Between highlander cheese and churros. The fair is not so colorful

The Krakow Christmas market cannot be denied its fame. For years, it has been regularly included on lists of the best Christmas attractions in Europe and around the world. According to CNN, it can compete with trade fairs in New York, Vienna and Berlin. This year, a special honor was given to the Christmas tree on the Main Square in Krakow – Time Out magazine hailed it as the most beautiful in the world.

SEE ALSO: The most beautiful Christmas markets 2024. Two Polish cities on the list

So the expectations are high. According to the guests we met at the fair, the event did not live up to their expectations.

– We were very excited to see the fair in Krakow. We thought it would look a little different, maybe more festive. Maybe it's because there is no snow, but overall we probably won't come back – say a group of French people who came to Krakow for work. They visited the market in their free time, hoping to buy Christmas souvenirs. So far, only one of them has chosen a richly decorated bauble.

Students who came to the fair because their classes at the university were canceled were even more critical of the event. – There's nothing here for a student's budget, maybe even for a Polish student in general – Monika laughs. Her friend points out that “the fair is nice to come and look at,” but they don't plan to buy anything.

What can you buy on the Krakow market? In addition to Christmas decorations and souvenirs (such as a pocket watch with the inscription “Kraków” on the cover, available at the “Authentic Products from Nepal” booth), sellers offer, among others, winter clothing, jewelry, a horseshoe with the buyer's name, Bolesławiec pottery, wooden kitchen and decorative accessories candles. Gastronomy is still going strong – the aroma of barbecue and mulled wine hangs over the entire square.

Although there are several dozen food stands, the fair menu is not particularly varied. The proposals are repeated, some exhibitors have two or more stands. In this way, at the Krakow fair we will find five stands with mulled wine, four with dumplings, three with slices of bread with lard, soups and chocolate-covered fruit, and two with pancakes and churros. There are as many as five grill points, as well as those offering highlander cheeses.

The prices of dishes at the Krakow fair also have a bad reputation. Some guests are outraged when they see that for a slice of bread with lard you have to pay PLN 20 without toppings and even PLN 53 for the version with toppings, a portion of pasta costs from PLN 45 to 50, and dumplings – from 25 (5 pieces) to 52 (12 pieces). ). Depending on the stand, mulled wine costs from PLN 18 for 200 ml to PLN 45 for 400 ml. Prices at the stand specializing in soups range from PLN 15 (solo red borscht) to PLN 35 (bigos and goulash). An unadorned grilled highland cheese costs eight zlotys, and one with Black Forest ham and cranberries or honey costs PLN 13. However, it is not oscypek – this name, as the Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection reminds us, is reserved for “cheese with specific physical and chemical parameters made from sheep's milk or with the addition of cow's milk (not more than 40%), produced seasonally, using traditional methods, coming from precisely defined areas.

Chocolate-covered fruit costs PLN 25 per portion.

On the occasion of declaring the local Christmas tree the most beautiful in the world, the Krakow Merchants' Congregation proudly recalled that “it has been supporting the Christmas Fair for years.” So we asked her how much it costs exhibitors to rent a stand and whether the repeatability of the offer is a strategic move or the result of a lack of applications. We also asked about the high prices of food, the costs of renting a stand by exhibitors and details of settling the event with the city.

In response, its president Wiesław Jopek said that KKK organizes the fair on the basis of an agreement concluded with the city hall, and the organization and contracting of exhibitors' stands is carried out on behalf of the Congregation by Artim, a company specializing in fair and exhibition activities. “Kraków fairs regularly win international popularity rankings, attract tourists to the city, which means revenues for the budgets of Krakow enterprises and residents working in tourism-related industries. The trade fair assortment includes products most frequently purchased by customers and guests of this type of events in Poland and Europe,” we read in response sent to our editorial office.

Jopek also informed that the KKK has no influence on the prices of products set by individual sellers, and the costs incurred by the Congregation for organizing the event are covered by commercial confidentiality.

We asked the Artim event company, which has been organizing the Krakow fair for years, with similar questions and we are waiting for an answer. In 2023, President Artim told us that he does not provide information about the event.

The quality of the dishes served, according to some visitors, also leaves much to be desired. A pair of tiktokers nicknamed GastroBesties checked some of the proposals. They assessed that grilled cheeses are worse than a year ago – “total rubber, it's hard to bite at all”, and the garlic soup is “just a scam” and tastes like instant broth.

They were also disappointed by the “old Polish pajda” with fried onion, sausage and pickled cucumber, costing almost PLN 50. However, they rated one of the dumpling stalls positively – even though the minimum portion there is five pieces and one dumpling costs five zlotys, tiktokers said that the dumplings are large enough to eat such an amount.

The Epic Aura marketing agency conducted another “test” – is it possible to buy something at the Krakow fair for just PLN 10? It turned out that yes. A budget shopping list may include half a cup of mulled wine (PLN 10), two pickled cucumbers and a roll (PLN 10), one dumpling (price not given), two portions of grated cheese (price not given here either), grilled cheese with cranberries ( PLN 9), winter tea (PLN 10) or a lollipop. The latter is a matter of the seller's whim, because, as we learn from the recording, the sweet normally costs PLN 12.

Not only the sweets stand supports the idea of ​​a “Krakow market”. – Instead of PLN 5, I paid PLN 2.50 for ketchup, PLN 7.50 for fries, we got 10 PLN – reports the heroine of the film.

If we were to rely only on official announcements, the Christmas Market is the pride of Krakow. “Merchants offer a wide range of Christmas gifts and decorations, such as: hand-painted baubles, Christmas tree decorations, Christmas decorations, candles, hand-embroidered bedspreads, tablecloths and napkins, nativity scenes, ceramic products, wood and wool products, jewelry, souvenirs from Krakow, postcards, calendars, wooden toys, wooden rolling pins, leather products, regional sheepskins forge, where blacksmithing shows will be held. There you can also buy a horseshoe with your name. Every year, exhibitors surprise customers with the diversity of their products,” we read on the city hall's website.

The city hall also likes to remind us about the grand scale with which the market square was decorated: there were over 600 Christmas trees there. Lamps emitting warm white light were hung. There was also a wooden nativity scene at the fair, made by sculptor and folk artist Józef Lasik from Stryszawa.