Today has been one of the coolest days on the trip so far, and I don´t mean weather. We went to the nearby town of Wieliczka to visit the salt mine. The mine was in operation for 700 years until it became a major tourist draw. We took an English tour that lasted almost 3 hours and we still only saw 1 percent of the mine. We went into the ground over 400 feet. The place is huge! Along the way we learned about how they mined the salt and saw many impressive things. There were many sculptures that were done by the miners, an underground lake, and 3 chapels, and a banquet hall.
In the biggest chapel (a full sized church really)
everything is salt: the floor which looks like tiles, the sculptures, the chandeliers, and the alterpiece. It was amazing!
It was actually a grey color instead of white because there were different minerals combined with the salt. However, there were pockets of pure white table salt that came through the walls and we were invited to try it. We did. Pure table salt.
We tried to get good pictures, but because of the low lighting, we really couldn´t. You´ll have to believe me when I say it´s much better in person. If anyone is planning a trip to Krakow (which I definately recommend), you have got to see it for yourselves. There are alot of stairs to climb down (I believe around 800 over three levels), but there is a kart that takes you back up. Wow, what a day!
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