31.07.2011 – 31.07.2011  18 °C

After such a tough day yesterday it was nice to get up early to go and see something totally different. Today I headed out to a salt mine. This mine was operational from the early 1400s right thru to about 20 yrs ago. It is now one big tourist attraction and even it is a health centre.

Apparently the air in the mine (due to the heavy saturation of minerals in the air) is very good for you so people actually pay a lot of money to go and spend 6hrs per day breathing in the air of the mine for a few weeks. Apparently it will cure you of Asthma, Allergies and any other respiratory disease. I’m not sure I’m cured of my hay fever but I certainly figured it couldn’t hurt and so breathed deeply during my sojourn underground!

The mine has been operational for hundreds of years. Basically for all of that time the miners mined rock salt. Most of the rock is about 95% salt and 5% dirt and other minerals. So once the miners had cut away a portion of rock it would be hauled to the surface where it would be washed by plain water and the 5% impurities would be washed away. They would then evaporate off the highly saturated salty water leaving the remaining white “cauliflowers” (as the guide kept referring to them) of rock salt.

As you can imagine in the middle ages salt was very highly prized for its ability to preserve food so this is one of the key reasons why the Polish kings were so wealthy. They owned all of the salt mines and it was a very precious commodity so……

Today the mine is actually one big work of art. Many of the old mined chambers and shafts have been chiselled to resemble different Polish legends. In fact one of the largest chambers has been converted into a huge church. My gosh the church is beautiful! The whole thing has been carved from salted rock and the artificial light glistens off the walls and floor, just amazing.

The rock salt in this mine actually looks a lot like carved granite (the 5% of impurities make it look like black or grey granite) so you can imagine how beautiful the rock salt carvings are! Most of the carvings were actually done by miners who used to work in the mine before it closed down—I was really surprised they weren’t done by sculptors because many of the works are just exquisite. Today more than 1 million visitors pass through the mine making it far more viable as a tourist attraction than as a salt mine.

Before I finished my day I had promised myself a top shelf steak and salad dinner for my b’day and hadn’t gotten around to having it. Well today was the day. No expense was spared (although it still only cost me $20 because Poland is so cheap) and god did I appreciate that steak! After not having steak for a fairly long time the juiciness was just awesome! I think it was the slowest eaten steak in the history because I savoured every mouthful.. It’s funny what things you miss and what things really pep you up.. Good food for me is always one of them! What an awesome way to end a pretty good day (especially after how tough the previous day was).

Two more days left in Krakow- just enough time to see the Old Town and the Castle.