Cracow is an agglomeration wrapped in legend, where time stops, and a place where every moment transforms into a moment of European history. For centuries Cracow was the capital city of the great Poland, the city of all kings, drawing many scholars and artists from the whole world. It is their wit and creativity we should thank for Krakow’s rich legacy of unique historical relics, which reflect the most beautiful trends in European culture. The capital of Poland until the end of the 16th century, Cracow has been superseded by Warsaw, and is now the second largest agglomeration in the country, but is from time to time still today referred to as Poland’s cultural capital. Cracow is well known for being the university city of the country. There are today around a hundred thousand students staying in Krakow every year. The largely unspoilt Downtown has now been named a World Heritage Site. Laid out in 1257, the Rynek Glowny Main Market Square is one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe – the centrepiece of a town plan which was, and remains, a remarkable piece of town planning. The grid-like shape of streets surrounded by a tree-lined pedestrian avenue once the limit of the city walls makes it easy even today to walk around the city. To the south, and connected to the Market Square by the long, straight Grodzka street, lies Wawel Castle, the seat of Polish kings from the eleventh to the early seventeenth century.