Rynek Underground and Final Glimpses

One of the things that made me fall in love with Krakow was the ring of parkland around the old city. You can walk entirely in park (not very wide, but wide enough!) all the way around, emerging only in order to cross intersecting streets. There were little ponds, sandboxes, play areas, and the like, and it was shady and cool.

 The old city itself is really lovely, too, with lots of architectural interest. 

The old cloth market, now a set of stalls for local merchandise,
including amber (found in Poland), wooden items, and some leather goods

 Krakow, like many European cities, has been built up over the centuries. We had the opportunity to go into the relatively new underground museum that is a curated archaeological site and a display of artifacts found in the area.  The lights were very low for protective purposes (I assume), so unfortunately the photos aren't as clear as they might have been, but I hope they retain a feel for the space.

It was quite large, and included soil strata that were marked and interpreted to help the lay observer see the different levels. There were also the in situ foundations of the much earlier cloth market/wool market, including the very small (6 feet by 3 feet?) stalls used during the Medieval period.

Soil strata

Medieval knife with bone handle

Recreation of goldsmith's premises

Remains of housing after a fire during the Medieval.  

A collection of keys. 

To the left on the doorway is a hinge fragment.
This is an upper level, much more modern (1500s?)
but still below current ground level.

Horses! 

I thought the exception of chess (which according to Jeremy
was a very different game from today's version) interesting.

Sparklies! Despite anti-luxury laws,
the percentage of artifacts that were purely for purposes of appearance
indicated that self-adornment was alive and well during these times

The lower strata, with some of the larger areas

This is a photo of the outside of the church
where we attended the concert (in the main square)
while the excavations were being carried out as late as 2007

This is an outer barbican;
there were many of these protective structures, and a wall,
 incorporated into the ring parkland

Love,

Alexandra