It must be said that the traffic in Poland’s Krakow is KRAZY! Diabolical would even be a more descriptive term. Driving the van through the outskirts of the city aged us both another ten years at least. Sheesh! Massive roadworks, intensely heavy traffic and narrow roads all made a combination that convinced us to NOT drive into the famous Art Museum in the heart of the city. More’s the pity.
Instead, we decided to head south towards the Carpathian Mountains to visit the fabulous Tatras National Park that we have seen so many glorious pictures of. But before leaving Krakow ,we did pay the exorbitantly high fees to visit the Salt Mines that had been highly recommended to us.
They are ancient salt mines that have been converted to a tourist destination with models and incredible sculptures littered throughout, and are very interesting. The guide explained to us that because it was such dangerous work for the original miners, they became very religious and built all sorts of chapels and religious sculptures down inside the tunnels, all carved directly from the rock salt. These amazing structures were created AFTER the workers had completed their tough and dangerous eight-hour day of mining.
There were also horses who lived and worked down in the mines for ten to fifteen years without ever seeing the daylight. Imagine how those poor creatures felt when they were eventually retired to the surface!
Due to the huge numbers of visitors (and that was during the off-season, but to be fair it was on the weekend) the tour groups were pumped quickly through, leaving only moments at each site for photos before the next groups were pressing at our heels. It was pretty hectic.
Georgie really enjoyed the experience and was totally awed by the artistic merit of the carvings, and the struggles that these men and horses endured. But Rod eventually became a little too claustrophobic with the tight crowding of people in those man-made tunnels, and became eager to get out of there.
In the past, he has absolutely adored exploring multiple natural limestone caves. For him, crawling through tight openings and slipping down narrow crevices with a torch in his teeth has given him such a thrill, and without feeling even the slightest inkling of claustrophobia. But the close density of humanity in those narrow hand-carved tunnels of the Salt Mines was just too much for him. He doesn’t mind tight spaces, but the poor little petal can’t cope with crowds.
Later, cruising down the highway south of there, we were surprised at the amount of traffic we encountered, which only got worse as we neared the tourist destination of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatras, until finally the traffic became nearly as intense and diabolical as in Krakow! Long traffic snarls and jams became the norm. We wondered what this place must be like in the busy season, as we were visiting it in the off-season! Goodness me!
The crowds of people, and the rows upon rows of tourist-trap booths and shops selling trinkets was appalling. It was similar, and just as gruesome, as what we’d encountered on Poland’s western Baltic Coast during the peak season. Not our cup of tea.
To add insult to injury the constant rain was grey and misty, and those fabulous mountains that we had come so far to see were hidden, all occluded by the clouds, much to our great disappointment. Stopping the night in a car-park, for just a few shekels, we went to bed hoping that the clouds would clear for us on the morrow.
But it was not to be. The rain and fog persisted, but we pushed on, ever hopeful that we could still enjoy this mountainous part of the world.
We drove through the misty rain, over what must have been high peaks on big roads with fast traffic until we crossed the border into Slovenia, our twelfth country for this journey. The weather had cleared by the time we had left the mountains, but it was a Sunday, so nearly everything was closed. Not that it looks like Slovenia would be bustling at any other time, but we did find a small shop to spend a few Euros in. We also stopped for a traditional Slovakian meal in one little town we drove through. We like to spread the wealth around a bit. Rod wussed out and had a burger (which was big and delicious), but Georgie had traditional crumbed fried cheese with sculpted chips and salad.
Eventually we stopped by a big lake – a dam really – and relaxed for fika (Swedish traditional coffee and cinnamon bun which has become a bit of a staple for us), and then the phone rang! It was Rod’s son calling from Australia to wish him a happy Father’s Day! That was wonderful! A long conversation ensued which was most enjoyable. He’s a good lad.
Feeling buoyed by this we moved on until the van decided to play up. An orange light on the dash pinged and the machine suddenly lost power. Uh oh. The light, according to the book, was the ad-blue injector having a hissy fit and malfunctioning. So we found a van park back over the border in Poland and settled in until we could get it fixed.
We lost a couple of the final days of our holidays, but did get the jolly thing repaired, before heading off again. Previously, the machine had kept telling us that it was overdue for an oil change – which we had notified the rental company about, but received no reply from them. But then the plurry bully of an on-board computer slowly started shutting the engine down as punishment for us for not obeying its orders quickly enough. It must be noted that Rod hates computers with a vengeance!
Anyhow, an oil change and a mollified computer later, we were back on the road and exploring a place called Holy Mountain. It is, (reputedly) a volcanic outcrop that is now littered with religious structures, and is a point of pilgrimage for lots of people at certain times of the year. We ate a lovely traditional Polish meal in a restaurant there, even though we couldn’t read the menu. Georgie just asked the sweet young waitress to bring us something that she would like to order for her parents. It was delicious and very filling! We didn’t need dinner that night.
Rod went for walk in the pretty forests and accidentally stumbled across a huge crumbling amphitheatre that we had read about. It was like something from Ancient Greece or Italy, hidden deep in amongst the trees. He dashed back to the car and fetched Georgie.
It turned out that it used to be a limestone quarry back in the early 1800s, but then the Nazis came and constructed an amphitheatre there during the 1930s and built a structure on the cliff above it. After the Nazis left, the locals tore down the clifftop structure and replaced it with another one commemorating the struggles of the Polish workers. The amphitheatre is crumbling to pieces, but is still apparently a site that the pilgrims visit.
Moving on further up the mountain we called in to the famous church perched on the very top, which was incredibly elaborately decorated. A service was being held so we didn’t take any photos. Georgie was thrilled with the place, but Rod less so. He finds all the paintings and statues depicting pain and suffering in those sorts of places a little too gruesome for him.
We went back and forth over the border of the Czech Republic (our thirteenth country for this adventure) and Poland over the next few days, driving alongside rivers that were the border, and upon roads that actually bordered the two countries.
The Czech town of Jesenik had some amazing mountains, over which we drove via a beautiful forested pass, and there were some wonderful natural rock structures called the Devil’s Marbles that we clambered to the top of. We tried to get to a few other places in Czechia, but were foiled by rough dirt roads that we were not game enough to take the big campervan on. We can’t have the poor little delicate wussy computer getting upset at us again! Oooh no!
Then we read about the Polish military shooting down Russian war drones over Poland! That’s the country we were currently in! Suddenly the need to get the van back to Germany in a few days, and then escape home to the opposite side of the planet, became even more urgent. We feel so sorry for all the lovely people that live their daily lives under that horrible threat.
There is an amazing National Park we visited that not only has beautiful forested mountains, but also stunning red granite outcrops that jut up in crazy shapes and forms. We both wandered up to the peak of a large rocky mountain top to bathe in the glorious views. It was a good leg stretch. The forests were mossy, wet, and dark, but unfortunately – just like the rest of Europe and the British Isles – are being ravaged by tree disease. There were swathes of trees that have been decimated by Larch Disease or something similar. Patches of glorious tall fir trees are crumbling and dying. Luckily there are still huge areas that are unaffected, and those that do remain are stunningly beautiful.
Georgie the amazing navigatrix found us numerous mountain passes to drive over on narrow bumpy roads, giving us views of lovely back country and villages well off the beaten track. Slow travel through pretty country, seeing lots of unexpected sights. That’s what we do so well. We also drove through lots of touristy ski resort towns that had plenty of fancy steep-roofed buildings and scores of trinket shops. The beautiful mountains surrounding those tacky tourist traps made it worth passing through. Tourism is a huge part of both Poland and Czechia’s economy these days.
Constantly criss-crossing over borders was unusual. At one point we passed through three countries in the space of about thirty minutes. The German border guards were amused to see the novelty of Australian passports. We are a pretty rare breed in those parts.
We saw so many huge, stunning, and elaborate buildings in Czechia which were built about a hundred years ago that are in desperate need of renovation. Render flaking off the outer walls, roofs crumbling in, windows gone, trees growing out of them. The economy back then must have been vibrant to have those amazing structures built, but unfortunately so much of it is crumbling now. Whether it is because the old buildings are protected under heritage conservation laws but are far too expensive to repair, we don’t know. We were informed by our river guide in Gdansk that it is the reason why there are so many old falling-down buildings in Poland, so perhaps it is the same for Czechia.
The plan was to move towards Dresden in Germany and maybe do some cultural stuff. Rod’s son had recommended Dresden to us, so we thought we’d give it a go. We knew that much the city had been saturation firebombed during the utter insanity of WW2, and totally destroyed to a metre deep in the soil, but apparently it has been rebuilt and is a beautiful metropolis now. We hoped that the ghosts of that rabidly insane world of the 40s wouldn’t spoil it for us.
Rod’s son was right, Dresden is a very beautiful city with very special architecture built along the Elbe River. We somehow managed to find a parking spot for our big van right in the centrum (city centre), and a random kind lady even gave us a ticket to cover our parking until 8:00 am the next morning! It did take about 170 tiny back-and-forth adjustments to squeeze the big beast in to the minuscule parking slot, but we did it!
So we set off on foot down the cobbled streets to explore the Albertinum Art Museum. What a fantastic place! It is probably the very best art museum we have visited here in Europe, with a huge range of classical and modern sculptures. We do love sculptures! There is a large collection of paintings by Romantic and Modern Masters, plus a magnificent installation and a varied display of work by the South African artist William Kentridge. His art is genius! They have paintings and sculptures from all the masters: Michaelangelo, Rodin, Matise, Degas, Klimt, Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol, Monet, etc, etc. The collection is mind boggling. We spent many hours in there, finally stumbling out to hand over our freebee parking ticket to the next random person.
Finding a place to stay on our last night in Germany was difficult. Nothing is open on a Sunday, even trucks over 7.5 tonnes are not allowed to drive, so that the roads are clear for holiday makers and other road users. The only place we could find that we could access, and then empty our toilet cassette before returning the van, was a free spot with no gates, but unfortunately no shower. We figured we would have to shower at the airport.
Having travelled through so many countries of late, Rod feels he now has an idea of what it must be like to be illiterate. Daily trying to make sense of signs – many of which were totally beyond our comprehension, but sometimes were able to get a faint gist of what it was about. We have tried to understand bits of nine different languages, most of which was to no avail. We did try to remember “Thank you” in almost every language (except Czech), which was a big help and often elicited smiles from people, but often we relied upon many folks, mostly young people, knowing some level of English.
It will be a relief to return to where we can read every road sign and every notice board. And to be able to speak to people without first apologising for being mono-lingual: “From Australia, only speak English!” – to which we often get raised eyebrows.
With only hours left in the Northern Hemisphere we are posting this blog soon, from the airport as we wait to board the plane. We have not had wifi for quite a while now.
Salt Mines
Pretty forest on Holy Mountain
Monument to the struggles of the Polish workers
Amphitheatre
Climbing up Devils Marbles
The view from Devils Marbles
Mossy forests
Rocky outcrop
Another rocky outcrop
Dresden
A bicycle built for six
Sculptures
More Dresden
