6 weeks around Europe

My last day in Krakow then the night train to Budapest,so I spent the day doing more sight seeing around the old town before leaving for the station. As explained in a previous blog, Krakow Old Town street level over the centuaries has risen, this is due to the amount of rubbish, effluence and general detritus accumulated over the years.  Rather than clear it up a new layer of cobbles would be put over the rubbish to form a new road surface.  Hence, slowly the street/road levels rose. This was discovered when the were doing some work to the main square and discovered the remains of buildings, houses shops etc at a lower level and could see by the cross sections in the earth evidence of the various street levels. In order that this archeology wasn’t lost they dug it out and preserved it by laying a new surface over the top but allow for access to the history below.  This is now a museum and is access under the Cloth Hall. Caught a cab to the station ...

I was going to do day 11 as one post but after completing the blog on Auschwitz I felt that it deserved its own page.  So, the remainder of day 11 was spent at the Salt Mines. Salt was a very important commodity in the 13th centenary and was hugely expensive.  So finding salt near Krakow led to Krakow becoming a key trading centre and a very wealthy town.   As with most events in Poland there is a legend attached to the finding of salt here. A Hungarian princess, Kinga, was about to be married to the King of Krakow.  As a gift she asked her father for a salt mine.  She threw her ring in one of her fathers salt mines before leaving for Poland and when she arrived she asked the people to dig a pit, they did and found salt; wrapped around the first salt crystal was Kinga’s ring. The mine itself is full of sculptures (in salt) and are worth seeing.  The most beautiful being the Cathedral chambers which has freezes carved from the salt, statues (includin...

Day 9 was once again very much a travel day.  I arrived in Krakow middle of the afternoon and the station is quite close to the old town so it was a short 10 minute walk to the place where I was staying.  I just have to describe this to you as it isn’t a place that you would immediately want to stay looking from the outside.  It looks like a run-down dosshouse.  I was following my google maps and walked past it twice trying to work out where it was - even asked at the burger bar which was directly opposite and they didn’t know of it.  So, entering a very seedy doorway (not helped with building work going on next door and scaffolding blocking the way), through a dark passage and it opens onto a small court yard with pot plants, patio tables and chairs and door at the far end.  Entering it was like going into a replica of a Brazilian cafe in the fifties - very South American, you get the type of picture I’m painting.   I expected Bogart to come out and g...

Auschwitz is about and hour and half outside Krakow near the village Oswiecim but a visit which should be on any tourists agenda.  It’s not pleasant and definitely can’t say it was enjoyable but most definitely memorable and will be inprinted on my memory for many years.  Words cannot describe the sheer horror, pain and terror both of these camps inflicted on people the Germans thought were inferior to the Arian race and therefore a blight to humanity. Auschwitz was built first using mostly the bricks taken from the houses in 6 surrounding villages which were cleared to accomodate the camps and the rubber factory that most of the prisoners were expected to work in as slave labour, even though they had malnutrition, dysentery, lice and all other sorts of illnesses.  Once they were to weak to work they were dispatched to the gas chambers.  Of the million plus sent to these camps only 200 escaped and only 5% of the total amount sent here were liberated in 1945. Most...