THE SALT MINES NEAR KRAKOW

Our hotel in Krakow is near old town, which is the positive, the negative is that it’s under refurbishment.  That means we were given a deluxe room for the price of a regular room.  The room is really nice, the problem is the dining room is not finished yet so our breakfast was delivered by room service.  While that sounds nice, the breakfast was what it was.

The good news about breakfast was that there was a coffee maker in the hall just down from our room and we could have all the coffee we wanted.  After the cold breakfast, we headed to the salt mines just south of Krakow in the city of Wieliczka.  The mine has been operating continuously for at least 700 years.  The tour starts with a walking decent down a spiral stair that descends first to a level of 180 feet below ground.  At this level you begin to traverse through tunnels to various openings and large cavernous rooms.

Along the way you find works of art created from salt.  Some done by the miners and some done by renown artists.     There are also rooms with exhibits showing how the mining was done over history.  All of the equipment in the displays are actual pieces that were found in the mines and preserved over time.

To enter the mines, the early miners were lowered on rope slings powered by primitive machines powered by people or horses. From level one we descended yet another set of stairs to a level 270 feet deep.   Here a large chamber has been turned into a chapel.  It took over 30 years to complete, from 1895 to 1927.     The chandelier was created from salt and wood.  Our tour guide through all of this was a delightful Polish woman who spoke impeccable English. By the end of the tour we had descended to a level over 400 feet deep. 

After 4 hours of climbing down and walking tunnels, we were glad there was an elevator back to the surface.  We were ready for lunch and found a local restaurant that served an outstanding Sunday lunch followed by warm, home made, apple pie and ice cream.  We really earned the reward.

We finished the day by visiting Schindler’s Factory, from the true story made into a film, “Schindler’s List”.  That was followed by going into the old Jewish Quarter.   

When we returned to our hotel, we were treated to complimentary Polish vodka, a gift from the management to compensate for the inconvenience of our breakfast.  Not a bad way to end the day, and it did finish us.