As I have already mentioned, cinema is an extraordinary pleasure for me. Films are my whole life. A movie during a dinner break? Evening screening with friends in my living room? Going out with my girlfriends? – Always the cinema.
I know that nowadays people, especially young people, prefer simple cinema, popular series with star casts or comedies in which basically nothing happens, but the stupidity is always funny.
This year, as a film fan and cinephile, I had a chance to go to Krakow for one of the biggest film festivals in the world. By the way I saw some interesting places in this beautiful city.
Surprise on the trip
My trip started already with a plane flight. I bought cheap tickets for the connection directly to Krakow Airport. In general, it’s a great thing that this city has an airport where planes from all over the world arrive, and it’s only 20 kilometers to the city center. I think it is a great convenience for travelers.
Coming back to the surprise that met me…it turned out that on board the plane there is an actor who played one of the supporting roles in the movie “Alice in Wonderland”. Sure enough, he occupied a business class seat, but just knowing this was exciting for me.
When we landed, everyone hurriedly headed towards the departing buses, the train running between Krakow airport and Krakow main train station. The only thing that flashed before my eyes was how black jackets and famous person from the film world got into the private limousine JTP Group VIP transfer. Unfortunately I’m not a VIP, but I suspect that everyone can hire such services, because there are many private carriers from the airport. So I just typed Krakow airport transfer in the internet browser and used the first available option.
What’s interesting, it turned out that I’ve hit the jackpot, because the driver immediately offered me organized tours by Krakow Direct, where I can visit the most famous monuments and listen to their history from an experienced guide.
Krakow Film Festival
Held annually, the Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentaries, animated films, and short fiction.
During these eight days, viewers have the opportunity to watch up to 250 films from Poland and abroad. The entire event is simultaneously wrapped up with other exhibitions, concerts, outdoor screenings and meetings with filmmakers. Every year the great event is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests: directors, producers, festival programmers and a large Krakow audience.
It is also accompanied by an extraordinary music and film show. The festival is famous primarily for its simultaneous productions, the so-called film live in concert – a presentation of film works with live music performed by large orchestras. The event is accompanied by exclusive film music galas, gathering the greatest personalities of the big screen.
I had the opportunity to see Hans Zimmer’s film music concert, organized at the Tauron Arena. Unfortunately, the acoustics in this place, as for me, left much to be desired, but the impression alone rewarded everything.
The rest of the tour – Kazmierz
Following my driver’s advice, I took advantage of an organized group tour of the Krakow Heritage Trail with Krakow Direct. I must admit that I was really satisfied. The guide was excellent in English and his knowledge was enormous. Even no child could surprise him with a question.
The thing that stuck in my memory the most was the beautiful Kazimierz. Especially in the evening this place has a unique atmosphere. I really like to relax in pubs, sipping my favorite beer and watching people.
Apparently this district used to be considered unfriendly and even dangerous for those “outside” the Jewish circle. Fortunately, those days are also gone and Kazimierz, with its pleasant atmosphere and somewhat mysterious aura, began to attract more and more artists, residents and, of course, tourists.
I think that in terms of number of visitors, it is now competing even with the Old Town. I also think that it has already won with it in terms of the number of cafes, clubs and restaurants. Kazimierz is an exceptionally beautiful district and worth a visit! On every corner you can hear evening guitar solos, and queues to night clubs stretched all over the streets.
Dragon is not so bad for tourists
Although quite a few people probably go to Kazimierz through Stradomska or Starowislna streets, we started with a pleasant walk by the historic Wawel Castle, along the bank of the Vistula River.
There is also the Dragon’s Cave and the Wawel Dragon breathing fire. Artificial, of course 🙂 The views from the Vistula Boulevards are wonderful, especially at sunset. For those who wanted it was also possible to take a short cruise on the Vistula and taste fried fish.
You can never have too many souvenirs from the trip
Of course, I already bought some interesting T-shirts and biographical books from the festival, but I couldn’t resist buying a Wawel Dragon mascot and a fridge magnet while visiting Sukiennice on the Main Square.
A crispy ending
The whole trip ended with a crunchy bagel from a nice lady at Szczepanski Square. It was probably the best ending I could imagine.
The whole trip was an unforgettable experience for me for life. It motivated me a lot to further develop myself in the direction of cinematography and to find out even more interesting facts from this world. I think that by keeping up to date with the happenings in Hollywood and beyond, maybe my personal path will also take this direction. And Krakow as a destination will surely be on my GPS more than once!