Krakow

---

Today was a drive day - Czech Republic to Poland. They are both part of the EU (but different currencies) so technically there should be zero problems at the border and we should be able to drive straight through. But today we had stop, get out of the bus, line up and get a stamp to say we were leaving the Czech Republic, get back in the bus, drive across no man's land, get out and line up for another stamp to say we were arriving in Poland. That's how it is... but not going to argue with a man holding a machine gun.

Along the way several people needed a bathroom stop - we couldn't find a service station. Finally it got too much for practically everyone and we requested a bush stop. Everyone jumped off the bus and scattered in various directions into the woods then everyone got back on the bus and discovered that there were stinging nettles everywhere... so we had to get off the bus again to get some jewelweed - natures cure. Not exactly the relieving toilet stop we'd hoped for. We arrived in Krakow at 3.30 and set up camp for the night.

The next morning we left camp at about 8.45 and caught the tram into town together and then onto a local bus to the Salt Mines. The Salt Mines are located about 20 mins from the city and are probably one of the key tourist sites in the area. The Wieliczka Salt Mines are 11 stories deep but we would only see 3 stories. We were asked not to touch the statues but we could lick the walls as much as we liked. Apparently the human body can ingest 5kgs of salt and still be ok - didn't want to test that theory though! We had to walk down about 60 flights of stairs, then we were 64 metres below the ground. As a tourist we only saw 1% of the salt mines. There are large salt sculptures demonstrating how the workers mined salt, also there's two chapels down there and people regularly get married and have their reception party there. Everything in the chapel is made of salt, including a huge chandelier. There is also a salt pond, which is like being in the Dead Sea (we didn't go in though).

We got the mini-bus back to the city and the main square and checked out the markets there. The centre of the city was under heavy construction but it was still pretty. Niki and I hit the market first thing and bought some (amber) jewellery as souvenirs. We had a nice walk around the town but decided we had enough time and we wanted to go to Schindler's Factory (we'd both studied Schindler's List in school - so we wanted to see it). It was a bit of a challenge because it was just out of the city centre/old town and over the river, but we found it (after a few wrong turns). It's now a museum but we were too late and it was closed.
Back to camp....

---

Photos

The Grand Salt Hall
Everything is made of salt, even the chandeliers, and its 130mtrs below ground

The Cloth Hall in Krakow's Market Square
(Sukiennice)