Needing a relaxed morning in Split we slept in before leaving the guesthouse at 10.30am. We did find some live Aussie rules on the tv before we left. Very random. We stored our packs at the hostel next door & made our way to the bus station. We had found out our kiwi friend Chris had arrived in Split, so met him on the way to the station. Our bus ride to Poland leaves at 5.30pm this afternoon but there is no real info on the tickets, & I just wanted to confirm everything. We asked at the info counter of the bus stop but they had never heard of them. We consulted a few other bus companies & they had no idea either. Things weren't looking good. We decided to sit & have breaky with Chris but my mind was a million miles away trying to decide what to do. After a feed we said our goodbyes again & Jac & I headed to the tourist info centre. They were not much help. I decided to ring the number of the Polish bus company & thankfully they spoke English, well kind of. I managed to find out that the bus left from the main station, what colour it was, what was written on the side etc. So we were all sorted. Now satisfied that we were all ok we headed through the old town & up to the park. We grabbed a few beers & sat in the shade on the grass filling in time. At 4pm we walked up to Frogland. This was a place that displayed taxidermic frogs in human scenarios. It was created by a millionaire who had no family & spent his time working on the frogs. Bit weird but it was very clever. From law courts to hospitals, he had it all covered. After the amphibinarian display we headed back to the hostel to grab the packs & make our way to the bus station in the hope we would be taken to Poland. Thankfully the bus did arrive & we boarded to be given tiny seats. We were in for a long night. We ended up swapping seats but it didn't make much difference as the bus was packed & everyone put their seats back. To make things worse an old couple got on a few stops into the trip & sat behind us. He had the worst breath & we would be lucky to get whiffs of that all trip. We slept at various stages but it was very broken. Seemed to finally drift off when we'd pull over for a break. Eventually light started to break & we had survived the night. The route took us from Croatia through Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic & finally into Poland. 5 countries which is now our record. We arrived at Bilsko Biala at 1pm meaning in total 19 hours on a bus. But our travels were not over yet as we still had to get to our destination of Krakow, some 120 odd k's away. We headed to the bus station where everything was closed but we deciphered the schedules & worked out that at 1.50pm there would be a bus, well hopefully anyway. Thankfully it turned out to be true, even though it was just a local bus. We boarded & 2 hours later arrived in Krakow. So in all by the time we reached our hostel it was 22 hours of travel. We checked in to lovely accommodation & showered the travel away. We relaxed for a few hours to let the heat of the day disappear then headed back out for a traditional Polish feed. During these travels we have been relying on trip advisor to direct us to cheap top rated restaurants & it has not really steered us wrong. Makes a big difference to the overall experience. So we headed to a restaurant in the north of the old town. It was like a little Polish country hut with furs as padding on wooden benches. For an entre we started off with garlic fried bread. For mains I had pork schnitzel while Jac went with chicken breast. These were accompanied by piles of potatoes & salad. We finished by sharing hot apple crumble & washed it all down with half litre raspberry flavored beers. The best feed in a long time. And it came to all of €12. That's just insane. A huge awesome feed for little money. We're going to love Poland. Not only that but all the Polski's we have met here have been lovely & smiley & friendly. Makes a nice change from the abrupt arrogant Croatians. Bulging at the seems we headed back in to the old town & stopped at the town square. This is probably the largest square we have seen & dare I say it the most beautiful. Surrounding the outside are cafes which had various forms of live music emanating from them as people dined on the square. Well cared for & lovely looking horses, paired up in the same skin colours, formed an orderly que as their handlers waited to give tourists a carriage ride through the city centre. Big old beautiful buildings were in every direction usually with a swarm of swallows chasing each other in circles. Flower stalls were preparing fresh cut flowers as one or two were helped by cats. And people were everywhere, out enjoying the warm summer evening. The socialism of the city was everywhere, something the Europeans seem to do like no others. This place was absolutely buzzing. We sat people watching beside a fountain. We joined crowds enjoying the sounds of various bands & performers. We walked hand in hand just loving the ambience. But the last 24 hours of travel had taken their toll. Making a slow beeline for home we wandered past the castle & a fire breathing dragon (it's ok though it was only a statue, cause dragons aren't real anymore). Along the river & finally we were back home. It has been a long trip to get here but Krakow is going to be worth it. Nice to know we have 4 days to experience all it has to offer.