The Planty

06/18/2012 10:00

When you look at Kraków from above, you’ll see a green belt encircling the area of town near where we will be staying. This is called the Planty. Though it’s green now, it actually is the site of the old city walls that protected the town during medieval times. So, everything inside the Planty is considered to be the true heart of the Old Town. In addition, everything inside this belt is also designated by the United Nations as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Planty, as with most city parks, is filled with happy tourists by day and young people making out by night. Further back in my youth, I was sometimes a part of the latter. Anyway, one interesting thing (although changing somewhat in the past few years) is the fact that you would almost never see people sitting on the grass. I think that there was a more or less unwritten rule designed to give a certain dignity to the Planty, and not have it turn into a picnic ground. I remember back in the 1990s that a guy yelled at a girl and me for sitting cross-legged on the grass. He told us that you can’t do this in Kraków, and that if you want to sit on the grass you should go to the Tatra Mountains!

Anyway, I LOVE the Planty. It’s a great place to walk or run in the mornings, and to sit (but not on the grass) and read a paper or eat a quick lunch. Maybe we’ll catch Bob and Mary sucking face there some night when they “aren’t feeling well" and need to head back early to the hotel.