Next stop was the Schindler Factory, which is a museum now, but was made famous by the movie “Schindler’s List”. We could only see the gate and a window with pictures of some of the people, though I’m not sure if that’s the people who were saved or died:
We drove past a Jewish Memorial in the forms of chairs set up in a square. Apparently Jews had been brought together here to be shipped off to the concentration camps. They thought there were just being moved and had brought all the things with them that they could carry. This monument shows how the square must have looked after they’d been put on the train, with all their belongings left behind:
We drove past this magnificent church, too:
And crossed the bridge which was also used in the Schindler’s List movie:
Our next stop was Wawel Hill with its palace and cathedral. There’s a statue to Count Kosciuszko (after whom our Mountain is named), and Pope John Paul II, a great favourite in Poland for obvious reasons:
There’s a nice model of Wawel Hill as well:
I wandered down to have a look over the river from here, too:
I walked back in the direction of the cathedral. Its golden tower was very pretty and I kept wanting to photograph it, since the inside of the church was off-limits to photographs (though not video, weirdly enough!):
*
The palace itself has only recently been finished renovated:
The guide told us some story about the dragons on the cathedral, too, which you can read about here:
We headed back down the hill, past the Seminary (which he didn’t attend) and Pope John Paul II’s residence when he was still bishop in Krakow:
and then back into the Old Town, past the Market Square, to an old University College:
*
Then we walked back to the Market Square again, on the way to St Mary’s Basilica with its gorgeous interior (which I was able to photograph for the equivalent of about 3 Euro) and Altar Opening Ceremony performed by a nun:
Immediately afterwards, we stopped outside the Basilica to listen to the trumpeter who plays a cut-off (for historical reasons) tune at the full hour.
Then we were on our own time. I teamed up with Bridget and Frank again to have some lunch (anything but pea soup for Frank). I had the Polish Red Borsch with some sort of dumplings. It was very nice, though not filling. Bridget had a selection of soups, but I can’t remember what Frank had.
We then walked across to the Market Square, though some was closed off for filming. I photographed this statue again, because I really quite like it:
We checked out the Cloth Hall in the Market, so that Bridget could buy some trinkets for the family back home:
Back on the Square, the flower stalls were open already:
As we walked down Sienna Street back to the hotel, they were setting up a stage on the little square we’d walked past last night:
The afternoon was spent at the Wieliczka Salt Mine (the most expensive optional extra at USD 75, including the meal afterwards).
The mine doesn’t look like much above ground, but down below there are many kilometers of tunnels dug in the 700 years of its existence. Our guide, Anna, was very informative and quite humorous:
The grey stuff is all really old salt. The white stuff is fresher salt. Being a salt mine, of course everything is very well preserved and the equipment down there is original. They even brought horses down here to turn some cogs. The air down here is very healthy – they have a health resort in one section of the mine, for respiratory illnesses.
The miners created sculptures made of salt, as well as a whole cathedral with all its decorations including the chandeliers!
Naturally, there’s a statue of John Paul II as well:
There’s a few artificial lakes too:
and of course you can buy salt candles, which are supposed to be good for your health. Those for sale here are not made from the salt that is mined here, though, but from another salt-mine in Poland that has the amber coloured salt:
There’s another little chapel on the way out that is quite pretty:
It seemed to be the longest part of this tour was waiting for the lift to get back to the outside. You’d think they’d give people something to do here – documentaries to watch, or music to listen to or something to spend their money on, but no….
Anyway, after getting out of the mines, we headed across the road to meet up with Tamas for dinner. I don’t recall anything in particular about dinner. I should have photographed it! I did get to taste the mead though! It tasted a lot like sake, I thought.
And I finally got my early(ish) night – to work on my photos and blog, of course!
