Krakow.

I arrived in Krakow a couple of days ago. The overnight train wasn't too bad. It was a train with compartments and there was only one other person in my compartment, which meant we had 3 seats each and could lay down. When I got to Kraków I was able to check into the hostel early so I went to sleep for a good portion of the day.

The afternoon I arrived I made plans for beyond Poland then went for a wander around the main square. Krakow is a bustling town. The square is in the centre with streets around that. I'm staying in one of those offshoot streets. Then there is a park that completely encircles the streets and acts as a buffer and pedestrian zone before the rest of the city.

I met up with the Dutch guys I went to the bone church with and yesterday we went to visit the salt mine. It was one of the most expensive sights I've been to (almost 20 euros) but probably one of the best. I really didn't expect to enjoy a salt mine.

It is a 700 year old mine that only ceased operating as a mine in 1997. They still produce a small amount of salt to sell to tourists but that is more of a by product of keeping the mine water free rather than an intentional production.

In the past, when salt was important as a food preservative, it was worth as much as silver. So this salt mine was responsible for a third of Poland's treasury. It is 325 metres deep, which isn't particularly deep for a mine, but it is huge in size, running for 7km in length with hundreds of kilometres of tunnels and thousands of separate chambers.

It wasn't like they were digging through soil and rock to find salt deposits. They were digging through salt rock to find better salt rock. Because salt is translucent it has a dark grey, almost black appearance in rock form. But our guide took his torch and placed it against the floor. Rather than blocking the light the floor glowed as the light scattered through the salt crystals. It was a really cool effect.

Different chambers of the section of mine we saw had sculptures carved out of the salt rock. These were really cool and somewhat eerie so deep under the ground. There was a statue of Copernicus. Polish people are very proud of Copernicus as he "stopped the sun and moved the earth". He is the guy that worked out the earth revolves around the sun and not around Kanye West as was previously believed.

There were other statues of various scenes and historical figures. One of the king who gave the mine workers extra rights and privileges a few hundred years ago. One in ten mine workers died from injuries sustained in the mine so the king wanted to show how appreciated they were. Pretty much the opposite of every government ever. The most dangerous job was the methane crawlers. Whenever they wanted to shift to a new chamber they would have to crawl in first with a big stick burning on one end. They'd run the flame around the roof of the mine where the methane pockets collect and try to burn it away. Sometimes they'd fail and their would be an explosion. One fire that started took 8 months for them to put out.

The highlight of the tour was one of the underground chapels. There were a lot of chapels as praying was the primary safety precaution taken by the miners. This particular chapel was spectacular. Everything was carved from salt, including the chandeliers. Some of the statues were backlit, causing them to glow. The floor had lines carved into it to give the appearance of individual blocks. It was just breathtaking.

One last weird titbit. Because of the size of the chambers and the depth, a lot of people use the mine to break world records. The record for lowest hot air balloon flight happened there. Also for lowest windsurfing. There was one other one but I forget what it was.

Last night I went to a craft beer place with the Dutch blokes. They are right into their specialty beers. Timmy runs a very popular craft beer pub/restaurant in Amsterdam that he assures me is world renowned. I can't remember the name though. I tried a few with them and they ranged from decent to hideously disgusting. Some of them were like dirty dish water while others were more like lemon scented cleaning fluid.

Timmy reminded me of something I'd completely forgotten that happened the night before. We went out to a pub and I was sitting with some lovely ladies. Then Tim and Ganush (not his real name) went to the bar and when they came back a few minutes later these girls were clearly pissed off (I remember that they eventually hated me but couldn't remember why).  Apparently I'd asked where they were from and they said Ukraine and I corrected them by saying "you mean Russia?". They DID NOT like that.