Salt Mines

And I'm back again with more stories to tell! I don't know if they will ever end.

First Poland. It was quite a lengthy road trip to get to where we were going, which was "Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka" or The Salt Mines and some crazy polish name. It was only one hour to the Polish border and then another three once we were in Poland. Now I realize four hours of driving is like nothing in Canada, heck that doesn't even get you to the next province, but you must remember now I am in Europe. And in Europe they think two hours is FOREVER to drive and I've been spoiled now for seven months, and feel like 30 minutes in the car is a long time. To think I used to drive that each and every day. Anyhow. Poland was really beautiful! At least what I saw of it. We didn't stop or anything and I might have slept the majority of the way (due to my tendency to get carsick) BUT what I did see was wonderful. There were big rolling hills falling into deep valleys with the mountains fading into the distance. And the snow is freshly melted here so there was color too! The architecture and lay out of the country was very similar to Slovakia. Pockets of villages tucked in the valleys, tons of small cabin like homes scattered on the hillsides, and the oldschool roofing and siding styles. I don't really know how to describe it but once you've been here for as long as I've been you really get a feel for what it's like. All in all beautiful. Then we got to our destination and I was blown away by how cool it was (although it was very touristy)! Pretty much it's this giant salt mine that was started way back in the thirteenth century or something ridiculous like that and somewhere along the way the miners decided to make a carving out of the salt stone. And I guess the idea caught on and throughout the centuries more and more creations started turning up until eventually it was full of them. It was a functioning salt mine until sometime in the 1900's I think and then it's operation was seized and it was deemed a UNESCO site. Now over a million tourists visit it each year and it really is a site to be seen. When we got there we had to descend down 384 steps which took us 100 and some meters below the surface (the mine itself goes all the way down to 360m below I think) needless to say it was a long way down. Once we were down there there were countless tunnels and passages leading to all kinds of displays. It was really neat and I tried to take as many pictures as possible but many didn't turn out well because of the lack of lighting. But I did post the ones that seemed to be ok. Everything you see is made of rock salt! The floor, walls, and all the statues. There was a huge hall too where even the chandelier stones were carved from salt. People actually had weddings down there! Now you may be having a hard time believing me that all of it was salt and I did too in the beginning but I assure it is. I actually, might have, licked the wall, and boy was it salty! So there you have it....it's made of salt! After a two hour tour of the place you all pile into the giant elevator which is just a little scary. Especially to me, the one with a small fear of them in the first place. 36 people can fit on this thing and it gets you back up to the surface in 30 seconds which, in case you were wondering, is incredibly fast considering how far down you are. And to add to the fear it didn't actually have walls, it was a sheet of metal with a billion little holes in it so as you went up you could feel the air swooshing all around you. So not fun. But a WHOLE lot easier than taking the 384 steps back up!
After the mines we stopped for lunch and then it was back in the car and homeward bound. So really it was just a short trip but a memorable one. And I just love the fact that I can say "I went to Poland today". It's funny because now that just seems so normal but I know before I would have been amazed if someone told me they were visiting another country for the day. Sometimes I realize just how lucky I am to have been able to see all that I have. Thanks Rotary!

So above this I'll post a link to the pictures if you want to take a look and then I'm going to do another post on Easter. I think it deserves to be all on it's own, it was that special!