Kraków, Part 2: Getting sentenced to the salt mines

Supplicating to the gods of salt

Our second full day in Kraków began with a solo exploration of Old Town while the girls stayed behind in our room at Wielopole, absorbed in their respective electronic devices (my only New Year's resolution is to wean my daughter off of things with screens - an impossible task to be sure):

The Church of SS Peter & Paul (Kościół Św Piotra i Pawła) was the first Baroque structure in Kraków, erected by the Jesuits in 1583. Outside stand the 12 Apostles on columns in front of the church:

Next door is the Church of St. Andrew (Kościół Św Andrzeja), in a building that has stood on the same spot since the late 11th century. On the outside all is austere...:

...but the inside is a completely different world, thanks to a radical 18th-century Baroque remodeling:

The Florian Gate (Brama Floriańska) is the only survivor of the eight entrance gates that once encircled Old Town. The lower portion of the gate dates from around 1300:

Briefly outside the confines of Old Town, looking toward a monument celebrating the Battle of Grunwald, with St. Florian's Church in the background:

The Barbican medieval fortification. Between the bastion and the Florian Gate were several tour groups, all gathered around guides giving explanations in English, French, Italian and Spanish (and identified by the flag they were carrying). I would later pass by a Croatian tour group on my back to Wielopole:

From in front of our hotel, Amber, Shu-E and I boarded a van to take us to the Wieliczka Salt Mine (Kopalina Soli). A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, the ultra-deep salt mine has been in operation for over 700 years, with its deepest tunnel situated 327 meters underground. We were able to explore three levels of the mine between 64 and 135 meters below the ground as part of a mandatory English-language guided tour. Having our own vehicle, we should've been able to drive out to the mine ourselves, but the next available tour openings weren't until Friday, the following day when we were scheduled to return to Warsaw. So we joined an outing organized through our hotel, a more expensive option but still worth the expense as the mine is a definite must-see for visitors to Kraków:

Mannequins demonstrate various salt-excavating operations:

Spaghetti-like salt strings and accumulations of salt shaped like cauliflowers:

Salt was carved out of the rocks by hand and rolled into large blocks:

The undeniable highlight of a visit to the mine is the Chapel of St. Kinga (Kaplica Św Kingi), an actual underground church measuring 54 meters by 18 meters, and 12 meters in height. Everything from the altarpieces to the chandeliers is made of salt; it took more than thirty years to complete the chapel:

The Eram Barącz Chamber contains a man-made salt lake, with a density of 320 grams of salt per liter. Like the Dead Sea, you would float and not sink:

The final stop in the mine before taking the elevator back to the surface is the 36 meter-high Stanislaw Staszic Chamber:

Wooden boards in the mine were often painted white for greater visibility in the dark tunnels:

The mine logo on the floor of the gift shop as we headed back to the van. I thought it would look pretty cool on a soccer jersey:

The van dropped us back off at Wielopole, where we had lunch (vegetable curry for me) at the hotel's excellent vegetarian restaurant:

On our last evening in Kraków we entered the Rynek Underground exhibition, located beneath the market square in Old Town. It's a fascinating underground tour of medieval chambers and market stalls, enhanced by modern-day audio-visual wizardry:

The exhibits on medieval burials were appropriately eerie:

Back at ground level and checking out the stalls selling souvenirs inside the Cloth Hall:

Shu-E toasts the end of an interesting day at a German-style beer hall. The three nights we stayed in Kraków certainly weren't enough. With more time, I would've liked to explore more of Wawel Castle, as well as visiting Oskar Schindler's factory. Speaking of World War II, the notorious Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps are an easy day trip from the city, but I know my daughter would not have wanted to visit (having already been to Dachau). The communist-era architecture of Nowa Huta also sounds interesting, but at least I would get to see a stunning example of Socialist realism the following day in Warsaw:

Kraków, Part 1: Wawel Hill and Old Town

Wawel Cathedral and Wawel Castle

Enough carping about long drives, time to enjoy some of the sights of Kraków, Poland's former royal capital, with a history going back to the 7th century. The city served as the capital of the country from 1038 to 1596, when the seat of government was moved to Warsaw, though it remained the site of royal coronations and burials. Kraków avoided being the scene of any significant battles or bombings during the Second World War, making it the only large Polish city that was able to retain its pre-war architecture and appearance. In 1978 Kraków's Old Town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site; in that same year, Karol Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Kraków, became Pope John Paul II, a name you may have heard of.

We began our first full day in the city by walking over to Old Town, which has its origins in the rebuilding that took place following the sacking of Kraków by the Tartars in 1241. Rynek Główny is the largest medieval town square in Europe, measuring 200 meters by 200 meters. The layout was drawn up in 1257 (based on a Roman military camp) and has retained its form up to the present day. The square is dominated by the 108 meter-long 1555 Gothic Cloth Hall (the arcades were added in the late 19th century). In front stands a statue of Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz:

Also dominating Rynek Główny is St. Mary's Church, which we would visit later the same day:

On the way to Wawel Hill, we passed by the Church of SS Peter & Paul, which I would visit the next morning:

Wawel Hill is the location of Kraków's top drawing attraction, Wawel Castle (Zamek Królewski na Wawelu), the political and cultural center of Poland until the end of the 16th century. The present Renaissance palace dates from the 16th century, though the original residence for King Boleslaw Chrobry was built in the 11th century:

The castle is now a museum with five separate sections (State Rooms, Royal Private Apartments, Crown Treasury & Armory, Oriental Art Exhibition and Lost Wawel), each requiring a different ticket valid for a specific time. To visit all five would take the better part of the day, so we opted for the State Rooms, securing a 10:30am ticket (The Royal Private Apartments would've also been interesting, but the only English-language tour of the day wasn't until 2pm, so we passed). The State Rooms consist of an impressively large chain of chambers and rooms restored to their original Renaissance and early Baroque styles and containing period furniture, paintings and tapestries. Photography inside isn't permitted, so the following images were gleaned from the Internet:

The ceiling of the Hall of Deputies has 30 individually carved and painted heads looking down at visitors, the only survivors from the original 194 heads carved in 1535 by Sebastian Tauerbach:

http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=109

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f3/a3/10/f3a3102ed7977c130359dd79091d509c.jpg

The Hall of Senators was originally used for balls, court ceremonies, senate sessions and theatrical performances. It now houses a rotating series of 16th-century tapestries, with the story of Noah being displayed at the time of our visit:

http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=109

http://www.krakow-info.com/arrasy.htm

Adjacent to Wawel Castle is Wawel Cathedral (Katedra Wawelska). The present building (1364) is the third church on this spot. The cathedral has played host to most of Poland's coronations, entombments and funerals, most recently in 2010 with the internment of Lech Kaczyński, killed with 95 others in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia:

Huge prehistoric animal bones hang on a chain to the left of iron entrance door:

Just as in Wawel Castle, photography isn't allowed inside the cathedral, so the following images of highlights are courtesy of Google:

Holy Cross Chapel:

http://blog.globtroter-krakow.com/tag/kaplica-swietokrzyska/

Sigismund Chapel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%27s_Chapel

Shrine of St. Stanislaus:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%27s_Chapel

Royal Tombs. Home to many Polish monarchs and national heroes, for this American the most interesting resident was Tadeusz Kościuszko:

 http://www.danenation.com/2015/05/wawel-hill-castle-cathedral-and-crypt.html

http://www.danenation.com/2015/05/wawel-hill-castle-cathedral-and-crypt.html

http://www.danenation.com/2015/05/wawel-hill-castle-cathedral-and-crypt.html

The one part of the cathedral where photography couldn't be stopped was in the tower housing the Sigismund Bell. Cast in 1520, it's the largest historic bell in Poland, at 2 meters high and 2.5 meters in diameter, and weighing 11 tons. It takes eight people to ring the clapper. The tower also provides good views of Old Town:

Our admission tickets to the royal tombs and bell tower also gained us entry to the Wawel Cathedral Museum, displaying church plates and royal funerary regalia, as well as items belonging to Pope John Paul II. Again, no picture-taking permitted. The cathedral as seen from the museum:

Looking out onto the Vistula River from Wawel Hill:

By this time we were feeling pretty famished, so we ventured back into Old Town for lunch. We settled on a Polish restaurant called Miód Malina ("Honey Raspberry"), where I started off with a bowl of chicken broth soup and a Tyskie beer, followed by venison as the main course (not pictured), and rounded out with an apple cobbler for dessert:

A quick trip back to the hotel so my wife could change her shoes. I used the opportunity to model the Polish national soccer team jersey replica I purchased just after lunch:

Returning to Rynek Główny as the square descended into darkness at around 3:30pm local time:

St. Mary's Church (Bazylika Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny) is a 14th-century brick Gothic beauty. The facade is dominated by two towers, one 69 meters in height and the other 81 meters high. From the latter the hejnal bugle call is sounded hourly; we heard it several times while we were in Old Town:

Here at last one could take photos to his or her heart's content...for an additional 5zł fee. The highlight here is the altarpiece, known as a pentaptych (an altarpiece consisting of a central panel and two side wings), carved in lime wood, then painted and gilded. The main scene represents the Assumption of the Virgin surrounded by the Apostles, while the side screens portray scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin. The altarpiece by Veit Stoss stands 13 meters high and 11 meters wide and was consecrated in 1549:

The blue star vaulting in the nave is also impressive:

After visiting the church we ventured back out into the cold night air:

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, because even Poles don't eat Polish food 24/7. You will note, however, that the beer was Polish:

The 70 meter-high Town Hall Tower (Wieża Ratuszowa), all that remains of the 15th-century town hall which was dismantled in the 1820's:

An active market goes on in front of the Cloth Hall, selling food, drinks, clothing and trinkets:

Amber enjoys a cup of hot chocolate. And when I say "hot chocolate", I mean it was a cup of heated, melted chocolate. Thick and sweet, and the perfect nightcap in the below-freezing temperature outdoors: