July 5 - Wielicza Salt Mine 🇵🇱

A salt mine southeast of Krakow is a beloved spot for the Poles and seemingly lots of foreign tourists. Today was the first day with any real crowds, though most were Poles. Hundreds of feet (442 to be exact) beneath the ground, the mine is filled with sculptures that miners lovingly carved out of the salt. The mine began producing salt in earnest in 1280 and closed its production in 1996, after 716 consecutive years of operation! Under Kazimierz the Great, one-third of Poland’s income came from these precious deposits. Miners spent so much time underground (most never seeing daylight for their entire adult life) they carved figures, chandeliers and even entire underground chapels out of the salt. They truly are beautiful works of art. Today about 400 of the former miners primarily work on maintaining the 200 miles of chambers. The entire network is supported by pine beams- over time, the salt strengthens the wood. Our tour today only took us to roughly 2% of the sprawling mine but we descended 840 stair steps on foot before returning to the surface via a miner’s elevator accommodating only 7 people at a time up a narrow shaft. If you have claustrophobia, you’ll hate this part….as Debb did! Today is our last day in Krakow. Tomorrow it’s on to the Tatras Mountains, 3 hours south on the Polish border with Slovenia.