Published: November 21st 2007October 21st 2007
Today I went out to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, a UNESCO site, with a few friends from the hostel. I licked the walls, and sure enough, they are made of salt. Tasty salt too, I might add.
The carvings in the mines were incredible, and our guide said we were only seeing 1% of the mine on the tour. Even so, it was a two hour tour wandering through the 3.5km of tunnels and caverns. The deepest point of the tour was 135m below the ground, compared to the deepest part of the mine, which is at 327m depth. It's hard to really appreciate everything as part of a guided tour, but it is the only way to get down into the mines. Sadly, our tour included a stag group from Ireland, and they seemed to take over everything.
I expected to really feel the weight of the ground above us, but the caverns are too large for that. It was very cool--it's hard to photograph the mines, but I certainly tried!
There are more photos below
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All my life, I've wanted to be a storyteller. My experiences as an exchange student in New Zealand started me on a path to learn how to tell the stories left behind in the rocks. After six years working as a geophysicist, I returned to university to get a Masters degree in Geology. Those studies have dominated my life, and my travels, for the last couple of years. Now the MSc is done, and I'm moving to central New York State to start a PhD at Syracuse University, so I suspect the geology-related travel will continue to dominate.
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According to legend, Poland can thank Queen Kinga for discovery of the salt mine. Kinga was the daughter of the Hungarian king Bela IV who married the Polish king Boleslaw the Modest in the 13th century. The story has Kinga throwing her engagement ring into the Maramures salt mine in Hungary. The ring miraculously travelled along with salt deposits to Wieliczka where it was rediscovered. Kinga is now the patron saint of miners.
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