Week 6: Life as a Miner in Krakow

I arrived in Krakow on Valentine’s Day to a heavy blanket of snow ❄️. Since it was a Saturday, I had to rush for groceries—in Poland, the Sunday trading ban means almost everything closes except for tiny kiosks.🛒🏃‍♂️

A Taste of Home in Poland 🥟

The local food reminds me so much of Tianjin style: plenty of boiled carbohydrates! It felt like a warm hug in the cold weather. 😋

Pierogi	Pampuchy	Faworki

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Exploring the City 🚋

Krakow feels more modernized than many other European cities I’ve visited. Their transport hubs are true “market centers”—the main train station is literally inside a massive shopping mall! 🛍️ I’m staying right in the sweet spot between the station and the Old Town.

At the top of St. Mary’s Basilica (Bazylika Mariacka), a trumpeter plays every hour 🎺. You’ll notice the music stops abruptly in the middle. This honors a 13th-century trumpeter who was shot in the throat by an arrow while sounding the alarm during a Mongolian invasion. A haunting but beautiful tradition. 🏹

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Deep Dive: The Wieliczka Salt Mine 🧂⚒️

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is hundreds of years old and was once a primary “money pillar” for the Polish Kingdom. I booked the Miner’s Route, which was an amazing hands-on experience! I actually got to mine salt and learn about the grueling daily lives of the historical miners.

Fun Fact: Did you know the word “Salary” comes from “Salt”? 😲 In Roman times, soldiers were often paid in salt. Here is my “salary” for the day! 👇

Pro-tip: Because the train station is hidden inside the shopping center, I actually got lost and missed my first train to the mine! 😅 Luckily, the tickets are flexible for two hours, so I caught the next one.

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Wawel Castle & The Dragon 🐉🏰

By the time I reached the Castle, it was too late to go inside, but the exterior walk was stunning. Wawel Cathedral is a beautiful “chaos” of design—it wasn’t built all at once, so you can see different architectural styles clashing across the centuries. 🏗️

I noticed most rooftops here are a distinct green. Originally, these were iron/copper and turned green through oxidation. Eventually, this became a status symbol! People began using pre-oxidized materials just to show off how “old” and expensive their buildings were. ✨

Finally, I visited the Wawel Dragon sculpture. Legend says a dragon used to eat the locals until a clever man fed it a lamb skin stuffed with sulfur. The dragon ate it, got so thirsty he drank half the Vistula River, and exploded! 💥

The sculpture usually spits real fire every few minutes, but I think it was too cold today—the dragon stayed quiet. 🥶🔥

Fun tip: 胡芦娃(Kurwa) is a curse word in Polish.