Salt of the Earth

The day dawned bright and Jenny and I awoke to a strange noise - it was Bartosz' cell phone and it was making a racket! He had let us borrow it so we could communicate and he was calling to wake us up! I had slept like a baby and finally felt refreshed.

He told us to rise and shine, he was taking us to the famous salt mine in Krakow, Wieliczca.

We had an English tour guide, who spoke very proper English. We were put into a cave of sorts and led down into an area that was cool and very dark gray - this was all salt we were looking at! I thought we wouldn't go much further, or at least be on an elevator of some kind. BUT then we came to the stairs! Down, down we went until we were absolutely dizzy! Thousands of stairs, or so it seemed, we gathered into an area so he could take us through the tunnels and the maze of the miners.

Salt mining was a very respected career in its time, almost a position of prestige. The miners were also very devoted, faithful people to Christ. The further we went down, the more and more statues of saints and chapels there were. When we reached about 500 feet below the surface, we arrived to a huge area that was used to hold mass and a common area for the miners to socialize. Here I saw the statue of Pope John Paul II and the Last Supper, all carved in salt.

At the end of the original tour, we were told we could take a more in-depth look at the mine and its inner workings. We agreed to wait a bit and had a snack and drink so far below the earth! You can actually mail postcards from there as well.

We continued on the journey after a break, there were 4 of us - 2 Italians joined us that were touring and taking pictures. I asked how they got the horses to go down all of those stairs (!) and it turns out they were lowered with ropes. Ooooch.

Our tour guide had been doing her job for 17 years in the mine. WOW. There is also a spa inside that is famous for people suffering from asthma and other ailments.

At the end we took the mine elevator UP - very cramped and very fast - and saw the light of day once again. It was early afternoon and the day still held surprises...

And THAT was the salt of the earth experience!