Prague adventure - Part I

Big thanks to my colleague who ran to help me check the train schedule which I mistaken for a later time, it was a near missed! I was tired that night, was fast asleep very soon after a quick wash up.

After approximately 8 hours, finally arrived at Prague main train station at around 6am. The train ride was alright, slept through almost the whole journey, the 6 bedded compartment won't help if you were to stay awake as there's barely any space for you to place your head, having to bend your head down while sitting up really doesn't help.

This train cost for the whole round trip to and from Krakow to Prague cost me 399zl which was suppose to be cheaper but because I was having time constrain and had to take an earlier train which de tour through Katowice before arriving at Krakow. I do not recommend the transit ride as it was such a tiring trip, and it is such a waste of time to have just sit in the train for long hours; perhaps I should have gone explore if it is possible to take a bus. Anyway, it is still an experience of my own that I can bring back with some memories.

thank God my bed in at the bottom, other having the trouble to climb up and down the 2nd or 3rd level doesn't look fun at all

the 6 bedded carrier that I shared with 5 others

The narrow walkway in the train

arrival at the Prague main station!

The wet weather that morning was not welcoming at all, I was already sighing that why rain today, I have travel so far to come see you Prague! Reluctantly I have to carry on to find my own way to my pre-booked hostel Extol Inn... so now from the Praha main railway station, I need to get on to metro line C to Vltavska, then change to any tram that goes to Delnicka.

*note below blue skies isn't taken when I first arrived, this was snap before I leave Prague the next day. Why did this perfect weather only turn on the day I leave...

Vltavska station by metro C

Changing to tram at Vltavska station 

a room for myself at Extol Inn - quite a good deal at less than RM100, however I think I would prefer a better location

After checked in, since it was still drizzling, I therefore took my own sweet time to clean up. After shower and change into fresh clothes I continue my lazying in the room until I saw some blue skies started to break open from my window, that's when I started to feel motivated to get up and go out to explore the city!

Now briefly, hostel Extol is located a little far out from the city centre, the distance to the the city is stilll about 15 to 20 minutes away by tram. The reason why I chose Extol was mainly because the rest of the budget place near to city centre are all fully booked and I was attracted to Extol great deal at CZK575 (less than RM100) for a room on my own and it include breakfast! Only if the hostel in closer to the square...

... to be continued.

Salt Mine Wieliczka

General info about the mine:
1. Sightseeing is allowed only with a guide
2. Individual tourist don't need prior reservations but organized groups required
3. Temperature in the mine is approximately 14-16℃
4. A fee of 10 zl for photo taking in the mine

Visiting hours for English language individual tourists: 10am, 12noon, 2pm, 4pm & 6 pm.
Note also the mine are closed on these days - 1 Jan, 1st day of Easter holiday (open only until 2pm), 1 Nov, 24 & 25 Dec, 31 Dec (open open only until 2pm)

The museum from the outside

entrance ticket excluding fee for photo taking which cost 10slz where they would give you a sticker 

Our guide introduce the first type of salt to us - coliflower!

The salt mine is located in a small town approximately half hour drive from Krakow main city, in a little village called Wieliczka. To get to the mine museum, you can catch a train from Krakow main train station (Krakow Glowny) to Wieliczka at 5zl one way and it takes about 20 mins. Get down only at the final station from the line, don't make a mistake by hopping down from one of the station that's alo called Wel...somoething. The mine is then 15 mins walking distance where you can find sign board alont the way.

A guided tour at the mine takes about 2 hours and begins with long descent into the mine on foot, it takes you down about 130m (427ft) but the mine itself is much deeper at some 300m (984 ft) down under.

Salt in Wieliczka has been mined for over a thousand years and the oldest shafts dated from the 13th century. Salt was highly sought-after during the middle age and Krakow was finance by these white powder. However as time passed commercial mining has since been abandoned and the only salt extracted here now is sold to mine visitors/tourists.

Duringthe tour in the mines, you can expects to see hundreds of statues carved by miners; using salt! in the mine there is also this very beautiful lake (unlike those ordinary ones we see outside, this one has no tree!), ornate chambers and chapels which are all built by these miners over the years, and the most impressive chapel would nontheless be the St Kinga.

in this picture is Irene who is very excited with one ofcoliflower



Mine workers rare horses in the mine to help them work, the guide told us that horses lives a good life here cos they gets the best food and breath the best air, but I think is rather not true cos they are rare because their owners need them to work

behind these carving there are plenty of romantic stories about princess Kinga

Few of my colleagues trying out the equipment that's used by the mine workers to transport salt from the bottom level in the mine

this water is very salty, like sea water and probably more salty

first chapel we saw everything sculpture were made of salt, including the very shiny floor you see in this picture

chapel from the above pic

St Kinga - this massive chapel consist of many different sculptures from the bible stories and all of them are hand carved using salt

the little orangey sculpture at the top of this picture is a sculpture carving of little baby Jesus which is carved using a different grade of salt compare to the rest - my guess for this is so to mark this precious birth of Jesus :)

every person could recognize this :)

a closer look at the worship hall, can't believe every things are carved using salt!

souvenir shop down under! things are actually not that expensive but I didn?t have my purse with me so no shopping :)

dragon for entertainment, it absolutely has nothing significant to this salt mine

taking the express lift up to the reality at the end of our tour

Interesting Poland

It is always interesting to learn about a culture that you are not familiar with, from my recent trip to Krakow I've learn 4 very interesting thing about the country:

1. Polish girl's name are all required to end with an 'a'
2. There are three alphabet that are never used in the Polish language which are 'v' 'x' and 'q'
3. Polish do not consume a full course of dinner, they instead consume light meal such as sandwiches or salad. This was because from their ancestor, a lot of them are teachers and their schedule won't allow them to eat lunch by noon, this meal is therefore consume at about 3 to 4 pm after they finish their classes at school and when the arrived home. It now became a norm even till today that Polish would have heavy breakfast and lunch then very light 'dinner'.
4. Drinking whilst driving is strictly prohibited, not even a 0.01%.

2 things that symbolize Krakow:

Krakow main market square

Dragon that spray fire at a designated time, in front of the Wawel castle