Day 122 (Part 1): Wieliczka Salt Mine

Bright and early I got on a bus to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which is just outside of Krakow. I had never heard of the mine before, but in the region it's a very famous place. It was continually mined (by the same company) for tabled salt from the 13th century until 2007, and has 9 levels that go to a depth of more than 300m, and a total of over 200km of tunnels and chambers. One of my favourite parts of the visit was the entrance, where you have to descend down a very long set of stairs dropping away into the void.

The place has been made very tourist-friendly, with wide, well-lit tunnels and guides who lead you through a section of the mine. I prefer things less structured, but I can understand why they'd want to make it so accessible. The guide takes you through a series of tunnels and chambers that have a mixture of themes and displays. Mostly they were either of statues carved out of rock salt from the mine and displays on mining styles and techniques and how the technology had changed through the centuries of mining.

Taking pictures presented some fascinating challenges. The air looked clear, but in many of the chambers were actually full of salt particles in the air. Since it's an underground mine there are many dark areas, and the flash reflected off all the salt crystals. Here is a picture with the flash.

The main attraction at the mine is an underground salt chapel with artwork, statues, chandeliers (in addition to the actual chamber) all made of salt from the mine.

After that it was a crowded mine elevator back to the surface and a quick trip back to the city center for some lunch before starting on my next trip for the day.