The Polish just know about one pope: Il Papa, Giovanni-Paolo II. “Who is Ratzinger?” they ask, and what does this guy want in the Vatican? Pope Johannes-Paul the Second is immortal, great and – above all – Polish!

Having arrived in Krakow I admire the Old Town („Stare Miasto“) and an old car of the brand “Lancia” with Italian number plates. “This guy has guts”, I think. “Parking right on the Old Town Square („Rynek Glowny“) – quite daring!“ But then again I know that Italian drivers are brave-hearted, so it should not surprise me too much.
Being still some 50 metres away, I wonder how the Italian had bypassed the “no entry” signs and the policeman. Even with my off-road car I had not managed to go that close to the centre of the Old.
 
Getting closer, the enlightenment hits me: This is not a car, this is a “Papa Mobile” – the Pope's ride! A tablet says that Giovanni Paolo had been sitting in this car (at least once), and this of course is reason enough to park the scrap heap with bullet proof windows on the biggest medieval square (200m x 200m) in Europe.

I wonder if my Panmundo-Toyota will ever make it that far?

However, not only Krakow is a beautiful medieval town. On the last 2000km many cities could be considered as “medieval” and were to be marvelled at. Besides Krakow, I have spent some days in Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), and Vilnius (Lithuania) each. Most of all, I liked Tallinn – the Old Town  there is not as vast as Vilnius', but it has a very special charm. Food is great there – they cook using original medieval recipes and it tastes yummy and greasy – just about right, to be accompanied with a hearty French red wine. A great plus is that you are allowed to thow the bones of your steak behind you! (well, take care, that’s not necessarily true in all restaurants…)

In Riga, I had cooked a Swiss dinner for three couchsurfers, and in Vilnius I had to drink Vodka with lemons dipped in coffee and sugar together with some students. Fun, I tell you! Other than this, there were many opportunities to take a picture and not many adventures to write about. What did I expect? It’s Europe, stupid.