Ninety seconds on Kraków Barbican
Climbing to the upper walkways of this round brick bastion outside the Florian Gate puts you inside one of only three Gothic barbicans in Europe still in their original form.
The Barbican is a round brick bastion outside the Florian Gate, on the north side of the Old Town, with seven turrets on its roof. Barbican is the old word for an outer bastion fitted with arrow slits, and this one carries 130 of them across four storeys.
It went up in 1498 and 1499 against the threat of invasion by Wallachians, Turks and Tatars, on the one stretch of the walls with no natural water barrier. Inside is an open drum, with an exhibition on the city's medieval and early modern defences.
From the upper walkways you look across to the Florian Gate, the surviving stretch of wall and the Planty, the park ring round the Old Town. The moat at your back is dry now. The Barbican also marks the start of the Royal Route, the way to Wawel Castle.
Ticketed jointly with the City Defence Walls, entry to the Barbican is sold at the machine and the ticket office inside it, at the walls and at the Visitor Centre. Do not look for a ticket window at the Florian Gate itself: the arch is free to walk through, but the wall gallery is not.
Start inside the Barbican and climb through the drum, past the exhibition, to the upper walkways.
Then cross to the City Defence Walls and walk the gallery. Finish both before you step out for good, because the ticket does not let you back in once you have left the two sites. Afterwards, walk the path beside the dry moat for the brickwork and turrets from outside.
You do not need a guide: the exhibition and the walkways make sense on your own. The museum allows external guides, and its own guided tour of both sites lasts about an hour.
Book that tour at least four days ahead. The guide waits only 15 minutes past the time printed on your ticket, so be at the start early.
Leave a large rucksack at your hotel: bags over 30 litres are not allowed in, and there is no cloakroom. There are no toilets inside either, and no eating, drinking or vaping.
For photographs of the brick, save the walk along the moat path for late afternoon or evening.
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