The Wieliczka Salt Mine just outside Krakow is one of the most popular tourist attractions in southern Poland. People always say, "salt mine, we're going to a salt mine?" Then they get in and it's amazing and fascinating. On this first really sunny day in Krakow, we set off in our van.
Wieliczka is the only salt mine in Europe that has been continuously operating since the Middle Ages. Salt was an incredible resource in the past and made the Polish kingdom wealthy.
Our uniformed guide with miner's helmet (and speaking perfect English) leads us down into the mine by a long flight of 378 wooden steps and then through corridors of salt to various chambers. It's a working mine, but most salt today comes from Bochnia. Of the 300 km of tunnels, we only go through 3.5 km, but it seems endless. Each chamber has salt carvings by the miners, self-taught artist sculptors. The sculptures are figures and scenes from Polish history, and especially saints, like St. Kinga considered the foundress of the mine. Some scenes show the development of mining technology. The salt mine is also a sanatorium for people with lung diseases. The final chamber is an enormous chapel, with altar and wall scenes, and a huge chandelier of salt. Here's the sculpture of Pope John Paul II.After our day in Wieliczka we ate dinner at Chlopskie Jadlo, a successful chain of restaurants in Poland that features "Old Polish" style cooking and presentation. Below is the meat board---beef, pork, duck---and potatoes cooked various ways, and beneath is "after"; demolished!
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