The next morning we set off to explore more of the Krakow city and started with Wawel castle. On top of Wawel Hill (the hill with the castle on it) we got to wander around the small but nice gardens and to admire the exterior of the buildings. We then decided that we should see the interior of some of the buildings so after reading about all of them (and seeing what was open) we decided that the only part that really interested us was the Wawel Cathedral which was absolutely magnificent inside. Other than being just a place of worship and the coronation place of the Polish royalty there were the royal tombs and a magnificent bell tower containing several huge bells. After touring the Cathedral we decided that we had seen enough of Wawel Hill and returned down to a nearby park where we got to enjoy our small picnic lunch. After lunch we walked along the river front for a bit towards Kazimierz which was the Jewish quarter during WWII. In Kazimierz we wandered around the area looking into a few of the synagogues which had been turned into small museums or galleries and at the slightly different architecture. The last place that we visited in Kazimierz was the Old Synagogue which is now the Jewish Museum and has a great exhibition on Jewish customs and traditions. After visiting the Jewish Quarter we made our way across the river, after a short break, to find Schindler's Factory, the factory that was owned by the person portrayed in Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List. The building was fairly plain and at this point there wasn't any reason to really visit it as they were in the process of turning it into a museum but it wouldn't be completed until 2010. After Schindler's Factory we wandered around another Jewish camp from WWII before making our way to a nice park nearby where we spent the last bit of the afternoon before returning to the hostel. Once at the hostel we enjoyed another home cooked meal and spent the rest of the evening just relaxing at the hostel and watching some TV and movies.
The following morning we got up and made our way to the bus station where we quickly hopped on a bus bound for Auschwitz to see the Nazi concentration camps. We arrived at the Auschwitz camp just in time to catch one of the mandatory tours and so after only a short delay we were off. The tour took us through several of the remaining buildings, as the Nazis weren't able to destroy all of them when they fled, and had very moving displays about what happened to prisoners at the camps and how they were treated. There were lots of displays showing from how far away Jews were shipped to Auschwitz to be part of the camps and lots of piles showing all the stuff that had been confiscated from them such as shoes, suitcases, eyeglasses, and even their hair after it was shaved off. One interesting fact was that the highest concentration of survivors had worked in one area of the camp called the Canadian Factory which was the place where all the new arrivals luggage was sorted. It was called the Canadian Factory because it was the best job available to them and to them Canada was the promise land. After touring around Auschwitz we caught the shuttle bus over to Birkenau, a second and even larger concentration camp in the area. When we arrived at Birkenau we were pleased to find that we were the only 4 from our tour group to arrive so we got a private tour through the camp. Most of the buildings at Birkenau had been destroyed as they were mostly made from wood, but of the few remaining we got to see the buildings where prisoners lived and how they were absolutely crammed into the buildings. We also got to see an exact replica of the gas chambers where hundreds of thousands of people were killed. After getting a tour around Birkenau we caught the bus back to Krakow where we returned to our hostel and spent the evening relaxing in the common room watching movies and eating dinner.
Our last morning in Krakow we got up and packed our bags before heading off to check out the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine. Arriving at the salt mine we quickly made our way to the entrance and signed up for a tour of the Unesco World Heritage Listed mine. The mine was quite fascinating and was mined right up until the mid 20th century. Inside the mine is a labyrinth of pits, chambers and tunnels with everything inside these being hewn right from the rock salt. There were tons of statues in different rooms depicting scenes of miners and other statues of famous people who had visited the mine with each statue being carved by old miners during their breaks. The highlight of the mine though would have to be the huge Chapel of the Blessed Knight, one of several chapels carved into the mine, where everything was again carved out of salt including the chandeliers and all of the alters over a 30 year period. After our tour of the salt mine we got back on a bus and made our way back to our hostel where we grabbed our bags and made our way to the bus station. Arriving at the bus station we quickly got on a bus bound for Zakopane where we planned to spend the next few days doing some hiking in the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains.
A picture of the Wawel Cathedral from the castle grounds on Wawel Hill.
At the base of Wawel Hill there was a cool statue of a dragon that if you sent a text message to him he would breath fire.
Looking down between two barbed wire fences where guards would patrol to keep the Jews under control.
Looking down the train tracks where prisoners would have to depart the train in Birkenau. In the distance is the main gateway to the site where everyone had to enter through.
Looking down one of the roadways in the Birkenau camp surrounded with huge barbwire fences.
Standing in a guard tower overlooking the Birkenau camp so that you can see the enormous size of it.
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