Another morning, another train ride… this time to the town of Wieliczka, known for one of the world’s oldest salt mines, dating back to the 1200s. When I get off at my stop, however, it feels like a ghost town. Not a soul in sight, and the train station is completely boarded up: It does feel a little bit like …
Droga Królewska
As I’d mentioned before, there are several sightseeing routes in Krakow, and today I’ll show you a part of the Droga Królewska (the Royal Route) that I finally get to. This route has witnessed many coronation processions and parades and takes you from one end of the medieval town to the other, so it’s quite easy to get distracted and …
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Zapiekanka
The train ride back from Auschwitz is somber, but part of the deal with traveling is that you have to see the good with the bad. And sometimes the ugly is an important lesson. But anyway, by the time I get back to Krakow’s city center, dusk is quickly on my heels. I manage to get a couple of shots …
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Auschwitz-Birkenau
In January of 2009 I wrote about the concentration camp at Breendonk. It was an experience, for me, like no other. But I knew then that my treks across Europe would eventually lead me here, and with a little bit of mental preparedness I hop the train to OÅ›wiÄ™cim, a Polish city that was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939 …
Where Is That Tatanka!
One of Krakow’s most well-known citizens is the late Karol WojtyÅ‚a, or Pope John Paul II. His presence is still very palpable here… and I see more priests and nuns making their pilgrimage here than anywhere else outside of the Vatican… The churches here are open, as in most places (except Bratislava), and sometimes I even happen into a mass, …