Thursday, July 13, 2017

The Salt Mines and the City

This morning, we got up earlyish to catch the train for Wieliczka, where we had a tour of the salt mines scheduled. We had to walk down 340 steps (63 meters) on wooden staircases which had about 6 steps to each landing. Not quite a spiral staircase, but close. A word about the mines: it has been a tourist destination since the mid-1800s, and that shows in the way they run the tours and have merchandising opportunities. Capitalism is alive and well at this particular spot.

Back to the main description: the mines themselves do not have structural integrity, so have a lot of support structures. Since iron or steel would obviously rust in this environment, wood is the building material of choice. In many places, the wood was whitewashed to reflect light better throughout the tunnels.

The salt is a dark grey to black because of impurities, but occasional bright white crystal inclusions occur. These inclusions were generally set aside for other purposes (one of those is shown in the photos). There are several ponds in the caverns, saturated brine in which even the most muscular body will float, and many different sculptures hewn directly from the salt. The sculptures date from the mid-1800s to practically present-day.

Many areas of flooring were salt, and it was surprisingly smooth. In fact, all of the walls were much smoother than I'd expected; in many places, the walls reflected glassily.
The staircase vanishes quickly in the distance...53 landings

Salt floor


Many of the passages dated to the 1600s
(and probably incorporated older passages)

Jeremy NOT licking the walls

Doorway to the manager's office.
I couldn't get the salt steps in the picture.

Salt cauliflowers...a type of bloom caused by water intrusion

Sculptures depicting the myth of the salt mines

Wall texture


Stairs hewn in the salt; a major source of accidents and death

Dwarf sculptures!

Drainage systems
 
Pump to remove water to the surface

A chapel to give thanks for no loss of life during a flood

The chandelier's crystals are made from pure salt inclusions found in the mine.
This chapel was planned in the 1800s based on an existing cavern


The walls of the chapel are covered in carvings of Bible stories

Holy water

The nativity

Salt floor in the chapel


It was really interesting to see
how they took advantage of salt's translucence.


A theatre for visitors; used to be used for concerts in the 1800s
Brine lake

After a trip back to the surface in the shaft elevator, it was time to get to Krakow for lunch. Our hostel owner told us about a place to get pierogi and other local foods, so we chose to go there for lunch. We felt so special though: our waiter from last night was getting out of his car, and came up to us to greet us! How sweet is that?? At that point he taught me "good morning", but I think I have already forgotten how to say that. Sigh. Have I said how hard Polish is? I used to think I was pretty reasonable at picking up languages, but it's just kicking me in the tush. On the other hand, the locals are prepared to help and laugh along with me when I mess up.

Back to today's lunch: we each had a full meal for under $11. That is TOTAL, not per person. Jeremy had an enormous plate of pierogi, Florence had sausages, and I had a borscht with carrot salad on the side. Yum!
I won "most colorful lunch" award. Stained my entire mouth and teeth pink!

After lunch, Jeremy went looking for towers to climb, we visited the church dedicated to Mary (a beauty, painted floor to ceiling in lovely designs, and no gilt was spared), wandered in the market, went to several antiques shops, and more! Later in the afternoon, we attended a concert in the oldest church in Krakow (which seems a bit spurious as a claim, since they stated that the original had burnt down and a new one erected....perhaps the oldest parish, but not sure about the oldest building statement). The concert was a string quartet that plays every day, and unfortunately it was only too obvious that they wanted to get in, play their set pieces, and get out. Every single piece was rushed, and while the first-chair violinist was absolutely adorable when he improvised, even those segments were somewhat sadly spoilt by the complete boredom on the faces of the other players. Sad. On the other hand, the acoustics were great, and we got to hear some fun improv. Emerging, we enjoyed street musicians playing jazz and a host of other activity.




















Back to dinner in the apartment (we were tired!) and it's time for bed.

Love,

Alexandra

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