WIELICZKA - SALT MINE

During the Auschwitz tour, I overheard a group of American guys talking about also going on a tour to go and see the salt mine later that day. I had previously thought that I would be unable to go and see the salt mine as well and so was quite pleased to hear this. So on my return to the hostel, I went straight to the reception where I found that it wasn't too late for me to book a ticket.

At 3:45pm I was picked up from the hostel with the Americans and we headed for the salt mine. Once again we were provided with a guide on arrival to the mine who would give us a guided tour. To begin with, we had to descend into the mine and to do this meant climbing down about 381 stairs. It took us about 5 minutes to reach the bottom and as each flight of stairs was only 6 steps, I became quite dizzy walking round and round, down and down. But we made it to the bottom and the best news was that we were not going to be returning to the surface via the stairs, the had lifts for that!!!

Once in the mine we were shown down many different corridors and passages. There was even a licking wall in one area for people who did not believe that the walls, floors and ceilings were all made of salt. In the passages, we were stopped to be shown many different displays (also made from salt) of different aspects of life in the mine and how hings worked. In addition to these displays, there were numerous statues of famous people who had come and visited the mine back in the old day.

The best part of the whole tour was when we made our way into St Kinga's Chapel. This chapel is made entirely from salt and is a huge chapel under the ground. There were large chandeliers (made from salt) hanging from the roof and there were pictures on the walls, made to look like photographs made from stone. One of these pictures was of the last supper. But the best part...it was a 3D picture!! At the back of the chapel there was even a statue of the Polish Pope, John Paul.

After the chapel we were shown through more passages with more sculpture displays and on top of that, we saw the man made lakes (3 to be exact) that could be found in the mine. All these lakes of course were made using salt water and if the water wasn't salty to begin with it quickly became salty due to the salt in the walls.

There wasn't much else to see after that so we were taken to the lifts, which were another experience in themselves. Imagine a a small cage where about 9 adults could only just fit, squashed in together. That was what the lift was like. But instead of only having one cage, there were four cages on top of each other. I was in the second level which meant that I had to wait for both the 3rd and 4th levels below to be filled before we could move. At least the lift itself only took about 45 seconds because being crowded into such a small space was not the most fun I've had in my life.

It was then back to the bus when we reached the surface and back to the hostel. We arrived back around 7.30pm so I headed out to find some dinner then hit the sack as I had to get up early to catch my train to Warsaw at 8:00am the next morning.