There’s more than one Salt Mine in Krakow

Day 25 - 18th June

The next day we split up as Michael, Caitlin and Mum headed to the Auschwitz concentration camp and we went to the Krakow Salt Mine.

As it was fairly close to our campsite, we decided to take the motorbike. We headed out onto the busy & hot Polish motorways and after about 20 minutes of not seeing any tourist signs I got suspicious on the route Claire was taking us.

Nonetheless, we continued on through random back streets and industrial areas until we got to the ‘Krakow Salt Mine’. Unfortunately, it turned out that Krakow has a few working salt mines. One is for tourists and the one we had ended up at was still in operation.

After a quick detour to McDonalds to get some Wi-Fi and recheck where we actually needed to go, we arrived at the Wieliczka Salt Mine – for tourists!

The mine was quite amazing, as it had been producing salt for over 700 years and only stopped in 2007. We descended down a narrow wooden passage that looked like something out of ‘The Great Escape’. After about 300+ steps we reached a level of 64m deep and began the tour.

The toughest job in the mine - Mr Methane. Employed to light the methane gas apparently driven from the mine. Or miners?

The whole mine was a respite from the heat outside as it was a pleasant 15 degrees all year round.

After 700 years of operation the mine had become a huge complex of underground excavations making up nearly 2400 chambers, which made a total length of 245km!

One of the biggest chambers in the mine dedicated to the queen of the salt mines.

Mr Salt.

We finally descended another 70m to reach the final depth of 135m deep (although the mine actually went down as far as 327m) and then took the lift up to the surface, which was a claustrophobic experience in itself again.

The Last Supper carved into Salt. Pretty Cool.

The Polish have and amazing skill for woodwork and make the best steps, railings and support beams. Pitty about their roads.

After the Salt Mine we headed back to camp to have a few beers in the afternoon sun and wait for the other travellers to get back from Auschwitz. Having been to the camp a couple of years earlier, we knew what a draining experience it can be and Michael, Caitlin and Mum were no different.

To cheer the mood up we headed into the town square for dinner, which was made even more cheerful as Mum offered to pay for the whole meal! It was a great dinner of traditional Polish food (albeit in the wrong order) and plenty of beers and wine.

The Krakow Old Town Square for dinner.

Michael doing a great impression of Michael Snr in the morning.

We capped the night off with another stroll through town, stopping at another bar for a few more drinks. It was here that I introduced Michael to the honey flavored vodka/rocket fuel and we had a great time having our own sing song to many songs that we didn’t fully know the words to.

A great end to an amazing journey with Mum.

For someone that is generally out of tune, Mum was actually quite good and in full flight which was a great way to spend our last night together in the homeland.