Kraków
Our first stop on our trip was Kraków. Randy has had a conference there every fall for the past few years, so it is fairly certain that if we go with him at that time of year, we will go to Kraków.
I won't complain.
And neither will these two.
More after the jump
When we find ourselves repeating visits, I worry the kids will get bored seeing the same attractions over and over. I am also concerned about Brigid maybe missing something important because we might skip having seen it before, but when she was too young to remember. So I try to balance these things.
For Kraków, I knew we absolutely needed to return to the Wawel Castle, including the Cathedral. The first day, though, we walked around to the side of the old city that does not front the Vistula River. We entered as unwelcome guests once tried around the Barbakan.
This defensive structure was built originally in 1498. An idea imported from Arabian fortifications, only a handful of European barbican survive to modern days. Had an invading army crossed the deep, thirty-meter wide moat, and broken into the Barbakan, they would have been stopped there. The Barbakan was not the actual gate to the city, but a cylindrical tower before the gate. From all above the invaders the Polish archers could rain arrows upon them.
At one time the Barbakan connected to the Florian Gate by a narrow bridge called the neck. It is all filled in now, though.
The Florian Gate, so named in honor of St. Florian, has been built and modified for centuries. The earliest known mention of it in writing was in 1307 and was built after the Mongol invasion.
I laugh at how often our tourism ends up being about towers and walls, like our regular life in Beijing. But it cannot be helped.
In the Main Market Square of Kraków stands the only remaining part of the Town Hall, the Tower. The medieval Town Hall was demolished in the 1800s, leaving the clock tower (built at the end of the 12th century) still standing.
Of course, one of the fun parts of Medieval towers is climbing them. No matter how narrow and twisty the steps are.
There were exhibits along the way to the top, like on the robes worn by the city councilors through the years, or Polish clock making and "Kraków time."
Once we got to the top, we took in the views of the Old Town of Kraków.
There is a city museum under the Town Square, but, unfortunately, we were not able to go to it during this trip, either. Maybe next time (if there is to be another).
Near the Town Hall Tower is The Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. Its original construction dated to the early 12th century but had to be rebuilt after the Mongol invasion in the 1200s, as well as a few other times after that, and was expanded with side altars.
It is beautiful.
The main artistic attraction of this parish (and the reason that they charge 10 złoty admission if you are not merely going in to pray) is this stunningly detailed altar carved by Veit Stoss in the late 1400s. It had been looted by the Nazis during World War II, but was fortunately recovered in the basement of Nuremberg Castle after the war.
The altar depicts scenes from Mary's life, like the Annunciation and the Nativity, and the end of her life, including her Dormition and Assumption. I had never before seen Mary's Dormition and Assumption together like that.
The next morning, Randy had conference calls to place, so the kids and I returned to the castle to see a few things we had in our previous visit. That afternoon we had already booked a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Our time in the morning was somewhat limited, but not tight.
We went to see Smok. This time we remained there through a few fire-breathing cycles to get a picture.
We started up the hill to the Cathedral and we were approached by one of the guides who were lingering by the gate. I almost never accept the stand-by guides, but I figured it would help us keep on schedule. The cost was only 100 zł (about $25) not including our tickets.
I didn't regret the expense. We went through the Cathedral last year, but with only a paper catalogue of what we were seeing. The guide did go into deeper explanations of the history. He was Polish, of course, and his pride in the Cathedral and Polish history really helped me appreciate what we were seeing all the more.
The kids? Well, their most memorable moment with our guide was when he told them that in old Polish, the word for gargoyles was the word "puker." I later looked it up on Google translate. While gargulec is the preferred word these days, they can also be called rzygacz which comes from the word for vomit or spew, rzygać. This was totally my money's worth.
He also spent a great deal of time on the exterior of the Cathedral, which I got a lot more out of it that I thought I would. He highlighted the differences between the exterior decorations, something I would have noticed but not necessarily have put into historical context as well as he did. The gold-domed Sigismund Chapel was built at at time the Polish kings were moneyed in the 1500s. It is an perfect example of Italian Renaissance design, but in Poland. To the left is the Baroque Vasa chapel, built more than 100 years later.
Inside the Cathedral, photography is prohibited.
Our guide was again helpful in underscoring the historical significance of parts of the cathedral that I was sure I missed last year. I was so focused on the cathedral being the seat of a Cardinal that I missed some of the royal connections. Our guide was particularly fond of St. Jadwiga, the female king of Poland from the fourteenth century. The black cross, in front of which St. Jadwiga prayed, was an important stop, as well as her current sarcophagus. More important to his tour were the artifacts displayed next to St. Jadwiga's tomb these days, a wooden sceptre and orb, instead of more customary ornate versions. So great was her love of the Church and Poland, he described to us, that she sold off her royal jewels to endow the great Polish university, Kraków Academy, now known as Jagiellonian University.
I really did appreciate having the guide accompany us on our second walk through the Cathedral. He did provide us a great deal of information in a short period of time.
Later after lunch we were picked up at our hotel to go to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. I normally don't like those kinds of group tours, when the bus goes around to a half dozen different hotels to pick up one or two people at each stop, and eventually arrives more than an hour later at the destination which I could have reached in a taxi in less than thirty minutes. However, the way the Salt Mine operates entrance made it clear to me that at this less-busy time of year arriving in this group was advantageous. For tourists that choose to show up individually, they have to wait at the entrance until they are joined by enough people in their language group (Polish, English, Russian, etc) to start a guided tour. Since we arrived with an English-speaking group that was pre-booked, we went right into the mines when we and another busload arrived. There were a few Russians still waiting for their number to increase as we were hustled into the mine. Perhaps during the summer, there are more walk-ups, but during the second week of November, we were better off buying into a pre-booked tour.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine was, according to legend, discovered after St. Kinga, the Hungarian princess was brought to Poland to marry Bolesław V. Instead of a proper dowry, the legend went, she wanted a piece of valuable Hungarian salt to bring with her to Poland, where salt was scarce, and she threw her engagement ring into a salt mine shaft in her homeland. Once in Poland, she had miners begin to dig, outside of Kraków until they found a rock, which was rock salt, and inside that rock was the engagement ring she had cast away in Hungary.
While this story is quite fanciful, and leaves out what little existing salt production there already was in that part of Poland, it does hint at the high value of salt over the years. Salt was a precious commodity, and salt mining was a profitable venture, having financed kingdoms and wars. It was even used as currency. So important was the salt trade that the English word "salary" has its very roots in the word salt.
The first part of the tour was the descent of 378 steps to reach 64 meters below the surface. As the tour progressed we continued down, though in smaller increments.
The tour included quite a bit of history of salt mining and the technology. As we went from chamber to chamber, we journeyed from some of the earliest excavated caverns to more recent times.
The biggest surprise was that the salt in this mine was grey, the color of stone or granite, because of the impurities. The guide assured us that everything in the mine--the walls, the floors, the sculptures--were all salt, and if we didn't believe him we could lick the walls or floor to find out. No one took him up on this offer.
There was part of the tour that was a tribute to the artistry of the miners, too. Along the way were sculptures and scenes, even chapels, all carved from Wieliczka salt by ordinary (but talented) miners. Commercial mining ceased in the 1990s, since tourism now brings in much more money than salt mining.
The most awe-inspiring part of the tour was the Chapel of St. Kinga, 101 meters beneath the surface. It was begun in the 1800s and was completed after 68 years.
Everything was carved out of salt from this mine, except for the infant Jesus in the nativity scene. He was made of colored salt brought in from elsewhere.
Mass is still routinely celebrated here. People even get married here.
Regular miners carved all this. Not artists brought in from Italy or wherever. Salt miners.
Even the chandeliers are salt, and not just in this chapel but throughout the mines. They are made from dissolved and then evaporated Wieliczka salt to achieve the clarity.
Among the many remarkable things about the Salt Mine was that it has been a tourist attraction for centuries. Like, hundreds of years, not just since it was put on the UNESCO world heritage site in 1978.
While there is an impressive list of famous visitors to the mine (which includes two Popes), not all of them came as tourists. The German poet Goethe came to the mine in a professional capacity when he worked in mining for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. But like other famous visitors, he is commemorated in salt.
My kids remain unimpressed with my ability to recite Goethe's poetry in German.
And when I least expect him, St. Jan Nepomuk makes an appearance. Here he was as patron to drowning victims, a problem in a mine.
I should probably note that while the descent is all on foot, returning to the surface is by elevator.
Our last day in Kraków was also Brigid's birthday. Before taking her on a surprise horse carriage ride, I wanted to make certain we paid a repeat visit to Lady with Ermine. The Museum is still closed for renovations, so the painting is yet on display in the Royal Castle. The tickets are limited and timed, which is wonderful from a crowd control standpoint.
I tried (again) to emphasize to the kids how rare an opportunity it was for us to see an actual painting by Leonardo da Vinci, especially in this setting, almost alone in a room with it. I don't know if it were just because it was the only painting in the dim, well-guarded space, but it really does look and feel extraordinary.
This time, too, both Myles and Brigid were interested in spending time looking at her from different angles. Myles started it. First we went to one side of the room, and we saw from there it looked like she had been talking to us and then her attention was drawn quickly to someone else entering unexpectedly (Myles: like maybe someone she has a crush on). From the other maybe we thought we were the distraction.
Since Randy was going to his conference that day, it was the perfect time to take Brigid on a horse carriage ride around the Old City. She was thrilled.
I have to admit, the smells and allergens aside, it was a nice way to see Kraków.
Even having almost three more days in Kraków, it still did not feel like enough time. There is still so much that we would like to see.....on another visit.
I won't complain.
And neither will these two.
More after the jump
When we find ourselves repeating visits, I worry the kids will get bored seeing the same attractions over and over. I am also concerned about Brigid maybe missing something important because we might skip having seen it before, but when she was too young to remember. So I try to balance these things.
For Kraków, I knew we absolutely needed to return to the Wawel Castle, including the Cathedral. The first day, though, we walked around to the side of the old city that does not front the Vistula River. We entered as unwelcome guests once tried around the Barbakan.
This defensive structure was built originally in 1498. An idea imported from Arabian fortifications, only a handful of European barbican survive to modern days. Had an invading army crossed the deep, thirty-meter wide moat, and broken into the Barbakan, they would have been stopped there. The Barbakan was not the actual gate to the city, but a cylindrical tower before the gate. From all above the invaders the Polish archers could rain arrows upon them.
At one time the Barbakan connected to the Florian Gate by a narrow bridge called the neck. It is all filled in now, though.
The Florian Gate, so named in honor of St. Florian, has been built and modified for centuries. The earliest known mention of it in writing was in 1307 and was built after the Mongol invasion.
I laugh at how often our tourism ends up being about towers and walls, like our regular life in Beijing. But it cannot be helped.
In the Main Market Square of Kraków stands the only remaining part of the Town Hall, the Tower. The medieval Town Hall was demolished in the 1800s, leaving the clock tower (built at the end of the 12th century) still standing.
Of course, one of the fun parts of Medieval towers is climbing them. No matter how narrow and twisty the steps are.
There were exhibits along the way to the top, like on the robes worn by the city councilors through the years, or Polish clock making and "Kraków time."
Once we got to the top, we took in the views of the Old Town of Kraków.
There is a city museum under the Town Square, but, unfortunately, we were not able to go to it during this trip, either. Maybe next time (if there is to be another).
Near the Town Hall Tower is The Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. Its original construction dated to the early 12th century but had to be rebuilt after the Mongol invasion in the 1200s, as well as a few other times after that, and was expanded with side altars.
It is beautiful.
The main artistic attraction of this parish (and the reason that they charge 10 złoty admission if you are not merely going in to pray) is this stunningly detailed altar carved by Veit Stoss in the late 1400s. It had been looted by the Nazis during World War II, but was fortunately recovered in the basement of Nuremberg Castle after the war.
The altar depicts scenes from Mary's life, like the Annunciation and the Nativity, and the end of her life, including her Dormition and Assumption. I had never before seen Mary's Dormition and Assumption together like that.
The next morning, Randy had conference calls to place, so the kids and I returned to the castle to see a few things we had in our previous visit. That afternoon we had already booked a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Our time in the morning was somewhat limited, but not tight.
We went to see Smok. This time we remained there through a few fire-breathing cycles to get a picture.
We started up the hill to the Cathedral and we were approached by one of the guides who were lingering by the gate. I almost never accept the stand-by guides, but I figured it would help us keep on schedule. The cost was only 100 zł (about $25) not including our tickets.
I didn't regret the expense. We went through the Cathedral last year, but with only a paper catalogue of what we were seeing. The guide did go into deeper explanations of the history. He was Polish, of course, and his pride in the Cathedral and Polish history really helped me appreciate what we were seeing all the more.
The kids? Well, their most memorable moment with our guide was when he told them that in old Polish, the word for gargoyles was the word "puker." I later looked it up on Google translate. While gargulec is the preferred word these days, they can also be called rzygacz which comes from the word for vomit or spew, rzygać. This was totally my money's worth.
He also spent a great deal of time on the exterior of the Cathedral, which I got a lot more out of it that I thought I would. He highlighted the differences between the exterior decorations, something I would have noticed but not necessarily have put into historical context as well as he did. The gold-domed Sigismund Chapel was built at at time the Polish kings were moneyed in the 1500s. It is an perfect example of Italian Renaissance design, but in Poland. To the left is the Baroque Vasa chapel, built more than 100 years later.
Inside the Cathedral, photography is prohibited.
Our guide was again helpful in underscoring the historical significance of parts of the cathedral that I was sure I missed last year. I was so focused on the cathedral being the seat of a Cardinal that I missed some of the royal connections. Our guide was particularly fond of St. Jadwiga, the female king of Poland from the fourteenth century. The black cross, in front of which St. Jadwiga prayed, was an important stop, as well as her current sarcophagus. More important to his tour were the artifacts displayed next to St. Jadwiga's tomb these days, a wooden sceptre and orb, instead of more customary ornate versions. So great was her love of the Church and Poland, he described to us, that she sold off her royal jewels to endow the great Polish university, Kraków Academy, now known as Jagiellonian University.
I really did appreciate having the guide accompany us on our second walk through the Cathedral. He did provide us a great deal of information in a short period of time.
Later after lunch we were picked up at our hotel to go to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. I normally don't like those kinds of group tours, when the bus goes around to a half dozen different hotels to pick up one or two people at each stop, and eventually arrives more than an hour later at the destination which I could have reached in a taxi in less than thirty minutes. However, the way the Salt Mine operates entrance made it clear to me that at this less-busy time of year arriving in this group was advantageous. For tourists that choose to show up individually, they have to wait at the entrance until they are joined by enough people in their language group (Polish, English, Russian, etc) to start a guided tour. Since we arrived with an English-speaking group that was pre-booked, we went right into the mines when we and another busload arrived. There were a few Russians still waiting for their number to increase as we were hustled into the mine. Perhaps during the summer, there are more walk-ups, but during the second week of November, we were better off buying into a pre-booked tour.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine was, according to legend, discovered after St. Kinga, the Hungarian princess was brought to Poland to marry Bolesław V. Instead of a proper dowry, the legend went, she wanted a piece of valuable Hungarian salt to bring with her to Poland, where salt was scarce, and she threw her engagement ring into a salt mine shaft in her homeland. Once in Poland, she had miners begin to dig, outside of Kraków until they found a rock, which was rock salt, and inside that rock was the engagement ring she had cast away in Hungary.
While this story is quite fanciful, and leaves out what little existing salt production there already was in that part of Poland, it does hint at the high value of salt over the years. Salt was a precious commodity, and salt mining was a profitable venture, having financed kingdoms and wars. It was even used as currency. So important was the salt trade that the English word "salary" has its very roots in the word salt.
The first part of the tour was the descent of 378 steps to reach 64 meters below the surface. As the tour progressed we continued down, though in smaller increments.
The tour included quite a bit of history of salt mining and the technology. As we went from chamber to chamber, we journeyed from some of the earliest excavated caverns to more recent times.
The biggest surprise was that the salt in this mine was grey, the color of stone or granite, because of the impurities. The guide assured us that everything in the mine--the walls, the floors, the sculptures--were all salt, and if we didn't believe him we could lick the walls or floor to find out. No one took him up on this offer.
There was part of the tour that was a tribute to the artistry of the miners, too. Along the way were sculptures and scenes, even chapels, all carved from Wieliczka salt by ordinary (but talented) miners. Commercial mining ceased in the 1990s, since tourism now brings in much more money than salt mining.
The most awe-inspiring part of the tour was the Chapel of St. Kinga, 101 meters beneath the surface. It was begun in the 1800s and was completed after 68 years.
Everything was carved out of salt from this mine, except for the infant Jesus in the nativity scene. He was made of colored salt brought in from elsewhere.
Mass is still routinely celebrated here. People even get married here.
Regular miners carved all this. Not artists brought in from Italy or wherever. Salt miners.
Even the chandeliers are salt, and not just in this chapel but throughout the mines. They are made from dissolved and then evaporated Wieliczka salt to achieve the clarity.
Among the many remarkable things about the Salt Mine was that it has been a tourist attraction for centuries. Like, hundreds of years, not just since it was put on the UNESCO world heritage site in 1978.
While there is an impressive list of famous visitors to the mine (which includes two Popes), not all of them came as tourists. The German poet Goethe came to the mine in a professional capacity when he worked in mining for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. But like other famous visitors, he is commemorated in salt.
My kids remain unimpressed with my ability to recite Goethe's poetry in German.
And when I least expect him, St. Jan Nepomuk makes an appearance. Here he was as patron to drowning victims, a problem in a mine.
I should probably note that while the descent is all on foot, returning to the surface is by elevator.
Our last day in Kraków was also Brigid's birthday. Before taking her on a surprise horse carriage ride, I wanted to make certain we paid a repeat visit to Lady with Ermine. The Museum is still closed for renovations, so the painting is yet on display in the Royal Castle. The tickets are limited and timed, which is wonderful from a crowd control standpoint.
I tried (again) to emphasize to the kids how rare an opportunity it was for us to see an actual painting by Leonardo da Vinci, especially in this setting, almost alone in a room with it. I don't know if it were just because it was the only painting in the dim, well-guarded space, but it really does look and feel extraordinary.
This time, too, both Myles and Brigid were interested in spending time looking at her from different angles. Myles started it. First we went to one side of the room, and we saw from there it looked like she had been talking to us and then her attention was drawn quickly to someone else entering unexpectedly (Myles: like maybe someone she has a crush on). From the other maybe we thought we were the distraction.
Since Randy was going to his conference that day, it was the perfect time to take Brigid on a horse carriage ride around the Old City. She was thrilled.
I have to admit, the smells and allergens aside, it was a nice way to see Kraków.
Even having almost three more days in Kraków, it still did not feel like enough time. There is still so much that we would like to see.....on another visit.
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