A Little Polish R&R

We arrived in Krakow close to midnight. We made the journey without any mishaps so everyone was in good mood and ready for an adventure. At the terminal exit a man stood holding a sign that read, “Michael Francom.” I’ve always wanted that to happen. Who knew all it took was a rental car reservation.

We climbed into our seven-seater, black Jeep Comander and headed off to find our accommodations for the night. The hotel was about a 20 minute drive from the airport. After a few wrong turns here and there—despite having a GPS—we found a place to hit the hay.

After a decent night’s sleep we met downstairs to try a Polish continental breakfast which included: apple juice that tasted like candy, warm milk, kefir (a kind of lumpy drinkable yogurt), bread and jam, sliced meat and cheese, cornflakes mixed with chocoballs and of course hot dogs.

After we were sufficiently nourished we checked out of our hotel and headed to the Wieliczka salt mine. The mine is an expansive labyrinth of intricately carved caverns, churches and statues. Legend has it that Princess Kinga of Hungary who was engaged to marry a Prince of Krakow asked her father for a salt mine as a wedding gift. The gift was granted and the princess went to the mine (in Hungary) and dropped her wedding ring down the mine shaft and headed to Poland. Upon arriving, she asked some miners to begin digging. Of course the servants not only found salt but they also found the princess’s wedding ring. It was a miracle.

The mine reaches a depth of more than 300 meters and includes a wellness retreat where patrons can take advantage of the unique microclimate. Our tour guide swears the air in the mine keeps people young. We concluded our tour with a bite to eat in the mine cafeteria where we got our first taste of some of Mike’s favorite polish dishes like galabki (a kind of stuffed cabbage).

After seeing the mine we headed to the rural south of Poland—a city called Zakopane. On the way there Mike drooled over the road-side cheese stands. As soon as we stopped he bought a smoked cheese loaf—serek. No one really liked it J.

We made it to our rental house and were horrified to discover there was no wifi. How would we survive? We decided to drown out our frustration with a good meal and movie (Mr. Magoo dubbed in Polish).

The next day we headed to Morski Oko, the largest lake in the Tatra Mountains and one of Mike's mission haunts. It isn’t far from Zakopane, but the journey took us quite a while because of the traffic on the usual European-standard two-lane road. While we inched toward the parking lot, shuttle vans and taxis threaded through traffic, sometimes meeting cars coming the other direction and blocking traffic both ways. Sometimes a van would meet a van and they would stop, tire-to-tire, in a stand-off, waiting for the other to move out of the way. It made for a good show.

After we finally parked we began our ascent. Tourists with deep pockets take a horse-drawn cart to the trail head and walk 2 km to the lake. Those of us who are more adventurous walk the entire 9 km.  The trail more closely resembles a road for most of the way, and despite the slight gradient the way was easy. We made it to the top in a couple hours. We took photos, made a quick pit stop and left. It was beautiful but very crowded.

We stopped for refreshment at a café a couple km down the trail where we had our first Polish kielbasa (delicious!), zapiekanki (a kind of breadish pizza with ketchup), icecream and waffles. We were ready to go. About 5 km from the car, it began to rain. At 3 km it was pouring. We were all soaked through. It was hilarious. After looking at the total distance traveled, we decided we had walked a half-marathon that day. Not bad.

Taking a minute to rest our tootsies and enjoy the scenery.

A rocky short-cut option for adventurous hikers.

Enjoying the view at the top.