I have dark hair, light skin and blue eyes. In Britain I look peaky. In Krakow, I looked like a native. Americans stopped me in the hotel lobby and asked in slow, careful voices for directions to the castle. Waiters did quick double takes when I nervously ordered coffee and cake in English. An old woman with a shopping basket sat next to me on the tram and started to chat; when she realised I couldn't understand a word she was saying, she gazed at me for a long, uncomfortable moment. "You have Polish blood in you," she pronounced finally, with a cavalier disregard for fact, and offered me a biscuit. I began to wonder if by any chance I had been adopted.
By the end of the weekend I was ready to ditch my stay-at-home UK family and start knocking on doors until my real parents recognised me and invited me in for goulash. Krakow is a whimsical, beautiful city, and it is difficult not to fall in love with its parks and streets and indefinably northern light. Tatters of the iron curtain can still be found in the city's grey, identikit suburbs, but these only throw into relief the pale, lazy loops of the river Wisla curling around the old town, or the flower stalls which make the market place vivid. There's more to do in Krakow than you can manage over a weekend, but if you're there and time is short, here are some suggestions of how to make the most of your 48 hours.
Day one
Take a tour of the castle and cathedral
Has to be done. Krakow's history extends back over millennia, and from 1257 to 1791 (at which point Poland was invaded and divvied up by Russia, Prussia and Austria) it was the country's capital. Wawel castle and cathedral, perched together on top of the hill from which they take their name (think Durham gone Gothic), bear well-preserved witness to this former eminence. Wander up the hill past stalls hawking Russian dolls, wooden beads and other colourful tourist tat, and begin your tour in the Renaissance arcaded courtyard. It's a light, bright sort of place, and the arches of white stone give it a Venetian feel - so the impact is all the greater when you walk into the dark, richly decorated interior. Don't forget to look up: several of the ceilings are decked out with hundreds of individually carved gurning heads. Unfortunately neither they nor the walls can talk, so if you can afford it, get yourself a guide: Poland's history is turbulent enough to satisfy the most ardent enthusiast, and the rooms are much more interesting when you find out what went on in them.
Chained to the wall outside the cathedral are three giant bones which apparently used to belong to one Smok Wawelski, the dragon of Wawel Hill. It's a strangely pagan monument to have at the entrance, but once inside, Wawel cathedral is filled with enough red marble, stained glass, sarcophagi and incense to induce a sense of atmosphere in the most prosaic visitor. It is also the burial place of Poland's royalty, plus a fair smattering of national heroes, saints, poets and the like. Make sure you climb up the tower (not too strenuous, although it does involve a lot of clambering over vertigo-inducing gaps) and touch the Zygmunt Bell: nine feet across, and weighing 18 tons, legend has it that the wish you whisper when you touch it will be granted.
Have a cup of coffee in the market square
Krakow's Market Square, Rynek Glowny, was the largest in medieval Europe and is still the heart of the town. It's lined with coffee shops, so take your pick, settle down with an espresso and a newspaper, and watch the world - and a panoply of buskers - go by. And I'm not talking a guitar and a ropey Oasis cover: I saw flutes, harps, harmonicas, barber shop quartets and - memorably - a man in a wheelchair with a glockenspiel.
If it's the atmosphere rather than the views that you're interested in, go round the corner into Florianska Street and duck into the famous art nouveau Jama Michalikowa cafe, meeting place of Krakow's artists and literati in the 19th century and still the haunt of the city's bohemians today. Make sure you try their torcik michalika - sponge-cake with apples. It's a local speciality and out of this world.
Go shopping
Tired of history and culture? Indulge in some rampant western consumerism - at significantly reduced prices. The streets fanning out from the market square are packed full of designer shops, but if you're looking for regional goods, try the old Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in the market square itself. The ground floor of the building serves as a market, selling traditional crafts and food, while the upper part is given over to an exhibition of Polish artwork. Amber and silver jewellery are both local specialities and great buys. One word of warning: don't be caught out by the opening hours. Shops tend to be open until five on weekdays, but most close at two on Saturdays, and many don't open at all on Sundays.
Experience the nightlife
If you want to dine out in style, do yourself a favour and pay a visit to Wierzynek on the market square. Named after its original proprietor, Nicolaus Wierzynek, who was famous for preparing unparalleled feasts for visiting dignitaries over 600 years ago, 20th century diners have allegedly included Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush senior. The menu is the length of a short novel, silver service and waiters in black tie add to the ambience - and the deal is sealed when you realise that a three-course meal costs you little more than £15 a head.
Get there early enough and you'll still have time to sample Krakow's rich cultural life after you've knocked back the coffee and brandy. The city has a healthy theatrical and musical tradition: pick up a copy of local magazine Karnet, which contains comprehensive listings in Polish and English and is available from shops and kiosks all over town, and plan your evening out. If you're more interested in partying the night away (and don't have to get up early the next morning), try one of the city's many intimate cellar bars. I chose to drink Polish lager in the Stanczyk Pub, mainly because of its location (it's in the cellar of the Town Hall tower on the market square), but I wasn't disappointed: it hosts jazz bands on Friday and Saturday nights, and the clientele were trendy, friendly and local.
Day two
Go to Auschwitz
During the journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau, I felt seriously uncomfortable with the idea of touring a death camp, not least because of the expectation that one should experience an emotional reaction to the exhibition. In the event, however, there is no question of avoiding such a reaction. We began with a look around Birkenau, and then moved on to Auschwitz, where we were guided through rooms filled to overflowing with suitcases, babies' clothes, false limbs and women's hair - the only remnants of the camps occupants - while our guide explained what life was like inside the camp for the victims of Hitler's Nazi regime. We were shown inside the punishment block, and the tour concluded in the camp's only surviving gas chamber. It's a harrowing experience, but one that ought to be undertaken. In the words of philosopher George Santayana, whose quote hangs on the wall of one of the buildings in the camp: "The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again."
Coach tours to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps leave from the centre of Krakow every day.
Visit Kazimierz
Kazimierz, in the south-east of Krakow, is the city's Jewish quarter and, until the onset of the second world war, was a centre of Jewish political and social life and home to the largest Jewish population in eastern Europe. Originally a separate town named after King Casimier the Great, it became part of Krakow in the 18th century. The place is eerily familiar: Kazimierz was used as the setting for the Jewish ghetto in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. I crossed paths several times with a gaggle of bespectacled movie buffs on a tour of the sites Spielberg used in film. Don't waste your money: you can see just as much - and at a more sensible pace - if you invest in a guidebook and take a look around yourself. Visit the Old Synagogoe on Wolnica square (now a museum) and the Remuh synagogue and cemetery. Get a taste of culture at Ariel, a restaurant-gallery on Szeroka Street, where you can listen to performances of klezmer music (traditional Jewish folk songs) while you tuck into one of the local specialities. In the spirit of adventure, I tried Berdyczowska soup: no idea what was in it, but I'd go back tomorrow and have it again.
Way to go
Sarah Crown travelled to Krakow with Bridge. A three night City Break, including return scheduled flights, and B&B at the Hotel Sofitel on Marii Konopnickiej St, costs from £390.
