May 4, 2012 - Wieliczka Salt Mine & Krakow, Poland
Today we left for Poland, we took our bus from the University on this trip. I loved having our own transportation when we did our mini trips, it was comfortable and it was all ours. We could spread out and have our own seats.
Ridin' in style, yes, that's a Mercedes bus!
We made a pit-stop on the way and found some great pastries at this gas station.
They even had Lisa's favorite - chocolate twists!
Sorry this picture is sideways, can't get it to turn. :(
This was our tour guide through the Wieliczka Salt Mine, I absolutely adored this woman!
She was funny and had a lot of cool information for us.
The entrance to the Salt Mine.
When we went in, we had to go down stairs. Not just a few stairs but hundreds of stairs to get to the level we were going to. If you looked down or up, all you saw were more stairs. I remember that there was a family in front of us who had a couple of younger children with them, it made me nervous because if they would have gone in between the railings and fell, it would have been horrible. These pictures do not even come close to what this looked like.
This was the first chamber that we were in, it was made in the 1600's. It is hard to believe sometimes that this has been there for well over 400 years. The thing that surprised me the most was it was not like a cave at all. It was not cold or wet down there, in fact, it was quite warm.
Yes, it was all salt. If you tasted it, it was pure rock salt everywhere.
There were even sculptures created in it and the floor was made to look like tile in places.
There were rooms and mini chapels in the place for the miners.
Some of the sculptures told stories.
These are the old mining cart tracks that have been etched into the floor.
We had to giggle that it looked like snow covering the walls.
It was far from cold down there.
Tributes to kings and leaders.
This was a pully system used to pull up the salt in the mines from level to level.
It still worked!
It was legend that little gnomes were in the mines.
That chandelier was made of pure salt.
Incredible!
This was the biggest area inside of the mine we went into. It has been used for weddings and ceremonies and other parties. The sound is supposed to be outstanding inside here. It was absolutely breathtaking.
The Last Supper was even carved into the walls.
Here we are in the Salt Mine.
Even a statue to Pope John Paul II
This was an amazing chamber. It had a mini pond in it and they turned the lights off and played music for us. It was quite the experience. I wish I could have heard a real instrument played in there.
Look closely, that is a dragon's head there. Another legend with the mines.
This area was spectacular! The ceiling was so high and there was intricate wood work supporting the structure. Again, pictures do not do it justice.
They did have a mini snack bar area with restrooms about half way through our tour. The only problem was that we hadn't gotten any Polish money yet. So we walked around and admired the artwork on display.
This is showing that the Salt Mine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ann and I made it a point to try to get to as many as possible on our trip.
They even had a huge banquet hall in the bottom of the mines.
Don't we all look thrilled?
The woodwork was beautiful, everything was carved in such detail.
Just waiting for our elevator to take us back to the surface.
It was a tight fit, 8 people packed into a tiny car. There were four separate cars, two on top of each other to carry us back to the top, it was a bit crazy!
After leaving the Salt Mine, we went to Krakow. We found our hostel and then the bus parked and we walked there in the rain. It was a cute little hostel but still nothing compared to ours in Vienna.
We left and took a walk to the city center and then went to dinner.
This is the main center of the city.
St. Mary's Basilica
Our first dinner out in Poland. We found a nice traditional restaurant that had dancers and music and everything! It was such a nice way to spend our first evening out.
Polish money ... the Zloty
The town center at night.
We even found a chocolate business open late making their goods.
Yes, that is a shoe made of chocolate below!
Evan, Jed and Caleb cannot help themselves.
I think there is something like this in about every city we went to!
Although it was a bit cold and rainy, our first night in Krakow was fun.
Exploring the rest of the city in the next few days should be an adventure!
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