Poland April 30, May 1 & 2

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Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~Seneca

April 30, 2009, Thursday, Krakow, Old Town. Today we begin our fourth week of travel…Europe Part II.
We are of to the old town of Krakow. The bus at the bottom of the hill takes us to a transfer for the tram and into the old city.
The currency in Poland is the Zloty…approximately 3 zlotys to 1 US$. Since Poland is a member of the EU, we assumed (wrongly) that Poland used the Euro. Even in major cities people don’t want Euros, just Zlotys. We just got rid of Czech Crowns and are now into Zlotys…when in Rome…
The credit card is also a problem, in Austria they only wanted European credit cards with the European computer chip (an anti-theft protection device---sounds good to me--- why don’t we have this in the US??). In Czech and Poland they don’t want credit cards period! So ATM machines are the only alternative. Last year in Europe, we got slammed with over $220. for ATM foreign fees…but it is the only game in town. Before leaving home, we purchased Euros and Russian money from our bank, no fee. Probably should have purchased Crowns and Zlotys. It is all a learning experience.
As we walked along the “planty” (park) to the main plaza in Krakow, we visited the market area, the tower, and St. Mary’s church, before stopping at the parish of Pope John Paul II.
The city’s centerpiece is Wawel Castle and Cathedral, which sits along the Vistula River. This castle was the coronation and burial place for Polish royalty for four centuries. We opted to tour the Royal Apartments…rather cold and austere. So much of Poland has been pillaged and devastated for many centuries. Today Poland is de-defining itself, but it will take some time.
We managed to find our way “home”…tram and bus.

May 1, 2009, Friday…Krakow, Poland, Wielicka Salt Mine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After finding our way to the old town, we looked for the “mini-bus” to the salt mine, a bit tricky. Eventually we found the mini-bus and for 5 Zlotys we rode for 25 minutes to the mine, that’s less than $3 for both of us. The mini-bus was a hoot! We were waiting for a lady to get on with live chickens, it seems everything else was crammed into this little bus.
We waited a while for the English tour to start. It is an eerie place, as we began 54 flights of 7 steps down to the first level!! This was an important active salt mine for 400 years. The first salt sculpture we visited was Poland’s, Copernicus. As important people visited and were curious about the salt mine, a tourist attraction began to evolve and grow over many years. We walked and went down, and down further (130 meters below sea- level), viewing sculptures of miners, all hewn by hand from solid rock salt. The life of the miners, and horses must have been HELL! We stopped at a richly ornamented chapel of St. Kinga (patron saint of miners), a huge temple, and of course, a sculpture of Pope John Paul !! The tour was way too long, and we had to wait for the 5’x3’ shaft elevator to take us up, we had 9 people in this box, talk about being claustrophobic. A fun time was had by all!! We returned by train to Krakow and back to our campground.

May 2, 2009, Saturday …Krakow to Warsaw. The roads in Poland are diverse, to say the least. At times, through the farmland, it could have been Butler, PA, however, in small cities, it could have been Mexico. One thing for darn sure is, there is a LOT of construction everywhere improving roads, bridges, etc. The drive of 280 KMS took us 6+ hours.
Camping 1-2-3, here in Warsaw, should have been an easy find, but even with the GPS we missed it. So we toured the area and eventually found our way back. Our campground is next to a soccer field and a hospital … so it was a bit noisy.
The people we have met in Poland have been warm and gracious. They are anxious to help in spite of the language barrier. Many young people are learning English in school, the older crowd learned Russian!
We met our first Lithuanian friends here with their kids for the weekend. Often folks are curious in campgrounds when they see a vehicle with US plates, it is quite unusual.

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Photos

Salt Mine world hertage Site
700 years of carving has producted lots of statues

Comments

[Kerstin]

Trip to Krakow
Wow, Krakow looks like it is a great place. I promised Aleksander Broda to come for a visit two years ago and I still didn't make it. Did you have the chance to visit him during your stay?