After our fun train ride, we arrived to Krakow at 6:30 AM. What to do that early? Well, we would have loved a bed, but we couldn't get into our studio until 2 pm...So we locked up our bags at the train station and got on a city bus to these famous salt mines we had heard about.
History: Wieliczka Salt Mine. The mine was started in the 13th century and produced table salt continuously until 2007.
The mine reaches a depth of 1,073 feet and is over 178 miles long. WOW. Our tour consisted of about 2.2 miles.
The main purpose of the mines now is a tourist attraction. There is a lot of historical importance down there and some fun salt sculptures too!
The miners from the past made many of the sculptures. They even created huge rooms! Chapels, caverns and an underground lake.
Horses were a big part of the mine and basically lived down below for their whole lives. It was too much work to get them up each day after work. So, there was stables and food and people to care for them.
A chandelier made of rock salt!
Carvings all over, see the picture below and you see a huge room! A huge chapel, they still have mass here on Sundays and weddings even. On the walls are carvings of Jesus' life and death and resurrection.
It was a fun way to spend a few hours. Below the Earth...and to see all the workmanship of the miners. Crazy to think there are miles and miles of tunnels and we only saw less than 2%.
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