Salt mine

(I inadvertently pressed a  button before I had completed my journal.  Due to the new format of the site, the entry has come up as today's date, when I constructed the collage and not Monday 13th April when the photographs were taken.) 
One of the best tourist attractions we visited was the Wieliczka salt mine, about a 25 min. bus journey from the centre of Krakow.  The mine was built in the 13th century and remained one of the oldest salt mines producing table salt continuously until 2007.  The mine reaches a depth of just over 1000ft (327m) and is over 178 miles long (287km). Unexpectedly, the rock salt is a variety of greyish colour similar in appearance to unpolished granite, rather than white or crystalline.  The floor of many of the caverns appears as polished granite or marble through the constant use of visitors.  In addition to the enormous caverns hewn out of the rock, the mine features an underground lake, old and new exhibits of salt mining history and a 2.2 mile (3.5 km) touring route that includes historic statues and mythical figures carved out of rock salt. 
In keeping with the Christian values of the Polish people, there are several chapels in the mine. The collage shows the largest of these “The St. Kinga’s”(at a depth of 331feet, 101 metres) which contains a magnificent chandelier made from salt crystals; also splendid  carvings of e.g. The Last Supper and of course Poland’s favourite Pope, John Paul 11.  What makes the carvings throughout the mine remarkable is that most of them were made by self-taught miners.  Another astonishing fact is that many couples hire the salt mine as a venue for their wedding, the ceremony taking place in this chapel and the reception taking place in another of the great caverns, which is also used for parties, and business conferences. 
To reach these caverns you descend by climbing down 380 wooden steps, but thankfully ascend to the surface in just 40 seconds via a 17th Century elevator. To see other magnificent pictures of the mine just Google “Wieliczka salt mine; it is worth visiting if you are in Krakow.