Poland

Salt formation in the Wieliczka mine.

In Poland, I went to Warsow then to Krakow. The capital is not a bad place, but if you can go to only one city in Poland, head to Krakow. The old town is one of the best I have seen in Europe. When you're done with the city, you can go visit Auschwitz-Birkenau or the Wieliczka salt mine. They make perfect day trip from Krakow.

To go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, I went with a tour. It's easier since they organize the transport from/to Krakow and between the two sites. Plus, without some explanation of a guide you miss most of the interest of the place. The camps where bigger than I expected. The way they industrialized the slaughtering of people was horrifying. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a must see if you are in Poland.

I went to the Wieliczka salt mine with a mini-bus that left from the bus terminal right next to the train station. Once there, you buy a ticket and wait for the next group to enter the mine. You cannot go on your own, only guided tour. You can choose the language when you buy the ticket. Polish and English are the most frequent tours. If you want another language, you might need to wait longer. When you enter, you first take stairs to go down. It's a never ending, spiraling way down of 350 stairs. Once you reach the mine, you walk into tunnels and chambers made of salt and rocks. Some walls are nearly pure salt and light get diffused inside. It's a beautiful underworld.

Wieliczka. One of the many religious statue in the mine. They even have huge chapels underground.


Wieliczka.


Birkenau. Hearing the story of what happened there made me really gloomy and the fog didn't help.


Birkenau's entrance.


The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. A soviet gift to the people of Poland and the tallest building of the country.

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