Salt Mines

Yesterday after changing accommodations again (drunk south American boys having a belching contest outside our door is not conducive to sleep) and a long hot bus ride with sweaty German boy scouts, we checked out Poland’s number one tourist destination….the Wielicka Mine. It was pricey but definitely worth it.

We took a two hour tour through the mine (in English). Basically the mine is 14 million year old salt deposit from some sea that used to be in this area. They started mining it in the the 13th century and its been active since. Apparently until the 19th century salt was a precious commodity in Europe and could be bartered for just about anything. While its still nominally active, the main thing they do there is tours. They have all these statues carved out of salt (see Flickr pictures) including a recent addition of Pope John Paul II. The mine was also loaded with statues of gnomes carved out of salt, which thrilled Ashley. They have 35 chapels and a very large cathedral down there, I guess being a miner you need to pray a lot.

We had a great time and would recommend that tour to anyone visiting Krakow…we would also recommend Moma for lunch, the best vegetarian restaurant in Poland. Yummmy!