Early morning flights are not the best way to start a holiday. Sleeping in so that you have to make a mad dash to the bus to make sure you catch your plane at 3am in the morning is also not the best
way to start a holiday, however on our trip to Poland this is what happened.
We headed up to the castle which overlooks the town and it filled with museums and the famous dragon's lair. The story goes that there was a dragon living under the castle and is now Krakow's city symbol. We went to have a look and were suitably unimpressed with the lair which consists with a series of small caves under the castle.
We then went to have some traditional Polish food for lunch and try their pretzels (which are not very nice) but lunch was good and set us up for our afternoon in the salt mines.
We made it in one piece and found our way to the salt mine where we had a great tour around under the ground in some of the 300km of tunnels. The place is pretty amazing with numerous caverns carved out by the miners in their spare time. There are hundreds of statues and chapels in the mine and tourism has also added demand for a conference centre, restaurant and museum. There are natural rivers and lakes as well as forests full of timber to support the roofs.
It was a beautiful place to visit and we where really glad we went to see it. We walked out of the mine and realised that we didn't know how to get home. Luckly along with another couple of Austrailans and a New Zealander we found a bus (which was not so crowded) to get back into Krakow.
That night we had dinner at a traditional resturant which Mark (the New Zealander who we met on the bus) suggested. It was fantastic and really cheap.
The next day we
arranged to meet Mark to head to Auschwitz or Oswiecim which is the Polish name. We picked up some snacks and headed to the bus which was a lot bigger although just as old and a lot more bumpy than the last bus we went on. We took a guided tour around the camps which was very good. Both Scott and I found it a good experience however it felt
santised to us. We meet a Polish guy who had had relavtives in the camp and it was interesting talking to him and his experience in the place compared to ours.
After a lunch of traditional dumplings, we headed over the to communist area of the town. When Poland was part of the Soviet Union they built a whole new town outside the borders of the old one. It is very different fro
m the old town. Everything appears to be done on a grand scale. We had great fun plying in the autumn leaves in and around the parks. Afterwards we went back into the centre of town and rested at the hostel before we caught the train to head home.
way to start a holiday, however on our trip to Poland this is what happened.We made the plane and flew to Krakow Poland. The 2hr flight was pretty good and we managed to get some sleep. We arrived a little tired but it was soon brushed away by the freezing temperatures of Poland.
I have NEVER been so cold in my life.....
Even thought it was cold it was a beautiful sunny day and barley a cloud in the sky. We dumped out belongings and headed out into the city to explore. Krakow is beautiful. The city is amazing you can walk everywhere and everything is clean and looks fresh. We took a trip past the churches into the market square which is the largest in Europe and has hudrededs of pigeons to go with it... There were horses an
d carriages and market stalls set up throughout the square.
d carriages and market stalls set up throughout the square. 
We headed up to the castle which overlooks the town and it filled with museums and the famous dragon's lair. The story goes that there was a dragon living under the castle and is now Krakow's city symbol. We went to have a look and were suitably unimpressed with the lair which consists with a series of small caves under the castle.
We then went to have some traditional Polish food for lunch and try their pretzels (which are not very nice) but lunch was good and set us up for our afternoon in the salt mines.
Our trip to the salt mines was very memorable we went on a small, very old local bus which would have seated about 16. The trip started by me getting told off by the driver because I was last on and didn't close the door. We had to stand the whole way which was about 30min trip and would not have been bad however we seemed to keep picking up more and 
more passengers even though the bus was full. We estimate we had about 35 people on the bus and we were jammed packed in like sardines. It was worse than the London tube!!!
more passengers even though the bus was full. We estimate we had about 35 people on the bus and we were jammed packed in like sardines. It was worse than the London tube!!!We made it in one piece and found our way to the salt mine where we had a great tour around under the ground in some of the 300km of tunnels. The place is pretty amazing with numerous caverns carved out by the miners in their spare time. There are hundreds of statues and chapels in the mine and tourism has also added demand for a conference centre, restaurant and museum. There are natural rivers and lakes as well as forests full of timber to support the roofs.
It was a beautiful place to visit and we where really glad we went to see it. We walked out of the mine and realised that we didn't know how to get home. Luckly along with another couple of Austrailans and a New Zealander we found a bus (which was not so crowded) to get back into Krakow.
That night we had dinner at a traditional resturant which Mark (the New Zealander who we met on the bus) suggested. It was fantastic and really cheap.
The next day we
arranged to meet Mark to head to Auschwitz or Oswiecim which is the Polish name. We picked up some snacks and headed to the bus which was a lot bigger although just as old and a lot more bumpy than the last bus we went on. We took a guided tour around the camps which was very good. Both Scott and I found it a good experience however it felt
santised to us. We meet a Polish guy who had had relavtives in the camp and it was interesting talking to him and his experience in the place compared to ours.We ended up taking a taxi back to Krakow as the bus did not appear to be coming which our polish speaking friend arranged. That night we had dinner and a few drinks in the Jewish Quater of the town and is a bit more artsy than the town centre. 
On our final day Krakow we went off to explore the further reaches of the town. We went to climbed up Kosciuszko Mound on the way up we got to see some fantastic autum colour as they was an amazing avenue of trees along the road up to the mound. However somewhere along the road we took a wrong turn and ended up walking along the ridge of some hills and through a really nice forest and ended up in the back streets of Krakow and it took us a little while to find out way back into town. We ended up catching a bus because it was getting to tiring to walk.
After a lunch of traditional dumplings, we headed over the to communist area of the town. When Poland was part of the Soviet Union they built a whole new town outside the borders of the old one. It is very different fro
m the old town. Everything appears to be done on a grand scale. We had great fun plying in the autumn leaves in and around the parks. Afterwards we went back into the centre of town and rested at the hostel before we caught the train to head home.
