June 22 – Krakow, Poland. I've often said I'm heading for the 'salt mines' but today it's true. We are going to tour the Wieliczka Salt Mine just outside Krakow. The mine was opened in the 1200s and continued producing salt until 2007. Over the years the miners have carved statues and reliefs in various places along the mine's shafts. Its passageways reach down to over 1,000 feet and are about 187 miles in total. Needless to say we are not touring the whole mine. The tour route covers about 2.2 miles. It's been a 'tourist' attraction for a long time. Nicolaus Copernicus, who died in 1543 came for a visit, as did Goethe, Chopin, Mendeleyev, Pope John Paul II and Bill Clinton. The deepest point reached by the tour is 443 feet below the surface at the underground lake.
To get down to the starting level you ride a miner's elevator. It's a three-story elevator that holds 9 people per car. The cars are stacked atop each other. They load the top one first, then raise the stack to load the middle one and raise it again to load the lowest car. Once they are all loaded the elevator starts down to the 210-foot level to start the tour. It takes about 15 seconds to get there. They unload in the reverse order, bottom car first. So if you want to spend the minimum time that close to 8 other people, get into the bottom car. It takes much longer to load or unload than the very quick trip down.
At the 210-foot lever you are in the Upper Ursula Chamber that was mined between 1649 and 1685. Because some parts of the mine are unstable they had to use wooden shoring, just like the coal and tin mines I've toured, except here they used the log cabin technique to support the room. By that I mean that the timbers are used round and not cut into boards or beams.
On the tour we visited chambers, chapels and even a cathedral. They do weddings down here including the catered reception in a large hall. It's pretty amazing. Much of the raw salt is grey and looks almost like granite. They had dioramas set up in some of the chambers. They didn't use mules to pull the salt cars to the windlass elevators, they used horses. Two of the dioramas were about this activity. One shows a horse pulling a cart of salt to the bottom of the windlass elevator. Another was set up like a stable. It was too difficult to get the horses into and out of the mine so once they were down there they stayed down. I'm sure it was a pretty tough existence for them.
In one chamber they had the figures of the seven dwarves working the salt. Nice to know that the miners had a sense of humor. They carved all these extra figures on their own time. Several of the caverns were turned into chapels. The largest of these is called the Cathedral and it's a huge room. The bright chandeliers are made entirely of salt. It has a copy of di Vinci's Last Supper carved from salt. Various scenes show the Nativity, Herod giving the order to kill all the male children under 2, the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt and Jesus appearing to his disciples after His resurrection. There's a hollow statue of Mary lighted from the inside that glows. It's a marvelous place. Even the floor is etched with groves that make it look like a tile floor.
We boarded the elevators for the trip to the surface, this time from the 433 foot level so the ride will take 30 seconds. Ears were popping on the way up. This was an unusual and wonderful place. I'm sad that my words and pictures can't adequately covey the experience.
This afternoon we're heading out on a city tour of Krakow. Our first stop was at Zegody Square in the Jewish Ghetto where Jews who were denied residence in the ghetto and did not have a work card proving they had a job at a German factory were taken to begin their trip to the death camps. They had to stand in the square, they could not sit or lay down but stand packed into the square waiting for hours. Horse drawn wagons were brought to take them to the train station. None of these people would survive. An artist has placed large metal chairs in the square to commemorate this event. There's a small building at the end of the square, now vacant. It was the gestapo's offices. Here they recorded who was sent and where. There are large pictures displayed around the building of people who have visited this place. Marshal Tito, Gerald Ford and many others photos are there. It's a sad little place.
From the square we went to a place that's a little more uplifting, the enamelware factory of Oskar Schindler. Schindler's efforts and protection of his Jewish workers is credited with saving over 1,200 people from certain death. He spent his entire fortune on bribes and acquiring black-market goods to keep is workers safe and fed. He died, living on government assistance and the support of some Jewish groups. His last apartment is in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. We were there in 2010 and visited the house. There's a small plaque on the wall with his name. He died while living with friends in Hildesheim. He died penniless. His final hospital bill was paid by the city. He is buried in a Catholic cemetery on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem and has the title "Righteous Among the Nations" a name given to non-Jews who assisted Jews during NAZI persecution. A sad ending to a somewhat contradictory but ultimately heroic life.
Ultimately we ended up in Old Town Krakow at the castle Wawel. It's actually a fortress that holds both the castle and the cathedral, the Basilica of St Stanisław and St Wacław, atop the hill were the city was founded. The cathedral is from the 1000s but has been revised and added to over the centuries.
Down in Old Town Square there's Saint Mary's Basilica, a brick Gothic church that is absolutely wonderful in side. The Gothic altarpiece is in triptych form but is huge and not meant to travel as most, more compact, triptych altars were. In fact it's the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world. It's 42 feet high and 36 feet wide when fully opened. The figures in the main section are over 12 feet tall and show Mary's death surrounded by the 12 disciples. The NAZIs took it during WWII but it was recovered in the basement of Nuremburg Castle and returned. The stained glass windows are beautiful. Each window is made up of many individual panes each one showing a different scene. One window appeared to be dedicated to the deaths of the apostles and early martyrs of the church.
Every half hour a trumpeter plays from the bell tower of St. Mary's commemorating the trumpeter that was killed by an arrow when sounding the alarm to warn of a Mongol attack on the city.
Out in the plaza they were having an antique Fiat show. There were old Fiats of all kinds and colors. My favorite was a bright green roadster of a type I've never seen before. Too bad they are so mechanically unsound. These people must love them to keep them running.
This evening we went out for a traditional Polish meal and some folk dancing. The food was good, mushroom soup served in a flower pot shaped bowl of bread with a mushroom cap bread top. Both the soup and the bread were delicious. The main course was a marinated beef roast served in thick slices. Very tender and tasty. Desert was strawberry mousse. Between each course the musicians and two couples in traditional costume danced various Polish dances, including of course the polka.
It was a long and eventful day and we were bushed by the time we got back to the hotel.
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