Last Day In Krakow
- Comments: No Comments Yet
We’ve had a busy two days touring Krakow & environs. We spent yesterday touring Wawel Castle (there’s a dragon in the caves underneath the castle – what could be better than that?, the cathedral where all the Polish Royalty, great military generals and poets are buried (it’s like the Westminster Abbey of Poland), and checking out the art deco stained glass windows in the Franciscan church. There’s one titled “God the Father” that makes God look like some vengeful comic book wizard – it’s unique. Oh Yeah – the Shroud of Turin is in the same church (I guess it pays to have a Polish Pope).
We also saw the famous Flemmish Tapestries that Canada kept safe during WWII, and returned to the Polish people in 1961(?). The Polish people seem to recognize this as Canada’s great contribution to their country. It’s strange how Canada is viewed by other people in the world. (We met an American on the bus today who wouldn’t talk to us once he found out we were Canadian…)
We toured the Salt Mines Uneso World Heritage site this afternoon. It’s like touring any other mine, except they’ve been pulling almost pure rock salt out of the ground here since the 1400′s in the town of Wieliczka. It’s been the dowry of Polish Princesses, a site that various famous figures have visited (Mozart !?!), and it contains a ballroom, basketball & handball courts, several small chapels and a huge Cathedral – all carved out of salt underground. It was quite odd and impressive. Our guide was a funny old guy who had worked there for 27 years, and his father had worked there before him. The Nazis took it over during WWII and used it as an aircraft engine manufacturing plant (It couldn’t be bombed that far underground, and the rock salt is very stable). They used deported Jews and Polish workers as free labor to build their war machines. There’s still a Star of David carved in the wall of one of the chambers from the Jews interred there.
We also found out that Poland is one of the oldest democracies in the world. There kings have been democratically elected by a house of senators since the 1300′s. It really challenges our idea of a royal family. Essentially, nobody has a hereditary claim to the Polish throne; you can only claim royal heritage – there is no assent ion to the throne within the family. Interesting
We’re off to Zacopane on the bus tomorrow – we’re going hiking in the Tatras Mountains for a couple of days. We’ll update you when we can.
There are presently no comments for this post.
You must be logged in to post a comment.