From Castles on High to Subterranean Caverns - July 2023

The last show of the tour was headlining at the Summer Fog Festival in Katowice, Poland. It was fantastic to play to such a massive and appreciative crowd and we were all filled with joy... What a terrific way to end the tour! Many thanks to Kamil Kubica and his wife for organising such a brilliant festival, and as ever thanks to John at Solo, plus Adrian, Brian and our team.

The following day, Jo and I joined pals Roman and Claudia to spend three nights in Krakow. Such a spectacular city... replete with the most incredible old buildings and a magnificent castle. The walls of Medieval houses along with doorways to places once inhabited by Jews who disappeared in the WWII all held a sense of the stories they could tell. Several restaurants included atmospheric basements of ancient cellars, and the castle turrets and ramparts rose high above a natural cave, believed to have been home to a mythical dragon.

We saw some beautiful places too in the surrounding countryside, including a fairytale like castle in the middle of a remote forest. We also walked around ruins of another castle nestled between some magnificent rocky pinnacles within densely forested hills.

A high point was visiting the spectacular salt mine close to the city. Here deep below the surface we walked through many corridors of salt walls, interspersed by extraordinary chambers, including an underground lake and a large church which hosts concerts. The salt sculptures were magnificent. We had to stay close to our guide as the tunnels apparently go on for at least 250 kilometres!

It was a totally magical experience and great to explore everything with our two Polish friends.

We look forward to returning to Poland as soon as possible!