3 days in Krakow: Kazimierz district, Wieliczka Salt Mine, Schindler Factory, Plaszow CC and Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour

Jewish Krakow - Kazimierz district
Kazimierz is a fashionable artistic part of Krakow, located in the place of the former Jewish district, where there are now independent galleries, unusual shops, vintage fashion boutiques. Feel the atmosphere of this unique place. Excursion on the Jewish Kazimierz (UNESCO monument) is devoted to history and traditions of the Jewish people, since XIV century up to now: the closed life of the first settlements, assimilation of XIX century, tragic death during the Second World War, history of filming of Steven Spielberg`s film "Schindler`s List". Today, Kazimierz is one of the most fashionable areas in Krakow, where synagogues still stand, old cemeteries, cafes and shops have been preserved.

Schindler's Factory Visit to one of the most popular museums in Krakow - the former Enamel Factory, where a German entrepreneur employed Jews to save them from deportation to camps and death, there is an exhibition "Krakow under Nazi occupation". The modern arrangement of the exhibition is rather a theater and a film telling the history of the city, its inhabitants and occupants, rather than an ordinary museum.

The salt wonders of Wieliczka
The Salt Mine in the town of Wieliczka, located nearby Krakow, was opened in the 13th century as one of the oldest salt mines in the world. It reaches almost 327 meters underground and is over 287 kilometers. Walk through 20 chambers and countless corridors and steps on the tourist route, breathe the healing air fully and admire the magnificent wooden structures, natural lakes, chambers and majestic salt sculptures. Let the amazing trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine end a successful day.

Plaszow CC
Plashow is a Nazi concentration camp in the southern suburbs of Krakow, founded by the Nazis shortly after the German invasion of Poland. Originally, Plashow, opened in 1940, was planned as a forced labor camp, but in 1941 the camp was expanded and subsequently converted into a concentration camp, where from October 28, 1942, deportation of Jews from the Krakow ghetto began.
Plashow was known as a concentration camp, supplying several military factories and a quarry with labor.
The camp and life in it are shown in the Schindler's List movie (1993) about the life of Oskar Schindler. The area which held the camp now consists of sparsely wooded hills and fields, with one large memorial to all the victims, erected in 1964 and few smaller. As the Plaszow area is now a nature preserve, so the director Steven Spielberg built a camp replica in the Liban Quarry, some hundred meters away. We will visit all this points during our tour.

Auschwitz-Birkenau
Around 60 km to the west of Krakow is the small town of Oswiecim, where in 1940 a set of German concentration camps was established. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest German concentration camp, where more than 1.5 million prisoners were tortured and murdered during the Second World War.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is preserved intact as a reminder of the crime committed against humanity here. The museum includes the ruins of crematoria, gas chambers, the railway platform and other objects of the former concentration camp.

Meeting point: ul. Szeroka 24 (on the steps of the Old Synagogue)(click to go to the Google maps )