I'm beginning to think that internet in Budapest is undergoing a major crisis that will threaten to sink this country into greater depression if they do not fix this problem soon. I nearly lost my previous post because the macdonalds internet got cut off.... and now, I'm sitting in macdonalds but using an internet signal from the restaurant across the street... how much of a thief do I have to get just to do some surfing?
Anyhow.... as quickly as I can... Krakow... funny thing is that I had orginally arranged to fly to warsaw (which is where I booked my airplane tickets to), but 2 tickets prior my arrival, Anson (kiwi friend in Warsaw) comes to me with a preposition... that we go to Krakow for the weekend... I'm like laughing when I read his email... and sure ok.... he's the "polish expert" after all.... So I arrived in Warsaw on a friday morning, and in the late morning, we catch the train to Krakow. It's a 3 hour train trip to Krakow, which wasn't so bad.... But I got freaked out on our way to the train station in Warsaw, coz we bumped into those train conductors on our way there, and they had an issue with Anson and his public transport pass and wanted to fine him 86 Zlotys. Within just 3 hours of my arrival, there was Anson arguing with the inspectors in English and them replying back in Polish. It was like OMFG... what the hell is going on....and long story short, they refused to give back his pass and student card till he paid the fine.... so I had to wait with them and Anson's luggage while he went off looking for an ATM.... so.... what a way to start off the morning.... That was the first time, I acutely felt the disadvantages of staying in a foreign country where there is a very big language barrier between you and the local people. Cue to Amazing race when they went to poland... and one of the teams (anyone remember the short girl and her tall cousin when they couldn't get any help at all in poland coz everyone was ignoring them?)
Anyhow... the rest of the day went out pretty smoothly. One thing I experienced on Polish trains is that the intercity trains provide complimentary drinks and snacks. We got to choose between free water/juice/coffee/tea, and we all got a biscuit each.... We were chatting with this friendly postgrad polish student on the train and she told us about it.... I was like cool.....
View of the countryside en-route to Krakow
We were trying to buy our travel passes on the tram in Krakow and I was like, I do not understand a word of this! We were just guessing... and yes... all the locals were watching us on the train.... some tourist!
We were pretty strapped for time since this was a weekend thing. When we got to hostel it was already mid afternoon, and when we asked the hostel owner for advice, he actually wanted to sell us a tour to the salt mines and auschwitz... and tried to dissuade us from going to the salt mines saying it was too late. However, I had read in the guidebook on my way here that the salt mines were opened till 6, so we decided that we should try our luck, and we quickly took the bus there. Thankfully, we made it for the last english tour at 5pm, and even had time to walk around the place and laze for a while. The Wieliczka salt mines have the privilege of being named on the first Unesco world heritage list, and though it is a bit on the pricy side (49 zlotys concession price, and +10 zlotys if you wanna take pictures), definitely worth a visit. It is not only a man made wonder, it is even more famous for is salt stone sculptures... they even have a chapel completely carved out of salt....
Thanks to artificial conditioning, the temperature in the salt mines is at a constant temperature of 14 degree celcius throughout the year. So a jacket is definitely needed. If not for the artifical ventiliation, it would be very hot inside... as high up to 40 degrees and the air would be very stuffy...
128 steps down into the mine ( if I remember correctly). The staircases are pretty short, like 8 steps down everytime, so you can imagine everyone just walking down and round, down and round, down and round.... so easy to get dizzy.... and everyone kept wondering when are we ever going to get there!!!
Finally we reach... and the journey begins...
Lots of wood was needed and transported into the mines to act as support for the shafts/mines... in this mine there are over a million cubic metres of wood.. which a hell lot of it...
The first of the salt mine statues we saw. It was very dark, but this is apparently like green salt stone. It is not white... because this salt stone has not been filtered down and cleaned out to the salt that we see today in the supermarkets... later on, you will see a picture of the guide shining a light through the stone to show us that the translucent -ness of the salt stone.
I should know this guy because Anson told me about it, but I can't remember... sorry lah..
Ok history lesson time. These mines orginally belonged to a Hungarian king, who bestowed them on his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Polish royalty (again, I just want to emphasize, if I rem this correctly). The Hungarian princess Kinga was about to be married to the King of Krakow. As a gift for her beau, she asked for a salt mine, since salt was scarce in Poland. Her father provided a salt mine. She threw her ring in one of her father's salt mines before leaving for Poland. On arriving there, she asked the people to dig a deep pit. On digging, the people found salt and wrapped around a salt crystal was the princess's ring.
Princess Kinga has thus found a place in history as the guardian angel of miners in and around Krakow.
Cauliflower shaped salt crystals
Believe it or not, horses were brought all the way down to the salt mines to help transport the salt around and out of the mine. The last horse was only let out of the mine 7 years ago.... so they were pretty much used till only recently...how the horses got used to the heat, i really don't know.
Another important king of Poland, his face is on the 50 Zloty note
Going deeper down into the mine
Almost everything in this chapel is made from salt crystals... even the crystals on the chandeliers are made from salt crystals.. so imagine that...
Carvings out of salt rock... the detailing on the sculptures itself is very amazing...as this is a chapel... many blibical depictions... like the da vinci's "last supper" which I recognized almost immediately when I walked in. Miners were very religious people who prayed everyday... hence the reason for all these chapels/sculptures
Guide shining a light through the salt rock... to show us how translucent it actually us...
The crystals behind the virgin mary statue are salt crystals as well...
Pope John Paul II statue... the likeness is OMG... and btw, all these sculptures you're seeing now were done by miners, not professional artists.
In fact, all the sculptures were done by 3 miners... and you can see their names below inscriped on the plaque... 3!!!
Salt water is very dense... and the guide told us about how divers in this pool had to wear extra weights just so they could sink..
The height of the shaft... 80% of the mines were carved out by hand, explosives were only used till very much later... so it's pretty much a wonder in itself that the miners managed to created such bif/gigantic shafts by hand..
Today, as the mine is so famous, it is a popular landmark to hold functions. For example, the Miss World dinner was held here in the mines a couple of years ago... politicians/diplomats also meet here for dinner and fashion shows are held here occasionally as well.... too bad for the models if they drop into salt water... bleah...
Ok, the first part of Krakow has to end here... running out of battery on moi laptop.. and the signal is so unsteady... i don't want to risk any more than i have written so far... so two more days of pictures to show... when i have the time to pop back into macs... but this week is super busy fingers crossed.
Anyhow.... as quickly as I can... Krakow... funny thing is that I had orginally arranged to fly to warsaw (which is where I booked my airplane tickets to), but 2 tickets prior my arrival, Anson (kiwi friend in Warsaw) comes to me with a preposition... that we go to Krakow for the weekend... I'm like laughing when I read his email... and sure ok.... he's the "polish expert" after all.... So I arrived in Warsaw on a friday morning, and in the late morning, we catch the train to Krakow. It's a 3 hour train trip to Krakow, which wasn't so bad.... But I got freaked out on our way to the train station in Warsaw, coz we bumped into those train conductors on our way there, and they had an issue with Anson and his public transport pass and wanted to fine him 86 Zlotys. Within just 3 hours of my arrival, there was Anson arguing with the inspectors in English and them replying back in Polish. It was like OMFG... what the hell is going on....and long story short, they refused to give back his pass and student card till he paid the fine.... so I had to wait with them and Anson's luggage while he went off looking for an ATM.... so.... what a way to start off the morning.... That was the first time, I acutely felt the disadvantages of staying in a foreign country where there is a very big language barrier between you and the local people. Cue to Amazing race when they went to poland... and one of the teams (anyone remember the short girl and her tall cousin when they couldn't get any help at all in poland coz everyone was ignoring them?)
Anyhow... the rest of the day went out pretty smoothly. One thing I experienced on Polish trains is that the intercity trains provide complimentary drinks and snacks. We got to choose between free water/juice/coffee/tea, and we all got a biscuit each.... We were chatting with this friendly postgrad polish student on the train and she told us about it.... I was like cool.....
View of the countryside en-route to Krakow
We were trying to buy our travel passes on the tram in Krakow and I was like, I do not understand a word of this! We were just guessing... and yes... all the locals were watching us on the train.... some tourist!
We were pretty strapped for time since this was a weekend thing. When we got to hostel it was already mid afternoon, and when we asked the hostel owner for advice, he actually wanted to sell us a tour to the salt mines and auschwitz... and tried to dissuade us from going to the salt mines saying it was too late. However, I had read in the guidebook on my way here that the salt mines were opened till 6, so we decided that we should try our luck, and we quickly took the bus there. Thankfully, we made it for the last english tour at 5pm, and even had time to walk around the place and laze for a while. The Wieliczka salt mines have the privilege of being named on the first Unesco world heritage list, and though it is a bit on the pricy side (49 zlotys concession price, and +10 zlotys if you wanna take pictures), definitely worth a visit. It is not only a man made wonder, it is even more famous for is salt stone sculptures... they even have a chapel completely carved out of salt....
Thanks to artificial conditioning, the temperature in the salt mines is at a constant temperature of 14 degree celcius throughout the year. So a jacket is definitely needed. If not for the artifical ventiliation, it would be very hot inside... as high up to 40 degrees and the air would be very stuffy...
128 steps down into the mine ( if I remember correctly). The staircases are pretty short, like 8 steps down everytime, so you can imagine everyone just walking down and round, down and round, down and round.... so easy to get dizzy.... and everyone kept wondering when are we ever going to get there!!!
Finally we reach... and the journey begins...
Lots of wood was needed and transported into the mines to act as support for the shafts/mines... in this mine there are over a million cubic metres of wood.. which a hell lot of it...
The first of the salt mine statues we saw. It was very dark, but this is apparently like green salt stone. It is not white... because this salt stone has not been filtered down and cleaned out to the salt that we see today in the supermarkets... later on, you will see a picture of the guide shining a light through the stone to show us that the translucent -ness of the salt stone.
I should know this guy because Anson told me about it, but I can't remember... sorry lah..
Ok history lesson time. These mines orginally belonged to a Hungarian king, who bestowed them on his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Polish royalty (again, I just want to emphasize, if I rem this correctly). The Hungarian princess Kinga was about to be married to the King of Krakow. As a gift for her beau, she asked for a salt mine, since salt was scarce in Poland. Her father provided a salt mine. She threw her ring in one of her father's salt mines before leaving for Poland. On arriving there, she asked the people to dig a deep pit. On digging, the people found salt and wrapped around a salt crystal was the princess's ring.
Princess Kinga has thus found a place in history as the guardian angel of miners in and around Krakow.
Cauliflower shaped salt crystals
Believe it or not, horses were brought all the way down to the salt mines to help transport the salt around and out of the mine. The last horse was only let out of the mine 7 years ago.... so they were pretty much used till only recently...how the horses got used to the heat, i really don't know.
Another important king of Poland, his face is on the 50 Zloty note
Going deeper down into the mine
Almost everything in this chapel is made from salt crystals... even the crystals on the chandeliers are made from salt crystals.. so imagine that...
Carvings out of salt rock... the detailing on the sculptures itself is very amazing...as this is a chapel... many blibical depictions... like the da vinci's "last supper" which I recognized almost immediately when I walked in. Miners were very religious people who prayed everyday... hence the reason for all these chapels/sculptures
Guide shining a light through the salt rock... to show us how translucent it actually us...
The crystals behind the virgin mary statue are salt crystals as well...
Pope John Paul II statue... the likeness is OMG... and btw, all these sculptures you're seeing now were done by miners, not professional artists.
In fact, all the sculptures were done by 3 miners... and you can see their names below inscriped on the plaque... 3!!!
Salt water is very dense... and the guide told us about how divers in this pool had to wear extra weights just so they could sink..
The height of the shaft... 80% of the mines were carved out by hand, explosives were only used till very much later... so it's pretty much a wonder in itself that the miners managed to created such bif/gigantic shafts by hand..
Today, as the mine is so famous, it is a popular landmark to hold functions. For example, the Miss World dinner was held here in the mines a couple of years ago... politicians/diplomats also meet here for dinner and fashion shows are held here occasionally as well.... too bad for the models if they drop into salt water... bleah...
Ok, the first part of Krakow has to end here... running out of battery on moi laptop.. and the signal is so unsteady... i don't want to risk any more than i have written so far... so two more days of pictures to show... when i have the time to pop back into macs... but this week is super busy fingers crossed.