Sunday 22nd March 2015:
Due to the route of the tour, we leave Austria to head back through Czech Republic, bound for Poland. The first city that neither of us have ever been to, we also benefited from a hotel upgrade at the Ibis Budget.
Prior to arriving at the hotel, we went deep underground into the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which also houses a huge, stunning chapel 101m underground. Our tour lasted for approximately 3 hours taking us 135m deep, yet in that time we saw only 1% of the entire mines 327m depth, with shafts meandering for 300 kilometres.
We ended the evening wandering into Europe's largest medieval town square, and saw the trumpeter who plays from the window of St. Mary's Basilica every hour. It was also the city where being abroad finally felt real. At McDonald's, we were handed apple pies, and given an entire spiel in Polish. Met with a blank expression from Brendan, the employee translated it to "be careful, they are hot".
The next day, we made the journey to Auchwitz, located about an hour out of the city centre. This was the largest concentration camp from the holocaust running from 1940-44. It was chilling and surreal to be standing in the grounds where an estimated 1.3 million people were "liquidated", and to walk through the gates ironically inscribed with "work sets you free".
Highlights:
- Wieliczka Salt Mine, with huge chapel 101m underground
- Europe's largest medieval town square, UNESCO World Heritage listed
- Wawel castle and dragon
- Cloth Hall, historically a major international trade centre
- Auchwitz
- Ate and made pierogi, a Polish style of dumpling
- Drank vodka with apple juice
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