Poland, Chapter 4: The Salt Mines of Wieliczka and the American Couple from Prague

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Note: All events described in this entry occurred between late September and early October 2006. For more updated entries and trips, please refer back to this site at a later date. Thanks and enjoy!


Moving from the old "hostel" to Hostel Giraffe was one of the best decisions I ever made during that trip! From the moment I arrived, I was greeted by the staff a long, lost friend. Once I moved into my 8 mixed dorm room, I spent 3 hours talking to my fellow guests which included: a young woman from Mexico, and a mixed group of foreigners studying abroad in Berlin which included 1 Mexican, a Spaniard and two people from France. The beds were very comfortable, I would say the most in comparison to other hostels I stayed at.

I remember waking up well rested the next day and feeling like my old self again! My melancholy had disappeared our 24 hours, and I was ready to take my vacation back at the point where I left off. I spent the day at Wawel Castle, which was fantastic. I toured the famous church, and saw the old royal family residences, I really saw everything. I ate lunch at the restaurant there, which was turkey tips sauteed with mushrooms served with rice. The turkey could have been moister, but it had a nice flavor of paprika, parsley and lemon juice.

I finished my afternoon by touring Market Square yet again, this time checking out the international shops like Sephora. I then head back to the hostel-I'm so tired that all I can think about before heading to my room is plopping myself onto one of the couches in the reception. I'm greeted melodiously by the manager, who asks me if I am feeling better and if there was any progress of finding my cell phone. "The receptionist told me they searched everywhere." I tell her. She laments my misfortune, but then inquires about my day, which I recount to her and receive her acclamations. Shortly after she walks out, a young American couple decide to sit across from me. After their conversation amongst themselves has ended, they introduce themselves to me and I likewise. "How long have you been in Krakow? What brings you here?" They ask. I tell them my story, and about my experiences in Krakow. "Wow that sucks," exclaims the boyfriend. "So are you backpacking through Europe or something?" He asks. "Not really, I'm studying abroad in France."
His girlfriend's face brightens, "Oh wow," she says, "how long have you been there? where?"
"Dijon, it's the capital of the Burgundy region located in Central France, you know it? I've been there 2 months now."
"I know the mustard but I didn't realize there was a town with the same name," the boyfriend replies, "so do you like it? So what do you think of your experiences in Europe so far? Have you seen much?"
"Well," I start, "I really like France-everyone has been so friendly, except for a few instances were bad, but for the most part I love Dijon, I love the food and I'm learning to like the wine. I don't feel homesick. So what brings you two to Poland? Are you on vacation?"
"Yes, we are," replies the girlfriend, "however we both live in Prague. I've lived there for two years teaching English while he has been living there for four working odd jobs." Then they begin to tell me about their travels throughout Europe and their lives in Prague.

"We've been everywhere by now: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium...(they listed other countries but I don't remember. We go during our times off. We both love Prague, it's home for us. I live with some of my family: I'm half Mexican and half Czech and some of my family are still in the Czech Republic so that made it convenient. I teach English to adults while he just works odd jobs from time to time. We love our lives there it's home," she says. However both of them start talking about how they found Czechs to be very cold but also pessimistic. "I'd say it's because of their history," she continues, "they've been invaded so much and lived under such hard conditions that it's hard for them to see past that sometimes I feel."
We then get into a conversation about the difference between life in the Czech Republic, France and the US, whether or not we prefer our lives here or back in the US. At the time I really preferred my life over there to in the US, and I guess it was because my experiences with the people I met were so much warmer than back at home during my travels outside of Dijon and I liked being surrounded by all the history, art, culture and gastronomy. Don't get me wrong I did and still do have great friends over here, and I love the US, it's just that my life felt more exciting and more rewarding than usual and I just wanted to savor that as much as possible. The girlfriend laughs at my replies, "I guess you feel this way because you just moved here and are enchanted by what you see, but I don't see any superiorities between the US and here, or for the Czech Republic for that matter. People are the same wherever you go."
Her boyfriend then changes the subject and offers for me to join them for a glass of beer in the hostel's bar. I take up the offer and they buy me a pint of beer and we start a few games of cards. It is during this game of cards that they invite me to join them on a tour of the Salt Mines of Wieliczka the next day. I had heard about them back in the US after watching a show on the Travel Channel entitled "The 10 Most: Catecombs," episode which touched on this, however I was also touched by their hospitality, so I accepted the offer. After we parted ways for the night and arranged our meeting place, I went to the front desk of the hostel and ordered my tickets for the mines and also for Auschwitz a day later. I think I spent about $60 dollars total for both tours-the Salt Mines tour met at this Plaza I think around 2 PM GMT and the bus for Auschwitz met right out front of the hostel.

That night, I decided to go to a local grocery store to pick up some more groceries. Down the street, about two blocks away from my "old hostel" I found a little grocery store, where I bought some potato dumplings, butter and a bottle of beer. I used these ingredients to help make a sauce with chopped kielbasa, beer, butter and some sugar to pour over the dumplings back in the hostel kitchen. The smells of my dinner caught the attention of two Australian tourists, who complimented me for my creative and aromatic smelling dish. We start talking about our travels through Europe and I tell them my story about why I was in Poland, my life in France and what my life was like and would continue to be back in the US. These ladies told me that they were backpacking through Eastern Europe-they had toured the former Yugoslavia states (all of them in fact), Romania I think, and were now going to head through the rest of the Eastern European states. I asked them about what it was like in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, especially in the aftermath of the conflict. They said people didn't want to talk about it but remnants of it were everywhere. I told them this sounded a lot like Polish people in regards to the Communist era and WWII, and I told them what my new American friends were telling me about the Czech Republic. I began to realize that this seems to be a common theme in Eastern Europe, and must be true in all countries that experience conflict-once it happens, even though the conflict ends, the memories keep it alive through location and survivors, therefore it never goes away. It's like the conflict is perpetually happening, which I will say is horrifying, depressing and make me angry.

Anyway, after eating my dinner and calling my mother I go to sleep. The next day, I spend most of the day at the hostel until it's time for me to walk to the designated meeting place for the tour. I meet up with my new friends, and we both get onto the bus together. Three hours later, we arrive at Wieliczka. We get off the bus and head towards the grounds of the salt mine museum. It takes a while, about 20-30 minutes for us to finally start our tour (note: you cannot view the salt mines without a guide, whether you come with a tour or not FYI). The salt mines at Wieliczka have existed if I remember correctly during the tour, have existed since the Middle Ages, however there are handcarved rooms of salt made by miners during the 21st and 20th centuries (maybe longer but I don't remember). You are only show certain rooms, including a chapel completely carved out of salt! The mines are still used and cover a long range in regards to geography.

The next days end up being uneventful (except for Aushwitz in which I will discuss in my next entry) however I did encounter my American friends at the hostel for the remainder of the trip. They would invite me to join them for a beer in the hostel bar, and we'd play cards. There was one memorable night where during our nightly routine we were joined by other Anglophone nationals: 1 gentleman from New Zealand, two gentlemen from Scotland/UK and another American, who was also living in Prague and teaching English. We stayed up until 5 AM GMT just talking, playing cards and drinking this spirit that was seen as medicinal in the Czech Republic, but tasted like we were eating grass!

Unfortunately the American couple left the hostel like 3 days before I did, and we did exchange e-mails but like with so many contacts I made during my trip abroad, I lost their information, and never heard or saw of them again.

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