Tour de Williams

Saturday, 13 September 2014

Day 6 - Krakow

We have had an interesting day. We started out early (on the bus at 7.00) for our visit to the salt mine at Wieliczka and it was worth the early rise as we were the first tour group there and there were very few people there. It was a different story when we came out!! The mine was started in the 13th century and bought enormous wealth to the King of Poland because of the value of salt as a preservative. It wasn't bad for the miners either as each week they were given a handful of salt, which was more valuable than gold. We visited several enormous chambers that had been hewn by hand out of the black salt, and went to the 3rd level, a depth of 135 meters - there are 9 levels in all. We only saw 1% of the entire network, which extends for 300 kilometres. We visited the magnificent St Kinga's Chapel, dating from the 17th century. The salt wall carvings feature scenes from the New Testament carved by miners.

Salt Chandelier

This afternoon we did a tour with a local guide which took us back to the Jewish Quarter we visited yesterday, and then across the river to the site of another ghetto, as well as to the site of Oscar Schindler's factory - all that remained were the gates. We were then dropped off and walked up Wawel Hill to see the Renaissance Castle and visit the Cathedral. From there we headed down the Royal Route to the Market Square, where we visited St Mary's Basilica. We were on our own then, and we continued on to the beginning of the Royal Route at the Florianska Gate.

Krakow Cathedral

Royal Palace

Royal Route

St Mary's Basilica

Cloth Hall, Market Square

After such an energetic day it was very nice to get back to our hotel and put our feet up.

Friday, 12 September 2014

Day 5 - Warsaw - Czestochowa - Krakow

We headed south to Krakow today and stopped in Czestochowa to visit the Jasna Gora Monastery, home to the Black Madonna icon. The drive was through the lowlands, but we found it quite scenic. After we checked into our hotel our Tour Director, Mitja, took those of us who were interested on a walking tour to the main market square and the former Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz, where we had a lovely dinner at an old Jewish restaurant with 2 other couples from our tour. It was drizzly for the last part of the day but that didn't stop us enjoying walking around Krakow.

Jasna Gora Basilica

Pilgrims way leading to Basilica

Market Square, Krakow

Thursday, 11 September 2014

Day 4 - Warsaw

We are back to being "tour organised" with a wake up call at 7.00 and departure for city sights tour at 8.30. While our tour included many of the places we've already been - the Chopin Memorial, the Jewish memorial and the old town - our local guide was very interesting and informative. We left the tour in the old town and walked up to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, accompanied by an American couple from our tour, Jim and Sue. The Museum was so interesting and so sad and so thought provoking. Our walk home took us past the pastry shop again!!! We enjoyed meeting our fellow tour group members and our welcome dinner last night, with traditional Polish food. Would you believe that our tour group of 28 includes 3 Sue's and 1 Susan!!!

Chopin bench - one of 15 around the city placed at key sites connected with his life. Plays a short snippet of his music.

Jewish memorial

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Day 3 - Warsaw

We set out about 9.30 this morning and after an hour's walk (it seemed through almost continuous roadworks which led to detours and frantic map reading) reached the Warsaw Uprising Museum to find it was closed on Tuesdays (oops, someone didn't read the fine print). So we headed to the Old Town, which was another 30 minute walk. After a reviving cup of tea/coffee we explored the old town, which is quite remarkable as it was rebuilt in the 1950s and early 1960s after being destroyed by the Nazis. The facades are as they were. We then headed back to our hotel (more walking), and stopped off at the Ethnographic Museum, which, while interesting, didn't quite live up to our expectations. We needed to stop at our favourite pastry shop (which involved negotiating more road works) for a reviving pastry for afternoon tea. Tonight we meet up with our tour group and go out for dinner together. We saw different aspects of Warsaw today. The aforementioned roadworks and building work were much in evidence this morning, along with communist style apartment blocks. The walk back from the Old Town took us through a much more elegant part of Warsaw with lovely shops and buildings.

Old Town square

Monument to the Little Insurgent

Tuesday, 9 September 2014

Day 2 - Warsaw

Today was sunny and warm, and we spent most of the day doing the Warsaw Behind the Scenes tour recommended by Julie-Ann, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We were the only guests on the communist era red bus, which was very nice for us, and we learned some of the history of Poland and Warsaw from our guide Marcin, as well as exploring some of the highways and byways of Warsaw. Our tour included very nice Polish pastries for morning tea, as well as some delicious Polish soup for lunch. The pastry shop we visited is just up the road from our hotel and our afternoon walk included another visit to try Roski, which wasn't available when we visited earlier. Much of central Warsaw was destroyed by the Nazis and is now an interesting mix of architectural styles.

Palace of Culture and Science

Monday, 8 September 2014

Day 1 - Warsaw

We have arrived safely in Warsaw after 30 hours of travelling, which included 7 hours in Dubai.

It was early afternoon when we checked in to our hotel and to keep moving and adjust to the time change we spent the afternoon wandering in the beautiful Lazienki Park with crowds of well dressed locals. We were interested to see several wedding photos being taken of brides and grooms - with no attendants. We finished our visit to the park by spending some time sitting in the sun on soft green grass listening to a brilliant 18 year old Russian piano student playing Chopin at a free concert in the park.