Down in the Salt Mines

Last summer, Molly and I took a trip to Budapest and Krakow. The trip was nothing if not varied, including stunning basilicas, gondola rides down a mountain, a visit to a Auschwitz, archery, a museum of terror, and thermal spas. One of the more unique stops was at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. We didn't know much about it other than the fact that Rick Steves recommended it. As is so often the case, his recommendation was spot on. In this post, I'll go through a quick picture tour of our visit.

The stairway down to the mine

The tour of the mine starts with a descent down 135m (442 feet) of stairs. We're talking more than a football field straight down. Looking between the railings, you literally could not see the bottom.

Nor could you see the top when you were halfway down the stairs. And you thought being forced to sit in a cubicle 8 hours a day was rough.

After a dizzying few minutes of descending the stairs, you eventually reach the hallways of the mine. See the white stuff all around? It's salt. You can lick your finger, swipe down a wall, lick again, and taste it.

And these statues? Also carved out of salt. The miners would be down here for long stretches and often passed the time by carving scenes from Polish folklore.

More salt, this time the pattern left behind by horizontal drilling. Pretty sure I saw these in Aliens.

As we continued the tour, we descended further into the mine down wooden ramps.

We eventually reached this running stream of water. Apparently, it contains the maximum concentration of salt possible (~32%). We tasted it. It was, uh, salty.

Even deeper within the wine, we came across the chapel. The miners wanted to have a place to pray, so they painstakingly carved the whole thing over a number of years, mostly out of salt.

The altar was made of salt.

A chandelier made out of 99% salt.

A copy of The Last Supper carved out of salt. Molly approves.

Even the floor was made out of salt. This one in particular consisted of tiles that were actually salt licks.

As we headed towards the exit, we came across this underground stream. They used to permit boat rides on it, but no longer do after a boat capsized and trapped all aboard beneath it. It turns out that you are too buoyant to dive in such salty water and that without something to stand on, a boat is too heavy to lift. Scary.