Krakow

Lots of walking involved today in Krakow.

Started today with a tour of the salt mines. Very interesting tour. Had to go down the elevator underground into the actual mine. It was not only interesting hearing all the information about the mine, but there were all these beautiful statues carved out of salt. There were also lots of caverns, often with life like statues depicting what life was like in the mine.

Salt mine carving

Surprisingly there were lots of chapels throughout the mine, some were fully laid out with an altar and all the trappings. The most impressive of these was St Kinga's chapel which was literally a Church underground. It was massive, over 50 metres
long and 20 metres high. They have weddings and concerts and Mass is celebrated there each week. This is all 100 metres or so underground. They even had their souvenir shops and loos right at the bottom of the tourist area.

Underground Chapel

After a very short rest, we went on our walking tour of the Wawel Castle (pronounced vavel). It was a massive strucuture and the home of many Polish kings. Poland is a very Catholic country, so I would love a few dollars for every Church I saw today.

Wawel Castle

The Cathedral in the Castle grounds is the place where Kings were crowned and was a beautiful (if not a bit gaudy!) Church. It was also the seat of the Bishop of Krakow - the most famous one being Pope John Paul II.


There is a great legend about the Castle of Wawel. There used to be a dragon who eat everything in sight, including men, women and children.The guide had great delight in telling us in particular the dragon liked virgins! Anyway, some famous king
(forgotten who!) tricked the dragon by feeding it a sheep filled with sulphur and tar! This made the dragon so thirsty he kept drinking water from the river Vistula, and he bloated up so badly that he exploded and died. The bones of this dragon are now found over the door of the Cathedral, and the legend continues that when these bones are no longer there it will be the end of the world.

We then kept walking (the poor oldies on tour were struggling a bit by now!) and went along the street where JPII lived when he was just a priest here in Krakow. JPII is very big here - obviously everyone is very proud of their Polish Pope! The streets are really unique - with cobble stones and old style buildings. That was why we were walking! A lot of the old town was just for pedestrians. Our walk led us to a beautiful square - the Town Square - which was ringed by cafes and Churches.

This is the house where Pope John Paul II lived when he worked as a priest in Krakow

By this time I was getting a bit weary myself, so I treated myself to a very big beer and a toasted sandwich.

Krakow Town Square

Tonight we are went out to a dinner with Polish folk singers and dancers for entertainment. Unlimited drinks included in the price!!! Woo Hoo!! Lovely way to finish the day.