Heading towards Krakow meant that we has to again enter Slovakia so we chose to use this opportunity to spend a little bit more time in Slovakia and see some UNESCO listed places in the centre.  The first place was Lecova which was suppose to be on the list because of it's almost complete medieval walls and narrow streets.  It was disappointing to say the least.  The walls weren't that flash and the 'narrow' streets weren't that narrow.  We were both glad that we did this first in the short time that we had in the evening and that we could use the following morning to explore the Spis Castle.  We woke to rain, not heavy, but enough to call off our walk.  Both annoyed by it as the Castle looks amazing and was also the location of one of Audrey's favourite films as a kid, "Dragonheart", so it would have been good to have a look around.
Krakow has one of the best City Squares in all of Europe, in fact I believe it is the largest at 200m * 200m, even though there is a large 'Cloth Hall' in the middle which makes it look smaller than it actually is.  Around the square are the obligitory Churches and restuarants and the odd Museum, throw in Buskers and people and tables and chairs, all together add to the look of the place.  There are also many, many horse drawn carriages that you can jump in and tour the city centre like days gone by or you could utelise the electric golf carts that seem to out number the people present. All the streets leading towards the square sell everything you could want, that's if you want icecream.  We haven't seen that much icecream being eating by everyone, anywhere before.
Once again, we bought the local City Pass, the Krakow Card, and off we went to explore.  The main attraction is the Wawel Castle, on the banks of the Vistula River (of course on top of a Rock, that goes without saying), it's been occupied for over 1000 years, many of those as the location for the Polish Royal Families.  Truth is Audrey and I both thought that it looked more like a large Mansion than a true Castle, but each to their own.  All the treasures that come with being a Polish Centre of Royalness you would expect to be there .... but alas the Germans, more acturately, the Nazis, plundered everything and whisked it away.  So far many of the items have been recovered but there is still well over 3,000 items missing and whether they will ever be found again, only time can tell, and it's not talking.  In keeping with the Royal theme, nearly all of royals have been interned under the Cathedral which itselfs is a story on it's own.  Constructed early, it has gone through all the different types of styles that you can think of but has come out the other end with an usual beauty, not really a classical looks but beautiful nevertheless.  One of the more interesting places we stopped at was the former home of Pope John Paul II whom was Polish (born in Wadowice not far from here) and a former lecturer at the world famous Jagiellonian University.  It had lots of early photo's of Karol Józef Wojtyła (as he was known then) and stories of his rise through the ranks of the Catholic Church.  My own memories of this Pope was of someone who had a desire to break Communism and spread hope to these Countries, which he utlimately achieved for his home country, and of course his bulletproof pope-mobile, that was cool.  And of course no trip to Krakow is complete without a trip to Schindler's Factory, the Ghetto's and the Jewish Quarter to read up on the complete madness that occurred here in the early 40's and to find some heroic people in amoungst it.  Oskar Schindler is one such hero that we have all heard of thanks to Thomas Kennelly and Steven Spielberg.  A German who was actively helping the Jewish people as much as possible, he was certainly not alone in this endeavor by the way, but was clearly high enough up the ladder is to do some good.  I suggest that you read the book THEN watch the movie to understand as I will not be able to summarize it all here.  But 1 story did stand out to me and that was the one about Tadeusz Pankiewicz, a pharmacist who's business was located inside the Ghetto long before it became 'the Ghetto'.  Tadeusz and his three assistance smuggled notes, money and whatever they could in and out of the heavily guarded Quarter all throughout the War.  He may not have directly saved Jewish people (except for his medicine I suppose) but gave them something to live for, hope and information.  In 1983 he was officially recognized for his efforts and was awarded the "Righteous Among the Nations", a prestigeous prize awarded by the State of Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives to help the Jewish people.
After 4 days in Krakow it was time to move on, but first a trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, only 10km's South-East of Krakow (so now within the area of Krakow I suppose).  Again on the UNESCO list (infact one of the first in the world to be so), this is easy to see why.  Way, way back salt was a very important condiment.  Why?  Because everything taste better with salt !!  No, it was important due to it's ability to conserve food at the time because refridgeration wasn't invented yet.  They even tell me that salt and silver cost the same per kilo back in the 1600's.  The Mine here started in the 1290 and has been run by the same Company ever since making it the Poland's oldest and the World's oldest in regards to salt (NOTE: wiki tells me that the World's oldest Company could been found in Japan, a construction company by the name of Kongo Guni, founded in 578 and only just absorbed into the Takamatsu Company in 2006.  Goes without saying that the orginal owners have passed on).  The stats are staggering; a max depth of 327m, a total length of over 287 km's and well over 1.2 Million visiters per year, 3,300 people per day.  But it's what you find down there that makes it all worth while.  Forget about the tunnels with the wood turned to stone thanks to the salt, or the fact that everything here was dug out and transported by hand in candle light, when you get to the Cathedral you just gape in wonder.  It literally took my breathe away.  Having now seen my, and probably your, share of Churches this one stands out for it's uniqueness.  Directly into the walls the miners have carved sculptures and paintings, the Last Supper is incredible if you ask me (see the photo), and the details are WOW.  The alter, the balustrade, the chandeliers, all made from salt directly from the Mine.  This place has got my faith back in UNESCO after the debarcle that was Lecova.
Now we are off to probably the worst place to be in 1943 ...