2019 Trip to Slovakia

We checked out of our lovely in Krakow and were picked up by a van which shuttled us to the salt mine in Wieliczka. Again we walked 13,395 and 30 flights of stairs. No wonder we are all trouble walking tonight!!! The salt mine is a fascinating place...you walk down 378 stairs to the first exhibit. Winding your way around the mine is not for the faint of heart. While not wanting to go into the history of the mine, suffice it to say that there are many carvings done by the workers in the mine in their spare time and over their lunch hours. There is even a complete altar where weddings are held with chandeliers made of salt crystal. Mind you, these floors are also made of salt... Here are some examples of carvings. After completing the tour of the mine we were shuttled to the airport where we picked up our rental cars and drove to Strbske Pleso where we are here for one night and part of tomorrow. We had a lovely dinner at the Koliba on the property a...

We all had a good night's sleep and awoke ready to go! Our first stop of the day was to the Greek Catholic church in Krakow. Our tour guide, Hrycz Suchanycz, sings in the choir and wanted us to see this beautiful church and hear their wonderful choir...all eight of them! After Liturgy we started on our day long excursion of the old city of Krakow. I won't bore you with the whole day but suffice it to say we put in 19,280 steps! Here are just a few of the highlights. Lunch was at a Ukrainian restaurant, dinner at a Lemko one. We are having our fill of comfort food! Stopped for a nightcap on the square and we are off early tomorrow to the salt mines in Wieliczka. After that we pick up our rental cars and head to the Tatra Mountains for a little relaxation after our exhausting couple of days. More to come tomorrow...

We made it!!! We all arrived in Amsterdam within a few minutes of each other. Mary and Dianne coming in from upstate New York, Nancy from Detroit, and Walt, Karen and I from Minneapolis. We had a quick flight from Amsterdam to Krakow, a taxi ride to our hotel and then we were off to see the sight of the Old Town Square. We all dropped a few Zloty in Cloth Hall, the main shopping site in the historical area. Dianne was looking intent at one of the many booths that sold amber. Afterwards we listened to the bugler perched high atop St. Mary's Basilica. We kept wondering where Walt went to...he must have taken photos from every angle possible!!! By this time we were all very tired from not having slept much overnight but were determined to stay awake until evening. We stopped by a nice restaurant on the square for some liquid libations followed by a wonderful dinner at Starej Kuchni (the old kitchen). My friend Hrycz Suchanycz joined us and will be taking us on a tou...