salt gnomes at work

[metaphorge]

DSCF0268, originally uploaded by metaphorge.

You wouldn't normally think that a salt mine would qualify as a must-see location, but if you're in the Kraków, Poland, area the Wieliczka Salt Mine that tyrsalvia and I visited Friday certainly qualifies.

The mine has been in continuous operation since the 13th century, and still is producing table salt today. The mine stretches to a depth of 327 meters and is more than 300 km long.

In addition to its ancient purpose as a mine, Wieliczka features a 3.5 km tourist route lined with statues of historical and mythical figures, all of them sculptured out of salt by miners.

Click here to see more.

BTW, I lied in my last post. We're going to Auschwitz tomorrow; there's been so much to do here in Kraków that we'll be departing on Monday night for Budapest, instead of tomorrow night as originally planned....

Comments

[fairnymph.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous of your trip.

[chalepa-ta-kala.livejournal.com]

salt gnomes at work

That has to be the coolest thing EVAR!

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

The former Soviet-bloc countries are still amazingly affordable; since 23c3 subsidized our tickets across the Atlantic to Berlin, we figured it made since to make the most of that and see as much as we could. The only other expensive country we're visiting is Austria, and we're staying with ioerror while we're there, just avoiding the high cost of lodging in Vienna.

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

The whole mine was certainly unexpected. I thinkI like the Salt Pope better than the Salt Gnomes, though....

[airshipjones.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked the salt mines. And thanks for posting the pics. They are really great. The pope and gnomes are both cool.

[cherrypep.livejournal.com]

If you're going to Budapest, try to find time to visit a thermal bath. I know it's January and they're generally outdoors, but hey - they're called thermal for a reason ;-)

There's this one: Szechenyi bath. It's a weird experience, all these old guys sit in the hot bath all day playing chess.

Oh, yeah! and go see the Budapest statue park. If you ever wondered what they did with all the Lenin statues and so forth after the fall of the Iron Curtain...

I love Budapest. And yes, I'm jealous :-/

OMG salt mine!

[purveyorofchaos.livejournal.com]

Are there more mines like that or is that the only one? I totally visited a salt mine in Poland that blew my mind, and I can't remember it's name. It had a chandelier of pure salt "rock" and a "picture' of the Last Supper painting carved into the wall.

I almost licked the floor to see how it tasted but settled for a wall. Yum.

Re: OMG salt mine!

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

Most likely this is the one you visited... there's apparently another one nearby that also has a lot of crazy sculptures and shrines in it, but I think this is the one:

[darklady-domina.livejournal.com]

Wow. Suddenly being sent to the salt mines (at least to this one) doesn't sound so bad. Great pics! The sculptures are wonderful. Amazing what they can do with salt isn't it?

Re: OMG salt mine!

[purveyorofchaos.livejournal.com]

Dude! That's the one!

Thanks!