to do to make time fly.

For our second to last day, once we had done everything we had planned we decided to take a little wander around the old town and as we were doing that we came across Wawel Royal Castle which we wandered around the surroundings. After taking in all the views and eventually deciding to pay to go inside and look around the state rooms, this was only a small amount of  hungarian forint but personally we agreed it wasn't exactly worth going in, there wasn't much information regarding what each room was and the majority of them were closed off anyway. The inside of the castle grounds and gardens were beautiful though and very instagramable, yet again passing a few hours before we went and drank a few more cocktails in the scorching sun.

As for the majority of the holiday we spent it eating a sh*t tonne of yummy food and drinking plenty of cocktails, which is what we do best.

We started the holiday off by visiting a popular dessert destination called Mr Pancake, which I can ensure at least one of your Instagram followers have been too! We loved it that much so after we went again! There was so many choices to choose from that we had to go back and try another. The pictures just about do them justice but if you have a sweet tooth like me they're right up your alley.

My friends are probably the fussiest eaters you will ever meet so we ensured we went places that would cater to us all. 

We went to the standard Hard Rock cafe which I love. I love the food and love the array of cocktails they have. As a chain restaurant in a foreign country this was on the pricey side but was worth it as went down well with us all. 

One issue we experienced here which we noticed happened often in the majority of restaurants in Krakow was that the service was very poor, we waited ages to be served for our order to be taken and for our food to come, this was surprising as some places weren't even busy and there was hardly any staff on the floor but regardless we enjoyed our experience, once we received our food.

When out wandering around the city we came across some boats on the river which did outdoor eating on the top decks. So we decided to grab some grub! It was such a glorious day walking the streets but once on the boat which was decked at the dock it was absolutely freezing. Even though everything was flying everywhere we still enjoyed it.

                            

As for other places eating out we just headed towards the old town where there was so many independent restaurants with out door seating. Sitting in the scorching hot sun (occasionally) watching the world go by and having a giggle with your best friends and an Aperol spritz in hand is all you need on holiday! It's great to people watch and see families and couples having a great time.

Situated in the middle of the old town is the Old Cloth Hall which is full of little markets selling different souvenirs and gifts! We weren't looking for anything in particular but as a little remembrance from the trip we decided to get matching key rings. We first of all found these cute fluffy flamingos which we all got in a different colour but we wanted something more relevant to Krakow so got a glass anagram of different places in Krakow as well! Mine didn't last very long before it got chipped, typical me.

We were recommend by friends to try out the Modiva cocktail bar which was a 'vibey' bar with music playing and some really interesting cocktails to choose from. Apart from this we just went to any bar we thought looked interesting and drank to our hearts content! We also drank in bars around our hotel in the Jewish Quarter as we didn't want to be walking to far at night and these also had a great atmosphere with club like music and was more chilled.

There was also a little market place open late at night which had bubble waffles and some Polish cuisine which was super yummy!

A lot of my friends are visiting Krakow at the moment and it's making me want to return and try all the new and exciting places/restaurants they have visited.

So, who knows, maybe I'll be returning to Krakow sooner than I think and to be honest, I can't wait.

It's up there with one of my top 3 and should be on your bucket list!

Next stop, Paris.

Katie x

'Hungary' for adventure | My guide to the best 3 days in Budapest.

First of all lets address this blog post name, punny, right?

Anyhow, it's 2020 and I don't know about you but I definitely have the dreaded January blues and have already been thinking about my next holiday, which got me reminiscing about last year and all the amazing trips and countries I went to and experienced. So, today I thought I'd share one of them with you to hopefully help you plan your next trip!

My favourite break of 2019 was a 3 night city break in the buda-ful city Budapest (I'll stop now)

Me and my friend had been trying to plan a girly holiday together for ages now but we could never find the right time or right place. But, after a few suggestions and exploring the web we decided that 3 nights in Budapest would be perfect for us, a combination of partying, sight seeing and affordable pricing. So, before I even checked my bank account I crossed my fingers hoping I had enough to make the booking and thankfully I did, just.

16th of august eventually came around and before we knew it, it was 6:30am and we were jetting off to Budapest. After what felt like a 5 minute journey we arrived! Once we dropped our bags off at our apartment, which could have been better but you get what you pay for and we were hardly in it so no hard feelings towards that, we went exploring straight away, there was no time to waste!

We both didn't want to do too much walking about on the first day but we actually walked almost 30,000 steps that's more than I do in a week! We first walked alongside the Danube River which is also in relation to the memorial of the 'shoes on the Danube bank' in memory of Jews who were shot there. We then went on a hike, literally a hike, there was the option of getting a tram like cable car  up to the top of the Buda castle but the queue was enormous and instead of waiting we thought we would hike, hanging on to tree trunks to pull us up this very steep hill to get to the top which only took 5 minutes but, my god did this determine to me that I was definitely out of shape, despite how exhausting it was, it  was enjoyable and a fun thing to do! At the top we treated ourselves to some ice cream whilst we looked around the markets we were surprised to find surrounding the castle and it's gardens, we spent a good 2-3 hours here just chilling looking at the beautiful views.

As much as we wanted to continue exploring we needed to head back and rest up before we started getting ready for our night. We planned our nights in advance booking everything before we came to ensure we were able to do everything we wanted. So, on the Friday we decided to book onto a boat party called shipwrecked and we paid extra for unlimited drinks which was so worth it! Me and my friend both like making an effort for any situation and of course we were way to dressed up for this than the rest and what made it worse was it wasn't that busy but despite me being awkward and uncomfortable after 7 or 8 orange juice and proseccos we were dancing the night away singing Cascada at the top of our lungs whilst we cruised down the Danbue river, looking at the city at night was such a beautiful sight to see. This event was reasonably priced at £30 as we bought it online before we went, especially with unlimited drinks, but it mustn't be a well known event as for a big boat it wasn't packed but regardless its incredible to see the city in a different light.

After snoozing our alarm a good 5-6 times we finally woke up and were out the door by 1pm to try and catch a hop on hop off bus. I love this invention. I think it's great for lazy, hungover people like myself, you get to sit down but still experience everything the city has to offer. We did however got off at Gellert Hill where Liberty Statue monument is overlooking Danube, this is definitely a place you should stop off and take in all the beautiful views from 771 ft. We then thought we'd give our legs a walk and decided to walk down the steps to the waterfall at the bottom, a perfect opportunity for even more selfies. We then decided to walk back to our side of the river and get on the bus again for the last view stops but unfortunately we were too late to see the rest as this stops touring around 4 so we slowly walked back to out apartment only after we spotted a Ferris wheel and just couldn't say no. 

         

We were heading out a little earlier than the previous night on the Saturday as we were going to a party at the famous Thermal Baths, SPARTY, I absolutely love the name, thought it was very creative. If you didn't quite get it, it's a party in the spa, sparty, we had high hopes for this and thankfully they were met, the vibe was so good and it was packed with people from all over the world. One thing I found about Budapest is that the locals and holiday makers are all there to have a good time and are extremely friendly so we felt very safe and found it easy to make friends. If you are intending to go to Budapest definitely put the Sparty on your to-do list as you won't regret it, it's nothing like I've ever been to before honestly wish they had more of these! However, the drinks were quite pricey so just make sure you take enough cash if you’re intending to get tipsy.

Considering the event finished at 3am it was inevitable that we weren't going to wake up till late in the afternoon again but, we didn't have anything on our itnery for today so we weren't to bothered considering we had already done everything we wanted so we decided to take it easy and just wonder around eating quality food, at one restaurant in particular. Whilst on our bus journey yesterday we pulled up outside the famous New York Palace cafe, which is famous for being a major meeting point for Hungarian literacy and artistic titans. It had absolutely spectacular interior and atmosphere with it's very own piantist and vilolinist. If you intend to go here I'd recommend booking as we had to wait to be seated, thankfully not to long but, we saw the queue getting longer and longer once we were leaving and were glad we went ealier on. The food menu was quite limited (Especially for someone as fussy as me) but it was still just the novelty of being there that made the experience worthwhile. Both me and my friend ordered a burger, my 3rd one of the trip, quite embarrassing I know but it was a decent enough burger. We also opted to go for a pudding, now this was the highlight, I went for a rich chocolate pudding with cherry sauce inside, it was delicious. After we gave ourselves a good half an hour before we set off walking back to out apartment as we were stuffed.

For our final night in Budapest we didn't have anything planned as we knew we had to be up early to get our plane but regardless we weren't going to stay in when there was alcohol calling our name. After a bit of research we found a rooftop bar called '360' just round the corner from our hotel so we thought we'd give it ago. After paying 1000 Hungarian forint to get in we got the lift up to the very top and was amazed at the wonderful view you got from up their, we went later on at night so it was dark and the city was all lit up it was beautiful, we ordered 1 or 5 Gin and lemonades and then next minute we were on the strip dancing the night away, but we didn't even regret it in the morning we had such a good night to end our time here.

I would love to go back to Budapest and experience more of the party side the city has to offer as we didn't have time to even experience the popular ruin bars, despite this we were extremely happy and content with everything we did do and the memories we made.

If you are thinking of going to Budapest I'd definitely recommend all the places I have mentioned as I couldn't fault any of them. Guarantee you'll have the time of your life.

Look out for my next travel post where I'll be exploring my adventures from Krakow!

Katie x