Traveling Tour Guide: Catholic culture

Beautiful cityscape from Wikipedia, as viewed from the Krakow Mound.

Beautiful Krakow: ancient, academic, artistic, cultural, catholic, charming!

From the main square, the Ryneck, the biggest square in Europe, a delight in summer when it's filled with restaurants and cafes, with it's unusual twin brother towers of the old St. Mary's basilica and St. Peter and Paul church to the Wawel Castle and the military-like Barbican, there are many things to see. The ancient university can be seen in the Collegium Magnus, and the old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site. World War II has left a fresh history in it's ghetto and graveyards across the river in formerly-Jewish Kazimierz.

Majestic poignant music, quaint little old streets, and a history of monarchies, duchys, small tribes, as well as Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin. Krakow is the cultural heart of Poland, with heritage as old as it's ancient city can have.

I feel sad that I have only visited Krakow in the middle of winter, when the Wistula River is frozen and the snow deep, but that means that I have a summer gem to return to, discovering a whole new city.

Outside the Sukiennice -- the main square, the Ryneck.

Looking up at Wavel Castle

View of the Wistula River

Photo courtesy of Nellie Bednarek

Krakow Street. Photo courtesy of Nellie Bednarek

Mulled wine stand. Photo courtesy of Nellie Bednarek

Sukiennice market. Photo courtesy of Nellie Bednarek

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w

The first time I heard about the Mezquita in Cordoba, I was studying Moorish and Islamic architecture in Morocco. Seeing slides of this beautiful construction made me long for many years to visit it. The first thing that stuck in my memory were the magnificent double arches in striking pink and white stripes. The arch itself is an amazing construction, but to have two so beautifully decorated, with the lower one free standing, and replicated over and over to make an Alice in Wonderland, icing-on-the-cake magic was original.

Originally built as a mosque by the Moors that controlled Southern Spain (Al-Andalusia), after the Spaniards pushed the Muslim empire back into North Africa, the building had a 16th Century cathedral built in the very center, which tended to make it much darker, and many other features were added. The technical complexity and unity of the original mosque are astounding and a wonder of the time (it was started in 785 by Abd ar-Rahman I). Ironically, it was not originally a Muslim site -- he purchased half from the Christian community in order to make the mosque.

Of the original 1300 columns, an astounding 850 remain, creating a forest-like interior, and some are uniquely bubbled, creating a more cloud-like image. The domes also display a complex geometry and beauty that has withstood the test of time to remain solid and as pretty as when they were created, although with the addition of Catholic imagery.