Krakow Off The Beaten Path

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The Tyniec Abbey is nearly 1000 years old and is approximately 12kms from Krakow city centre. It has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times over the years. The Abbey give commanding views over the River Vistula but in return you get splendid views of the Abbey from the river. There are a number of possible ways of reaching the Abbey including a boat trip during summer months, cycling along the river bicycle path, bus #112 from Most Grunwaldzki or car. For those who want some time to reflect you can stay at the guest house in the Abbey.

This is something only for locals not for loaded tourists.I wouldn't remember about it unless I had just eaten this ice cream.
This is the real ice cream not junk food from Nestle or Algida. You can buy it after staying in a long queue but it takes only 5 minutes.
The place 'lody' is located just near Kazimierz on Starowislna 83.You pay per 1 'galka' 2PLN form 2011 season.The interior is from 70-ties.The taste is wonderfull.

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I think this is a big mansion more than a castle. It is surrounded by a very large park and is situated near the main square of Pszczyna.

It was built as a castle in the 13th century or perhaps earlier in Gothic style. It was rebuilt and enlarged in the 17th, 18th and in the 19th centuries. The last reconstruction was done in the years 1871 and 1876 in Neo Baroque style.

Here you can admire many rooms. One of them; the Mirrors Hall serves as concert hall.

The park which surrounded the castle is dotted with various buildings and has an area with wisents (European bisons) and another with an etnological museum with wooden buildings. Unfortunately I haven't visited this area due to lack of time. I visited only the wisents one. There were only four or five of them and they were resting.

Pszczyna is located in southern Poland; some 90 km west of Krakow.

We visited the Royal Salt Mines through an tour arranged at the hotel that we stayed in. The trip was made by taxi, which made for a comfortable ride, despite the condition of the polish roads. The trip there took no more than an hour (allowing for traffic). If you do go to the mines, allow most of the day to see them. The tour underground takes about 2 hours and you will want to rest afterwards in the restaurant/lounge area.

You can get to the mine by the suburban railway or bus but it is better to go on an organised tour as this will guarantee you an guide that speaks your language at the mine.

The mine is 10 kilometers from Cracow center along the E40 bus route.

Opening times:-

1 April 31 October 7.30am – 7.30pm
2 November 31 March 8.00am – 4.00pm

Price 40pln

The entrance to the mine is though the bulding shown in the picture.

Address: Pomorska Street 2 (2 tram stops from very center)

The Silesian House was built before WW 2nd by the organization called Society for Western Territories' Defense Country League as a hostel for students and visitors from Silesia Region. There was the Gestapo's headquarters in the house during the WW 2nd and nazis' occupation (1939-1945). Thousands of Poles were tortured and murdered here. Today - what a capitalistic irony! - there is a Bingo Saloon in the same building. Via another entrance you can get into the museum which is part of Historic Museum of Krakow. You can see here originally inscriptions made on the walls of cells by prisoners (most in Polish, but also in German, Czech, Russian and French). The permanent exhibition 'Krakow 1939-1956' shows years of nazis' occupation and a few things date from era of Stalinist terror.

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The 630-year-old Jagiellonian University (www.uj.edu.pl) moved in to the building at the corner of the Jagiellonska and Sw. Anny streets in 1400, when King Vladislav II Jagiello bought the house with funds his late wife, queen-saint Jadwiga, had earmarked for the renewal of Krakow’s alma mater. The Grand College, or Collegium Maius, the oldest college of the Polish oldest and best university, was rebuilt by the end of the 15th century as a splendid late-Gothic edifice around a vast courtyard with surrounding arcades and a well of 1517 in the center. Professors lived and worked upstairs, while lecturing downstairs. In the 1490s they had Copernicus among their students, and the astronomer that revolutionized entire European science remains the most illustrious of Krakow university’s graduates together with Pope John Paul II. Over centuries a whole university quarter has arisen around the Collegium Maius, while the old college became first the university library and then the university museum rich in unrivaled exhibits. The museum welcomes visitors from noon till 2 p.m. on workdays. Whereas the beautiful college courtyard is accessible daylong and on odd evenings when it provides picturesque background for open-air theater or musical events.
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My great recommendation for all tourists who are interested in aviation and its history and for others as well - very unique museum in Europe and in the world. Why don't they promote it more???

Airplanes, helicopters, aircraft engines, etc. on the former Rakowice Airfield, where the first Polish plane, built in Krakow in 1910, once landed. Over 200 exhibits, often unique, and in some cases dating back to the Great World.
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Several of the aircraft displayed are unique in the world. Such unique specimens include the fuselages of the World War I German warplanes such as the Halberstadt C1.II, Albatross C.I., Aviatik C.III and Roland D.VI. You can also see here the sole remaining 1916 Russian M.15 flying boat by Grigorovich, the complete German Albatross B.IIa trainer and the fuselage of the famous British Sopwith F.1 Camel fighter of 1917. All of these aircraft can be admired thanks to the skill and patience of aircraft restorers and enthusiasts employed by the museum and who brought these fatigued antiquities up to display condition. More restored aircraft are following every year in an ongoing programme.
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This residence was the dwelling of one of the richest families in Poland

It is beautifully decorated, furnished superbly, and the centre of the local town that bears the same name.

The castle has been turned into a museum that is well worth a visit.