Well, the hiking never got discernibly better than that pilgrimage to Marianska Hora. No, that’s unfair – the hiking trails in the Tartra mountains in Poland and Slovakia are excellent, it’s just that I was still shaking off that cold from Vienna and when it wasn’t actually raining, the rain clouds were circling ominously above me. So after about five days of trying to convince myself that it wasn’t really that bad, I spat the dummy and moved on to Krakow. Like Prague, Krakow was never bombed during WWII, so the old town still has that fairy-tale charm that tourists like me find so irresistible. Sure, all the other European cities have restored their historic buildings and look very impressive (I was certainly ready to emigrate to Vienna when I was there) but Krakow shows you what the old Europe really looked like. For example St Stephen’s in Vienna has a big old spire at the front, but St Mary’s in Krakow not only has that spire, but about ten little spire-lets erupting around it. Even when the facade of buildings in Krakow is falling off, it has much more detail than the maybe 30-year-old facades in Vienna. Also, beer in Krakow is much cheaper than in Vienna. It’s got everything going for it!