Shopping in Kraków
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Hala Targowa
This outdoor flea market is pretty much the opposite of the Galeria Krakowska. You’ll find lots of old books with yellowed pages, postcards depicting the Kraków of yesteryear, paintings and icons, and loads of other trash and treasure. Vendors set up here daily but Sunday before noon is best.
reviewed
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Krakowski Kredens
If you love żurek like we love żurek, you'll want to take some home. Peek inside the 'Kraków cupboard' and you'll find a jar of this traditional sour soup, as well as loads of edible souvenirs, such as marinated mushrooms, herb honey, spicy mustards and gooseberry preserves.
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Plac Nowy
Sometimes called the Jewish Market, this flea market is best on Saturday and Sunday mornings, when it's crammed with stalls selling everything from clothing to comic books. On other days, you'll find scattered tables with fresh produce, antiques, and Judaism- and communism-related souvenirs.
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Salon Antyków Pasja
This well-established antique salon is like a mini museum; its three rooms are stuffed with clocks, maps, paintings, lamps, sculptures and furniture. Come to think of it, it's better than a museum, because if you stumble across something you really like you can take it home.
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Starmach Gallery
Starmach is among the city's most prestigious galleries of contemporary painting and sculpture, exhibiting both emerging and established Polish artists. The striking modern gallery is housed in the former Jewish Zucher prayer house, a 19th-century neo-Gothic brick beauty.
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Galeria Plakatu
Poland has always excelled in the under-appreciated art of the poster. This little gallery shows off the best of the art form, with many contemporary posters promoting exhibits and events, as well as old communist propaganda posters, both originals and reproductions.
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Massolit Books & Café
You could spend the entire afternoon browsing your way through the city's best English-language bookstore. This multiroom treasure trove sells new and secondhand fiction and nonfiction, with an excellent selection of Polish history and literature in translation.
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Labirynt
Gallery owner Leszek Żebrowski works hard to develop the Krakovian art scene and to promote local artists, often organising exhibits around Poland and Europe. At his crowded, cluttered home base, you can see work by up-and- coming and well-established artists.
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Stary Kleparz
The city's most atmospheric and historic place to shop for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers is this sprawling covered market, which dates back to the 12th century. You'll also find meats, cheeses, spices and bread, as well as clothes and other necessities.
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My Gallery
This one little room has such an eclectic assortment you could do all your souvenir shopping here. Choose from dramatic, nature-inspired jewellery, handmade scarves and sweaters, and stained-glass sun catchers, as well as the odd pair of soft slippers.
reviewed
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Flea Markets
For everything from rust to diamonds check out the two weekend flea markets in Kazimierz. The one on Saturday morning is held in Plac Nowy and the one on Sunday in the Hala Targowa (Market Hall) on ul Grzegórzecka northeast of the Jewish quarter.
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Jan Fejkiel Gallery
Jan Fejkiel was trained as an art historian, but his gallery specialises in contemporary prints and drawings, with a focus on emerging artists. This place claims the country's largest stock of contemporary graphic art, so he's not messing around.
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Galeria Centrum
Men's and women's fashions fill the upper floors of this central department store, while downstairs you'll find a perfumery and cosmetics section. A range of oddments such as scented candles are here too, and women's shoes lurk in the basement.
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Empik
Almost always packed, this multifloor bookstore has an excellent selection of newspapers and magazines on the ground floor, and you'll find foreign-language literature upstairs. It comes complete with a cafe, as any good mega-bookstore should.
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Moje Marzenia
You might think you are dreaming too, ladies. Natural materials and subtly sexy styles characterise the designs that are on display at this tiny boutique. Linen dresses, pants and shirts, as well as handmade jewellery and fabulous sunhats.
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Old Town
Kraków's Old Town has a vast array of shops, selling everything from tacky T-shirts to exquisite crystal glassware, and all within a short walk from the Main Market square. Ul Grodzka and ul Floriańska are good places to start looking.
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Galeria Krakowska
In case there was any question about Poland transitioning to capitalism, here’s your answer. The massive mall near the train station contains 270 stores; of interest to world-weary travellers are the food court and American bookstore.
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Grappa.pl
If you're going to play the game, you'll need the kit. This affable and helpful shop stocks everything you'll need to start hiking, trekking or climbing. We can't explain the hours of operation - perhaps a four-minute snooze button.
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Produkty Benedyktyńskie
The Benedictine monks are nothing if not industrious. Here you can buy cheese, wine, cookies, honey…all the goodies that are produced by the holy men up the river in Tyniec, as well as some products from monasteries further afield.
reviewed
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Andrzej Mleczko Gallery
Andrzej Mleczko is a popular political satirist. You might think political cartoons are language dependent but Mleczko argues that 'the funniest cartoon is still a man, a pavement and a banana peel'. Everyone can understand that.
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Mikołajczyki Amber
Branch of a chain selling ‘Baltic gold’, Poland’s most treasured semiprecious material. Unlike some amber shops, Mikołajczyki Amber includes a certificate of quality with each purchase.
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Space Gallery
Paintings, drawings and sculptures by contemporary Polish artists, including graduates of Kraków's Academy of Fine Arts, are on sale at this absorbing gallery, along with many 19th- and 20th-century works.
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Alhena
This small shop sells a range of glassware from the famous Krosno factory. Most of the product line is cut glass in various colours, but there is also traditional porcelain and more contemporary glassware.
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Galeria Skarbiec
Colourful and contemporary jewellery fills the window of this attractive store, with necklaces, brooches, rings and earrings made with semiprecious stones. And not only amber (though there's that, too).
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Punkt
Local designers Maja and Monika show off their funky women's fashions at their new store in the Old Town. Polish design does not get better than this - contemporary and creative, but still very classy.
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