The excursion to the Wieliczka Salt Mine started on Saturday morning with some laughter but also with a bit of concern. Will all of the people make it to arrive on time? We had group tickets, as indeed it was more fun to share that experience together, as one group and one guide. Thanks to the one who had the idea of this excursion and bought the tickets in advance!
Some of the people from here already met at the train station and went together to the meeting point, where we had a cup of takeaway coffee and waited for everyone to arrive. There was a board on one wall, showing a glimpse of what was waiting for us to see, but I could not imagine how great the whole experience would be!
We got the guide and the wizard was the helper, always counting us and closing the doors in the corridors. But before reaching those passages and rooms in deeper levels of the mine we had to take a few stairs.
A few turned out to be around 370 or 380 stairs. I guess I messed up the counting part! I got a bit dizzy, and others could confirm the same feeling. When I took this photo we were somewhere in the middle of the descending part. It was a bit claustrophobic.
Every level was marked with a number. I don't know why I took the photo of this number, there is no special reason for 41. I said I was already dizzy from these wooden stairs, but if I remember well, the deepest level we arrived at was 53. Later we constantly went even deeper, but not with so many stairs as this first descending part.
Walking through the labyrinth of these corridors took us around two hours {I think it was around two hours, right? If someone from the group reads this post and remembers better - please, correct me if I am wrong}. We were also offered to see a museum that would take an additional hour but we voted (😂) not to do it in the end. The afternoon was promising more activities. (the whole afternoon and evening for #HiveBeeCon 😇)
According to the guide, the route we made was just 1% of all the tunnels and corridors in this salt mine. She said we would need three months, full day/night walking to go through the whole length of it. She mentioned more than 300km!
Oh, great. More stairs to take 😁
But these ones (maybe it is just a ramp, without stairs) over the water, are so gorgeous!
Being there and seeing this salt mine for the first time was more interesting than I thought it would be. Actually, I didn't know how it would be at all. I didn't imagine there would be so many corridors, and chambers filled with wood. And how many trees were needed for all of this...
Or for this beauty!! I took a photo with the board saying that this is Komora Michałowice. If you come, you can find it at 110 m below ground level! Believe me, it is worth coming here, to this salt mine, and to see all these elegant structures.
And look at the chandelier 😍
We can see that there were different types of beams. Some were painted in white, others were just kind of normal ones, but also there were some very old beams that already become petrified. The guide encouraged us to try to knock on these ones... the feeling was surprising - like knocking at a stone!
The Wieliczka Salt Mine was active for more than seven centuries. Can you imagine the quantity of salt that was mined there? No? I can't imagine it either, but it seems that this mine had a great impact on the country's economy for all that time.
That was a lot of hard and dangerous work for the miners, using some basic tools for the excavation, though later there were also horses that were used to help in the hard work.
During our visit, the guide told us information about the mine and its history and showed us many chambers, rooms, doors, and statues. Also from her, we learned that the statue representing Nicolaus Copernicus was made from several pieces and that it weighs 15 tons!
Carved stone doors - entrances to the little chambers and chapels:
There were some legends too that we heard, like about the dwarves that were working in the mine. This scene represents them and Snow White. Can you recognize which one is she?
Another legend was told about a Hungarian princess, Kinga. She lost (or threw away?) her engagement ring but according to the legend, it was found in this mine. This was a representation of the scene, with her ring.
The most beautiful chamber has the name of this same princess, but this is real and not a legend. A chapel in the salt mine, St.Kinga's Chapel, with marvellous carvings and statues all around it.
And the chandeliers again - simply beautiful! Even they were made from pieces of salt crystal!
Scenes from the Bible were carved into the stone walls. So many of them, all around the chapel. We had some 15 minutes to look around there... but I had the feeling that we would like to stay there longer (it was not possible as other groups were arriving too).
The statue of Pope John Paul II - also made from rock salt.
Tracks - but we didn't use them to get to the surface. This was at the end of our time there and we headed toward the small elevators. Each of those little metal boxes could take up to 8 people. It was also a bit claustrophobic.
Like a good tourist, I bought some souvenirs before we left the salt mine and the little shop at the exit. A key pendant (a little dwarf miner) for my son, chocolate with salt and a cloth bag. Although it would be hard to forget this excursion, with or without souvenirs!
The chocolate will be consumed...so just the bag and the key pendant stay :))
