All over Krakow
Two days into the real part of this trip and I can tell you two things: Poland is beautiful and my feet hurt a little. And there are still twenty six days - with a lot of walking - ahead! But luckily the places we are seeing are so beautiful that I just keep moving my feet forward.
On Friday, we went all over Krakow. And I mean all over. In the ealy afternoon, we went to a museum underneath the main square of the city. The museum was all about the medieval foundations of the city and had many of the structures which had been excavated all less than a decade ago. The first thing that struck me was how close we were actually able to be to some of the atifacts. This would remain true throughout the day. The museum's pieces were much less guarded than those we see back home. I liked it because it gave me a more intimate feeling with everything I was looking at and learning about. I also appreciated the descriptions of things in English! It certainly made things much much easier on the rest of us. |
After that, we went to find the "dragon," near the Wawel Royal Castle, which serves as a representative of one of the major legends of Krakow. We met our tour guide who showed us around the Royal Castle and the Cathedral. I made a point of lighting a candle in this cathedral, too. Again, we were very up-close with all of the pieces of the building. The coolest things were the fact that there is a relic containing the blood of Pope John Paul II and the view from the belltower (below). The castle was filled with what seemed like possibly countless tapestries and paintings, including one Da Vinci, temporarily there while its permanent location is undergoing renovations. |
After the castle, we walked to St. Mary's Basillica in the main square and instead of back to the market center in the middle, which many of us had already seen, we went to the old main entrance to the city, which used to be part of the main wall of the city in Medieval times. Once the tour was over, many of us were very very excited to get some dinner and relax a bit, after all, that walking took quite a bit out of us!
Saturday, we went to the salt mines in Wieliczka, which were pretty stunning. We went to three levels of the nine that make up the mines. It took quite a few flights of stairs to make it to the first level! The corridors were filled with statues, all carved by the miners themselves - none of which were professional or trained as artists. The most amazing of which was the big cathedral type room on the second level (pictured below). It was absolutely marvelous! I couldn't believe it was all made of salt! There were gift shops and even a restaurant on the lowest level we got to, which was about 400 meters underground. What was most surprising to me was how old some places of the mine were - over 350 years at some points. Also, the complexity of the infrastructure within it was awesome to see. Another interesting fact was that in the salt "lakes," you could just float on the surface and "read a newspaper" as our guide said. |
This trip is only just beginning, yet I already feel overloaded by the information we're learning. Sunday we will be having a walking tour of the Jewish city Kazimierz, where the Jews of Krakow were relocated to during the reign of Kazimierz the Great in the 1400s. This king is seen as sort of the beginning of a new history of Krakow because he turned the city into one made of stone, rather than one of wood. His legacy is evident, even in the mines, because he gave miners rights.