Kraków

Kraków has proved to be the ideal place to unwind after the emotional shock of Saturday's tour of Auschwitz. Sunday we were able to sleep in before our four hour walking tour. We had a local guide show us around this great city that was at one time Poland's capital. There is a substantial Jewish community here but nothing to what it once was. Pre-war, there were 65,000 Jews but today less than a thousand and as few as 120 practicing Jews who attend the one remaining regularly operating Synagogue.

Unfortunately, the weather has turned on us and we have had to shelter from a few showers. The temperature has dropped and we're not expecting anything above 20 degrees for the next few days. We toured Wawel Royal Castle and it was pretty impressive with many large 16th century tapestries hanging throughout the huge rooms. They have an extensive collection and rotate them regularly to try and preserve them.

Wawel Royal Castle

Kraków Market Square

As you would expect, Kraków has a monster of a market square and it is a relief that this great city only lost about 10% of its buildings during the war.
We sat in a bar last night and watched Poland succumb to Columbia in the World Cup. It was a disappointing result.

Monday we headed for the hills literally. It was a two hour bus trip on fairly slow roads as a result of a new freeway being constructed. Our destination was Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains. Again, the weather was lousy but we were prepared for it with wet weather gear. We stopped for a couple of photo opportunities on the way up the mountain before reaching the extremely busy town of Zakopane.
We took the funicular up the mountain and spent about an hour up there before returning to Zakopane. We visited a solid timber church and it's adjoining cemetery that is the most unique cemetery we've ever encountered.

A cold and wet day in the Tatra Mountains.

The funicular coming back up the mountain.

We had a couple of free hours to spend in Zakopane before all meeting up at a restaurant for an early dinner. What a pleasant surprise that was. It too was a solid timber building with a traditional band and plenty of Polka dancing. The meal too was interesting to say the least. Grilled smoked cheese with pickles and cranberry sauce as an entree followed by ham & sauerkraut soup. The main was chunky carved roast pork with heaps of small baked potatoes. It was complimented with a salad if you could fit that in.

The most unique cemetery we've ever come across.

 Restaurant Polka.

I'm preparing this blog on the bus on the way back to Kraków. We're really enjoying the luxury of spending four nights at the Columbus hotel where we have been able to unpack a bit rather than live out of the suit case.Tomorrow we are heading to the Wieliczka salt mine which is another World Heritage Site.

Tuesday 26th.
I had no idea what to expect at the salt mines. I remember visiting a zinc mine at Broken Hill years ago so thought anything better than a ride in a caged lift and a look at a bucket of ore would be a bonus. Little was I to know that we were about to embark on a visit to probably the most interesting tourist attraction I've ever been to.
The fact that in the peak of summer they can cater for 10,000 tourists a day or 1.7 million visitors per year just goes to show that they have a pretty good product.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Believe it or not, the mines at Wieliczka have operated commercially since the year 1280. Our three hour tour took us down to 130 metres by several hundred steps. We only went to level three but there are nine levels in all. The 2.5 kilometres of tunnels and cabins that we explored makes up only about 1% of the total mine network.

What makes it so interesting? Your first descent is by wooden stairs that take you down to level one. Once you get to that level you start walking through massive timber lined tunnels some of which are lined with logs and planks some 500 years old and magically preserved by the salt. There is a pressurised air system to maintain temperature and keep humidity down and as you open doors along the way, you have to ensure that the last one you came through has been closed otherwise the pressure won't allow it to open.

Our local guide.

Figures carved out of salt.

A few facts that I didn't know: The salt from this mine is grey rock salt. You can lick the walls and prove to yourself that it certainly is salt. The salt is extremely hard. On a scale of 1 to 10,  with diamond being 10, salt comes in at 2. Would you believe though that marble comes in at 3 so the floors we walked on were not much different to marble. As we ventured through and came across the cabins that were actually chapels, the floors were perfectly flat and grooves had been carved out of them to make them appear to be tiles. Statues and wall carvings adorn these chapels with the biggest of them having huge chandeliers made of thousands of salt crystals. I just hope the photos I'm about to extract from the camera do the place justice.

Horses were once used in the mines.

Of course, being a commercial tourist attraction there are shops, cafes and a restaurant 120 metres down and yes there is free Wifi. A lot different to the13th century. There was an era where horses were used in the mines and there are some great displays to explain all that. Electricity lights the mine these days and a lift is there to take you back up to ground level.

A huge chapel.

Carved statues and floor

More salt carvings.

A salt crystal chandeliers.

Other than all that, all I can say is that if you're ever in this region you'd be crazy not to check this place out. And oh, I forgot to mention that there are still 300 miners working one part of this mine and there are 500 guides taking groups through the non-working part in every language you can think of.

One more chapel

Tonight we have a farewell dinner before heading back to Warsaw tomorrow afternoon. We'll have a night there before a 9:30am flight to Doha on Thursday morning. I'll get a final post logged from there.
Cheers.