Pettah Go Early

Long before the crowds and chaos, there is a moment of calm. A stillness. An unexpected beauty.

My tuk tuk comes to an abrupt stop outside the Jami-Ul-Afar Mosque in Colombo’s Pettah district. It’s early on a Sunday morning and I am here to take some photos of this colourful area before it all gets too much.

The air is heavy following a downpour overnight. The clouds are thick and grey and puddles linger at the side of the road. I step over one to reach the relative safety of the pavement across from the ‘Red Mosque’, a jewel in Colombo’s architectural crown.

The road between me and the mosque is quiet. A few locals pass by and I’m conscious of their glancing looks as I pace up and down, trying to find my amateur photographer’s best angle to show off the beauty of the tiled building before me.

The ‘Red Mosque’. Jami-Ul-Afar, Colombo

While I do so, a small crowd approaches the mosque and I realise it’s a wedding photo shoot. I hang back and muster the confidence to take a photo of the happy couple, stood outside the entrance. I watch on with no real purpose and then, after a short while, find the nerve to attempt a shot of the pair holding hands, through the window of a passing tuk tuk. I somehow manage it first time and I’m quietly thrilled that my fairly limited technical ability with a camera pays off.

I walk on and head to explore the surrounding streets. Down 2nd Cross Street it is still quiet, but things are beginning to stir as market vendors set up their stalls for the day. I have a clear view of the jumble of signs fighting for attention from the buildings lining the street, advertising everything from clothing, to watches, to baby items.

The happy couple through a tuk tuk

King George VI red postbox, Pettah.

I’m relieved I came early and have the bandwidth to take it all in without the crowds. This time of day is maybe my favourite for getting out and walking. Right on the cusp of things starting to happen and a sense of possibility and excitement for the day ahead. A literal awakening of the day.

At an intersection I spot a red King George post box and think briefly of home. As I turn around, I see yet another newlywed couple having their photos taken right in the middle of the street. I hold back to give them space and continue on along Prince Street.

Love amongst the chaos, Pettah. Colombo.

Market porter on the move. Pettah Market.

Market porters now pass with increasing regularity, pushing goods on large trolleys and dodging the big puddles. A Chinese tour group of photographers walks by and says hello as I duck into the small passageways off the main thoroughfare, marvelling at the vivid red signs and retro typography.

Then I notice my smugness beginning to fade. I’ve made the rookie error of not checking my camera battery before setting off.

I loop back towards the mosque via 1st Cross Street. An old lady walks ahead of me, framed by towering yellow cranes at the nearby port. I’d almost forgotten I was by the sea, but being out at this time has given me the space to observe and to settle back into myself.

My camera battery finally dies and I hail a tuk tuk. It winds its way through the ever-busier streets as traffic begins to build and another day properly starts.

The smugness, briefly lost, has returned.

The towering yellow cranes of the port

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My favourite place in Kraków

I am lucky enough to have visited Kraków many times now. My wife is Polish and came to university here and whilst her family are not from the city, it’s still not a million miles away and is regularly a port of call for when we visit.

Kraków is, of course, a well-trodden destination on the European city break path. Immediately obvious when walking around the old town with the array of nationalities and different languages ringing in the air. The English stag dos singing England songs, whilst ironically choosing to drink in an ‘Irish’ bar. Italian families passing, where you catch the inevitable topic of conversation being about eating. The small group of elderly Spanish decked out in walking gear, looking unfazed by the 30 degree heat, all whilst wearing a down jacket from Decathlon.

Adam Mickiewicz statue in Rynek Głowny

Kraków has a lot to offer. Much is known and written about its culture. It has one of the world’s oldest universities (Jagielllonia), has been home to numerous Nobel laureates, is full of multiple world class museums and collections of fine arts. It has a castle. The old town square is allegedly the largest open public space in Europe, surrounded by impressive renaissance architecture, such as the Cloth Hall, St Mary’s Basilica and the Town Hall tower. The list goes on…

But it’s not these things that I enjoy the most in Kraków. Nor is it Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter, with its excellent restaurants & bars and patchwork of historical buildings. 

St. Mary’s Basilica

My favourite place in Kraków is Stary Kleparz, an old market. To the north of the old town and a few minutes walk from the main train station. The market is set in a square and is an outdoor covered market with everything you really could wish for, in terms of day-to-day living.

Leading into the square, you’re greeted by street vendors selling flowers, by the side of the road, for a very good price and local producers selling whatever fruit is in season from baskets. My most recent visit meant that this was local cherries, raspberries, blueberries, bilberries and strawberries. All are of exceptional quality with the cherries and bilberries in particular being hard to beat anywhere. 

Queuing for fruit & veg, Stary Kleparz

Stepping inside the covered market, a fairly modern collection of structures, you follow the narrow passageways around the network of stalls. There’s small brick structures with glazed frontages which essentially act as mini shops lining the route, with a more open, outdoor covered market type set up in the middle. This is where the majority of the fruit and veg vendors can be found.

Walking around is both nostalgic and new. There’s a stall selling discounted packets of confectionery items, with handwritten price labels shoved alongside the products. A vendor selling detergent “from Germany” (a hallmark of quality!?) and sellers with piles of kitchenware strewn across their stall, with all the utensils needed to make the perfect pierogi at home. Of course, the real stars of the show are the food vendors. The fruit and veg stalls with mountains of ridiculously large brocolli and cabbage. Clusters of asparagus of many varieties. Massive, ripe, nobbly tomatoes that actually have some flavour and don’t resemble biting into a Red Nose at Comic Relief (not that I have…). A vendor that only sells kiełbasa. Fishmongers. Butchers. A cheese seller. You name it, it’s here!

A confectionery stall that reminded me very much of the old school indoor markets at home

It reminds me in parts of traipsing around Rotherham or Castle markets, as a child. The sense of excitement, mixed with a bit of apprehension at the ensuing organised chaos.

Perhaps the best thing about Stary Kleparz, however is the ‘new’. This isn’t just a place to be nostalgic over. It is a place of today and of tomorrow. Modern, trendy vendors sit alongside the stall your grandma might go to for some tea bags. There’s multiple natural wine shops and bars. Greek delis. A Spanish deli. A focacceria, selling very good sandwiches. A couple of Italian delis and an oyster bar, to name but a few. 

Focaccia sandwiches from Fokarnia

I think it’s this mix of vendors. All alongside each other. All thriving and all attracting different demographics that make this such a great place to visit. There’s no pretentiousness whatsoever. It’s purely a marketplace for quality sellers. All in it together.

Sit under a vine covered terrace, eating an oyster whilst enjoying a skin contact orange wine from a small batch vineyard one minute, the next, be haggling over the price of a kilo of carrots. 

Wine on the vine covered terrace of Kawa i Wino

There are some similar examples in the UK. Borough Market being an obvious one. But it is such a tourist trap that if you can cope with the cattle-like conditions of navigating around, you’re then ripped off with eye-watering  prices for often mediocre products. It’s the perfect example of a market being gentrified and not, what a market should be – egalitarian and convivial. Stary Kleparz, for now at least, is both and it seems to be striking the balance perfectly well. 

It’s a good analogy really for the best bits of modern Poland. Forward looking with a renewed confidence, all whilst having a close tie to tradition. Aside from the obvious links I now have with this country, it’s maybe the reason why I most enjoy spending time here and why Stary Kleparz is my top tip to anyone visiting Kraków and wishing to get a ‘proper’ experience.