Adventure Time in Europe: Road Trip: Częstochowa, Kraków, Wieliczka, Auschwitz, Wadowice, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

This past weekend was a long one for most Polish people because Thursday was a catholic holiday called Boże Ciało (Corpus Christi) so pretty much everyone had the day off. We took advantage of this long weekend by taking a road trip to Kraków to visit my aunt’s friend and her family.

On the way to Kraków, we stopped by Częstochowa, which is known for the monastery Jasna Góra, which houses a famous painting of Mary (Black Madonna painting). Many pilgrims come from all over the world to see this painting and pray.

Jasna Góra

Czarna Madonna

After that stop, we continued until we got to Kraków in the evening.

Then, on Thursday morning, we went to mass and took part of the Boże Ciało procession through town.

Boże Ciało procession

Then, we visited a church called Sanktuarium Bożego Miłosierdzia (Sanctuary of Divine Mercy) that was consecrated by John Paul II when he visited Poland in 2005. We also visited the John Paul II Centre.

Sanktuarium Bożego Miłosierdzia

John Paul II Centre

Next, we explored Kraków! There were a lot of horse drawn carriages everywhere, and it was pretty lively (filled with tourists).

Karolina and I

Horse drawn carriages in front of the Mariacki church

hanging out with my cousin (Artur)

Artur and I climbed up to the Smok Wawelski (Wawel Dragon) statue. Smok Wawelski is a dragon that is famous in polish legends. This statue breathes fire every couple minutes, which is pretty cool!

Artur and I with the dragon

Friday we had a very busy day. We started off in Wieliczka, where there is a huge salt mine. We took the stairs down to the mines and got down to depths of about 130 meters underground. We had a great tour guide who has been giving tours here for 30 years. He showed us a lot of salt sculptures and we could even taste the walls, lol. There was even a chapel and restaurant down there! We spent about 3 and a half hours touring the mines and the museum. At the end, we took a super fast elevator that took us back up to the surface in about 30 seconds.

Salty statue

largest underground chapel- some people have weddings here

salt chandelier

tons of salt- looks like cauliflower

with some giant salt statues

After that, we next stop was Auschwitz.

Auschwitz

It was difficult to read some quotes from that time and to see pictures of everything. There were also many displays of items that were taken from the prisoners… piles and piles of shoes, glasses, brushes, hair… :( I am glad that I got to see it all with my own eyes... I remember reading about this place in school, but seeing it really makes the horrors of this place come alive… seeing the gas chambers, crematoriums, photos of the prisoners, their clothes… I can’t even believe that some humans could be so cruel and heartless.

Auschwitz

After Auschwitz, we headed to Wadowice, which is the hometown of John Paul II. We saw where he went to mass, and after mass, he would go for kremówki with his friends. So, now bakeries sell papieskie kremówki (papal kremówki) in this town.

John Paul II's hometown church

We were so set on finding some kremówki to try! It was quite an adventure though, because we got there after 7pm, so most bakeries were already closed. The ones that were open were out of kremówki, and restaurants that were open were out of them as well. The restaurants would tell us where they bought their kremówki, and we would head that way. We explored all of the bakeries and restaurants in the vicinity, and we were soon losing hope. We found one last bar/restaurant that was still open and decided it would be our last try, and what do you know, they had tons of kremówki! :) At that point, we didn’t even ask about the price, we ordered some for here and to go! And funny thing was that this bar/restaurant was located right near the church, where we started walking around when we first got into town… lol. So we basically made a huge circle in town searching for kremówki.

Me with my kremówka- so worth the wait! :)

After our delicious desserts, we went to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, which is a small town that is famous for it’s monastery. We barely made it inside to take a look in the church. They were closing the doors at 9pm, and we luckily got there a few minutes before.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

So Saturday was our last full day in Kraków, so we spent it exploring the city. It also happened to be Wianki, which is a huge festival that includes music performances, fireworks, and other attractions.

We went to Zamek Wawelski, a market, old town, love bridge, my friend Karolina’s dance show, Kazimierz (jewish district in Kraków where we had zapiekanki), and ended the day with the fireworks and music by the Wisła river.