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Poland and Czechia - Krakow and into Slovakia

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 We had intended to stay three nights in Krakow to look at Auswitz/Birkenau, the famous Wawel Royal Castle, and the salt mines at Wieliczka. However, Krakow had decided to say no. Krakow introduced a low emission zone in January, basically covering the entire city inside the ring road and unfortunately including all the camp sites. It's quite harsh, and basically won't allow in any diesel engines built before 2014. There were ways around it, but you needed to apply in advance and pay an hourly charge. Fortunately the Salt mines were outside the zone, and the allowed us (for a fee of course) to park up overnight in the car park. The salt mines themselves are huge, and they descent over 300 metres, so there is a LOT of walking involved. Apparently they have proof of the mines being used in Neolithic times to make salt lamps! At each chamber you reach the have tried to set up scenes of what happened there mainly in the mid 1600's. After that in the 1800's they built superb...
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Poland and Czechia - Mediaeval cities on the way south

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 Torun was the first of the Polish cities with very old city centres, and known as the birthplace of Copernicus - the man who first suggested that the Earth moved around the sun, and paid a heavy price for his heresy. The site was on the other side of the river, so it was a simple matter of walking across it, and straight into the main square - except that the bridge turned out to be about two kilometres long, and we walked it there and back twice. There was a large main square lined with beautiful building facades and restaurants, and a central cathedral. This was was to be repeated in all of the cities we visited. Yes, they were all clean, tidy and very safe. The next stop was Poznan, where we stayed overnight in a carpark, with no problems at all, and an easy short walk into the main square. Again some beautiful facades and civic buildings. Our visit must have coincided with the days all the schools went on day trips, because they were everywhere underfoot. All well behaved thou...
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Poland and Czechia - the Polish Baltic coast

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 Up in the top left corner of Poland is the border town of Swinoujscie, a big working port, ferry terminal and yacht marina.It also makes money from Germans coming over for the much cheaper fuels and foods, and as such eagerly accepts payment in Euros or Zlotys.  The campsite was in the grounds of the marina, and using the marina facilities. The town itself was fine, with that little edge of seediness that ports seem to have, but it was sad to see some grand old houses now basically in ruins The next town along was a surprise. Our initial thoughts on driving through to the site were Blackpool in 1963 - shops selling the standard seaside fare of lilos, buckets and spades, fridge magnets etc etc. The fair was also in town, adding that certain smell of candyfloss... However, at the top of the town, on the beach, it suddenly turned into a more cultured French promenade vibe. Quite pleasant really.  I don't know why I didn't take any photos. Gdansk is a beautiful city, well at...
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