Krakow... to Zakopane

This morning I went on a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine just outside Krakow. Salt has been mined here for 900 years. Currently, it is both an active mine and a tourist attraction. You can only visit the mine with a guide (they don't want people getting lost) so I actually learned quite a lot! The mine has over 200 kilometres of passages on 9 levels, descending to 327 metres below ground. There are 2040 caverns and numerous underground lakes. The tour takes you on a 2 km journey on parts of the top 3 levels. The first level is 64 metres below ground, the third is at 135 metres below ground.

There are exhibits of old mining equipment from when they actually mined the rock salt. (Now they use water to extract the salt.) The cool stuff though was all the sculptures made of salt, two small chapels made of salt, and one GIANT Cathedral made of salt. The Cathedral's walls are covered with sculptures of saints and scenes from the Bible. Three men created the Cathedral over a period of 70 years. Even the chandeliers are made of salt. There is also a freestanding sculpture of Pope John Paul II (he came to the mine 3 times - once as a child, once as a student, and once as a bishop - he was to return as Pope, but he was too ill). The Cathedral is sometimes rented out for weddings... at a cost of $1000 USD per hour!

As interesting as the salt mine was... it was almost as great to just be there because it was only 14 degrees.

After my visit to the salt mine, I hopped the bus to Zakopane. I am now in the Tatra Mountains which lie on the border of Poland and Slovaka. I am also hoping to visit the mountains in Slovakia, but the tourist information office there has not done a thing about getting me a place to stay... and there is no hostels. I am debating whether to just show up...

It is now 3 for 3 on wrong directions provided by the hostels that I have stayed at. It took me an hour to find the hostel today... should have taken 10-15 minutes. GRRRRrrrr!!!