central europe Archives - Purple Rosemary

This gallery is from Krakow, Poland. Krakow is the oldest and one of the largest cities in Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, making it an important economic hub in Europe. Historically, the city has been a leader in culture, the arts, and academia. I loved the market on the square in Old Town with its handmade goods, yummy food vendors, and beer readily available. As with most major European cities, you’ll find churches everywhere. Poland is 96% catholic, so they definitely like their cathedrals. In Old Town Krakow, you’ll find Wawel Castle. It was built by Casimir III the Great and has a very Italian feel. It has several different structures centered around a courtyard and combines medieval, renaissance, and baroque architectural styles.

At some point, I will probably do a blog about WWII and Nazi Germany and the way it changed the Polish landscape. We did visit the Jewish Ghetto, Schindler’s Factory, and Auschwitz while in Poland. I have many emotions related to those places and the massacres and atrocities that took place there. However, this gallery is about the city in its current state.

We visited the Wieliczka Salt Mine. They take you down 400 stairs to get in to the mine. My legs were a little like jelly when we reached the bottom. We did get to take an elevator back up. The tunnels themselves were lined with wood but there were quite a few alcoves and larger rooms which would have sculptures made from rock salt from the mine. There is a large cathedral like room with several sculptures of the Mary and Jesus (catholics, remember?). The salt finishes with a smooth glass and is translucent, so they would be backlit. All the chandeliers were made from rock salt. Also, our tour guide was a much older gentleman, possibly in his 70s or 80s and he outpaced us all. The salt does wonders for your health, I guess.