Bikes & Perogis- Krakow

Hey guys! Hope everybody had a good week. Don't worry, I didn't forget about the blog, I'm just taking my sweet time. Partly because I'm lazy, partly because I'm working on becoming a real engineer (P.Eng experience application).

So where were we? Oh yes, the morning after the train ride. We got to Krakow at around 8 AM in the morning at the train station and funnily enough, it was quite difficult to find someone who spoke english and hail a taxi. At the end, a friendly local helped us get ride to the hotel. Of course, it was too early for check-in so time for some wandering...

Old-Town Krakow is actually a UNESCO protected site. The area is beautifully preserved and includes old-town square, picturesque little houses and churches.

We climbed up the clock tower and got a beautiful view of the surrounding area.

Wieliczka Salt Mine

This was one of the oldest salt mines in the world and was something that I really wanted to come to Krakow and see. As most of you know, I work in the mining industry and in particular, processing so mining and mining related topics are something near and dear to my heart. The mine has been operating continuously since the 13th century until it shut down in 2007 when tourism revenues brought in more money than table salt. Many of the miner throughout the ages left their mark on the mine and carved statues out of the rock like the one below. 

I work with a few geologists so I hope other fellow rock lovers would enjoy this photo of the rock crystals. You could actually lick the walls ( not statutes though) and I believe each visitor gets to lick/take away 3 kg of salt from the ground if they really wanted to.

The mine itself contained many chapels and places of worship and was unlike any mine I had ever heard of.

Took 3 people 67 years to carve this chapel

The chandeliers itself was made of salt too! This was truly a world class deposit. 

Exquisite

Wawel Castle 

We took a trip to the nearby Wawel Castle compound by the Vistula river. This was where for centuries, the kings of Poland lived. The grounds were very very impressive and extensive. 

An overview

The Tower

Rowan was helping me and Annie take pictures, I know he doesn't like it but he does get into it.

Gotta get the best angle

He eventually took one or two pictures of the scenery himself.

Awesome shot :D

The symbol of Krakow is the dragon so there's a statue of a dragon that breathes fire!

Roar!!!!

It was a beautiful day and we ended up renting some bikes to go along the river! So much fun ^^.

The Food

Of course Poland is famous for their perogis so we did try a lot of that in Krakow. Did you know that the usual potato/cheese stuffed perogi at home that we have are known as Russian perogis there? Also, it was nice to find different variety of stuffings, especially game in the perogis.  They were boiled, fried and usually served with sour cream.

Since we are not that far from central Europe, I was able to find pig's feet on the menu. My boss told me to try it so I reluctantly ordered a plate. The meat was actually quite tender and flavourful, it wasn't bad. I would eat it again. They sold it by the 100g, the foot below was only 39g!

Kinda felt like more than 39 g to me

Large sausages seemed quite common too. They were pretty good :)

Alright, hope you liked this entry. I really enjoyed my time in Krakow. The place and people were really nice and given a chance, I would love to go back and explore different parts of Poland. Our next stop will be in Budapest. Enjoy your weekend!