Krakow Spiritual Capital of Poland

Its old town is one of the most beautiful in the world.

Nowa Huta allows us to know what life was like in the years of communism.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine, the first registered World Heritage List, are a maze of 300 kilometers underground.

Krakow, with its 700,000 inhabitants, is perhaps the Polish city more European feeling. The so-called "Slavic Rome" is a true "crossroads." Located close to the Czech and Slovak borders, was a vital location on trade routes in Europe. Today, Warsaw will be the official capital of Poland, but Krakow is its spiritual capital. The beauty of this city watered by the Vistula River is palpable in its historic center, in 1978 declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . It is claimed that this old "almond", chaired by the imposing Market Square, is one of the most beautiful old towns in the world (which was saved from the bombing of the World War II).

The Jewish quarter of 'Schindler's List'

Whatever the chosen door, the most spectacular is that of St. Florian, the old protective wall safe and Krakow, the road leads to the Plaza del Mercado ("Rynek Glowny"). Then, the largest square of medieval Europe , which has preserved its positions Cloth Lonja, the tower of City Hall, the churches of St. Mary and St. Adalbert, mansions and houses that surround this unique stage of Poland . Since 1978 , its old town is a World Heritage Site must walk along the Camino Real in the direction of the Barbican, which was part of the defensive wall, stopping before in "The Michalik burrow." This cabaret of the late nineteenth century is still a meeting place for tourists and Cracow. Nearby is the most important paintings saved Krakow: "Lady with an Ermine", the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci (who recently went through Madrid), exhibited at the Museum of the Czartoryski The Kazimierz district, which portrayed in the list Schindler Steven Spielberg , is currently a "Soho" Polish bars and restaurants that "coexist" with the old Jewish synagogues. In fact, just as the Jewish population is not in this neighborhood or the city are only 80 people surveyed.

Life in Communist Poland

The Wawel Hill is the great symbol of royal power . This hill, dominated by the Cathedral, is the site of coronations and where lie the tombs of Polish kings. There are 17 other beautiful churches in the old city, interest in their appearance or their ornate interiors. You can drive a car 60 to visit a working home the outskirts of Krakow, Nowa Huta offers us an unusual shock. The former industrial area built around the Tadeusz Sendzimir Metallurgical industrial complex, allows us to dive into the architecture of socialist realism after the Great War. You can even see the cars "Trabant" (the popular "soap" in the years 60) visiting a working house and the neighborhood that once presided over a six-meter statue honoring Lenin. More classic, but no less striking is the visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mine , recorded in the first list of UNESCO as "World Heritage". In this maze of underground chambers and 300 kilometers of galleries walk only 3,500 meters, at a depth between 64 and 135 meters, but the 22 chambers of the mine founded in the thirteenth century visitors jaw-dropping.