Spring Break Day 7: April 10, 2007

First thing in the morning I took a 10:00 A.M. tour of the salt mine in Wieliczka.

I had googled it ahead of time so I knew that it was going to be amazing ahead of time and it did not fall short of my expectations.

Basically this salt mine is huge...and houses monuments, sculptures, a church, chapels, lakes, a spa, restaurants, banquet halls..you can get married there and have a reception. There are also choir and orchestra concerts. Most amazing place. And, EVERTHING is made of salt...Just great.

You have to pay to take pictures in the coolest parts of the mine, which I did not do since I had no Polish zloty on me at the time and my camera probably is not good enough anyway.

But thanks to wikipedia you can all see the Chapel of St. Kinga in the mine here:


Note that everything in there including the altar, statues, chandeliers are made from salt.

Here are my pics of the mine, which do it NO justice:




So after the mine, I went to visit the Mound of Krak (yeah, I know it sounds funny (in English). So in Polish the Mound of Krak = Kopiec Krakow. It is one of 2 prehistoric mounds in the city, which are both manmade. Apparently historians believe that they are either 7th century monumental tombs or some sort of pagan temples. Also they have something to do with meausuring time and sun and what not on Celtic holidays.



On this particular day that I visited, there was a medieval festival going on. Quite cool actually. Monika and I climbed to the top of the mound and watched a battle re-enacted between the "Polish and Czech warriors." Poland won of course.




Tuesday was quite the intriguing day.



I also visited the Church of St. Benedyct near the mound. It dates back to the 12th century. It is only open on this day during the year and no other, so I was lucky to see inside.





Then, we went to lunch in Krakow's Jewish Quarters, Kazimierz. I ate Bigos which reminds me of a thick stew with cabbage, meat, plums, mushroom..etx. Very good. I need to make it some time.

I visited around the Jewish Quarter a bit. I dont' have as many pics as I would like because my camera ran out of batteries...but it is still a really nice area to visit. I even visited one of the synagogues there as well.





Once upon a time Kazimierz was a safe haven for European Jews and basically was its own town apart from Krakow. The neighborhood alone had 4500 in the mid 1600's. Of course drama occurred later and I'm sure you can imagine what happened there during WWII. However, now I believe this part of town is regarded as a nicer place to eat and visit in Krakow which is revitalizing the area a lot. Apparently Kazimierz is to Krakow as Soho is to London.

I also visited the Corpus Christi Basilica in the Jewish Quarters where JPII was baptized many years ago. Gorgeous church.