For Zoe and I, it was another early wake-up call at 5am. I slept much better, though, as we had asked for a couple of blankets to keep us warm during the night.
We were the first jeep at the park, so we had a wander around and took a few photos. At the entrance to the park is an old Buddha statue which was found in the park around 2000 years ago.
There was also a swing with some angel wings, so we took some photos there, too.
Almost as soon as we got in the park, we saw a male peacock displaying his tail!
Shortly after that, we saw an Indian star tortoise. This is one of the most symmetrical animals in the world.
And then something amazing happened – a sloth bear was walking righting in front of our jeep. He was just slowly ambling along without any worries. You could really see his claws and hear him snuffle out the grubs and seeds. They have padded and webbed feet, and they can close off their nostrils when they are searching through the sand. They make a snuffle sound as they blow the sand off the food they are about to eat. They can live for around 29-35 years.
I did take quite a lot of photos as it is really rare to get that close to a sloth bear.
After watching the sloth bear, named Grylls, for quite a while, we decided to move on. We spotted a green bee eater and stopped to take some photos.
We drove back to the middle of the park to the villus to try and spot the leopard.
We didn’t see a leopard but we did see some more spotted deer.
And then we got the information we wanted to hear. There was a leopard sighting not too far from where we were, along the main road. So we quickly headed back down there.
The park has around 250-300 leopards living in it, but only 14% of the park is accessible to the public. The male leopards have around a 16km² area as their territory. Once leopards are around 4 years old, they go off on their own, and this is also around the age when they start having cubs. It is hard to tell when the females are pregnant as they don’t have a baby bump as this would make it difficult for them to hunt. Gestation is around 90 – 100 days, and the mother needs to eat before giving birth. It has been known that if the mother is hungry when she gives birth, she may eat one of the cubs. A leopard can have up to 6 cubs, but the average is 2-3 per litter.Leopards can swim, but it is not something they do very often. They lick themselves to try and hide their scent and not just for cleaning purposes.
The leopard we saw was an 8 month old female, and when we first saw her, she was quite high up in a tree. We waited a while, and eventually, she made her way back down onto the ground. My photos were not particularly clear, but Malmi took some really good ones. We used the binoculars to see her close-up.
That was the best bit for me.
We drove down the road a little bit to have some breakfast and to let other people in jeeps to see what was going on.
In 1987 the entrance to the park was moved from whete it used to be (a bit further in) to whete it is now, to improve the security levels. As part of the Srilankan civil war, terrorists got into the park and shot around 26 people.
Sri Lanka used to be part of the British Empire from 1815 to 1948, when they gained independence. However, from 1983 to 2009, there was a civil war in Sri Lanka. After they gained independence, Sinhalese was recognised as the sole official language of the nation. The Tamil Tigers wanted to create an independent Tamil state in the northeast of the country. It is estimated 80,000 – 100,000 people died over the 26 years of civil war.
As we came out of the park, we saw another hornbill.
When we got back, we showed Mandy and Karen our photos, had a quick shower, and packed up the last bits. It has been an amazing experience with Leopard Trails.
Alam, our driver, came to pick us up at 11 am, and we set off for Anuradhapura. This used to be the capital city of Sri Lanka, and it is a very spiritual area as well as a world heritage site. The founding of the city was in 437 BCEB but it has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement on the island for almost three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Asia
Alam dropped us off at the biggest stupa / dagobas known as Thuparama vihara. This is the largest brick structure in the city. All dagobas contain the remains of a sacred person that the Buddhists pray to, and this one is believed to contain the collarbone of the Buddha. It is also the earliest documented buddhist temple. It is 59ft tall and was built in the 3rd century BC. While we were there, it was being painted, which was quite fascinating to watch in itself. The paint went on blue but dried to white.
We walked around the dagobas, it is not something you can go inside. There was a sanctum that we did go inside. This contains the five statues of Lord Samma Sambuddha.
Our next stop was the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi. This is believed to be a tree grown from a cutting of the southern branch from the historical sacred bo tree, Sri Maha Buddha, under which Buddha obtained enlightenment. At more than 2,300 years old, it is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date.
The tree is situated on a high terrace, about 6.5 meters above the ground, and surrounded by 4 other lower-level terraces with Bo trees called “Parivara Bodhi” planted for its protection.
As it was a sacred site, we had to take our shoes off, and the ground was really hot, so we quickly walked from one shady area to another.
And then it was back to the car for another 2 hour journey to our accommodation on Uppuveli Beach in Trincomalee. In one area, we saw loads of bats in the trees, there were 100s of them.
We left our bags in the room, changed into our beachwear, and headed down to the beach, which is literally a couple of minutes walk away.
We went for a paddle in the water, which was really warm. There were a lot of stray dogs on the beach, but the majority of them looked ok and pretty well fed.
And then it was time for a beer and bar snacks.
Once we had relaxed for a little while, we went for a wander down the beach, passing a small church on the way.
We found another little bar and stopped for a bear and used their facilities.
On the way back, the sun was just starting to set. Some of the local fishermen were taking in their nets.
We decided to have dinner at the Cafe on the eighteen, which was just down from our hotel. I had a tuna poki bowl and it was delicious
We stayed down by the beach for a while before heading to bed.
It was a very early start with our alarms going off at 4:45 in the morning. The ‘tent’ we were staying in was air conditioned and the unit was quite close to my bed so in the early hours of the morning, both Zoe and I woke up because we were too cold. I didn’t really get back to sleep after that as I couldn’t get warm.
We had coffee and tea delivered to our tent at 5am to help us wake up.
At 5:30am we were on the jeep and headed towards the park and it was already much lighter.
At the entrance, we had a quick look around the small museum, which had quite a bit of information about various animals and birds in the park. It had a stuffed leopard, which was a young male, most likely killed by an adult male for wandering into his territory.
They also had a Dugong, which are the largest herbivorous marine mammals in the world. I had never heard of this mammal before.
We paid a quick visit to the toilet where we saw a little frog.
And then, at 6am, it was time to go into the park. We were the second Jeep going in.
The forest / jungle is actually a secondary forest as earlier on there had been human inhabitants.
As you drive into the park, you can smell something like marujana, which is actually water hyacinth.
The first thing we saw were the peacocks. The blue colour you see on their bodies is actually light refraction on keratin, which is why it shimmers and changes colour.
Next was a herd of water buffalo crossing the road in front of our jeep.
We then got news of a leopard sighting by a watering hole, but unfortunately, when we got there, he had disappeared into the undergrowth. But there was a little emerald dove by the water, and we also saw a black naped monarch dive plunge into the pool.
There are a lot of twisted trees in the park, and the phenomenon is known as spiral brain. The sapling trees start to twist around each other to make themselves stronger. When the outer and inner bark separate, this is known as spinal snap. A lot of the trees look very red. This is because the tree produces sap and the red dust from the road sticks to it.
As we were spending the whole day in the park, we made our way into the centre part, which is a good 90 minute drive from the entrance. The jeeps are only allowed to go a maximum of 25km/ hrs in the park – most of the time this isn’t possible anyway, especially as the paths get really narrow.
Within the park, there are around 40 -50 villus. These are natural sand rimmed water basins that fill with rain water. Some of them are freshwater, but others are very salty. They range from 300m to 2km in diameter.
We saw some elephant tracks on the side of the road. If you take the diameter of the front foot and times it by 2.5, this is the height of the elephant from the floor to its shoulder.
And then a peacock decided to show off and give us a colourful display.
There were a few red rattled lapwing around, but they move quite quickly, so it was hard to get a photo of them. We also saw a little grebe in the water.
On the ground, we saw a crocodile track. When the crocodiles walk, they tend to walk a few steps and then take a little break, but they can easily walk 2-3km.
The next tracks we saw were leopard tracks with bear tracks on top, but they were a few hours old.
One of the trees that is quite common in the central area of the park is the red beech tree. The red leaves are a result of anticholinergic pigmentation. To a lot of animals, the red leaves look like dead leaves, so they don’t eat them.
We moved on to another area known as the lotus pond to try and pick up a phone signal to get some information from other guides. The water looks salty, but it is actually very high in mineral content. Because of this, the trees can’t survive, and they die.
Here, we saw a grey heron and a small egret, as well as a cormorant drying its wings.
We didn’t find out any useful information, so we drove round a few more paths in the search for a leopard.
After a while, we reached the rest place, so we decided to get out and stretch our legs.
We walked to the viewing point area and looked out over another large villus.
In the water, we could see a couple of crocodiles, and then one came up onto the land. This species of crocodile is 240 million years old. The spines on its back are all hollow bones, and the warm blood comes up theses and cools down.
Some of the trees around the villus are kumbuk trees. People believe that this tree can cure heart disease. The roots go down into the water and deionise it. In Theravada Buddhism, kumbuk is said to have been used as the tree for achieved enlightenment,or Bodhi by the tenth Buddha.
After our break, we headed to another villus. In the dry season, this whole area completely dries up apart from a very small watering hole.
Throughout the jungle, there are loads of termite mounds, and some of them are huge. The termite queen can actually live for 35 years.
We passed some more spotted deer, and then we saw another medicinal tree known as the ‘birthing tree’. The bark of this tree is stripped off and used to clean the room in which a mother will give birth. The bark is left in the room for around a week, and the essential oils detoxify the environment.
We drove to another villus known as the Kumutu villus, or water-lily lake, and there was a great egret there.
As we drove along, we saw some grey langur monkeys in the trees. They’ve got really black faces and you almost can’t see their eyes.
The next thing we spotted was a land monitor climbing up a tree. They either climb the tree to get more sun and warm up or to raid a birds nest.
On the tree was a black termite mound. These are the only processional termites found in Sri Lanka, i.e., they walk in a line like ants.
And then it was time for lunch, we had already had breakfast in the Jeep earlier in the day. For lunch, we went back to the rest place so we could get out and stretch our legs. Lunch was another delicious mixture of traditional dishes – dahl, aubergine, potato, chicken, mixed vegetable fried rice and poppdoms.
As we were inside having lunch, the macaque monkeys were having fun outside in our jeep.
They were very inquisitive, mischievous, and very sweet.
There were a few jungle fowl walking around the rest area, too. This bird is the national bird of Sri Lanka. They are the largest endemic bird of Sri Lanka, and it also captures all the colours of the Srilankan flag.
After lunch, we drove back around some of the villus in the hope of seeing leopards by the water. The area is very sandy. It used to be under water, the tectonic plates rose up and bought the sand with them. The plants all have quite shallow roots, they drop leaves which decompose, and basically they recycle themselves.
We saw a snake bird in the water and then one also sitting on a pole. It has a really long neck, which looks like a snake gliding through the water. They don’t have waterproof feathers. While that may seem like a disadvantage for their watery lifestyle, their wet feathers and dense bones help them slowly submerge their bodies under the water so they can stalk fish. We also saw an eagle soaring above us, but it was too far away for a photo.
As we drove around, we came across some water buffalo cooling off in the water. They dip their muzzles in the water to get rid of the flies. Once they have cooled down in the water, they then have a mud bath to get rid of parasites and also to create a physical barrier against the sun and insects. As the mud hardens, it also has a cooling effect. There were a few cattle egrets with the water buffalo. They eat the parasites on the buffalo and also the insects that are disturbed by the path of the buffalo.
Shortly after, we did hear that there had been a glimpse of a leopard, but when we got to the area, he had gone. We drove down a road behind the undergrowth, which he had gone into, and waited for a while, hoping he would come out. But unfortunately, he didn’t appear.
At the next villus, we finally saw an elephant. It was a lone male elephant. He was eating the water grass, pulling it out and shaking it to get rid of the sand and mud before eating it. He does this to protect his teeth. Elephant molars grind down and are replaced only 5 times in a lifetime. As elephants get older, they go to areas where soft grass grows, and eventually, they pass away here – elephant graveyards. The elephants dont really have any predators to be worried about, although water buffalo will protect their territory. Elephants have a 22-month pregnancy, and their calves stay with them until they are 9 years old. They can live until they are around 70 years old. They are only fertile every 4 years.
There was a stork in the water, too.
We saw a wild boar family on the other side of one of the villus. These were a couple of woolly necked stork near them, too.
A large stick insect landed on Zoe’s shoulder as we were driving along.
Just as we were leaving the park, we saw a black naped hare.
It had been a long day, and we were all quite tired, and although we hadn’t caught sight of the elusive leopard, we saw a lot of other animals.
Back at the camp, we were welcomed with a refreshing cool towel and a drink.
After a lovely shower to wash away all the red grime, we were ready for our pre-dinner drinks.
We had pumpkin soup and garlic bread to start and then delicious barbecued chicken, pork, and chicken sausages along with coleslaw and salad.
As always, the food was delicious. We had a couple of bottles of wine alongside.
Zoe and I headed to bed and left Karen and Mandy with the wine as they had decided not to do the early morning drive tomorrow.
We had a relaxing start to the day, apart from Mandy, who got up and did a 2 mile run. I did most of my packing before heading to breakfast.
This morning, I had a delicious Sri Lankan omlette.
And then it was time to say goodbye to our lovely room by the beach. As we were the only guests there apart from one other guy, we felt very special.
Alam came and picked us up around 10:30am and drove us to the Leopard Trails pick-up point, which was around a 2 hour drive.
Malmi, our Leopard Trails guide, met us at the pick-up point and took us to the reception area. We were provided with cold, lemony flannels, which act as a bit of insect repellent as well as cooling you down. We also had a refreshing fruit juice as Malmi went through the paperwork with us.
The accommodation is amazing, very luxurious.
Not long after our arrival, we had lunch. Lunch was traditional Sri Lankan dishes of spicy pork, loofah (which was also a little bit spicy), okra, gord (a type of superfood), beetroot, salad (leafy veg and coconut), fried coconut and pepper poppdom, all with rice. It was all really delicious and not too much heat.
Malmi told us a story about an ancient king who used to want 32 dishes served with his rice. The belief was that you had 32 taste receptors in your mouth, and the king wanted to satisfy them all.
For dessert, we had the King of Srilankan dessert. This is made from curd, which comes from buffalo milk and is like a thick yoghurt. The honey is made from fishtail palm sap, and the juggery is a more solid version of the sap.
With dessert, we got another good story. Only court jesters can make fun of the king. At one time, the king asked the jester to have dessert, but the jester was full up. The jester eventually said he could fit some dessert in to please the king. The king thought the jester was lying and accused him as such and asked how he would manage it. The jester got everyone who was in the court to stand in a small room and told them that if they touched the king, they would be killed. The king walked around the room and managed not to touch anyone. The jester said that is how he would fit in dessert
Malmi’s grandfather was a medicine man, so we talked about how all medicine should be food and how all food should be medicine.
After lunch, we headed off on safari in our jeep.
Wilpattu National Park is only a short drive from Leopard Trails accomodation, probably around 10 minutes.
The park itself is around 131,000 hectares and is the oldest and largest park in Sri Lanka.
It is a jungle safari, so the drive is through trees with not very many open areas. The first 15 ft or so by the side of the road are kept clearer of trees, so it increases the chance of spotting the animals.
The first animal we saw was a water buffalo in one of the water holes.
There was also a stork and a snake bird on the water. We saw a mini- kite flying overhead. These birds are scavengers as they snatch food from other animals.
Shortly after seeing the buffalo, we came across some spotted deer. These deer have disruptive markings (the spots) and counter shading (dark on top and light underneath) to cause confusion to predators. They are beautiful and very graceful.
The herd we saw was a bachelor herd of young males. A couple of them had antlers that were fairly new as they were still quite velvety. These deer, like elephants, live in herds of adult females and their young – as the young males grow, they form their bachelor herds.
There are a lot of peafowl walking through the park, and their call is very distinctive. A lot of the peacocks we saw had started to lose their tail feathers as mating season was over. However, new feathers grow back in around 6 months’ time.
Our next spot was a colourful kingfisher. He really stood out against the background.
We saw some more water buffalo grazing near the road.
Most of the trees in the ark are Indian ironwood or Indian boxwood. The tree saplings grow close to each other, and quite often, they merge to form one big tree.
As we drove on, we saw a Sambar deer. It was quite far away. This is the largest deer in the park, and they quite often live alone or in small groups.
Our next sighting was really lucky as we saw a sloth bear, just inside the thicket. These are the second smallest bears in the world, the smallest being the sun bear. They are also the deadliest bear as they have caused the most human casualties. The bear is named after its long sharp claws (like a sloth), which are around 4 inches long. It also has a long tail for a bear, around 15cm in length. The bears mainly eat termites, ants, grubs, and fruit. They are scavengers and will eat decaying meat. They also love honey and will climb trees to knock the beehives to the ground. They don’t have great eyesight or hearing, so rely on their sense of smell.
We drove on a bit further and saw a ruddy mongoose, which is one of the animals endemic to india and Sri Lanka. These animals are carnivores and eat birds, snakes, lizards, and rodents. They are very intelligent, and if they are bitten by a cobra, they know which plant to eat to self – medicate. They are also very loyal and have been used by the Sri Lankan army in the bomb disposal unit.
We drove past another watering hole and saw the painted stork, which have a splash of pink on their backs.
As we drove towards the exit, we saw a hornbill with its bright yellow beak. These are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae are fused together, which provides a more stable platform for carrying the large bill.
And just before we left the park, we saw a barking deer or muntjac. These are the smallest deer in the park, and they have overgrown canines. They are scavengers.
We had driven about 3 hours in the park and seen quite a lot already, so we were very happy.
As we drove back to the camp,Malmi placed our drinks order so when we arrived we were greeted with a lovely cold towel and a lovely cold drink.
After a shower and freshen up, we went for dinner, which was served in a beautiful location.
I had a Srilankan whisky, old arrack, with lime and ginger beer, which was a really nice drink.
For starter, we had lentil soup with deep fried prawn and dahl badey.
For the main course, we had another lovely mixture of traditional dishes – string hoppers, parrata, coconut and turmeric and veg sauce, prawn curry with coconut and red chilli, sombal, and fried chicken.
We had some refreshing white wine to go with our meal.
And dessert was creme caramel, which was also very tasty.
We went to bed around 10pm as we have an early start in the morning.
We all slept really well, so woke up feeling refreshed. I had about 10 hours of sleep. After a shower and catching up on social media, we went for breakfast. The WiFi only really works in the rooms.
Breakfast was delicious and unexpectedly massive. We had a plate of fruit to start, and then I had a smoothie bowl, which was delicious. Karen and Mandy had pancakes, which were also really nice. The coffee was good too.
As we had been sitting down for most of yesterday, we decided we would walk into the town centre. The Sri Lankan hotel staff thought we were mad as the temperature was about 32⁰C. They did tell us which was to go though.
Our hotel is at the end of a lagoon, so it’s around 3 miles away from the town centre.
The roads were red and dry, but we met a few people and animals along the way. Some young boys asked for a photo with us.
The town was quite busy, lots of people were out and about as it was a Sunday.
We visited the Dutch Reformed Church. Unfortunately we couldn’t go in as there was a service going on. The church was built in 1706 and is one of the oldest protestant churches in the country.
Sri Lanka was occupied by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. At the time, the King of Kandy turned to the Dutch to help get his land back. The Dutch conquered the area in 1659 but refused to give it back to the king. They built a fort and a church here. The British occupied the island at the end of the 18th century and found the fort abandoned except from one Dutch administer officer who surrendered to them.
As we walked down to the fishery harbour, we passed the Kalpitiya Budhu Pilimaya statue. The statue is near the naval base (part of the old fort) and is where the navy personnel pay homage to Buddha. The statue was completed in 2017.
At the fishery harbour, we took some shelter in the shade.
After seeing the sights and wandering around the town for a little bit, we decided it was time to head home.
It was way too hot to walk the 3 miles back, so we decided to take a tuk tuk.
It was a bumpy journey home, but we all made it safely.
It was then time for a quick change – our clothes were wringing wet – before we headed to the pool to cool down.
After some time relaxing by the pool, we decided to take the kayaks out and see if we could get over to the other side of the lagoon.
It was about half a mile to the other side, so it wasn’t too far, although the water was quite choppy at times.
On the other side, we got chatting to the guys doing the kite surfing. They were amazing to watch.
We wandered over the sand to the other side to see the Laccadive Sea. It was really rough so we didn’t go for a swim here.
Apparently, the wind was around 12- 15 knots, but over the next few weeks, it will increase to 20-30 knots, so more kite surfers will come to the area.
It was then time to head back to the hotel.
As we walked back to our rooms, we passed a small Buddha. Around 70% of the Sri Lankan population are buddhist, the rest being Hindu, Muslim, or Christian.
After another shower, we wandered down to the end of the pier to watch the sunset with a glass of wine or beer.
The dogs came to join us, so we made a bit of a fuss of them. They seem to be well fed but are constantly scratching, so I think they need a good bath.
And then it was time for dinner. I had a seafood platter with garlic bread, and it was delicious.
We managed to stay up a bit later and headed to bed around 930pm.
For once, it wasn’t an early start as our flight was at 5pm from Heathrow. I’d travelled down to Mandys on Thursday evening after work and had a really nice run with only a couple of traffic jams.
I worked from Mandys on Friday morning, and the taxi came about 1pm to pick us up. It took about an hour to get to the airport as the traffic on the M25 was awful. Luckily, we had left loads of time.
We met up with Karen and Zoe at the airport, dropped our bags at check-in, and did a little bit of shopping. It was then time to relax.
We boarded the flight on time, and it was a pretty full flight.
On the flight, I watched a couple of films – The Reverend and Mrs Simpson and Reality – before trying to get some sleep. The flight was around 7 hours.
We landed in Doha around midnight for a short stopover. Karen took some great photos out of the window.
Doha was an interesting airport, but we didn’t have much time to look around as we had to board our next flight
The next flight was less busy so we were able to have 3 seats between two of us.
This flight was around 5 hours and I watched The Royal Hotel film. The sun was rising as we flew towards Sri Lanka.
I managed to have about an hours sleep before we landed.
At the airport, there were no queues for security, and the bags arrived pretty quickly.
We were met at the airport by our driver, Alam. It was then a 3 hour drive to our hotel in Kalpitiya.
We stopped on the way for an ice coffee and some juice and water.
The road seemed to be just one long road, with no real rules. If you were overtaking and something was coming towards you, the vehicle you were overtaking had to slow down to let you get in front.
As we headed out of the main town, we saw a lot of greenery, especially coconut trees, and a lot of water.
We had a toilet stop along the way, too.
Eventually, we arrived at pur hotel, Villa Sethi Wadi, and it was beautiful. This is the view from our room.
After a quick change, we headed to the pool.
I walked down to see what the sea was like.
It was really warm but the sea bed was like sludge. And it was really shallow. When I got to the end of the pier, the water was still only up to my knees.
The area is well known for kite surfing.
And I obviously made friends with the dogs.
Back at the pool, we had some snacks, and we tried the local beer.
The water in the pool was a little bit colder than the sea but still quite warm.
We all wandered down the pier and Mandy and I went for a little swim, but it wasn’t particularly pleasant.
It was then time for a shower before sunset and dinner. The bathrooms are semi outside, and they’re really nice.
We went back down to the pier to watch the sunset.
We ordered some gin and tonics, but unfortunately, the tonic water had a really funny taste to it, so we actually struggled to drink them and ended up throwing some away.
It was the time for dinner. We had all ordered sea bass, and it was delicious.
It was hard to stay awake at this point, so I headed to bed around 830pm.
Today is our last full day in Krakow. Faye and I got up slightly later than the others as they were heading off to have breakfast in a cafe in a tower and then on to the castle, which we had already seen.
We had booked a tour at Schindlers factory, and on the way, we stopped off at a little bespoke cafe called Emigrant Cafe. The coffee was really lovely.
To get to the factory, we had to cross one of the three bridges crossing the Vistula River. The bridge we used was the third of the 3 to be built. It was approved for railway traffic in May 2023 and also has a bicycle path and a pedestrian walkway. The first bridge is a single track bridge, and the second bridge is a 2 track bridge for long distance trains. The bridges enable trains to cross at 100km/hr.
We arrived at the factory a little bit early and it started to rain, so we just sheltered around the corner.
Once the guide arrived, we were all issued with headphones so we would be able to hear his narrative. He explained that as well as talking about Schindler himself, he would also be talking about what it was like for the Jews in Krakow over this time.
Poland regained their independence from Austria/Hungary in 1918, and Krakow continued as the cultural capital of Poland. Krakow used to be a lot smaller, with around 240,000 inhabitants. There are now 800,000 inhabitants. Polish Jews made up around 25% of the population, which was very multicultural.
One of the first exhibits is an old stereoscope, which allows images to be viewed in 3d. The pictures we could see were the originals and showed life before WWII.
Oscar Schindler was born in Austria – Hungary (later known as Czechoslovakia). He was expelled from school for fabricating a diploma. He started working for his father, selling farming equipment, and fell in love with Emilie Pelzl, one of his clients’ daughters. He and Emilie moved to Prague as there were better opportunities for work. Schindler worked for a bank in insurance and became acquainted with the political party, the SdP.
Schindler was a Czech citizen and not a member of the Third Reich. He joined the counterintelligence of the third reich around 1936-37 and collected and shared information on the movement of the army with the German government. He was arrested by the Czech government in 1938 for espionage but released shortly afterwards as when Czechoslovakia was occupied, all political prisoners were released. Schindler was accepted into the Naxi Party early in 1939.
Schindler often travelled to Poland and collected information on polish military activities before the planned invasion by Germany.
The Germans invaded Poland in the early hours of 1 September 1939, and this was the start of the Second World War. The first bombs were launched at 430 am and destroyed the railways.
The reason behind the invasion was that 10 german soldiers, dressed as Polish guards, took over the radio stations, and the germans then blamed the poles which led to the invasion of poland and started a full-scale war. It is thought that Schindler, as a spy, had a part in sourcing the uniforms.
Germany occupied Poland in a very short space of time. On 6 September 1939, the army invaded Krakow, and Schindler also came at this time as part of the intelligence unit. Krakow had a German city governor by 27 September. Poland was also invaded by Russia on 17 September 1939. They didn’t stand much of a chance as Germany had 2,600 tanks, Russia had 4-5000, and poland only had around 450 tanks.
Poland had small reconnaissance tanks called tankettes. These held 2 people, were armoured, and had a machine gun. These tankettes took part in the fight against Germany but sustained severe damage.
There was a huge amount of information to take in as you walked through the factory. The Polish people were used to being occupied and thought that the German occupation would be similar to that of the Austria-Hungary occupation, where they could still carry out all their traditions. This was not to be the case.
Across 3 phases of segregation, concentration camps, and extermination, around 68,500 Jews were removed and eliminated from Krakow. In October 1939, when Krakow was the capital of southern Poland, all Jews had to wear an armband and were not allowed to use public transport. Jews also were made to shave their beards, and sometimes the barber cut off a bit of an ear, too. A curfew was also imposed, and the Germans comandeered Jewish apartments and offices. The death penalty was the sentence for being in possession of a gun.
In November 1939, a Jewish lecture was arranged at the university, and professors and others were invited to attend. At this lecture, 184 Jews were arrested and taken to labour camps.
Lots of places, such as buildings, became restricted for German use only, even park benches.
Schindler arrived in krakow in 1939 and was looking for business opportunities. The enamel factory was first built in 1935 and was taken over by three Jewish men in 1937. They announced bankruptcy in the summer of 1939. When Schindler arrived, he contacted his nephew Abraham, who had shares in the factory. Abraham put him in touch with Itzhk Stern, an accountant, who advised Schindler to buy or lease the business. Schindler signed a formal lease agreement in January 1940 and changed the name of the factory to Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik. The factory produced enamel cookware for the military. The workers in the factory had to stand for hours on end and worked with harsh chemicals.
Hans Frank became the leader in Krakow, and he moved into the castle on Wawel Hill on 7 November 1939. The urban spaces in krakow became germanised, including the demolition of many polish monuments. Polish street names were also changed.
In October of 1939, all Poles between the ages of 18-60 had to undertake obligatory work, and the wages were poor. For Jews, this was applied between the ages of 12-60 and included Saturdays and other Jewish festivals. Speaking Yiddish or Hebrew in public was prohibited.
From November 1939, coupons were introduced for all basic foodstuff, and you could only get coupons if you had proof of employment. The calorific food value of the rations for Poles and Jews was too low to maintain normal health. All Polish secondary schools were closed, and textbooks were replaced with german controlled literature.
Schindler eventually moved to a residence close to the castle. He hired a Jewish lady to do his interior decorating. Her son became one of Schindler’s contacts for Black Market trading.
Hans was also friends with Joseph Gobel, who led on the german propoganda. By 1943, every fifth resident of Krakow was a german.
Despite everything that was going on, some normal activities still took place, like trips to the theatre.
Parts of the factory floor were swastika tiles. The swastika originally symbolised well-being, good luck, and peace in various religions. The German Nazi Party adopted the swastika as their official symbol in 1920.
We saw some photos of young boys who joined the Hitler Youth and also a photo of 3 women who were getting married to men who were away, fighting at the front.
In April 1940, Hans Frank ordered the displacement of Jews from Krakow. This was followed in May by an order from Otto Waechter, the governor of Krakow, that only 15,000 Jews could remain. This was from around 70,000 Jews that were present at the time. The remaining 55,000 had to be gone by August of the same year. They were told they could take their belongings with them, but as they couldn’t use transportation, this wasn’t very practical. The Jews had to be issued with a special displacement certificate to allow them to travel on the trains and get out of the city
Helping Jews was punishable by death, and those awaiting execution were posted on a public ‘death list’. This introduced terror and intimidation.
At one point, there was an execution of 10 Jewish men. A german police officer had been found dead, and the jews were blamed. Ten men were selected at random and publicly hung. Jewish men alo had to do the hanging. It later transpired that the police officer had been killed by another German due to the fact he was having an affair with that man’s wife.
Oscar Schindler was arrested on 2 occasions for suspicion of black market activity and once for his interactions with jews, which was banned during the German occupation. He kissed a Jewish girl on the cheek at his birthday party in April 1942. His influential Bazi contacts helped obtain his release on all occasions, although he had to wait around 5 days before he was released.
In March 1941, Otto Waechter ordered all jews living legally in the city to move to the ‘Jewish Residential Quarter’ in Podgorze – this was the Jewish Ghetto. They were given 17 days to move, and they had to leave most of their belongings behind. Whatever was left behind became the property of the Third Reich. The marches to the Ghetto were known as the ‘silent marches’ as nobody spoke to each other.
The original residents of the Jewish Quarter were Christians, and they had to leave their businesses and houses behind – many of them moved into the apartments vacated by the Jews. The original number of inhabitants in the Podgorze area was around 3,000 people, and now around 17,000 Jews were being forced into this area. It was calculated that each jew only required 2m² of living space in the Ghetto. Three Polish establishments remained in the Ghetto, one of them being the Eagle Pharmacy. There were several local Jewish stores in the Ghetto selling the legal rations of food. For Jews this was calculated at around 250-300 calories a day.
In order to be classified as a jew, just one of your grandparents had to be Jewish.
After 21 March 1941, crossing the Ghetto border without a special pass resulted in severe punishment.
In April 1941, bricklayers began to build a wall around the Ghetto. Any windows facing the Aryan side were blocked in.
And from October 1941, any Jews leaving the Ghetto without a pass were killed, and the same fate awaited any Poles who helped them.
In May to June of 1942, an ID check took place in the Ghetto. Anyone who had proof of employment, plus their relatives, had a new stamp put in their pass. The others had to leave the Ghetto. From this time, only those with Blauschein (blue card) could stay in the Ghetto. At this point, around 7,000 Jews were removed from the camp and killed in the gas chambers at Belzec. Only 3,000 Jews from Krakow survived the war.
Another displacement was held in October of 1942. Those who qualified as unfit for work had to gather in the main square. Hospital patients who were unable to walk were shot on the spot. The children from the orphanage were bought to the square by their teachers. The teachers voluntarily stayed with the children, even though they knew they were going to their death. Around 4,500 Jews were transported and killed at Belzec, and around 600 were killed in the square.
Oscar Schindler initially only employed 7 jews. However, Abraham asked him to employ more. Schindler saw this as a way of saving money as hired jews were cheaper than Poles, 5zl compared to 25zl per day. The wages were set by the Nazi regime. Eventually, Schindler employed around 1,000 jews.
The staircase in the photo below was used in the film when a woman comes to ask Schindler for help. Schindler was known to be a drunkard and a womaniser and often drank with the members of the SS. Although Schindler was married, he had affairs and even had 2 children with an old schoolfriend. His son, Oscar Schleger, is still alive today. Schabandoned his wife in 1956.
We also saw the office that was set up for the film – this was not Schindlers actual office, as we visited that too.
Schindler did look after his jewish employees. He fed them 3 meals a day and looked the other way when they snuck food back to their families in the Ghetto. He also had to bribe Nazi officials to keep his workers safe. He often socialised with his employees, too.
Schindler’s employees had to walk to and from the factory every day, which wasn’t too bad. However, in 1943, the Ghetto was liquidated, and those who were still fit for work were sent to the concentration camp at Plaszow. Schindler knew what was going to happen and had his workers stay at the factory overnight so they wouldn’t come to any harm.
The Plaszow concentration camp was built on the site of 2 former Jewish cemeteries.
Amon Goth was the camp commandant. He was a psychopath and took pleasure in randomly shooting inmates, driving into inmates or setting his dogs on them, who had been trained to rip out people’s throats. It is estimated he killed around 400 people himself and was also responsible for another 7,000 deaths. He was known to drink with Schindler. In 1944, Goth was himself arrested for appropriating post-jewish property and violating regulations regarding the treatment of inmates in a concentration camp.
In the summer of 1944, the Germans started to liquidate the camp. The initial aim of the Nazi regime had been to gain land, but as this was slowly being taken away from them, they focused on their second aim of eliminating jews. Around 6-700 inmates were kept at the camp to cover up any traces of crime. Corpses were dug up from mass graves and burnt, their ashes then scattered on nearby fields. In January 1945, the last inmates left the camp and were marched to Auschwitz. Only 440 were left at the end of the march. Three days later, the Red Army reached the camp.
When Plaszow was set up, Goth wanted all factories to relocate inside the camp. However, Schindler managed to bribe the right people and was allowed to build a subcamp at his factory to house his employees, plus another 450 Jews from other nearby factories. These Jews were safe from the threat of random execution, well fed and housed, and were allowed to practice religious rituals.
As Germany started to be defeated and the Red Army drew closer, Germany started to close down its factories, especially those not directly involved in the war effort. Schindler switched his production from enamelware to grenades and ammunition. He persuaded the high-ranking officials to allow him to move his camp to Bruennlitz. He also said that he needed his skilled workers to move with the factory,saving them from certain death in the concentration camps. A list of 1,200 Jews was complied, 1000 of Schindlers employees and 200 employees of a textile factory. They were bound for Bruennlitz, the youngest of these was a 5 year old boy.
The men and women were separated. The men went via a concentration camp Gross-Rosen and arrived within a week. The women went via Auschwitz and spent several harrowing weeks there before they too arrived safely in Bruennlitz.
After the war, Schindler was wanted by the Czech government, but he escaped to Argentina and then later moved to Germany. He died in 1974.
The last room you come to is the room of choices. Good decisions are written on the walls and bad decisions on the pillars.
You come out of the factory still not really understanding Schindler. He was a complex person, originally motivated to employ Jews due to monetary gain, but he then went to great lengths to save their lives.
After the factory, we decided to walk to Zgody Square, now known as Ghetto Hero’s Square. It is here that the Nazis gathered Jewish people before sending them to their deaths in concentration camps. Many people were killed here, too. The lives of all the people whose fate was sealed at this Square is commented by an art instillation of empty chairs.
We also wanted to visit the Eagle Pharmacy at the Square, but it was shut. This was the only pharmacy in the Ghetto and was run by Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who was not a jew. He decided to stay in the Ghetto and help the Jewish people. He would frequently supply free medicines to the Jews and also let them use the pharmacy as a meeting place. He provided old people with hair dye to make them look younger and avoid selection for transportation to the camps. He also provided sedatives for the children to keep them quiet when they were hiding.
We were both ow pretty hungry, so we found a cafe – Green Up – and had a healthy lunch.
We then walked to where the remains of the Ghetto walls can be seen. On the way, we passed a memorial to the children in the Ghetto. This was close to where the original orphanage had been sited and where, in 1942, the children were taken away and sent to Belzec concentration camp to die.
The walls of the old Ghetto look like tombstones.
From here, we decided to head back over the bridge and explore a bit more of the Jewish Quarter.
On the way we passed a funny and strange statue.
We passed by the Old Synagogue again.
And we walked on to the ‘High’ synagouge or Wysoka. This synagogue was built in the 26th century, and its prayer Hall is unusually on the first floor as there used to be shops on the ground floor. Today, it is a bookshop.
Our next stop was Tempel Synagouge. This was built in the 1860s as a progressive synagogue. It is very colourful inside. During the Nazi occupation, the synagouge was used as a horse stable. Unfortunately, when we visited their was significant restoration work going on.
We then passed another synagogue, Kupa Synagogue, but it was shut too. This was the last synagogue built in this area and is now mainly used as a space for conferences, concerts, and exhibits.
We were in touch with the rest of the girls, and they were also in the Jewish Quarter, so we met up with them. They also wanted to see a synagogue, so we made our way to Remuh Synagouge. This is the only synagogue in Krakow where religious services are still held regularly.
On the walls walking down to the synagogue are many plaques commemorating the anniversaries of the death of members of the congregation. There is a light bulb attached to each inscription, and these are lit on the anniversary of the persons death.
The inside of the synagogue was beautiful, very colourful, and ornate.
Outside the synagogue is a graveyard that contains some of the oldest tombs in Poland. It was closed to burials in 1800. After WWII, a row of shallowly buried tombstones were discovered and were then erected to separate the cemetery from the surrounding area and are now known as the ‘Wailing Wall’.
Just close to the graveyard is a statue of Jan Karski. He was a Polish soldier and part of the underground as a resistance fighter. He acted as a courier during WWII and risked his lie to expose the horrors of the Holocaust to the rest of the world.
We walked back through the Jewish Quarter to the Singer cafe/pub.
This time, I tried a hot honey vodka. It was quite tasty, but I preferred the mulled wine. Louise and Gemma joined us too and had a hot chocolate.
And then we decided to head home. On the way, we passed one of the kiosks with geese. These have absolutely no association with krakow or poland, and nobody really knows why they are here.
On the way back to the apartment, we passed a waxwork museum – I met Mr Bean! He didn’t look that good.
In the evening, we headed back to the cocktail bar for a pre-dinner drink. Paul,Louise’s fiance, kindly paid for a round of cocktails for us all. I had a zombie. We played Mr and Mrs with Louise. She did really well as most of her answers were the same as Paul’s
And for dinner, we went back to Morskie Oko. This time, I had the beef goulash with potato cakes, and it was delicious.
We had live entertainment with a traditional band, which created a nice atmosphere.
On the way home, we stopped off at Magnateria again. This time, I had a smoked dictator old fashioned, which was a 12 year rum, and it was served in its own little box, and the waiter set it alight and created smoke. It tasted really good.
And then it was back home to bed.
In the morning, Faye and I got up fairly early, finished packing, and headed off to the airport. I bought some chocolate vodka at the duty free, and it wasn’t long before we arrived back at Heathrow.
It was a fairly early start to the day as we had to meet the tour bus just before 9am. We were going to be heading off to Zapakone and the Tatras mountains as we’d booked some snowmobiling.
After an hour or so of driving, we stopped for a rest break at a little roadside cafe.
After some more driving, we arrived in Chochołow, a highlander Polish village. The whole village seems to be made up of traditional wooden houses and reflects on how Poland used to be.
The first building we came across was the village church – saint hyacinth, which is beautiful. The church was built between 1853 and 1873, and the foundations are 17m deep as it is built on an area of swamp. It is said that the church was funded via some gold found in a barrel of homemade plum spirit. This is a local speciality and is around 65-75% proof. The locals also make homemade wine.
From the church, we headed to one of the local houses. On the way we learnt about some of the village ‘rules’. These are only applicable to the individual village rather than the whole area. One of the rules is that only traditional style houses are allowed to be built. These are known as góralskie chaty. Another rule is that the houses are not allowed to be painted, but twice a year, Christmas and Easter, they use salt water and brush it into the wood. Chopped wood and sawdust are used to plug the gaps in between the logs in the buildings.
Outside one of the houses was a storks nest. Alongside storks, the local wildlife consists of wolves and brown bears. As the winters are becoming warmer, the bears are not hibernating as deeply and sometimes wake up in the winter. They are hungry and come close to the houses to find food. There are 4 types of snakes in the area, but only 1 of them is poisonous. There is also a small type of bison, the European bison, in the Zakapone area, although not in this village.
Most of the houses in the village are built from spruce and are over 200 years old. Most of the houses are passed down through a family. The prices of these houses are 5 to 6 more times higher than houses in other parts of the country. If you do want to buy a house or land in the area, you have to sign a document explaining the purpose of purchase. This is to stop any developers owning land or property in the area.
We were invited to look around one of the local woodworkers’ home and workshop. The house itself is quite small, and the bed seems really tiny. The baby’s cot over the bed is a really practical solution. In the side room was a fireman’s helmet. In Chochołow anyone can be a firefighter. Every third house has a firefighter as you receive free training and equipment.
The room is heated by a large oven at the side of the room. The apartments we stayed in had these ovens, too.
There is a date of when the house was built inscribed in a piece of wood over a door. Another one of the rules is that this piece of wood can never be replaced.
The wooden lock to the door was really thick and sturdy.
We then entered into the workshop. The woodworker made some amazing pieces, mainly related to religious events. He carved a sculpture of Jesus every year, which reflected on the events of the previous year.
In 1846, Chocholow started an uprising. This was actually by accident. Poland, at the time, was occupied by Austria, and the uprising was planned. However, there was a change at the last minute, and messages were sent out across the country. The messages didn’t get to the highlands, so around 30 farmers started an uprising on 20th February. They were soon quashed by the Austrian army. The woodworkers’ grandad was shot in the knee and was transferred out of the army.
On the way back to the minibus, I took another picture of the church, and you can see the mountains in the background.
Shortly after the stop in Chochołow we arrived at the snowmobiling venue. But there wasn’t any snow, so we had to go quad biking instead. After going through a safety briefing and signing our lives away, we were kitted up and ready to go.
We were then allocated our bikes. I was with Faye.
I set off first after the instructor. It was really muddy and narrow, and I was rubbish at steering. A few minutes in, the instructor asked how we were doing, and I ended up going on the back of his bike and another instructor took Faye on the back of his quad bike. I felt a lot more relaxed after that.
Once we had been going for about 30 minutes, we stopped for a quick break and to take in the beautiful scenery.
We crossed several rivers and streams and lots of different terrain.
It was a great experience, and we were all buzzing afterwards. Everyone else did brilliantly a driving and controlling the quad bikes.
After the bikes, we drove for literally a minute for a cheese and wine stop at Bacowka. The cheese is smoked in sheds for around 2 hours. Chopped wooden logs are laid at the bottom of the shed, and wet wooden chips are laid on top to create the smoke.
Here, we got to try the local smoked cheese made up of a mixture of goats and sheep cheese, oscypek. The percentage of goats and sheep’s cheese varies depending on the season. They also have various levels of saltiness.
Along with the smoked cheese, we had a cup or two of delicious mulled wine.
The scenery was stunning, and I found a furry friend too.
Our last stop was the thermal spas at Chocholow with their healing minerals. The waters are rich in micronutrients that invigorate and regenerate the body. Across the pools is 3,000m² of water in a variety of indoor and outdoor pools.
One of the outdoor pools has a swim up bar, so we bought some cocktails.
This outdoor pool also had a lazy river with a current generator in the middle – so we had a go at that. And all the waterfalls and outdoor jacuzzi’s too.
We then wandered inside and found a lovely warm pool in the adult only area.
We also explored the saunas and the saltroom before having another cocktail from the bar.
After a good couple of hours relaxing and rejuvenation, it was time to head home.
We arrived back in Krakow around 8:00 pm. and decided to get some dinner before heading back to the apartment. We went to The Spaghetti, and I had a lovely prawn spaghetti.
The main square looked beautiful, too.
Before we went home, a few of us made a detour to the Wodka bar.
After a bit of a lie in, we headed back to the Camelot Cafe for brunch. This time I had an omelette, and it was as equally delicious.
From here, we headed to the meeting point for the trip to the salt mines. It was the same place as where we met for the Auschwitz trip, so at least we knew where we were going.
It took around 30 mins for the coach to arrive at the salt mines. We disembarked and waited for our guide to sort out the tickets.
Mining began as early as the 11th century, and the oldest known shafts dates back to the 13th century. Commercial mining stopped in 1996, and the mines are now just for tourism.
As you enter the mine, you have a descent of 378 steps. They are tightly wound, so you feel a bit dizzy at the end of it.
The rock is mixed but generally made up of around 90% salt. The shafts and supporting structures are made from wood rather than metal, as the salt preserves the wood,whereas metal would rust.
The salt mines consist of around 2000 chambers. They vary in size, but the largest one is 33,000 cubic meters. Overall, there are 9 levels of mines and 350km of tunnels. The lowest level is at a depth of 330m.
The first level is around 64m deep. People living in the area at the time discovered salty springs. They would boil the salty water in clay vessels, a very early method of saline production.
Eventually, the salty springs started to dry up, so they started to dig down and create wells. The salt water was brought to the surface and again bolied and evaporated to find the salt. The salt was used as a preservative for meat and fish
In the 13th century, while one of the saline wells was being dug, the first lumps of rock salt were accidentally found. This then led to the first shafts being dug. There are no natural caves in this mine. Initially, they were all dug out by hand and later by the use of explosives.
King Kasmir III is the only Polish king to be given the label of ‘Great’. He supported the extraction of salt from the mines and issued the Saltworks Statute in 1368, ordering the mining laws and traditions.
Until the end of the 15th century, there were only four mining shafts and one underground level in the mine. Around 300-500 people worked in the mine, but work was seasonal as the mine was only open in the months when there was no agricultural work that needed doing. They were producing 7,000 – 8,000 tonnes of salt a year.
One of the methods of getting the salt to the surface was to winch it up. Four men used to push the winch to lift 300kg of salt at a time.
The first tourist known to have visited the mines was Nicolaus Copernicus. He probably visited the mine in 1493, and in remembrance of this event, a monumental salt figure of the brilliant astronomer was set up in a chamber named after him.
Between the 16th – 18th centuries, the mine became a full -time working mine. In the 16th century, the second level was introduced, and in the 17th century, the mine reached the third level. The upper second level is 90m deep, and the lower second level is 110 deep. The third level is at a depth of 130m.
Horses were used in the mining of salt as they helped to pull the carts with the salt. They also helped transport the salt to the surface by rotating the pinch that lifted 2 tonnes of salt at a time. This was powered by 8 horses. Unfortunately, it was not a good life for the horses as they were kept underground as it was difficult for them to adjust to the sunlight once they had been working in the mines.
At the second level, the corridors are straight to allow for the transportation of the salt, initially via horse-drawn carts, and later via trains.
One of the areas showed the story of Queen Kinga, who is the patron Saint of salt. The story goes that when she was betrothed to the Duke of Poland, her father, the King of Hungary,asked what she wanted as a dowry. She knew her future husband already had significant wealth, so she asked for salt. She had no idea, though, how to get the salt from Hungary to Poland. Allegedly, she threw her engagement ring into the mine shaft at the salt mines in Hungary. When she next travelled to Poland, she took some miners with her, and on her way, at a particular point in the journey, she asked the miners to dig. One of them gave Kinga a white piece of rock that she recognised as salt, and when she broke it open, her engagement ring was inside. This started the salt mine in Poland. Kinga has since been beautified and canonised.
Once they started to use explosives to create chambers, they had to remove the methane gas to reduce the risk of fires. So some workers would have to crawl through the mines to find the methane deposits and deliberately set them off with a burning flame at the end of a long pole they pushed in front of them.
The most amazing chamber was the great chamber or ballroom. This chamber is 25m long and 9,000 cubic meters. It can hold 400 people, and an early morning mass is held here for members of the public every Sunday morning. It is also used for weddings and other events. The chandeliers are made from salt crystals and look amazing. The hall took 70 years to construct and was finished in the 1960s.
There was also a statue of Pope John Paul II, which was created 25 years ago.
There are many chapels throughout the mine. Mining was dangerous work, so the miners often prayed for their safety. We stopped at the Holy Cross Chapel, which was created in the 17th century. Here, the salt figurines in front of the crucifix had started to dissolve due to the humidity that was originally in the chamber, but the wooden figures have survived intact.
There are some artificial lakes in the mines, too. The Weimer chamber was created in the early 20th century after a block of green salt was excavated. In the 1960s, the bottom of the chamber was flooded with brine, and a lake was created. The lake is around 9m deep, and you could easily float in it due to 36% salt levels. The surrounding chamber is around 30m high, and concerts are often held here.
One of the lakes has a ghost story associated with it. The ghost of the treasurer is a friendly ghost and appears to miners to warn them of imminent danger such as a cave-in, flooding, or fire. The treasurer guards the underground treasure, the salt.
We also visited Jozef Pilsudski grotto. This is another artificial lake filled with brine and contains the statue of St. John Nepomucene. He is a protector against floods and drowning and is the patron saint of the Czech Republic. He was drowned in the Vitava river on the wishes of the King at the time for not telling what the Queen confessed to him in secret.
The first electrical lights in the mines were introduced in 1911, and the first electrical machines started to be used in the 1920s.
Mines were connected via special concrete boards. The first tpur routes were opened up in the 19th century, and boat rides on the saline lakes were organised.
Although the mine is now just a tourist attraction,several miners still work here every day. They are slowly filling up some of the lower levels to make the higher levels more stable for visitors, and new attractions are always being prepared. There is currently a souvenir shop on the tourist route where we stopped and bought some salty chocolate.
Just some other random photos of the mines.
After the tour, we waited to get the lift back up to the top.
Once we were back in the fresh air we walked back to the coach, stopping off for a delicious mulled wine on the way. And then it was time to head back to Krakow.
In Krakow, we had to walk from the drop-off point back to the apartment, so we decided to stop off for some food. Monika recommended the polish sausage – it was huge and very tasty.
We also bought some food to take with us for the trip tomorrow.
In the evening we were all a bit tired so we stayed in and chatted before heading to bed.
Seeming as we had a late night/ early morning, we actually woke up quite early. We packed everything together and headed over to our new accommodation, which was only a 3 minute walk away and in a great location right near to St Florians Gate.
Once we had settled into the new apartment and put up some hen party decorations, we popped to the cafe next door for some lunch.
We had just ordered our food when we heard the rest of the group had arrived. Louise, Gemma, and Eleanor came to join us for some food.
I had the meat wrapped in cabbage in tomato sauce. It was huge, and I only managed to eat one of them.
After lunch, we met up with everyone and headed to the supermarket for supplies. On the way, we passed the Slowacki Theatre. This theatre was built in the 1890s and can seat up to 900 people. It is modelled on the grand Paris Opera.
On the way back from the shops, we passed one of the many doughnut stands. There are a huge variety of flavours of these Paczki (polish doughnuts). I chose rhubarb and strawberry, and Gemma chose cherry, so we shared half each. They were delicious.
We spent a lovely afternoon chatting, some people had a nap, and then we all got ready to go out.
We had booked a table at Morskie Oko, a traditional polish food restaurant. The restaurant has been made to look like a traditional polish highland restaurant with rough-hewn stone and exposed beams.
I had the wild boar with hot beets, and it was really tasty. I shared a bottle of wine with Faye and tried a vodka and apple cocktail that tasted like apple crumble.
After dinner, I wandered downstairs where there is an old water wheel.
After dinner, we walked across the main square to a cocktail bar, Magnateria. The singer was just packing up as we arrived, but Monika managed to persuade them to sing a couple more songs.
The cocktails were delicious, and we all had a couple each.
After cocktails, it was time to do some dancing, so we headed to a nightclub called Frantic. We stayed and danced the night away.
This morning, we found a lovely quirky cafe close to our apartment called Camelot Cafe.
We had a delicious meal of Shakshuka – eggs baked in a tomato sauce with onion and peppers – along with a cup of tasty coffee.
We decided to explore outside of the main square and headed towards Wawel area.
On the way, we passed some churches. The first one we came across was St Peter and Paul. This is a Roman Catholic Church that was built by the Jesuits in 1619. The railings outside the church carry the twelve apostles.
Inside, like many of the churches here, there is a lot of baroque work. In 1906, the parents of Pope John Paul II were married in this church.
Opposite St Peter and Paul’s is a statue of Piotr Skarga who is buried in the crypt. Piotr was a polish Jesuit and an early advocate of reforms to the Polish Lithuanian policy. He advocated strengthening the monarch’s power at the expense of parliament and the nobility. His book ‘The lives of saints’ was one of the most popular books in poland for many centuries. The sculpture, however, is regarded as one of the worst in Krakow, mainly due to its aesthetics but also due to the fact that permission to erect the sculpture in St Mary Magdalene Square was never officially granted.
Next to St Peter and Paul’s is the church of St. Andrew’s. It is a romanesque church and dates from around the end of the 11th century and was one of the only churches not to be destroyed by the Tatar invasion of 1241. The baroque spires were added at a later date. It served both as a place of worship and as a fortress.
From here, we made our way to Wawel Hill. As the seat of bishops and kings, Wawel Hill was the centre of church and state in Poland from the 12th century until the capital was moved to Warsaw in the late 16th century.
On the way to the castle, we passed the Krzyz Katynski. This is a simple wooden cross that commemorates the massage in the forest in March 1940, where 22,000 polish officers, including many academics, doctors, and lawyers, were killed by Russian troops. They were acting under the orders of Stalin, whose aim was to eliminate Poland’s leaders and intelligentsia.
We walked up to the castle and looked out over the city of Krakow.
Wawel Cathedral is within the castle grounds, so we paid it a visit, too. The cathedral is where almost every royal has been crowned.
The cathedral was finished in 1346, but smaller churches were built on the hill from as early as the 9th century. The current structure is the result of over 800 years of additions and changes.
There was a modern art instillation outside the cathedral representing visage.
Inside the cathedral, you could walk up to the top of the Zygmunt bell tower. It was a steep and narrow climb up wooden stairs. I was told that if you touch the clapper of the Zygmunt bell with your left hand, you will be lucky in love. There were four bells on the way up, so I made sure to touch them all.
The actual Zygmunt bell was definitely the largest of all of them, weighing 12.6 tonnes. It was cast in 1520 and still rings today on religious and national holidays. It can be heard from 30km away and takes 12 strong men to ring it. Bell tollers are lifted from their feet, and one was flung to their death from the tower during the interwar period.
We walked back down the bell tower and explored the cathedral. The cathedral is amazing inside and is made up of a maze of shrines, tombstones, chapels, and altarpieces.
We also explored the crypt where the royal tombs are kept, along with the tombs of poets, composers, and musicians.
Just outside the cathedral is a statue of Pope John Paul II.
On the walk down, we passed through the coat of arms gate and saw the mounted statue of Tadeusz Kosciusko, a soilder and engineer and a polish freedom fighter. He declared in krakow the insurrection of 1794.
At the bottom of the hill below the castle, you can find Smok, the dragon. The dragon is a popular symbol of Krakow symbolising the fire in the belly of this intellectual city.
The legend is that long ago, when people first settled in this area, they built the castle on Wawel Hill, not realising a dragon slept underneath. After a while, the dragon awoke and started to feed on grazing sheep and cattle that the peasants had bought with them. Sometimes, it took young women, too. The king offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who could slay the dragon. Eventually, a young shoemaker offered to try, asking for sheepskins, mutton fat, and a great deal of sulphur. In the morning, he had built a fleecy ram, smeared with fat and stuffed with sulphur. The dragon gobbled up the bait, the sulphurous fire raged in its stomach, so it drank so much water it exploded. The shoemaker won the princess and the kingdom.
A spikey statue of the dragon still breathes fire today.
By now, we were starting to feel a little peckish, so we decided to visit the Chimney Cake bakery. Chimney cakes are made from a sweet yeast dough that is rolled into a long rope and wrapped around a cylinder. They are coated in sugar and can have many different ‘topping’ inside – we had one with Biscoff. They taste like donuts.
As the Jewish quarter was only a 10 minute walk away, and we still had plenty of time, we headed that way.
One of the first buildings we came across was actually the Corpus Christi Church. Although this started off as a small brick and wood parish church, it is now a huge gothic basillica with a rich baroque interior.
Next to the church is the old town hall, which is now used as a museum devoted to the traditional life and customs of local people. The Renaissance building was built in the 16th century but became redundant when Kazimierz (Jewish quarter) was subsumed into Krakow in 1800.
We made our way over to the oldest survivng synagogue in Poland, Stara synagogue. This is now a museum, but in WWII, it was used as a warehouse. I learned a bit about the Jewish culture, including about the Sabbath, Passover, and the Torah, through the exhibits on display. I did not know that the Torah scrolls are made from sheets of parchment manufactured from the skin of a ritually clean animal, for example.
Close by the synagogue we found the Singer pub. This pub has made good use of the old sewing machines used in Kazimiers lace history. We had a delicious mulled wine here.
We then briefly visited the market square, Plac Nowy. The round building in the centre of the square dates from around 1900 and was once used as a ritual slaughterhouse. Now, it is occupied by vendors of polish fast food.
It was then time to head home and get ready to go out.
We booked a table at Wierzynek Restaurant, which is the oldest restaurant in Krakow. Many royals from across the globe have banqueted here, including the Polish monarch in 1364.
Wierzynek was a banker and mayor of the salt-rich district of Wielickza. To celebrate the marriage of the granddaughter of King Kazimierz to Charles IV, the King of Bohemia, he provided a banquet at the restaurant. The king granted Wierzynek a permit to entertain future prominent visitors to the city.
We had a table by the window so we had a good view of the square.
The food was delicious and presented really well. We had an amuse bouche of smoked trout, and then I had a mushroom starter and a duck main.
Unfortunately, the waiter originally bought me a pork chop for my main, which I told him was incorrect. He then left the dish sitting there for several minutes while he spoke to the kitchen staff. He did take the dish back, and after around 10 minutes, he provided the correct main. Faye also asked him to take her dish away so it would be warm, but it wasn’t that hot when it came back. This did lead to us not leaving any service charge as we were told they would compensate for this mistake, which they did not do.
After arguing with the waiter we headed back to the Jewish Quarter and visited a cocktail bar calked Sababa. I had an amazing whisky sour.
Our next stop was the Propoganda bar, which has old communist knick-knacks on the walls and ceilings.
And then we went to Alchemia, which is a bohemian style bar and a club underground. The live band had finished by the time we got there, but we stayed for a couple of hours of dancing anyway. It was a very different experience.
After this, we walked home and retired for the night.
Fun, Fitness and Fabulousness in your Fifties 