For lottery-winners, honeymooners or those wanting to push the boat out a bit, Jamie Ponsonby-Smythe has some tips on Cracow for the bon vivant…
'Hi chaps. A big hello from fair old Blighty. Hennie was going write a review so I thought why not get it all down while we've got a moment.
Where to start...? WelI... I must say... the Poles have had a pretty rough time of it when you come to think of it.
I remember, after the war, Grandpa gave a bunch of refugees one of the fields up by the old railway bridge. They made a camp there – they’d had a really awful time of it. One day when Dad was up there walking the dogs, the whole camp went silent. He couldn’t understand why all the children were staring at him. Then he realized that Spider – one of the Jack Russells – had pinched one of their cats. He had it by the neck and the poor blighter had copped it. Bloody embarrassing, the whole episode.
Last year, when Henrietta suggested shinning off to Eastern Europe for our hols I was a bit surprised. But I needn’t have worried. So before I get carried away, here’s a few tips on some bloody good places in Cracow…
We stayed at the Copernicus, which was pretty tip-top all round. And a damn good view from the roof, where they’ve got a marvelous bar. We had some splendid frescoes on the walls in our rooms, fifteenth century I think. Excellent breakfasts.
Camelot is a charming little café, as is Prowincja (Hennie loved the cakes there). And we had a bloody good dinner at Szara – fantastic view of the square. Empik is a pretty handy place. You can pick up a copy of ‘The Telegraph’ and ‘The Spectator’, (Hennie says you can also get ‘Hello!’ and ‘World of Interiors – the usual rubbish). There was another small place on the square, called Seven I think, where you could pick up some useful odds and ends. Wine, cigars, that sort of thing.
At night Henrietta roped me into going to a place called Kazimierz. It looked pretty beaten up at first but we found some rather fun bars – Alchemia and Singer stick in the mind. Back in the Old Town there’s a delightful wine cellar at the Pod Roza.
What else? Oh yes, the only place to get an English fry-up is at the Metropolitan. And while I think about it they also do a pretty fine Saltinbocca.
Well that pretty much wraps it up I think.
Ah…. Of course. Did I forget? Polish tottie – an absolute joy. Don’t tell Henrietta I said that!'
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