|
A visit to the Wieliczka
Salt Mine &
a traditional Jewish dinner in Kraków
|
|
|
|
|
| |
After breakfast, we joined
the rest of the group for a coach ride to the Wieliczka
Salt Mine, a few miles south east of Kraków.
We had little idea of what to expect, but it turned out
to be a most interesting visit.
|
|
|
| |
We were ushered to the
entrance queues (seen here on the right) so quickly, that
we failed to take a photo of the mine shaft or the building
in front of it, so this is somebody else's photo! |
|
|
| |
The mine is clearly a
major tourist attraction, with separate queues at the entrance,
depending on language. |
|
|
| |
We were guided to a
queue for English speaking groups. The Russian language
queue was, perhaps unsurprisingly, devoid of takers! |
|
|
| |
Our guide introduced
himself and gave us a safety briefing plus some practical
information about the tour. He spoke good English and seemed
to know his subject well, although he seemed rather formal
and was quite serious throughout the two hours which followed.
He told us, amongst other things, that we would be walking
all the way down the Danilowicz Shaft to level 3, some 135
metres below gound (around 800 steps), but that we would
come back up in a lift.
The initial descent would be 380 steps (64 metres) with
no place to pause. We would be walking approximately 3.5
km overall. Before beginning the descent and with the information
provided, we were given the opportunity not to go any futher.
Nobody took that opportunity. Passing through a green door
in a somewhat non-descript building, we began to walk down
the modern looking wooden steps.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
The stairs were easy
to use with landings approximately every 20 steps, but it
did seem like quite a long time before we had walked down
all 380 of them to level 1. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
At various points, we
had to pause and wait for everyone to gather so that the
door could be closed behind us, before opening the door
ahead of us. The doors are effectively airlock doors to
control the flow of ventilation. |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
The further we went
into the mine, the more impressed we were by the scale of
it. The various sculptures we saw were amazing. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
The highlight of the
visit was St Kinga’s Chapel. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Queueing for the lift
to take us back up to the surface. |
|
|
| |
We were squeezed tightly
into a small lift. There were nine people in our cage, one
of four cages stacked on top of one another. It felt claustrophobic,
especially as once the doors closed, we descended for about
five seconds and then stopped in the dark shaft, presumably
to load people into the cages above us, before beginning
the forty second ascent to the surface. At the end of this
video, there is a glimpse of the stacked cages as the lift
descends once again. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
It was well past time
for lunch by the time we arrived back at the hotel and we
were quite tired anyway, so we just relaxed for the rest
of the afternoon.
In the evening, we joined the group once again for a short
coach ride to the Ariel Restaurant for a traditional Jewish
meal. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
It was a pleasant enough
evening although nothing special. Later a small group of
musicians put on a performance for us which many people
clearly enjoyed. We didn't. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Tonight was our last
night in Kraków and tomorrow we would be travelling
to Warsaw, our final destination of the holiday. |
|
| |
|
|
