OK, church pictures out of the way first.
Krakow is great. We cannot imagine other cities being better. Cities I said. We learned that in many cities in the world there are free walking tours. Krakow has such tours and we took one.
The lady guide was ours and the man was the backup in case they needed a second guide. The great thing about this is that since they don’t get paid up front, they work hard and do a good job and if they don’t, you don’t tip them. Sounds good, was good.
Cute…..had to keep an eye on Duane.
Fortunately, Krakow escaped World War II with no major fighting or bombing, and it remains almost unscathed even after fifty years of communist rule since concrete blocks of flats were built outside the city center.
The circular fortress of the Barbican was added to the city’s defenses in the late 15th century while, directly across from it, the Floriańska Gate that officially began the Royal Route dates back to 1307. Interesting thing about the Barbican is how cleverly it is designed. When you enter you must make a 90 degree turn to exit the building, that way invaders would be caught in a crossfire from the soldiers above when they had to change direction of their charge. 
BUT to ruin the illusion 
One of the first things we saw was the Royale Route. It starts with the Barbican and continues to the Wawel Castle. It was the ‘Royal Route’ - the historical coronation path of Polish kings when Kraków served as the royal capital from the 14th century to the very end of the 16th century. 36 royal rulers were crowned there up until the 17th century. All of these rulers used the Castle as a residence.
this part of the route is from the Florianska Gate to the town square, the largest in central Europe.
This huge building on one edge of the square is the cloth Hall where, to this day, you can buy and sell cloth.
This is St. Mary’s Basilica. Notice that the 2 steeples are of different sizes. We have never seen that before.
Several local legends are attached to St. Mary’s. The architect of the smaller tower
murdered his brother (the architect of the taller), apparently jealous that his structure was shorter and less elaborate.
Racked with guilt he then committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of the cathedral. Nowadays the taller tower is
home to one of Kraków’s most enduring traditions. On the turn of every hour, day and night, a bugle call is played. Apparently it takes its origins from an event in 1241. Having spotted invading Tartar forces on the horizon, a lone fireman started playing his trumpet to alert the habitants of Kraków. He was shot with an arrow in his neck, abruptly cutting off the tune mid-melody, but the town was roused from its sleep and defended itself. In honor of this event, seven local firemen now share the task of tooting the
tune every hour. The first written mention of the tradition dates back to 1392. You can see the bugler in the second picture in the center window.
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