I left Wrocław at 9am, and caught a bus to Krakow. This was a surprisingly easy experience, except for the confusion of which bus to get on (almost got on the wrong one!), and the bus driver only speaking Polish to people on board, of which 50% were English-speakers. But we made it easily to Krakow and it cost me £2.30. Yep, it cost me less than a zone 1-2 Tube journey to go three hours across the country!
I arrive in Krakow at 12:30 and walked to my accommodation. I'd booked a maisonette apartment, which cost me £30 per night. It was nice too, though the mattress on the bed was terrible and I ended up sleeping on the sofa bed as it was a lot nicer. After dropping off my luggage, I wandered into the Old Town to have a look around. I was immediately struck by how lovely it was. I wandered around for a bit, didn't take too many photos though because I spent my time just getting my bearings.
That night, I went to a local pierogi takeout that was in a tiny little building and ordered some dumplings to go. They were so cheap, and it was a popular place - there were always people coming and going. But I made the mistake, once again, of ordering too much! Good thing they were delicious!
The next day, I left the apartment early - I wanted to have a look around the Old Town before I headed to the train station. It was a lovely, bright morning.
It was time for me to head to the train station to catch a train to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. I'd read online about getting there via public transport but it was a lot more difficult than it sounded. For one, I couldn't find a ticket office to buy a train ticket at. So a train pulled up and I didn't have a ticket. I know now that you can buy a ticket ON the train, but I didn't know then, so I missed it and kept hunting. I finally found someone and I was informed that the next way to get there was by bus, but that looked a bit too chaotic so I stuck with the train. It finally came and I got on and no one even checked my ticket!
Anyway I made it to the mines a little later than I intended, but bought my ticket for an English tour and stood in line to wait for a guide. This was the only way you could experience the mines. It was our turn and we walked down the stairs to the mines themselves. It was cold down there, and dark, and I tried not to think about all the dirt above my head.
The salt mines are 327m underground and have 287km of tunnels. The Polish first started mining salt there in the 13th century, and only stopped just recently, in 2007, because of flooding and it was too expensive to mine, as salt prices were much higher throughout history when it was considered a valuable commodity. The miners, because they spent a lot of time down there, carved out lots of chapels and rooms, sculptures and other things, and these salt carvings were fascinating, though the museum sets to explain life in the mines were super dodgy. I also liked the underground supersaturated salt lakes.
After gratefully leaving the underground, I went back to the train station to catch a train back to Krakow, but no train turned up. There was no information, but the scheduled train was a no-show. Frustrated, I threw my train ticket out and walked to the bus stop - I could catch the bus back to Krakow. Of course, I had no change because I'd just spent it on the train ticket so couldn't buy a ticket for the bus, and there was no credit card facility. So the bus turned up and I just got on (you didn't have to go past the driver but could get on at the middle doors). As soon as we were close to Krakow, I got off - didn't want to get fined for riding the bus without a ticket, I've had that happen before (though I had a ticket, I'd just not realised I had to validate the bloody thing). Anyway, I got off then went in search of somewhere to go for lunch. I decided to go to a place called Gossip cafe, who made me a truly delicious goat cheese omelette. Full, I went to meet up with another walking tour, run by the same company, Walkative, as the ones I went on in Wroclaw. I was doing the Old Town one today.
After the tour, where I try to pay attention rather than just taking photos, and with more knowledge of the layout of the city, I went wandering myself...
I went back to my apartment to chill out, have a cup of tea and get ready to go out for dinner. I had decided to go back to the restaurant pictured above, Ariel, for dinner, as it seemed like an interesting place. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either.
I went back to my apartment and settled in for the night!