|
Raba Wyzna Village Raba Wyzna is a large village with nearly 2000 houses now, half built in the last 10 years. The village extends some 7 kilometres along the valley of the River Raba, which rises in Bielanka to the south of Raba Wyzna and continues north to join the Vistula east of Krakow. If you fancy an afternoon picnic beside the river, ask Marysia and she will show you where you can sit peacefully, dipping your toes in the cool mountain water. There are lots of shops scattered around Raba Wyzna, most catering to very local trade. In the centre of Raba Wyzna, 5 minutes walk from our house, The Orange Shops, run by the Rapacz family, have just about anything you might require from food, drink, alcohol, snacks, toiletries, souvenirs, toys, shot glasses, shoes, boots and slippers and suitcases if you need an extra for the journey home. The church is open all day, with masses every morning and evening, and every 1.5 hours on Sundays. A very friendly church, and always full, summer services find half the congregation out in the church gardens for the service. Past the church is pre-school, then further along the lane you’ll find the old abandoned palace of the Dukes of Raba Wyzna, half hidden in the trees and host to hundreds of crows during the summer. Rabacowka, our sole bar, has strong links to the Polish Memorial Group for Partisans: those men and women who fought both the Germans and the Russians for so long. You will also find a pool table, darts and air hockey at the bar. Alternate Sundays find most of the village inhabitants heading out to the football stadium, up the hill past the schools and fire station. Raba Wyzna ‘Orkans’ have varying degrees of success on the football field, but it’s always a great afternoon out. Raba Wyzna sits in a valley which protects it from the harshest weather conditions of the region. There are many tracks and trails which you can follow up the hills on either side, giving you magnificent views of the Podhalean countryside all around. |
|
|
 |
||
|
|
No charge for transport to Rabka Zdroj and we provide you with maps of many of the attractions in the town, although you may well find more for yourselves. The Monday market is nowhere as big as Nowy Targ, but it’s a good start to the day, and children will enjoy seeing the animals on sale, especially the chicks in the spring. There’s a lot more to see in Rabka Zdroj whilst you are there: check links to the Church Museum, the open-air swimming pool, ice-skating in winter, Rabkoland funfair and the Steam Train Museum in Chabowka on the way home. |
|
|
There are many galleries around Podhale where you can buy original works of art: the local newspaper will have details of opening times when you come here. You can visit the gallery above Rdzawka on your walk along the Jan Pawel II trail, and at the Ethnological Museum at Zubrzyca Gorna is the gallery of Paintings on Glass. This is a traditional, local style of painting, and you will see original glass paintings in the old houses on show at the Museum. The artist, Stanislaw Wyrtel, is often in the gallery and will be happy to talk with you. You can buy his paintings for as little as 30zl and they make a lovely, light weight but valuable present or souvenir to take back to the UK. http://www.wyrtel.fr.pl/index.html . Also worth a visit is the gallery of Ryszard Orski, the sculptor, from whom we bought this house in 2004. He has his gallery in Zakopane, but you won’t have room in your luggage for any of his works. |
|
|
 |
Uzdrowisko Rabka Spa and Wellness Natural Health Centre Rabka Zdroj is a health resort town with its own natural mineral waters sourced from wells drilled deep under the ground. The Natural Health Centre at Rabka offers a wide range of natural health treatments, and now has a SPA and Wellness centre where guests can relax and be pampered in all sorts of weird and wonder ways, inhaling the iodine laced atmosphere of the salt caves, taking a cryo sauna (-30 degrees) or a mud bath as well as the treatments usually offered at a health resort. Their website will give details of all the treatments on offer and the cost. We do not charge to take you and collect you from Rabka, but the bus station is across the road from the Natural Health centre so you can go it alone if you want. At the Natural Health Centre, you can buy various beauty and health products produced at the centre using the Rabkan natural mineral waters and salts as the base health source. |
|
|
Jablonka is about 45 minutes south west towards Slovakia and here, the market is on Wednesday morning. It’s similar to the market at Nowy Targ, with a lot of stalls setting up here on Wednesday, then Nowy Targ on Thursday. If you want just a trip to the market, we charge 80zl wait and return, but you are best to combine a visit to this market with a trip to Zubrzyca Gorna Ethnological Museum, or Babia Gora and save your money. |
 |
|
 |
„Pod Gubalowka” Zakopane market The market is situated on the north side of Zakopane, most of it under the flyover coming in from Szymoszkowa. You can travel to Zakopane either by bus (6zl each way) or train (10zl return) or our driver can take you either one way (50zl between 2-6 people), or collect you later as well (100zl return trip between 2-6 people). The market, or jarmark, is about a 20 minute walk from the train and bus stations, through Zakopane’s main tourist district, including a walk down Krupowki pedestrian street. Our driver will drop you off and collect you from the car park at the entrance to the market. http://www.krupowki.biz/krupowki.html . The market is well worth a visit with all sorts of local produce on sale and tourist souvenirs. The hand knitted woollen sweaters are a must. Also, look out for the puppies on sale on the bridge just north of the underpass, and the hot corn on the cob and sesame buns stands. There are probably some 20 stands selling oscypek, the local cheese made from sheep’s milk. A smoked cheese, the darker it is, the saltier it is. You will be invited to taste the cheese at each stand. |
|
|
Mszana Dolna is about 30 minutes north east towards Wieliczka and here, the market is on Tuesday morning. It’s similar to the market at Nowy Targ, with a lot of stalls setting up here on Tuesday, then Nowy Targ on Thursday. If you want just a trip to the market, we charge 60zl wait and return, but you are best to combine a visit to this market with a trip to Wieliczka Salt Mines, or WySPA Mszanka, the Fitness Centre at Mszana Dolna and save your money. |
|
|
|
|
Spytkowice Garden Centre and JAndrew carpentry workshop About 10 minutes drive away, no charge for taking you there, is Spytkowice, the village over the ridge to the west. Here you can visit a beautiful old wooden church, and our local garden centre which many guests like to wander around. Seeds are much cheaper here than in the UK and take very little room in your luggage so take a few Polish varieties back with you. Just along the road towards Skawa, is JAndrew, the carpentry workshop where, in the warehouse, they have a small showroom. You can buy all sorts of wooden toys, implements, souvenirs and decorations here, much cheaper than on the market stalls in Zakopane. |
|
|
|
||
|
On Thursday and Saturday mornings, the market at Nowy Targ opens around 05.00am, starting to close around 13.00. The Thursday market has a livestock section with farmers offering pigs, sheep, horses, cows, goats and so on for sale. Get there by 08.00am to really enjoy this part of the market. Saturday market can claim to be the biggest street market in Europe, especially in summer. It can take up to 5 hours just to walk all around it. You can buy just about anything here, from hand made wrought iron products to ball gowns, potatoes to trees, hammocks to skis: really, just about anything. During the market, there are various food stalls selling open-air grilled meats and sausages. Or there are several very Polish cafes offering traditional local fare in traditional local surroundings. Try Rumcajs. Otherwise, you can take a short walk up into the Main Square of Nowy Targ, where, on Thursdays, the town museum is open in the middle of the square, and any day of the week, you can visit the Church of the Most Blessed Heart of Jesus which, behind the altar, has an amazing white stone sculpture of the Last Supper. There are all sorts of restaurants: posh Polish, American Retro, Italian pizza, Polish traditional and cafes and bars. Also, don’t miss the best ice cream ever, available from the kiosk next to the bakery in the main square, west side. Take a wander round the streets running immediately behind the square too. And for New Year, the restaurants in the Square put on all-night parties, including a huge display in the Square. |
|
|
 |
||
|
|
||
|
|
1. You can travel to Krakow either by bus: 07.30 am or 11.20am: 14zl each way, 90 minute trip to Central Bus Station just north of the Main Square, the last return bus leaving Krakow at 20.00 (but you must check this yourselves when you arrive there) 2. OR by train, a 3 hour trip (!) leaving Raba Wyzna at 10.40, arriving at 13.30 and the return train leaving Krakow at 14.40, arriving Raba Wyzna 15.30 3. OR our driver can take you (2-6 people) one way to Krakow for 100zl 4. OR our driver can take you and bring you back, waiting in Krakow for you. You can leave him at Carrefour and take the tram into the centre and back (4zl) and find him in the car park where you left him (350zl between 2-6 people, up to 12 hours door to door) 5. OR he can drive you into the centre and wait in the parking beside the Main Square so you can return to the car with shopping bags and so on. 400zl between 2-6 people, up to 12 hours door to door. 6. OR if you have an evening flight back to the UK, our driver can return you to Balice airport free of extra charge, and you can leave your bags in the left luggage lockers outside, suitcase size 8zl/24hr ( http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/20/46/22/Baggage-lockers ). The shuttle train to Krakow Central Station costs 8zl and you can buy your ticket on board. http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/3/176/35/en 7. OR you may decide to spend either your first night or your last night at a hotel in Krakow. There is so much evening entertainment available, that it’s well worth while. If so, we are happy to collect or return you to the airport but only taxis can enter the centre of the city so we advise you to travel with luggage by taxi between Krakow centre and the airport. Once in Krakow centre, there is so much to see! We highly recommend taking a horse drawn carriage trip around the centre for an hour: you will be taken through the streets surrounding the Main Square (Stary Rynek), past the Castle (Wawel) and through the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz). There are shopping centres next to the Main Station and south of Kazimierz, and the Main Square hosts market stalls and the Corn Market in the middle. Cafes and restaurants ring the Main Square with outdoor seating, bars and discotheques all round, and all sorts of evening entertainments take place in the Square throughout the year. Churches and museums abound. http://www.krakow.pl/en/ |
|
 |
||
 |
||
