Post by yenilira on Nov 10, 2011 15:36:41 GMT 1
As we all know, England are, one way or another, on their way to the Euros next summer, and have arranged for Kraków in Poland as their base, with the players staying at the 53-bedroomed 5* Hotel Stary on Ul. Szezepanska 5, just off the Rynek G³ówny (Main Market Square, the largest in the country) and its 16th C.Renaissance Cloth Hall (the Sukiennice) with its permanent market stalls.
www.hotelstary.com/
and its facilities - www.eurobookings.com/krakow-hotels-pl/hotel-stary.html?label=gg_en_bh_87301-poland-krakow-hotel-stary&gclid=CIjesNviq6wCFUdB4QodljZyog
Even though they could be playing their matches at least 200 miles away.
The hotel has a bar and dining area on the roof top overlooking the town square. There is a pool, sauna, dressing rooms and salt mine on the ground level. The building has some original walls dating back a few hundred years.
They are also taking over Division 4 side, Hutnik Kraków as their training camp, which is less than half an hour away by coach, including upgrading the pitch and stadium facilities, all being paid for by the FA.
It is well-known that the players want to get out and about, so, unlike the depressive confines of Rustenburg in the RSA, to dispel the boredom, a myriad of community and charity work, coaching sessions with local youngsters, etc., are being organised, and, of course, there's the local sights:
the 11th century Katedra Wawelska (Wawel Cathedral), where most of Poland's royalty are buried, and has the Zygmunt Bell - Dzwon Zygmunta - a third heavier and 350 years older than its famed London cousin, the Big Ben, the Old Town (Polish: Stare Miasto), the Market Square with its Gothic St. Mary's Basilica (Koœció³ Mariacki), the Wyspianski Museum, the 'Kazimierz' - the former Jewish Quarter, the Gothic Wawel Castle, 'Puff the Magic Dragon' - Wawel Dragon (in Polish: Smok Wawelski), the large Mariacki Church in the Old Town square which dates from 13th century, follow in the footsteps of Karol Wojty³a, Archbishop of Kraków, who, in 1978, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first ever Slavic Pope, and the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years, the Czartoryskich Museum in which hangs the 'Lady with an Ermine’ a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, only one of six places in the world where one can view such a painting.
. . . and many others.
Places of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, (the subterranean world of labyrinthine
passages, giant caverns, underground lakes and chapels with sculptures in the crystalline salt and rich ornamentation carved in the salt rock, the oldest in Europe), the Tatras Mountains 100km (62 miles) to the south, the historic city of Czêstochowa and its 'Black Madonna', - Czarna Madonna or Matka Boska Czêstochowska in Polish, which is 59 miles north-west, the Ojcowski National Park, which includes Pieskowa Ska³a Castle, Zakopane (for ski-ing, etc.) and, of course, Auschwitz, which many of you will no doubt remember my thread of this name on 16th February this year.
hollowaystangerines.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=thetangerinelibrary&action=display&thread=1675
Kraków (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkrakuf] or Cracow), population 756,000+, a former capital of Poland, is around two hours by train south from the present capital, Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa - pronounced 'dvarˈʂava')
- I should know: my seat reservation was pinched by a local on that train once.
The city is twinned with, amongst 20-odd others, Edinburgh, and Fez, in Morocco.
The airport is only 10 miles out of town, and there is a good rail link from the Dworzec Glowny to Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Vienna, etc.
Weather-wise, it would be around 68-70 in June/July.
All-in-all, I would put Kraków in the same category as some of the 'beautiful' cities of Europe - Prague, Tallinn, Venice, Porec, et al.
YL.
www.hotelstary.com/
and its facilities - www.eurobookings.com/krakow-hotels-pl/hotel-stary.html?label=gg_en_bh_87301-poland-krakow-hotel-stary&gclid=CIjesNviq6wCFUdB4QodljZyog
Even though they could be playing their matches at least 200 miles away.
The hotel has a bar and dining area on the roof top overlooking the town square. There is a pool, sauna, dressing rooms and salt mine on the ground level. The building has some original walls dating back a few hundred years.
They are also taking over Division 4 side, Hutnik Kraków as their training camp, which is less than half an hour away by coach, including upgrading the pitch and stadium facilities, all being paid for by the FA.
It is well-known that the players want to get out and about, so, unlike the depressive confines of Rustenburg in the RSA, to dispel the boredom, a myriad of community and charity work, coaching sessions with local youngsters, etc., are being organised, and, of course, there's the local sights:
the 11th century Katedra Wawelska (Wawel Cathedral), where most of Poland's royalty are buried, and has the Zygmunt Bell - Dzwon Zygmunta - a third heavier and 350 years older than its famed London cousin, the Big Ben, the Old Town (Polish: Stare Miasto), the Market Square with its Gothic St. Mary's Basilica (Koœció³ Mariacki), the Wyspianski Museum, the 'Kazimierz' - the former Jewish Quarter, the Gothic Wawel Castle, 'Puff the Magic Dragon' - Wawel Dragon (in Polish: Smok Wawelski), the large Mariacki Church in the Old Town square which dates from 13th century, follow in the footsteps of Karol Wojty³a, Archbishop of Kraków, who, in 1978, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first ever Slavic Pope, and the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years, the Czartoryskich Museum in which hangs the 'Lady with an Ermine’ a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, only one of six places in the world where one can view such a painting.
. . . and many others.
Places of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, (the subterranean world of labyrinthine
passages, giant caverns, underground lakes and chapels with sculptures in the crystalline salt and rich ornamentation carved in the salt rock, the oldest in Europe), the Tatras Mountains 100km (62 miles) to the south, the historic city of Czêstochowa and its 'Black Madonna', - Czarna Madonna or Matka Boska Czêstochowska in Polish, which is 59 miles north-west, the Ojcowski National Park, which includes Pieskowa Ska³a Castle, Zakopane (for ski-ing, etc.) and, of course, Auschwitz, which many of you will no doubt remember my thread of this name on 16th February this year.
hollowaystangerines.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=thetangerinelibrary&action=display&thread=1675
Kraków (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkrakuf] or Cracow), population 756,000+, a former capital of Poland, is around two hours by train south from the present capital, Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa - pronounced 'dvarˈʂava')
- I should know: my seat reservation was pinched by a local on that train once.
The city is twinned with, amongst 20-odd others, Edinburgh, and Fez, in Morocco.
The airport is only 10 miles out of town, and there is a good rail link from the Dworzec Glowny to Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Vienna, etc.
Weather-wise, it would be around 68-70 in June/July.
All-in-all, I would put Kraków in the same category as some of the 'beautiful' cities of Europe - Prague, Tallinn, Venice, Porec, et al.
YL.