Krakow, Poland
Before I get into Krakow, can I say dear God, welcome back to America. The land of the free, home of the brave, and playground for overeaters.Moving on. Krakow was our next stop after Prague and after the bustling busy streets of tourist central, Krakow was a welcome break. It was quiet and manageable, without losing any of the charm you'd expect to see in the beautifully preserved old cultural capital of Poland. The food here was my favorite of all of the places that we went to and even though it was heavy on meat and potatoes (like ALL Eastern European food), it was delicious and CHEAP. I never expected to be so well-fed for something like 3 bucks. I need to find me some of these yummy recipes. The dish I remember most vividly: pierogi. The pierogi ruskie is to die for. Yum.
Now, on to the photos!
The imposing outer city walls. If you were invading Krakow, this is the view that would greet you.
The main square. At 200m by 200m, this is the largest city square in all of Europe. To the left you see the gorgeous gothic Basilica of the Virgin Mary and to the right, the Cloth Hall (apparently the world's oldest "shopping mall").
The fantastic Wawel Castle. Funny/interesting story: despite the fact that Poland is like 98% Catholic, there lurks in Wawel Castle, what would be considered an abomination to the devoutly Christian folks. As according to Hindu belief, there are seven chakra points on the planet and one of them just happens to be in the basement of Wawel palace. To deter believers, the Wawel authorities have cleverly covered the exact location with informational sign boards so that no one can actually stand above the chakra stone.
The palace cathedral. The reason why you can't see the actual cathedral is that over time, many of the kings have requested additional chapels to be built in their name, eventually obscuring the cathedral walls.
Krakow (like every other city in the world) was full of pigeons. This one stood out because it has a ring of bread around its neck. It can't reach the bread on its own, and if other pigeons come to try and eat the bread, this pigeon runs away in a flurry of flapping wings and feathers. I guess it's doomed to bear its burden until it rots off. Poor pigeon. Poor, fuuny pigeon.
Wieliczka Salt Mine. This salt mine is hundreds of years old and completely carved out by hand. It has over 200km of passages and thousands of rooms. This room is the chapel, hewn out by the efforts of three men who spent like 50 years doing it. The walls, ceiling, and floor are all rock salt. There are rooms large enough that people can bungee jump from the ceiling (there are a couple of crazy guys who did just this and they now hold the world record for the first and only underground bungee jump).
Auchswitz and Birkenau. Eastern Europe has had a tumultuous history and every city we went to bore the scars of Nazi occupation and Communist rule. Considering its recent history, Eastern Europe has done an amazing job of picking up and moving on, and while many must still remember the oppression of years past, it seems as though most of the people are optimistic about the future.
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