After another nice breakfast, we geared up and rode about an hour east to Krakow and a short distance further to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. We secured a paid parking spot and prepared to go underground for at least 3 hours. There was about a 40 minute wait in line for tickets for an English speaking tour, but we were able to get in an 11am tour. One dons a listening device and then the guide and group procede initially down some 400 stairs in a corkscrew sort of fashion where we reached level one. We wandered through tunnels labeled with the years they were active. One could rub one's fingers on the walls and it was definitely salty. The mine has been active since the 1300's although now it's not a commercial endeavor other than being the most popular tourist attraction in Poland receiving some 1,300,000 visitors per year. We proceeded further down into the mine using stairs and discovered several lakes, 3 very large and ornate functioning chapels and even two gift shops and a full service restaurant and a museum along with a large meeting hall. All of this is over 300 feet underground. After the tour was over we watched a movie about how salt was mined and then had a nice late lunch in the restaurant.
Fortunately one doesn't need to climb the over 800 stairs it would take to get back to the surface. There's a lift that takes a large group of people up to the surface in 42 seconds! Since we had time, we ended up riding into Krakow including by the site of the former concentration camp of KL Plaszow. None of the buildings remain, but there is a striking memorial. Traffic was extremely heavy going into the city of Krakow, but we were able to find a parking spot by St. Francis of Assisi church.
Our goal was to visit the Old City as that's all the time we had allocated. We visited the local Tourist Information office and got a city tourist map and proceeded to walk around the Old City to some of the key historical points. It was extremely busy. In my advance research, I wanted specifically to see the Wawel Castle and the Barbakan gate, both of which we found. The central town square in Old Town was very busy on this Friday night, and I even snapped a photo of a bride leaving in a taxi. Talk about low budget! We even noted a number of carriage rides and several antique cars from Great Britain who were touring. Just outside the Barbakan gate we learned an important piece of Eastern European history by visiting the monument to the Battle of Grunwald which took place in 1410 where the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights of Germany and moved the economic power from Germany to the east.
As sunset came, we rode the hour back to our Inn and prepared for what we would do next. We have around 500 or so miles to reach Vilnius, Lithuania on June 2. So we decided we would do 1/2 of it by riding to Warsaw and spending two nights which gives us a day in Warsaw to see some of the sights. We don't have to be in Vilnius until 8pm so it should be an easy ride. I did find lodging at the Boss Hotel in Warsaw for the two nights. But what should we do in Warsaw? Time will tell.
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