This weekly wrap-up covers our journey from July 28 to August 3. We arrived in Lviv, Ukraine, on Sunday morning after taking a bus from Zdiar to Krakow the night before, then an overnight bus from Krakow to Lviv. (We spent five hours at the Poland-Ukraine border. Yikes!) We left Lviv on Wednesday (only two hours at the border this time–woohoo!) and spent the rest of the week in Krakow.
Favorite thing we ate: In Lviv, we visited Meat & Justice, an interestingly themed restaurant [above right photo]. We ordered a meat platter to share [above left] and it was the first time on this entire trip that we’ve taken home leftovers. It was also Jonathan’s favorite meal of the week. Megan absolutely loves potato pancakes, and the ones she had at Kuchnia u Doroty during our food tour in Krakow did not disappoint. (Funny story: After we backpacked through Europe in 2013, I bought a box of potato pancake mix. We had to throw it out when we left for this trip because I had never opened it. Oops.)
Favorite thing we drank: We shared a “smoking kiss coffee” at Gas Lamp in Lviv [pictured above]. We still don’t really know what it was, but it was good–Megan’s favorite drink of the week, in fact! Jonathan is not normally a vodka drinker, but he really liked the honey vodka he tried during our food tour in Krakow.
Favorite thing we did: On Saturday, we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a popular tourist attraction located about a 30-minute train ride from Krakow. The guided tour takes 2-3 hours; on the way, we saw two underground “lakes” saturated with salt [first lake pictured above left]. This tour was Jonathan’s favorite activity of the week. Megan enjoyed exploring Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter in Krakow known for its nightlife and cafes [including sharing a pot of Israeli coffee at Chedar, pictured above right].
Biggest splurge: Our Krakow food tour with Urban Adventures cost about $66/person. It included beer, pub snacks (bread and smoked cheese), soup, pierogi (so many pierogis!), potato pancakes, kompot, cabbage rolls, vodka and walnut cake, so … we definitely got our money’s worth! But it was still a splurge considering our daily budget of $75/person.
Best deal: Our free walking tour guide told us Baczewski [pictured above] was the place to go for breakfast and warned us to get there early. When we arrived, there was already a line stretching across the street, at which point we realized it was a brunch buffet including champagne and coffee (and vodka?) … for 125 UAH. That’s only $6 USD! We had to wait in line for an hour and a half, but we made it in (they only seat people for brunch until 10:45, and we got to the front at 10:30) and definitely didn’t need to eat until dinner.
What we’re reading: Jonathan read Those People by Louise Candlish and is listening to Dark Money by Jane Mayer. In the spirit of setting-based reading, Megan read Mother Country by Irina Reyn in Ukraine, listened to The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris on the bus ride to Poland, and read A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka in Krakow.
Total walking distance: 42.31 miles (we hit our 5-mile goal every day in Krakow, including 10 miles the day we visited Wieliczka!)
Up next: Exploring more of Poland.
Lviv is -the- city to enjoy coffee, it has its own coffee culture, if you will. So many different interesting coffee shops! Gasova Lampa is such an awesome place with all their lab glassware. Sometimes their waiters present a dish like a chemistry experiment 🙂
And, yes, Baczewski is the best deal, worth the wait. Speaking of wait, it’s really frustrating to wait 5 hours to pass the border ;( My guess if because of the new political forces and the strong anti-contraband movement.
I hope this wait did not spoil your trip to Lviv and I am so glad you visited Ukraine!!
The coffee was one of our favorite parts of Lviv! I wish we had stayed for weeks just because I wanted to eat breakfast and drink coffee at every café. 😉 And the border crossing was long but not totally unexpected; I think I actually got my deepest sleep of the entire night while waiting at the border, so there was a silver lining. 😉 We would love to visit other parts of Ukraine one day, especially Kyiv, so hopefully we’ll be back!