Orchestra has started 20 years ago under charismatic front man Jurek Owsiak. Since then they gathered huge amount of money and literally millions, which went to transfer polish medical system. It’s a different cause every year but most of the money goes to support children’s hospitals. With over 120 000 volunteers working around the clock in every first week of January it is the biggest event of such kind. Orchestra is a series of events actually. Most recognizable are concert held in every bigger town, but there are also accompanying events such as austions, marathons, fashion events, and many more.

The biggest concert is as always in Warsaw, but also Krakow has it’s advantages. It all starts in the Main Market Square at 6 pm. Artists are Mats Meguenni, Via Rei, CF98, DMTA, The Car Is On Fire. Be ready and enjoy.

More info here – Kazimierz in Krakow.

And our Gallery here:

The first edition of festival was launched in 1962. It’s the event which has helped many polish starts to start or develop their careers. Among them, lets mention couple names such as Maryla Rodowicz, Marek Grechuta, Ewa Demarczyk and Jacek Kaczmarski. All of them nowadays are amongst the greatest inspiration and idols for thousands of people, especially in Poland. The event is an opportunity for tallented students to show their talents in front od audience and jury. It lasts three days. One of evenings will feature french songs. Before the announcement of final verdict, all of participants will be able to present on stage with the repertoire which they choose themselves. 22th of November will be held the ceremonial event on which the results are planned to be proclaimed. The following attraction of this evening is the finale concert.

The Student Song Festival is the source of polish artistry tradition. It constitutes both fun and entertainment for those who have their education in progress as well as those who finished it long ago. Feel free to check it out!

This years grand finale is dedicated to commemoration of Andrzej Zaucha – great polish songwriter and composer tragically killed 20 years ago. Performing in the show – Ola Szomańska, Ryszard Rynkowski, Andrzej Sikorowski, Grzegorz Turnau, Janusz Radek, Jacek Kotlarski, Michał Kaczmarek and Dżamble. Enjoy this assemble of the best polish artists.

The festival will be held from 19th to 22th October 2011. All information needed you can find on the website: www.studenckifestiwal.pl

Below a spot of 47th Student Song Festival in Krakow 2011:

We proudly invite you to visit the 3rd edition of Festival, which will be held this December, from the beginning till 12th of the month.

The most interesting thing about this event is that the whole plan of festival was divided to three parts called: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. First of them is the competition gathering the best Polish shows of the past season. The grand prize is the statuette of the Divine Comedian. Purgatorio is the part about project “Life in theatre”. This one includes many accompanying events. Paradiso is the section of the festival dedicated to young directing artists. Many of them have been already widely acclaimed!

I’m sure you’ll enjoy each of the festivals’ parts. The only thing you have to spare is your free time. Hopefully you have a lot of it.

At the festival we will have an opportunity to attend several shows: Jan Klata’s famous Wedding of Count Orgaz, Sobociński’s show of Hamlet based on Shakespeare’s creation and other plays such as Antelli, The Three Sisters, The Living Room or those based on Franz Kafka’s novels.

You can find all these information and the timetables on festival’s site: boskakomedia.pl

You probably recognize the green sign of Starbucks. If not from visiting the coffe point, you must have seen it in many tabloids. It is often shown on pictures which show all the famous people during their daily activities- on the walk with friends, chatting on the phone, walking to the gym… Always with the paper cup filled with aromatic coffee from Starbucks- the biggest chain of coffee points on the whole Earth!

Among the customers of Starbucks we can place Sarah Jessica Parker, Taylor Momsen, Madonna, Britney Spears, Nicole Richie, the Hilton sisters any many more people whom you can recognize from first pages of magazines. Why not to trust the sophisticated taste of celebrities and buy some special drinks from Starbucks?

The choice of delicacies is very wide: ice coffees, macchiatos, traditional black coffee or latte with different kinds of syrup: caramel, vanilla, coconut or chocolate ones. Not to mention teas, shakes or hot chocolate! Every of them is worth tasting! If you haven’t been to Starbucks yet, don’t waste your time sitting in front of computer and try the delicious coffee. We can guarantee that you will simply become the next big fan of this green logo!

The Starbucks Coffee is located in Galeria Krakowska, on the 1st floor. You can find it next to the sushi bar and Mc Donald’s, signed by the green, characteristic logo.

What is more, there is always a chance to meet somebody famous here as it is a place popular among many artists. After all, the owner of Nowa Prowincja is Grzegorz Turnau – well known polish composer, pianist, poet and singer – formerly associated with Piwnica pod Baranami and Piotr Skrzynecki. The cafe also organizes meetings with some writers and artists. To find out more about these, ask for the schedule at the bar.

Address: Bracka 3-5 (according to one of Turnau’s song ‘a street where it always rains…’)

Well – enought. It’s been counted that Krakow attracted over 8.1 million visitors in 2010. It’s by 800,000 more than a year ago, in 2009. Estimations by Malopolska Tourist Organization. Foreigners constituted roughly a quarter of the total number, i.e. 2.1 million, and – in contrast to Polish tourists – they mostly stayed overnight in the city.

Over 26 percent of them came from the UK while 11.2 percent were Germans, 9.1 percent Italians, 8.3 percent Frenchmen, and 6.3 percent Spaniards. In 2010 all visitors spent some 3.5 billion zloties during their stay in Krakow.

What are the numbers for 2011? We’ll try to find out soon. Stay in touch!

Jama Michalika is one of the most popular coffee places in Krakow and a real legend too. It was opened in 1895 and from ordinary café, it has quickly became a favourite place of artists meetings. What’s interesting, ‘jama’ means ‘cave’ in english. The place was called like this, cause… it had no windows then! Along with Piwnica Pod Baranami Jama Michalika is on of the most known place of independent cluture in Krakow.

Among the guests of Jama Michalika we can notice: painters, poets, writers and actors, such prominent names as – Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Malczewski, Mehoffer, Lucjan Rydel, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Stanisław Wyspiański, Hanka Bielicka, Jacek Fedorowicz, Jerzy Kryszak, Andrzej Zaorski, Marian Opania, Tadeusz Drozda, Stanisław Tym, Andrzej Rosiewicz. Also first polish cabaret – Zielony Balonik was conceived here.

Even Józef Piłsudski, hero of I World War, was a proud guest of this historical coffee bar! Recently, in Jama Michalika are often organised concerts, recitals and poetry evenings. It’s the place where you always likely to meet some classy celebrities! Not only guests make the place so special- most of the furniture is originally from XIXth century.

You can find Jama Michalika on Floriańska street. You will recognize it when you see the characteristic, green door.

Łódź Kaliska is one of the best clubs on Krakow’s nightlife map. If you’re into modern interiors, red lights and really good music, it’s the perfect place for you! Łódź Kaliska is furnished in a rather unusual way… You can find there red leather sofas as well as golden victorian chairs- surrounded by harsh, stony walls. Not to mention sophisticated paintings and sculptures of women! If you’re adventurous, you will be glad to see the toilets. They have transparent mirrors instead of ordinary walls. Really interesting- better see it yourself!

You also won’t be disappointed with the music. You can hear there different kinds of electronic music: drum’n'bass, house, electro or dubstep, mixed by best djs in the city.

Łódź Kaliska is located on famous Floriańska street. You will recognize it seeing the big black and white logo on the one of walls. It’s open late till the last customer.

What is so special about this place is the fact that it offers handmade caramels made right in front of the customers. The whole production is based on the 17th century recipes. The sweets come in many different shapes but also you can order a shape of your own choice. Not to mention a wide variety of flavours like lemon, apple, amaretto or even thyme.

Apart from just purchasing candies you can participate (for free) in a demonstration of sweets’ production which takes place everyday at 5 pm. After the show you can try some of these lovely (and still warm) candies. It really is a special treat whether you have or not children.

As always the best way to learn about this sweet paradise is to visit its magical place at Gołębia Street 3. The shop is open everyday from 11 am to 7 pm.

Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow was officially opened in may 2011. All the exhibitions there are well-made, up-to-date and very interesting for art lovers. You can get familiar with young, polish artists as well as the foreign and well known ones. MOCAK presents such artists as: AES+F, Tomasz Bajer, Tymek Borowski, Edward Dwurnik, Leopold Kessler, Krištof Kintera, Ragnar Kjartansson, Jarosław Kozłowski, Robert Kuśmirowski, Lars Laumann, Norman Leto, Piotr Lutyński, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Bartek Materka, Maria Michałowska, Józef Robakowski, Maria Stangret, Beat Streuli, Paweł Susid, Marian Warzecha, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Leto, Piotr Lutyński, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Bartek Materka, Maria Michałowska, Józef Robakowski, Maria Stangret, Beat Streuli, Paweł Susid, Marian Warzecha, Krzysztof Wodiczko.

Sometimes, things you see can really astonish you! For instance, the exhibition ‘Women of the World’…It was made to show problems of women existence and stereotypes, but it integrally consists of photos of men! For those who take an interest in fashion, travels, new cultures or history, there is always something interesting to see in MOCAK. This visit will be truly worth your every minute!

You can find the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow on Lipowa street. You can check their current exhibitions on their website: www.mocak.com.pl

Worth mentioninge detail is – the project ‘Creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow’ is co-financed by the European Union as part of the ‘European Funds for Małopolska ‘ 2007– 2013 Operational Programme for the Małopolska Region.

We can strongly recommend you the new coffee shop in Krakow, called Karma. They dish out various kinds of cakes, pastries and also some warm food to eat while you’re really hungry. All of them made of best, fresh ingredients and really tasty! What’s important, both dishes and coffee are 100% organic. If you’re into vegan cuisine, you can feel free to order drink with soy milk.

The undeniable asset of Karma is their staff- pleasant and always happy to help you with choosing your perfect lunch. You can use wi-fi inside and read some up-to-date magazines. All in the peaceful atmosphere and minimalistic place! Good news for those who have children- there are place for kids to play inside, so you can enjoy your coffee without constant looking at them.

Karma coffee bar is located on Krupnicza street. Right next to one another place worth visiting - Naturalny Sklepik. You can visit them till 7 p.m every day.

Kuchnie Świata is the shop which offers you products from all over the world. They have ingredients from almost every world’s cuisine in stock! Now, the secrets of japanese, mexican or thai delights are available for every customer, including – yes YOU. You can find there various kinds of snacks, noodles, seafood, candies and variety of tea, as well as many instant dishes. If you fancy trying silken tofu, yerba mate or maple syrup, you should definitely add Kuchnie Świata to the plan of your holidays in Krakow! Maybe you will even accept the challenge of creating your own, home-made sushi? Don’t be angry if you have no opportunities to visit Japan… Let the Japan visit YOU!

Kuchnie Świata shop is located in the famous Galeria Krakowska, located at Pawia Street – right next to Krakow’s main train station. It’s open till 9 p.m. You will find it on the floor -1, next to the pizzeria and some fast-food restaurants. Although the establishment seems to be rather small, it’s rich in many absorbing things to buy!

So, have you decided where to eat your lunch today? China or Argentina? Enjoy!

At The Cupcake Corner – they have various tastes and fillings- you can find there not only basic chocolate cupcakes, but also mint, strawberry, carrot, orange and banana ones. Not to mention those with nuts, creme, chocolate confetti or white chocolate… Yummy! Every day you can buy there different kinds of cakes. The hardest part of every visit seems to be to decide which of all the little wonders to choose. All of the cupcakes are perfect in every detail: colorful, sweet-smelling and the most important: really tasty!

If you are not into candies, don’t be disappointed. The Cupcake Corner Bakery offers you a wide choice of muffins- with bananas, spinach, tomatoes and cheese. They will satisfy your appetite perfectly. The cosy room and hot, aromatic coffee will make you willing to stay there as long as you can. Don’t be surprised, when you leave The Cupcake Corner Bakery holding the bag full of cupcakes. And one in the hand. And the six more… you have eaten during your visit! So if you have a sweet tooth, this place will be perfect for you!

You can find these cupcakes in two places: on the Michałowskiego Street and also on the Bracka Street. They are open the whole week from 8 a.m till 9 p.m. Only on Sundays, the open hour are from 9 a.m till 7 p.m.

If you think that vegetarian cuisine is mostly based on salad mixed with… salad, you will be surprised. VEGA offers you a wide choice of delicious soups, healthy meals and casseroles. The restaurant dishes out also traditional courses in meat-free way. For example, dumplings filled with cabbage and mushrooms, berries or popular „russian dumplings”- it seems that the hardest part of visit in VEGA is to choose the meal amongst all these delights!

People with a sweet tooth will be satisfied with many kinds of cakes, smoothies, pancakes or fruit cocktails to taste. The place is furnished in rather old-fashioned way, it makes cosy and pleasant atmosphere. In addition to nice music, it is great to have a relaxing time at. Sometimes in the afternoon it might be hard to find a table inside- groups of people decide to come to VEGA for lunch or dinner. Unfortunately, they always seem to be hungry in exactly the same thime as you. If you’re determined, you can always find a place to sit elsewhere. But if you’re not willing to wait or stand in the crowd, you should come to the restaurant a little bit later, so you wouldn’t be forced to wait in a line.

So, if you don’t want to eat yet another shish kebab again? Good decision. Go to one of VEGA locals and try various flavours of meat-free cuisine.

The main aim of the exhibition is to familiarize the visitors with the history of Krakow and centuries-old traditions of Krakow’s merchants, but also to show Krakow’s connections with other European countries in the Middle Ages. The title of the exhibition says it all: Following the traces of European identity of Krakow. And these traces lead, for example, to the connection with Hanseatic League or to the quite surprising contacts with Christianity far before the Baptism of Poland.

The entrance to the museum is on north side of Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) in the Main Square. The museum is opened daily from 10 am. to 8 pm (except for Tuesdays – to 4pm). The visitors (up to 30) can enter every 15 minutes.

The absolute must-see!

World Press Photo is the most important contest for all press photographers in the world. It is held every year and contains many categories, such as: photo of the year, art, nature, every day life, portraits, people of sports and the prize of teenager jury.

This year is the 14th time since the exhibition started being held in Krakow. The author of 2010 years winning photo was Jodi Bieber from Africa, who has won eight prizes in this contest already. She is the author of famous picture of woman from Afganistan named Bibi Aisha, which shows an horrifying view: her face, devastated after the revenge of her husband who had cut her nose and ears out.

This time, the biggest number of photos were taking part in contest- hard to believe, but it contains 108 059 art works! The number of photographers reached almost 6 000 and they are of 125 nationalities. For people who are interested in problems of modern world, or curious to see tropical spaces mixed with pictures of post-war ruins- the way is only one. To see this exhibition!

You will able to see World Press Photo exhibition in Bunkier Sztuki, located on Plac Szczepański. It will be available to visit from 7th to 28th October. If you willing to have more information, you can read about the Bunkier’s gallery. They have even more very interesting exhibitions to see- so stay in touch!

Masters of strings, as they call them – violinist Nigel Kennedy and guitarist Jarek Smietana are to appear on the same stage for this benefit gig. They will be joined by singer Karen Edwards, Wojciech Karolak on Hammond Organ, Paweł Tomaszewski on grand piano, Adam Czerwinski on drums, and others. The programme will include House of the Rising Sun and Purple Rain. Everyone who have seen Smietana or Kennedy in action knows what a great event that will be. DO not miss!

Tickets cost from 100-120zl. Venue – Philharmonic Hall, ul. Zwierzyniecka 1, September 3, 2011

A dash of ambiguity is added by New York Times, Guardian, BBC, CNN or Fox News. Those use Cracow and Krakow, slightly leaning towards the latter.

The situation has been standardised by … Google. It’s translator, as a stand-alone version or build-in function in services such as Gmail marks “Cracow” as a mistake.

In Poland “Cracow” still exists in many names. Such as Cracow Screen Festival. But mostly the letter K is in majority of uses.

Exposition ands September 30th and it’s being held in Jewish Centre of Culture – Meiselsa 17

Golden Hostel is located in renovated tenement house in the hot spot of Krakow. But unlike other places around this one is relatively quiet due to its entrance in inner courtyard.

Good prices and decent rooms are trademarks of this hostel. Additionally the staff helps with organizing airport pickups trips to Zakopane and other cultural and touristic events.

Musicians:

Tomasz Polak – clarinet, Bartek Staniak – violin, Jarek Wilkosz – double-bass, Krzysztof Kossowski – percussion, Marcin Wiercioch – accordion.

klezzmates concert in Galicia Museum

Tickets cost: 20 PLN, 12 PLN (concessions)

Be there! It’s a must be even if klezmer music if not your domain. Just go there and you’ll thank me later on.

How big is that? Huge! First of all – it belongs to Rupert Murdoch, through Yahoo which he owns. Secondly – it’s over 100 millions users. It had helped many performers to make it big – including Arctic Monkeys. Whereas many people are curious suggesting that polish online market is not easy – eBay and MSN both failed to establish their businesses in Poland, many are happy that we’ll have polish branch of MySpace.

Alongside presidential couple 94 others died – amongst them leaders of polish political scene, head of military, Ryszard Kaczorowski – polish president during communistic times and many others. They had planned to attend the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Katyn massacre.

To all who may not know that tragic events – Katyn is a small town in Russia in which Soviet secret police killed some 22,000 Polish prisoners of war – intelligentsia and officers of polish army taken prisoners. Direct order from Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria – ended their lives. There were no trials and most of them died from a single shot in the back of their head. During communistic times official propaganda shouted that Katyn’s massacre was done by Germans. Until this day Russian government in not admitting Russia being responsible for this tragic events.

Poland’s late president Lech Kaczynski and the First Lady are to be buried in Krakow in Wawel Cathedral alongside the nation’s most revered kings and generals. They will be laid in a crypt next to the tomb of Marshall Jozef Pilsudski. Marshall Pilsudski is a giant of modern Polish history figure. He is widely considered to have secured Poland’s independence in 1918, after more than a century of partition by Russia and Germany. He also is credited with defeating the Bolshevik Red Army.

More than 1 million people are expected to join the funeral so the city of Krakow is bound to be totally blocked. Amongst distinguished guests we expect top world’s politicians to join the funeral conduct – President Barack Obama, President Dmitry Medvedev, Chancellor Angela Merkel and many others.

Special guests of this year’s edition are going to be creators and actors of recent Hollywood blockbuster Ondine. We are happy to announce that Neil Jordan – the director, and main actors – Alicja Bachleda-Curuś and Colin Farrell will be present for the premiere. Also representative of Monolith Films confirmed their presence. OFF PLUS CAMERA is taking place in Krakow, between 16th and 15th April 2010.

Just in case you’ve been in outer space last couple of decades – Kurosawa was one of the most known Japanese directors. His films were translated and screened in almost every country. Also he received Oscar prize in 1951. His famous films are “Rashomon” and “Seven Samurais”.

On Saturday 20th of March 2010 everyone is invited to join a tour of Krakow in Oscar Schindler’s footsteps. Later on a lecture by Dr Egyta Gawron of Jagiellonian University – Oscar Schindler: Unknown History.

Jakdojade.pl shows connections from any point to another. You can determine starting point and destination – auto fill function helps if you don’t remember exact name of the street. Selecting ‘don’t walk’ is self explanatory. Another function is ‘im in a hurry’ showing the fastest possible connection. After your route is shown you have easy access to the timetables and you get approximate time of your journey.

This site is available in English under http://krakow.jakdojade.pl/?locale=en – so it’s not necessary to speak polish (would be a tough requirement to fulfill ). Also if you’re planing to visit another cities of Poland you can still use Jakdojade.pl – just click change city and you get maps of Warszawa, Poznan, Szczecin, Wroclaw and Łódź – soon to be added more cities. Enjoy.

Enjoy.

Instead of all of this Stajnia is a place where student’s culture blooms, popular music club and you can enjoy there everything – from salsa and tango lessons to ordinary drink at the end of the working week. Needless to mention that there is decent dancing floor and the music is always hot hot hot, quite often latino. Additional garden is run with the first day of warm weather. Summer beer is a delight in this enviroment. But even indoors almost 150 people can easily enjoy they night out. Plus, prices are decent and staff helpful. One disadvantage is shortage of toilets – just 2 of them. But – every thing else is top quality. And more – it’s in the heart of Kazimierz – formerly Jewish quarter.

Meanwhile – have a look at our flights to Krakow planner.

Meanwhile it is secured for evidence of how it was dismantled and what kinds of tools were used in the process, as well as biological data such as hair or blood samples, which could be used as evidence against the suspects.

The five accused men had been caught with the help of informants, after a reward of 100,000 złoty was offered by the museum. The police revealed that the reward will be split 60/40 between two people, who will remain anonymous.

The museum is still seeking funding to finance general renovations as well as an increase in security.

Though the sign has been returned, the case of its theft is far from closed, reminded police spokesman Inspector Dariusz Nowak. He said that this morning, the Krakow prosecutor filed for a European Arrest Warrant for a Swedish citizen, Anders Hoegstroem, who they believe is behind the theft’s commission. We will keep you informed.