Day 2 - Krakow - Auschwitz & Salt Mine

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After a pretty warm, but relatively OK nights sleep, we woke up to our alarm at 7:30 to shower and grab a quick brekkie in Mosquito's kitchen/dining room before heading down to the collection point for our day tour to Auschwitz/Birkenau concentration camps and the Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/32). Our group consisted of 8, 3 couples plus Dan and I, and our driver David (who we named 'Danger Dave' due to his questionable overtakes) shuttled us between the venues throughout the day.

The Auschwitz tour was a somber affair which was a stark reminder of the horrific acts of the Nazi's of the Third Reich between 1941-1945, relatively recent in the grand scale of things. It also satisfied a bit of a morbid curiosity to find out more about the events. The travel and breaks in the tour were a bit rushed but the tour itself was good, thanks to Konrad our guide! We then moved on to the salt mines with a quick detour to a nearby restaurant, which we swear my either be run by Danger Dave's kin or he get commission as we later found out there were loads of other suitable restaurants right by the mines themselves. Never-the-less the food was good so no complaints.

Our tour guide for the mines, Matthew, was a bit eccentric but funny in a 'bad dad jokes' kind of way. The mines were pretty amazing and saw us go over 100 mtrs under the earth through about 20 man made (by hand, not machine) caverns dug out of the rock salt. The biggest cavern was cathedral sized and all of em were full of statues carved by either the miners themselves or professional artists, there was even an underground lake. The most amazing thing was that this 2 hour tour only took us through >1% of the mines, it's mind blowingly big!

Tour over, and pretty done with walking, Dangerous Dave dropped us off near the main square and we wandered back to the hostel to kick back for a bit and shower before heading out for dinner. We opted for MoaBurger, again relying on trusty TripAdvisor for some inspiration, a busy up market burger joint which was pretty rammed, leading to a 30min wait for our food but it was worth it. Perhaps a little too greasy but very tasty, this place was worthy of its recommendation.

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Comments

[Dad]

Day 2
Hi Joe Sounds like you have had a busy and thought provoking day.