The best place to start a visit of Krakow is from Pl. Matejki, just outside of the old city walls. If you stand at the far end of the square behind the Grunwald Monument and look south towards the old town a view of the Florianska Gate, the Barbakan, a couple of Medieval towers, and the  Gothic spires of St. Mary's church majestically open ups before you. This is the only spot from where you imagine to some extent what Medieval Krakow might have looked like. If you ignore the Grunwald Monument, all the structures in the distance in front of you have been there for at least 500 years. This is a glimpse of a Medieval skyline (though the park and trees in front of the fortifications were first planted about 200 years ago).

The church at your back is dedicated to Saint Florian, and was first built at the end of the 12th C and is one of the few churches in town to still have its old cemetery walls. The area where you are now standing was in fact a separate town called Florencja, founded back in 1366, and joined to Krakow at the end of the 18th C. The neighborhood was redesigned in the 19th C, so most of the buildings you see today are from the 19 and 20th centuries.

If you have time for a detour, it is worth turning right into ul. Paderewskiego and heading to Rynek Kleparski, a square that is a part of the old Florencja town square, though the town hall no longer exists. But the real reason for making this detour is not for monuments, but for the traditional farmers' market that is held here six days a week (closed Sundays). There are dozens of stalls and kiosks selling fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, cold cuts, Polish sausages and cheeses, plus freshly baked bread.

From Pl. Matejki, cross over to the Planty Park and Barbakan. The park was laid out at the beginning of the 19th C after the old moat had been filled in on the orders of the Austrians. Most of the city defense walls and towers were also torn town at this time: the walls were obsolete from a military point of view, and were believed to suffocate the city and prevent modern development. The moat had turned into an open sewer and thus was filled in for reasons of public health and safety. The park was created in an effort to beautify the city. But a few monuments were saved: the brick Barbakan, a 200-meter section of walls, three towers, and the Florianska Gate. The gate was the historic entrance to the city, and thus was a symbol of Krakow's former capital status when kings and queens entered the city here. This is one reason why this part of the city walls were saved, but a more important factor was that the neighborhood around St. Florain's church to the north was filled with horse traders, shabby taverns and inns and was quite filthy. It was feared that if the walls and gate were torn down the winds blowing from the north would carry filth and disease into the city and onto the main square, and that the wind might even lift up ladies' skirts on their way to mass at St. Mary's church!

The Barbakan used to be connected to the Florianska Gate by a bridge over the moat that flowed between the two structures. With the Barbakan at you back, if you look to your right you'll notice a brick section of the city walls that extends further out in the park. That's the old city arsenal. The city's supply of gun powder and weapons need extra protection, which is one of the reasons why the Barbakan was built at the end of the 15th C (there was a second, similar structure at the end of ul. Slawkoska on the other side of the arsenal that was demolished when the park was created).

Let's pass through the Florianska Gate and admire the gate from the old town side. From here you can see a niche containing the carved figure of Saint Florian from the 18th C. He is shown pouring water from a bucket onto a burning church. This is his traditional portrayal, as he is the patron saint of firemen and is supposed to protect the city from fire. According to legend, the saint was drowned by the Romans, hence his association with water.

If we turn away from the gate we'll see ul. Florianska lined with Medieval and Renaissance houses and the majestic St. Mary's church rising at the end of the street on the main town square. But we are going to turn left, going along the inside of the city walls until reaching the  first street on the right, ul. Szpitalna.

From this corner you'll see the Slowacki theater, from 1893, used for plays and occasional concerts. Confusingly, the stone bust in front of the theater is not of the poet Juliusz Slowacki for whom the theater is now named, but of the Polish playwright Aleksander Fredro.

A medieval hospital and chapel dedicated to the Holy Ghost stood here until the end of the 19th C, which is why the street is called hospital street in Polish. Walking down the street you'll see the picturesque red-brick Holy Cross Gothic church from the 14th C. It's worth visiting the interior to see the bizarre wall paintings and the unique single column in the nave which supports the vaulted ceiling. (the church is usually open around during the week for about 30 minutes before 6pm mass, and on Sundays between masses.

A little bit further down ul. Szpitalna on the right is a non-nondescript building with a golden onion dome surmounted by an Eastern Orthodox cross above the entrance way. This building once housed a Jewish prayer house during the years before WWII when this street had many Jewish run businesses, especially book sellers. After the was, the prayer hall was converted to an Eastern Orthodox church, hence the cross over the entrance way.

At the end of ul. Szpitalna, we'll reach the back of St. Mary's church and the Maly Rynek, the small town square, which was a former butchers market, among other things. The square is lined by some pretty historic town houses from the Renaissance one side, including one where the first Polish newspaper was published back in the 17th C, and on the other side by the apse of St. Barbara's church and buildings connected with St. Mary's.

Approaching the 14th C St. Mary's church from the back side, curve around to the left onto the enclosed Pl. Mariacki (St. Mary's square), a beautiful, enclosed space that used to be the parish cemetery until the Austrians closed all the churchyard cemeteries in Krakow in 1800. You may be wonder why there is another church on this tiny square, when there's already the massive parish church. The explanation is that the smaller, St. Barbara's church was originally the cemetery chapel where masses for the dead where said. St. Barbara's has a beautiful Gothic porch with carved figures of Jesus and the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane.

The square also contains a small, quaint fountain from the 1950s which portrays one of the figures from the famous high altar of St. Mary's church. Most guide books describe the figure as a student, which is nonsense. The figure is an Old Testament prophet. The error arose because the statue was erected during Stalinist times, so the craftsmen who commissioned it said it was sculpture of a student because they knew it would be a problem to erect an religious statue in those days.

When the side entrance of the church which is used for tourists is closed, you can see the old shackles hanging next to the doors that were used to chain sinners as a form of public punishment from Medieval times to the 18th C.
 
If you happen to be on Pl. Mariacki a few minutes before an hour strikes, you'll notice crowds gathering here. The reason is that this is the best spot to listen to the hourly trumpet call which is played from the taller tower of St. Mary's. The trumpeter really does play the call every hour, on the hour, 24hours a day. The trumpeters are members of the fire department and have shifts from 8am to 8am, and then rotate with 2 days off. The call is played four times, in the four cardinal directions, and the melody is never finished. This tradition is explained by a legend that says that when the Tartars invaded in the middle of the 13th C, a brave guard played a warning call on his trumpet, but was struck down by an enemy arrow in mid-note. Henceforth  no trumpeter has ever finished the melody in tribute to the fallen comrade. The trumpet call is broadcast live on Polish radio everyday at 12 noon, and has been since the 1920s!

Leave Pl. Mariacki by walking on the main square, the Rynek Glowny. This really is the largest medieval town square in Europe and is still the heart of the city. The square was laid out starting in 1257, and the most important institutions were erected here: St. Mary's parish church, the Cloth Hall, and the Town Hall. The first St. Mary's was founded in the 1220s, but was rebuilt in the Gothic style during the 14th C. Its two distinctive asymmetrical towers developed over the span of a couple of centuries, though a local legend will have you believe that two brothers designed them in the 14th C and got into a murderous argument over their proposed heights...The interior is filled with works of art spanning seven centuries, the most important being Wit Stwosz's Gothic main altar, carved over a span of 12 years from 1477-89. The altar is now the largest surving Gothic altar in the world, though it was nearly lost twice: in the 18th C during the Baroque restyling of the interior, and during WWII when the Germans looted the altar after it had been hidden away in the Polish town of Sandomierz.

The Cloth Hall divides the main square in half and in the Middle Ages was the commercial center of the city, Now it houses souvenir stalls, arts and crafts, and up stairs the Museum of the 19th C Polish painting. Besides offer a cross-section of Polish artists from 1800s, the museum also features a pleasant cafe that has outdoor patio seating on the roof above the arcades on the western side of the Cloth Hall, which is wonderful spot from which to admire the square and the crowds of people gathered there.

On the eastern half of the square rises the lonely tower of the former Town Hall. These days only the 14th C tower is all that remains from the historic seat of the Krakow local government. The city attempted to renovate the old town hall in the 1820s, but its walls started to crack and cave in, so it was torn down instead. Except for the clock tower, which possesses a vast cellar that used to be part of the city prison, and also a brothel.

The main square boasts many fine palaces which served as residences for the Polish aristocracy. These days the colorful facades and vast courtyards of these venerable edifices house restaurants, cafes, hotels,  jazz clubs, an independent cinema, and the main branch of the Krakow Historical Museum.

Leave the main square from the SW corner, taking ul Sw. Anny towards the university district.  St. Ann's street was known as Jewish street in the Middle Ages, and Krakow's first Jewish neighborhood was located around the intersection of ul. Sw. Anny and ul Jagiellonska. The Jews were relocated to Kazimierz by a royal proclamation in 1495, by which time the Krakow Academy (the original name of the university) had bought up most of the Jew's property in this area.

Collegium Maius is the oldest part of the university and dates back to the 15th C, when Copernicus studied in Krakow. It's possible that a synagogue once stood on the corner plot where the university was built in the course of the 15th C. The courtyard of Collegium Maius is one of the most serene and beautiful public spaces in the old town. Encircled by a series of pointed arches, with an old well in the center, this venerable edifice these days houses the collections of the Jagiellonian University museum and is not used for lectures anymore.

Return to ul. sw. Anny and walk towards the Planty Park. On your right is the collegiate church of St. Ann, erected at the end of the 17th C on the site of an earlier Gothic structure. It's not easy to appreciate the monument facade because of the narrow street; the best view is from the park.        The university originally wanted to build the church at the end of the street, facing back towards the main square, so that passersby would be awed by the Baroque magnificence of the  church, but they didn't receive permission to demolish the school building across the street, so they were forced to build on the corner plot right up against the city walls that stood next to where the park is now.

Inside, no expense was spared in decorating the church, partly because the university wanted to outdo the Jesuits who had erected the first Baroque church in Krakow in the first half of the 17th C. The interior is pleasantly bright, and outside of mass services, almost always empty. The piers on both sides of the nave are adorned with illusionistic portrayals of the 12 apostles, each identified with a precious stone, symbolizing their role in founding the Catholic church and the New Jerusalem of the book of Revelations. In the right transept is the tomb of St. Jan of Ket, a 15th C university theology professor who was canonized in the 18th C. The four figures holding his coffin represent the four departments that existed at universities in the Middle Ages: Philosophy, Medicine, Law, and Theology. In the left transept is a memorial dedicated to Nicolaus Copernicus, an illustrious alumnus of the university. He studied in Krakow in the 1490s, but is not buried here, he's buried in Frombork, a town in northern Poland. The memorial was erected in the 18th C by university professors when Copernicus' heliocentric theory was still considered heresy by the Catholic church.

From St. Ann's enter the park and turn left. Soon you will pass by the current Jagiellonian University headquarters, called Collegium Novum, a red-brick neo-Gothic structure from the 1880s. Continue walking in the park direction of the Wawel castle. On your left, around the back of Collegium Novum is a figure of Our Lady of Mercy utop a tall column. Mary is portrayed clutching three arrows that represent lightening bolts. This symbolizes Mary's stopping God's wrath during an outbreak of the plague. This figure used to adorn the main gate to St. Mary's cemetery on the main square. After the cemetery was closed the statue was moved a few times, and end up here during WWII. The figure and column that you see today are in fact replicas because a few years ago during a terrible wind storm a falling tree completely obliterated the original.

After crossing ul Franciszkanska (the street with tram tracks), on your left is the Franciscan Church. Parts of the church date back to the first half of the 13th C, but it's essentially a 14th C Gothic structure with later alterations and an interior from the end of the 19th C. The church was almost completely gutted during the worst fire in Krakow's history in July, 1850. The late 19 C renovations created an Art Noveau interior, with splendid stained glass windows by Stainslaw Wyspianski. The best time to visit the church is in the late after noon when the sun shines through the magnificent west window over the main entrance. This was one of Karol Wojtyla's favorite churches for praying, and his favorite pew is honored with a plaque showing where he used to sit (it's a pew in the back of the church on the left, about the third or forth from the main entrance.

It's also worth wandering into the cloisters which can be entered from the right transept. Usually, only one wing of the cloisters is open to the public, but it's worth seeing the collection of bishops' portraits: portraits from the 15th C were painted directly on the walls, later on on wood panels or canvases.
 
After exiting the church, walk along ul Franciszkanska until coming to ul Grodzka. At this intersection turn right. You'll see to your right a small, emtpy square and a modern, narrow building covered with brick tiles. The square next to the tram stop is called All Saints' Square after the church that stood here until the early 19th C. Beyond the square is the Wielkapolska Palace which is current city hall where the city mayor has his office. The modern building with the brick tiles was erected in 2007 and contains three stained glass windows designed by Stanislaw Wyspianski at the beginning of the 20th C for the Wawel cathedral. His designs were rejected by the Church, but a few years ago it was decided to honor the artist on the 100th anniversary of his death (2007) by creating a place where his designs could be exhibited. At night, the windows are illuminated and can be admired from outside, which is much more effective than looking at the windows from inside the narrow building.

Take ul Grodzka, heading away from the main square. Shortly, on your left will be the the first Baroque church built in Krakow, the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, proceeded by statues of the 12 apostles. The statues are replicas, the originals were practically destroyed by arid rain and pollution and are kept in a locked courtyard behind the church. The Jesuits actually wanted to build this church on the main square, but were unable to obtain a suitable plot of land there at the end of the 16th C and so were forced to use this location. To allow passersby to be impressed by the monumentality of the church it was decided to build back from the street and create a small courtyard in front of the building. Today, we can admire the church by stepping back from the street onto Pl. sw Marii Magdaleny, but when the church was being built this square didn't exist: Mary Magdalene church stood there until the 19th C.  

Next door is the best preserved Romanesque church in Krakow, St. Andrew's. The building dates back to the end of the 11th C and was constructed as a fortified church, with narrow window slits and heavy limestone blocks. The age of the church is belied not only by the severe Romanesque style, but by the fact that you have to go down some steps to enter the building. Over the centuries as a natural part of urban development the street level has risen, which has left the oldest churches on Krakow well below the current street level. It's worth taking a peek inside, just don't expect to find a plain interior to match the exterior: inside is a riot of Baroque stucco work and gilded figures. The most impressive sight is the pulpit shaped like a boat, floating above grotesque sea monsters.

Cross the square and turn left down ul Kanonicza, the most picturesque street in the old town. This street leads directly to the caste hill, and most of the residences were built by church officials from the Wawel cathedral in the 16-17th C.  Try entering as many of the courtyards that  can during your exploration of the street. The courtyard of building number 7 is has a serene garden and a restaurant has outdoor seating here, if you wander to the back of this garden you can see a preserved section of the old city fortifications.
 
At the end of the street, at the foot of the castle, is the preserved building where the most famous Polish historian lived in the second half of the 15th C, Jan Dlugosz. Much of what we know about Poland and Krakow in the Middle Ages is due to his extensive chronicles, which also include some famous legends, such as the legend of the dragon, “Smok” who lived in a cave under the castle hill. If instead of climbing the hill, you turn right and walk around the hill, you will reach the Vistula River and see the famous fire breathing statue of the dragon.