POLAND, Part 7: Wieliczka Salt Mine

Our guide book estimates that salt was excavated here as early as the 11th century.  !!!



Located 30 minutes by bus east of Krakow, Wieliczka has a beautiful hotel with fine dining, outdoor eating area and visitor center, and a museum housed 400 feet underground.  It was a great way to spend our last day in Poland. 

You may be wondering what happened to our plans (my personal goal) to hike to Morskie Oko, the twin glacial lakes in the Tatra Mountains, in the southern border town of Zakopane. 



Well...blame it on the heat wave.  At first I didn't want to abandon our plans, but as the week went on, the daily highs were still reaching the upper 80's and low 90's and we were tiring from our travels (we must be getting old!).  Spending our last day in the natural AC of Wieliczka just sounded more inviting than a 2 hour hike, and Zakopane is very touristy and crowded at this time of year.

Someday, Morskie Oko...(sigh)...someday.

Again we arrived early, which was definately to our benefit!  We realized this after our tour of the mines concluded around 10am and we came up out of the elevator shaft to incredibly long lines--gobs of people waiting to buy a timed entrance ticket.

We started by climbing down 40+ sets of stairs (an elevator would take us back up at the end) and walking through salt-encrusted corridors with carved salt figures and models showcasing the old mining methods and tools.





Immediately we noticed the dry coolness of the mine.  There wasn't that damp feeling that you'd expect underground.  Sometimes the wooden supports were painted, but mostly they were unfinished.





An enormous network of underground galleries and chambers was created here over the centuries. Salt was also used as a building material in the carving of underground chapels and altars in front of which miners prayed for God's providence and protection against accidents.

Then came the chapel of all chapels!  (Again my pictures completely minimizes how huge it was.)
Left side:



Right side:



These murals carved into the chapel walls were amazing.  The one of the Last Supper is supposedly only 4 inches deep.



Some shots along our meandering tour.  I kind of like the ones I took without flash, even if they are alittle blurry.
Looking way down into a corkscrew chamber.



And looking back up at where we'd just been...

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And that, dear friends, is the last of the pictures from our trip.  However, check back tomorrow for one more related post.  :-)