Day 4 – Underground

In the morning, we woke up a little earlier than yesterday because we had to get ready and have breakfast before a coach came to take us to the salt mine. On the coach we met our guide for the morning, Jacob. When we got to the Salt Mine, we went down 54 flights of stairs before we were lead round by the guide and he told us lots of interesting facts about all the different chambers that we went in to. It was amazing to learn the size of the mine, and to find out that we had spent about 2 hours just looking around one per cent of it. It was really beautiful and the sculptures that we saw were so intricate. We were 135 metres under ground which is 400 feet – yet there was still mobile phone signal!



We returned to the hostel for a quick sandwich lunch before we got back on a coach and headed off to Ojcowski park, which was a beautiful national park. Our tour guide, Kasha, told us lots of interesting historical information on the way there, to do with people and animals that had lived there previously. When we got there, we went to a castle ruin which was almost completely gone but still very interesting.


Afterwards, we went to a cave which was very cold but also pretty. It had loads of stalagmites and stalactites and also amazing natural patterns on the walls and ceiling. We then went for a walk down a rocky path before reaching a café and stopping for a refreshing drink.


After finishing our special treat of a fizzy drink, we headed off again to finally flop into our seats on the coach. As we trudged through the winding path through the valley, we passed a number of wooden houses, which we decided were extremely reminiscent of ginger bread houses! Slowly we came closer to resting our aching legs, but alas we were abruptly halted by much ‘awwing’ and petting of a few stray billy goats. After being shepherded along by the wilting leaders, we were finally on our way back to Krakow and much needed food. Our lovely guide for the afternoon had kindly booked us a table at a local vegetarian restaurant. Much to our delight the food was delicious, and to the leaders delight very cheap!

So once dinner was over, we split up into two groups, the sleepy heads who wanted to get into their sleeping bags, and the brave souls who offered to help with the shopping for tomorrow’s lunch. After much buttering of bread, and a few e-mails home, all heads are now on pillows, and for the time being the group is quiet.