Polish city's cafe culture makes a comeback.(Krakow)

Byline: Carol Pucci

KRAKOW, Poland _ It was 8 a.m. and snowing when I showed up in the lobby of the 12-room Globtroter inn on the edge of Krakow's medieval town center.

I'd been up most of the night after my flight from Paris was delayed by weather. Crawling into bed was what I had in mind, but I'd come to spend a few days exploring Krakow's burgeoning coffeehouse culture, and the cold weather and lack of sleep seemed like good reasons to get started.

Krakow has 300 cafes, bars and restaurants, and its many coffeehouses "are one of its biggest pluses," Peter Typa, the Globtroter's desk clerk, told me when I asked him for a few recommendations. "People come from Warsaw to drink coffee. Everyone has their favorite."

In Communist Poland, the kawiarnia or cafe was a place where the city's intelligentsia and social activists _ Catholic priests (Pope John Paul II was the former archbishop of Krakow), university professors and students _ could meet for coffee and conversation.

The coffee wasn't very good, and food generally wasn't served, but the settings invited lingering and still do. Krakow escaped bombing in World War II, and many of the cafes occupy cozy nooks in historic houses and vaulted cellars.

In the former Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, young owners are tweaking tradition with Jetson-style interiors, vegetarian menus and nonsmoking areas. Others stick to the basics. At Cafe Larousse in the Old Town center, the walls are papered with pages from a dictionary, and coffee and cheesecake are served at four wooden tables, each lighted with a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.