Leaving Krakow today for Girona

Well the day has arrived for us to leave this lovely city.We have really enjoyed our stay and feel lucky to have had such a varied trip to date. The bridge between the old east and the west is not as great as you might imagine. It is a well ordered place from what we have seen.People appear friendly and contented.No sign of disaffected groups hanging out but it is a party town where many countries are represented.Lots of clubs,bars and food outlets so tourists are well catered for.Prices are cheap and service comes free unless you choose to tip.Police do not carry guns on the street and they are low key.Cars and rail cars stop for pedestrians here,so you feel safe.
The culture is strong here despite centuries of oppression and war between neighbour's. The music and arts flourish and they have a very old university with illustrious alumni.
Our last day was spent exploring the old Royal Walk up to the castle and the cathedral.This is an attractive place overlooking the city and a strategic spot on the River Vistula.
We got tickets to the state room in the castle and saw through the state rooms which housed treasures in art and furniture.We wanted to see the ceiling with the heads of kings embedded in it.No photos allowed here though so a postcard is the best I can do.The ceilings throughout and the candelabras were impressive.
We had hoped to see the cathedral and dragon but ran out of time but we had a good wander about and saw the bronze statue of The Lady of Ermine by Van Dyke.
Back to the hotel and gathered up our bags to head for the bus station and get my phone fixed at the Samsung shop.
Next few hours en route to Girona where we arrived late but still 17 degrees.A lot women than our last few days in Poland.

Touring the Jewish Quarter with Gosia

Today it rained,really rained so I had to buy an umbrella as we planned to join the free walking tour of the Jewish district.It was also cold when we started out in the morning so on went the jerseys for a change.
We started our morning with a church service at St Mary's Catholic church which is the parish church in the main square and a working church.It was packed for morning mass.The interior is spectacular,very ornate as befits a prosperous town.It has a beautiful altar and the decorative features are in gold leaf,the ceiling is starry and the vestments etc are all of great quality.The music was wonderful and we sat and enjoyed the choir music.

Our next stop was the Free Walking tour stop where we met our guide Gosia,a very passionate local who is studying Jewish history at University.She was great value and undertook the tour in a positive mood despite the rain pelting down.Fortunately it eased off later in the tour and by the end of the walk the sun was shining.
We started in the main square because that was where the history of the Jews in Krakow began.They were early settlers but accused by the local Poles of burning down their church.The King was asked to intervene so he banished the Jews to the town of Kazimierz outside the city  walls but allowed them to continue trading in the city.

We saw the remnants of Jewish life here in Krakow because once a thriving community of sixty five thousand they now number about ten percent of that total and only one hundred and forty Orthodox Jews remain.That is official figures but for several reasons there are more than that.Some  Poles are just discovering their Jewish heritage on the death of grandparents who had kept their identity secret all these years so they could stay in Poland.
We walked to the suburb of Kazimierz to see the Orthodox Church Synagogue and the associated religious prayer houses and places of learning.Men and women did not sit in the same part of the church in case of distrations.A service was just finishing and the men leaving the service were wearing traditional orthodox gowns and looked suitably distinguished at tourists taking photos etc.

We saw market places and the ghetto area filmed making Shindlers List. It has now become a trendy bohemian centre of artists and musicians,a favourite hang out of our guide for her social life.

The making of this movie has transformed this area as prior to the film it was seedy and run down as the original Jewish community had been moved by the communist to another area  Podgorze, which was further away and became  known as the Ghetto. From there they were taken for execution to a gas chamber outside of the city.No one came back from this camp,only four escaped and they jumped from the train so there are no stories from survivors of this camp.

We walked to the ghetto memorial where bronze chairs stand to commo rate the loss of personal things.The artists who won the competition to design an installation suitable for remembering the Jews of Krakow chose the chair as a symbol because they represent known things,comfort,permanence but also the chairs face different directions.Some of the chairs sit on the edge and symbolize the onlookers,some face the direction they might leave in - this depended on your health and status but there was little escape possible for the majority. They were hunted down and slaughter by the Germans.
I found this place very moving.
From here we walked to Shindlers Factory where he sheltered many Jews and controversially has been honored by the Jewish Council for his actions.Some say he did it for other reasons,namely to ,se money but he did enable many to escape extermination and give those families hope and a future.I may go back to see through the museum later but another two hours of history making was a bit much for my brain so we took a break and went on a cultural binge.
Nearby was the museum of Modern Contemporary Art which offered toilets a good coffee both of which were needed.
We gained free entry to the museum because we were over seventy!!!Anyway a  fascinating exhibition unfolded in this modern building,newly opened and very light and airy galleries.It was a Gender in Art Exhibition  with artists from international collections.Quite avante garde , controversial and thought provoking images of how gender is represented through various forms of media and the messages that gives viewers.
Well worth visiting.
We went to see the main art gallery in the Cloth Hall too which had more traditional art works displayed in conventional styles but interesting to see how there major artists were influenced by styles such as impressionism and post modernism etc.The Girl in the Ermine by Van Dyke was not there as we had been led to expect which was disappointing but we were so tired and hungry it was home for us.zthe rain was starting again so back to the hotel for a rest about 4.30pm.
A big day out....

Off to the Salt mines....

The bus is due at 8.15 so an early breakfast is required.Great breakfasts here,lunch and dinner is included in the food options provided.Meat cheeses,cereal,fruit,cake is on the menu along with scrambled eggs and smoked sausages.There are salads and cakes on offer too.Very difficult to say no!

We left Krackow about nine o'clock (am) after picking up some other traveller's from hotels and headed to the salt mines at Wieliczka, a place about half an hour away by bus.

They are a revelation.I was amazed at the scale of the chambers and the length of the corridors.We were 190 meters underground and that was not the full depth of the system. The lowest floor is closed because of water damage from flooding.Many accidents have happened here as a result of methane gas build up similar to Pike River.
Our guide Kate explained that these were not places of punishment as only freemen could get a job here so it was quite sought after.No slaves or children ever worked in the mines.
We were to be walking for two to two and a half hours ,most taxing for some on the group were the hundreds of steps to walk down initially  to get into the mine. Thankfully we were able to take a lift back to the top.
Miners are depicted cutting out the huge blocks of road salt from
underground and hoisting via a pulley system into position.Today the salt is extracted for their own purposes in the tourist trade.
Horses were used in earlier times to help transport the salt and they lived underground for years.The cavern roofs are supported by huge wooden braces and beams to prevent miners being killed.

A full scale chapel is a spectacle to be seen with chandeliers made of wood and salt crystals, carvings and an altar. The carvings here are amazing and three men spent a lifetime carving the main chapel, two were brothers.
Several other chapels were in the complex plus conference rooms and other chapels.Miners are religious people and because of the nature of their work and early deaths they were deemed to need a chapel so they could make amends before their death in a mishap or grieve for their mates who met their maker in an untimely manner.

Services are held here on Sunday, also weddings and corporate events.Down deep are toilets,shops and food outlets for those who are tempted to snack along the way.
It really was fascinating, folk lore played a role as well with dwarves and gnomes shown waiting to help the miners after dark.Shades of a fairy tale although Kate said women were never in the mines so Snow White would still be sleeping.
Pope John Paul even is honored here as he visited the mines as part of his tenure as Bishop of Krackow. He is revered in Poland and he has lots of places named for him.
Other famous sons of Poland were commemorated in salt carvings at various points along the way as well as religious statues of our lady and a bishop or two.
We could only take pictures if you paid ten zloty so that curtailed our snapping!!!

There were dioramas and displays of life in the mines set into recesses to be seen as you walked along the corridors which showed a tough life for miners and horses from centuries past.
Apparently the air is pure and that was better than the fate if coal miners who became blind from the toxins in the air underground but it was still tough dirty work.Eight hours below ground in shifts year in year out must have been grim.The air is supposed to help breathing problems so there is a medical clinic here for treatment options so all tastes catered for.
The floor is well worn but not slippery today and ceilings and walls all show marks of axes chipping away at the salt.
We were told to wear warm clothes as the temperature was about fourteen  degrees underground yet the water in the underground lake is about four degrees.You cannot sink though, the salt makes you buoyant so drowning is avoided.
We walked around for two and a half hours underground,quite difficult for some less mobile travellers who were feeling it a bit by the time we surfaced and returned to the bus with their bags of salt souvenirs.
I have to say I was surprised how interesting the whole experience was.Well worth the money.

A day exploring the city of Krakow

A wet day! Not what we had planned for at all so  plan B needed for how to spend our first day in the city of Krakow.
It is such a beautiful place so the options are plentiful and indoors outdoors plenty to do.
We set off to the information centre to check out local options after booking day  tours on Saturday to see the Wieliczka salt mines and on Monday to Auschwitz- Birkenau for me.Brad has already been there so she is planning other options.
We found there were free food tours and city tours like we took in Bulgaria so we decided to do the free  food Tour in the afternoon which took about two and a half hours and we booked for a classical recital by the Royal Chamber Orchestra in the old Romanesque church called St Adalberts. Quite a small space but intimate and atmospheric.Sermons have been preached here since 997. Quite a good plan B we thought.
The morning we spent exploring the Cloth Hall market stalls which offered a great assortment of tat and local crafts.Amber jewelery of every hue had pride of place, plus lots of woolen goods and furs,some wooden toys and dolls and souvenirs to tempt the tourists.The number of tourists is still high and every language can be heard bargaining for food,rides or goods.People watching is a great sport here.
After lunch we found our walking tour and lined up with thirty five other foodies for a great experience. Alice and Adam did us proud.Alice was a delightful guide who was very passionate about her country and regional food.She explained that the revival in Polish food has come from her generation as they remember the treats of their childhood with affection whereas their parents saw it as shameful food because food was so scarce with the rationing imposed by Russia that potatoes,eggs and apples were used to supplement rations.One kilo gram per day was considered the meat ration for a Pole, far from enough in a meat loving country so mothers had to become very inventive.

We tried herring and a bread snack to have with a drink.Vodka was the traditional drink of choice.She told us how you tipped it straight down in one gulp and then ate otherwise it had drastic consequences.She also said some Australians had recently demonstrated how not to do it with awful consequences!

We walked from the old town to the Jewish quarter where local people eat cheaply trying local delicacies in Polish restaurants.Dumplings or pierogi were on the menu,these are a tradition to eat during the feast on Christmas Eve when the whole family gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus at midnight.

We had a soup served at Easter called Zurek, bigos which is a mountain stew made of meat hunted in the hills and cooked over the fire.This was "part of every good Polish women's fridge ",Alice said so it could be heated up for visitors.

We went to a food market and tasted pickled cabbage and gerkin treated in the traditional manner,then to the butcher to try the smoked sausages.There are many variations of smoked,dried cured meats here it is eye watering if you are a meat lover.Here vegetarian does not mean the dish has no meat it may mean it is not the dominant flavors.
Alice  explained that  to be a vegetarian in Poland is to starve!

We also had a dessert option of a donut type of bun with apple in it deep fried and sprinkled with icing sugar which was offered by grandmother's to fill up the hungry children but now loved by a new clientele.By this time we were starting to wilt,two and a half hours of walking so there was a rest spot and an ice cream before we finished.

There was a long hike back to the old town and we realised we were going to be late for the concert so we became a pair of frenzied walkers trying to race along unknown roads to the finish without quite knowing where that was.
Luckily I had a map and much to Brads relief we emerged in sight of our church but I had left the tickets at the hotel so it was a close call but we arrived just in time.So pleased as it was a polished performance by an accomplished quartet of collected pieces by Brahms, Vivaldi ,Mozart and Bach to name a few.
Our city day finished with a meal at a local Polish self serving restaurant which is popular with locals according to Alice.I tried the Borsh soup with sour cream and potato for my challenge and it was surprisingly tasty.A good note to end the day on.......