Krakow: now the hard bit's over...

06/08/09 11:52PM

looking back over the last couple of days it seems like i got a lot packed into my first day in Krakow, while the rest was pretty cruisy. i guess this is partly true. sometimes that's just the way it works. it didn't seem like that the morning after Auschwicz when an impatient bus driver somehow mistook the words "Salt" and "Mine" for "Auschwicz" and nearly took me to the wrong bloody place, then seemed to blame me for the mistake when the ticket i'd handed him specifically said "Salt" fucking "Mine". still, i got the the right place in the end. i was vaguely curious about going to check it out after memories of The Grey Man mentioning it sometime back before time began, so when the folks i booked Auschwicz with had it as a package option with a small discount i thought why not? and paid the extra.

the Salt Mines near Krakow have the distinction of being the best preserved salt mines in the world, consisting of 240km worth of cut out of the rock over 700 years of active use, of which you get to explore 2.4km. it's pretty kooky in there - over time these people got a bit creative so in and amongst the examples of the old working conditions and tools there are Salt Sculptures - incredibly delicate sculptures that would dissolve if people touched them (i had to yell at a group of Americans who couldn't quite grasp the point of Don't Fucking Touch) carved whole from the rock. then things get REALLY odd. see, the Poles are about as Catholic as they come, so there's not just a chapel down there, but also a church at a depth of 100metres, entirely cut from the rock - the steps, the high roof, all carved out. there are frescos in the walls 12 inches deep with almost perfect prespective (the Last Supper is really impressive), a chandelier where every crystal is clear salt, and altar and a life-sized statue of Pope John Paul II (the Polish one). it's really, completely and totally unreal and OTT, but there you have it. alledgedly the world's deepest church. none of the mines are natural, either. it's all been cut by man, following the seam of salt that made the region rich, and that's what it's all about. Krakow had Salt, and when Salt was as valauble as Gold that meant a lot. the word "salary"? yeah, that comes from the word "salt". you've gotta love the kooky, interesting shit you... actually already knew when you got there in the first place.

it was an interesting morning. not the most exciting tourist attraction i've ever seen, but interesting and entertaining nonetheless and by 2PM i'd been dropped back at the hostel and was out on the street exploring again... in arelaxed sort of way. the nice thing about going somewhere for one specific thing is that anything else you see and/or do is a bonus, the result of which is that i basically spent the next day and a half cruising with no particular agenda - just pick a spot on the map, walk to it, see what's there, wash, rinse, repeat. i wandered into the New Jewish Cemetery (i couldn't find the gate to the old one which i've heard was entirely exhumed by the Nazis apart from one grave which they were told was haunted. cemetery? HAUNTED?!? where do i sign up?) - a quiet, shady, walled off city block just off the old Ghetto. even on a bright, sunny day it was dark and cool in there with graves packed in tighter London Unerground passengers at peak hour. it was kinda nice, but i didn't linger. i like cemeteries... i just don't stay too long.

speaking of cemeteries, do you have any idea how many fucking priests, monks and nuns there are in Krakow? or, for that matter, how many memorials and exhibitions there are dedicated to Pope John Paul II? i couldn't turn the corner without tripping over someone else in a habit of some description. the thing you don't realise unless you've a) researched these things or b) been there is that Krakow is where JP2 grew up, served as a priest, then a bishop and a cardinal. Krakow's his old stomping ground and they're seriously proud of it... although the cynic in me wonders how much of that's got to do with the number of Catholics who like to go on Pilgrimage to places like "Where the most beloved Pope in the last several hundred years grew up and got his Holy on". hell - people still love JP2. at least he wasn't a member of the Hitler Youth like Benedict the Whateverth.

meanwhile, i circumnavigated the castle one one day and actually went in on the next (don't bother - just head in, see the free stuff and get out), finding the Dragon Sculpture that flares up semi-regularly from a hidden gas burner. i walked up and down random streets, drinking coffee in random cafes and eating in random fast food joints. i basically got in as much as i could without stressing myself too much. i spent my second evening drinking with Lucas from Chicago, upsetting the old woman who lived next door to the hostel by getting loud outside late at night discussing modern post-religious morality and ethics (i went to see if he wanted to come for a wander the next day but he was dead to the world. i think i broke him). i took the opportunity to sleep in until 9AM (luxury!) and i absolutely, point-blankly refused to stress or hurry. it was around 4 that i got back to the Hostel and got settled in for the next few hours. i was on the night train again so i had hours to kill, but i'd checked out of the hostel and left my pack in the bag room for the day and being the nice folk they are they had no problem with me hanging around for the evening until it was time for me to skidaddle off for my train to Prague which meant that i got to cruise the net and eat popcorn while watching the evening's movie: Forest Gump.

i'm sorry i sound a little blah about Krakow... i really enjoyed it, but in a pleasant, relaxed sort of way. i'm finding that the more smaller, unassuming, quieter cities and towns are the more i like them, and the more i need to include them in between the big stops. sure, i was a little down in Bruges, but i needed it after Paris, and after flying around Berlin like a mad thing i needed Krakow. it's a really sweet little town with the added benefit that it's in the "cheap and cheerful" Polish way with just the right amount of charm that shows that they're not just putting it on.

of course, now i'm in Prague... and... well Prague's a whole other story entirely!
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