The market district immediately north of the Old Town, just beyond the Florian Gate and the Barbican. Kleparz was a separate town from 1366 until it was absorbed into Krakow in the 18th century, and it kept its trading function: this is where Cracovians have come to buy food for centuries, and where they still do, away from the souvenir stalls of the centre.
The anchor is Stary Kleparz, the old covered market, a working produce market trading since the Middle Ages where stallholders sell fruit, vegetables, cheese, smoked meats, pickles, and flowers to a local crowd. Around it the streets carry the everyday business of the city — Basztowa and the ring road mark the southern edge, and the grand Juliusz Słowacki Theatre stands just inside the line of the old walls. The district runs north toward the main railway station and the Galeria Krakowska shopping centre.
Kleparz is where to come for an honest, un-touristed slice of Krakow life and the best cheap food in the centre. Buy a snack at the market, watch the transactions, and you see a side of the city the Main Square has long since lost.