My second day in Krakow found me in line at the train station to buy a ticket to Wieliczka, where Poland's famous salt mines are located. As I waited, I recited how to ask for a ticket over and over in my mind wondering if I should wait another thirty minutes to buy a ticket when the time would be easier to pronounce ('dziesiąta trzydzieści' is a lot to work with). I got the ticket without having to resort to Google translate, and hopped on the next train to Wieliczka, which was about 30 minutes away.
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| Welcome to the mines |
The salt mines in Wieliczka are one of Poland's most famous UNESCO sites, and for a good reason. I thought they were absolutely incredible. The mines go as far as 1,070 feet under the ground, and snake around under the earth for 178 miles on nine different levels. I was in the mine for three hours on a guided tour, and we only managed to see about 2 miles of the 178. But what we saw was fantastic.
We started the tour by descending 800 stairs to get to the first chamber, named after Nicolas Copernicus. It was cold underground and I wore my winter coat the whole way. Svetlana, our guide explained how the mines were first constructed in the 13th century, expanding over time and generating huge capital for the country in times when salt was in high demand, particularly to preserve food. The chambers we walked through were obviously well-lit and easily passable given that it was a tourist route, but Svetlana pointed out many more narrow, dark, and less-inviting chambers along the way that miners had used. Hundreds of years, however, has lead to plenty of development along the main route. We stopped in several very large and magnificent chambers, we stumbled upon large underground salty lakes, and we traversed corridors with gleaming, crystalline walls chiselled out of rock salt.
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| The road more traveled |
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| And the one much less so |
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| An underground lake |
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| Religious statues placed in the mines by miners |
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| Carved salt walls |
One chamber, the Stanislaw Staszic Chamber, was over 118 feet in height, and apparently was the site of the first underground hot air balloon flight. Some extreme sport junkies also practiced bungee jumping in the chamber. Another large chamber was the former site of the underground stables. Apparently when the mining work became more mechanized, horses were used as a major source of labor, so they were raised and kept under the ground their whole lives. According to Svetlana, these horses often grew to be very strong living under the ground.
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| The highest underground chamber in the mines |
Little statues carved out of salt were also scattered along the mine. Some recognized important historic figures such as kings and queens, some were religious, and some were just for fun, like the group of salt dwarves I noticed as I was climbing down some stairs.
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| Salt statues and salt legends |
The main attraction of the tourist route along the mines is the famous Chapel of St. Kinga. The chapel is the only underground church in Europe, and it holds regular masses on Sunday. (Can you imagine going 400 feet underground every week to attend mass)? Everything in the chapel is carved from salt, including the floor, which is cut to appear as if it is made up of individual tiles. The altar is a solid carving of salt, and even the delicate chandeliers are composed of salt crystals. There are also several reliefs carved on the walls of various religious scenes, such as the Last Supper. The chapel apparently has perfect acoustic properties, and many musicians have performed for audiences in underground concerts.
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| St. Kinga's Chapel |
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| A salt altar |
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| The Last Supper (in salt) |
At one point, Svetlana told us about a famous Polish proverb: 'Don't buy your salt before you lick it.' She then invited us to 'lick the salt' on the wall by licking our fingers to taste the salt (she assured us that no microbes survived underground, so it was okay). Well, it was pretty salty.
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| Salt anyone? |
At the end of the tour, there is a small museum and restaurant
underground in a large chamber dedicated to the tourists. I was starving
after my expedition through the mines, so I ordered one of my favorite
meals, pierogi ruskie, and ate it 400 feet underground. Perhaps it was
my imagination, but the food tasted especially salty.
It was finally time to go back to the above world. Rather than walking 800 stairs back up, we were loaded into a miner's lift. This was perhaps the most authentic part of the trip because it was terrifying. We were packed like sardines in this seemingly rickety metal cage. Once they closed the door it was pitch black. Everybody seemed nervous about it, but the worker operating the lift was totally unperturbed so I was able to reassure myself that we weren't all about to die as we rattled up to the surface. I think we all sighed a collective breath of relief when they opened the doors and let us out into the daylight again. After three and a half hours underground it felt a little weird to see that it was still daytime, but I didn't even mind the snow as I made my way back to Krakow by train.
