Category: Blog

(Vista on the Vistula River)

Like just about every big European city, Krakow is a pedestrian-friendly town. You’ll see more of the real city and its people and their everyday life on foot than you will using any other method, so if you’re able to perambulate, put on your walking shoes and hit the bricks.

The place to start, of course is the Stare Miasto, or Old Town, which I’ve covered in my previous Krakow articles. St. Mary’s Cathedral, Wawel Castle, various museums and galleries in abundance, are all to be found within the confines of Old Town, or right next door. But if you set your sights a little farther afield, there are other great neighborhoods you can explore afoot. Your feet might complain a little afterwards – or maybe a lot – but the rewards are worth it if you’re the kind of person who likes discovering a new city from ground level without a tour guide deciding for you what’s worth your time and what isn’t.

(Strolling the shady streets of Kazimierz)

Our own path led south from Wawel Hill, skirting the edge of the Kazimierz District, or Jewish Quarter.  We would come back to it later, but at first we kept our course south across the Vistula River and into the Podgorze District. Today, Podgorze is probably best known as the site of the Jewish Ghetto during WWII, and though a bit run down in comparison to some other neighborhoods of the city, it’s been undergoing somewhat of a revival in recent years, with new businesses, fashionable cafes and nightlife springing up.

(St. Joseph’s Church in Podgorze district)

Continue reading “On The Streets Of Krakow” →

(St. Mary’s Basilica)

The towering edifice of St. Mary’s Cathedral dominates the northeastern corner of Rynek Glowny, the vast open square of Old Town Krakow. Although the cathedral’s full name is the Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven, it’s safe to say not many people bother with that mouthful. Call it St. Mary’s and you’ll be fine.

(That’s a lot of bricks)

To say you couldn’t miss it would be vastly overstating the obvious. At 80 meters tall (262 feet) there’s nothing else in the vicinity that comes close. St. Mary’s has been around a long time, like most everything in this part of Krakow. Originally built in the early 13^th century, it was rebuilt in brick Gothic style in the 14^th and completed in 1347 under the reign of Casimir III, the Great.

(St. Mary’s, another view)

Continue reading “Krakow Part 3 – St Mary’s Basilica and Rynek Glowny” →

(Entrance to Wieliczka Salt Mine)

We’ve all said it at one time or another: Back to the salt mine. And we all understand the implied, underlying meaning of this ubiquitous phrase: I’m going back to my lousy slog of a job. But does anyone really know why we say it like that, or exactly what working in an actual salt mine might have been like to warrant such a phrase becoming a part of the language?

While touring Poland recently, we visited a salt mine, and not just any old mine but probably the most famous, oldest and largest salt mine in Europe, if not the entire world.

(Going down. That’s a lot of stairs)

The Wieliczka (pronounced vee-yah-LEECH-ka) Salt Mine, located about 25 kilometers south of Krakow in the small village of Wieliczka, encompasses so much history, so much territory beneath the ground, and so much importance to Krakow and Poland, that it’s difficult to state its case without sliding into hyperbole. So I’ll just start with some facts.

Wieliczka Salt Mine is the most visited place in Poland, drawing over 1.2 million visitors per year. It was chosen as one of the 12 original UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978, back when being part of that list really meant something. It features perhaps the largest preserved collection of original tools and mining equipment in the world, illustrating the development of mining technology from the Middle Ages to modern times.

(Our group ‘down under’)

Continue reading “Wieliczka Salt Mine” →