"poland's second city is first choice for the young"

that is the title for an article about krakow appearing in this sunday's new york times travel section.i went to krakow with 5 companions during the last weekend of february/first weekend of march. and krakow, which is poland's second city after warsaw, is definitely a choice for the young. out of all the cities i visited in the past 4 months, krakow had the most hip and up-and-coming nightlife, which was unexpected for a low-hype city such as krakow.

according to the times, krakow is "eastern europe's newest bohemian capital." the article talks about the growing young expat community who have chosen krakow over prague and budapest as the latest cultural frontier. the article specifically refers to kazimierz--krakow's old jewish quarter, which houses the epicenter of the city's hipness. a number of gritty pubs and cool bars are packed into the streets of this small quarter, which is coincidentally where our hostel was located. one of them, which the times articles also refers to, is called alchemia. its a dark, smoky bar that plays good music and is located right on to old jewish marketplace square (plac zydowski). diagonally across from alchemia is another brightly-lit french bar that has good kirs and posters all over the walls, but i can't recall its name. lastly there is singer, a smoky bar named after the old singer sewing machines that sit atop the bar's tables. this is one of the liveliest bars i found in europe and, out of all the places i have been to in the past 4 months, was the one place i could see myself going back to over and over again.

since it was freezing in krakow while we were there, i barely took any photographs. instead, here is the new york times' photo of rynek glowny, or krakow's old town square: