Four Small Towns and a Salt Mine
On Tuesday, we left Lublin and headed toward Krakow. Along the way, we drove through some small Polish towns that Joe and Denise's paternal grandparents were from. The first town was Harklowa, where their grandmother was from. Then we drove to Lipinki, where their grandfather was from. Next was Libusa, where we think the grandparents got married. And then we went through Gorlice, which is where they lived at one time. It was very interesting seeing these places where family members had lived. It made us feel a connection to the area.
As we continued toward Krakow, we stopped along the way to tour the Wielieczka Salt Mine. The Wielieczka Salt Mine is one of the oldest salt mines in the world. It began mining salt in the 13th century, and mined continuously until 2007. Today it is just used for tours. We began the tour by descending many, many steps down a wooden staircase into the mine. By the end of the tour, we had climbed down 435 steps.
The salt mine is no longer working as a commercial mine; it is strictly used for tours. The mine is huge: 327 meters deep (almost 1000 feet) and about 287 kilometers (about 170 miles). There are 20 chambers in the mine, including 4 chapels carved out of rock salt. There are also many lakes, 3 of which we saw on the tour. There was also magnificent timber construction, with stairways on the higher parts of the walls and ceilings for mining access to the upper parts of the large caverns. There were dozens of statues carved out of the salt, including a statue of St. John Paul II, and many pieces of artwork, including a large carving of the Last Supper on a side wall in one of the chapels. The Wieliczka mine is sometimes called the "Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland."
During World War II, the mine shafts were used by the Germans for various war-related activities.
Also located deep within the mine is a hospital and a hotel. The healing properties of the salt are advantageous to the hospital patients.
After we left the salt mine, we continued on to Krakow, where we'll be staying the next few days. The drive was supposed to be about a half hour, but it took us more than an hour and a half because the GPS kept insisting that we turn left where there was no street to turn onto. After driving around in circles (and yelling obscenities at the GPS), we finally pulled over in the vicinity of where we thought we needed to be, and Denise got out and walked around until she found the place neatly tucked away. It was about 10 steps away from where we had previously stopped in order to get our bearings. If only we'd known how close we were.
We are staying at an apartment in Krakow since we are here for 3 nights. This gives us a chance to do laundry. Not only did we get lost getting to the building, we also got lost finding our specific apartment. We were in the wrong building. We eventually figured that out and finally got there.
After all the driving around and getting lost today, we are confident that tomorrow is going to be a better day. Mainly because no driving is involved.
As we continued toward Krakow, we stopped along the way to tour the Wielieczka Salt Mine. The Wielieczka Salt Mine is one of the oldest salt mines in the world. It began mining salt in the 13th century, and mined continuously until 2007. Today it is just used for tours. We began the tour by descending many, many steps down a wooden staircase into the mine. By the end of the tour, we had climbed down 435 steps.
The salt mine is no longer working as a commercial mine; it is strictly used for tours. The mine is huge: 327 meters deep (almost 1000 feet) and about 287 kilometers (about 170 miles). There are 20 chambers in the mine, including 4 chapels carved out of rock salt. There are also many lakes, 3 of which we saw on the tour. There was also magnificent timber construction, with stairways on the higher parts of the walls and ceilings for mining access to the upper parts of the large caverns. There were dozens of statues carved out of the salt, including a statue of St. John Paul II, and many pieces of artwork, including a large carving of the Last Supper on a side wall in one of the chapels. The Wieliczka mine is sometimes called the "Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland."
During World War II, the mine shafts were used by the Germans for various war-related activities.
Also located deep within the mine is a hospital and a hotel. The healing properties of the salt are advantageous to the hospital patients.
After we left the salt mine, we continued on to Krakow, where we'll be staying the next few days. The drive was supposed to be about a half hour, but it took us more than an hour and a half because the GPS kept insisting that we turn left where there was no street to turn onto. After driving around in circles (and yelling obscenities at the GPS), we finally pulled over in the vicinity of where we thought we needed to be, and Denise got out and walked around until she found the place neatly tucked away. It was about 10 steps away from where we had previously stopped in order to get our bearings. If only we'd known how close we were.
We are staying at an apartment in Krakow since we are here for 3 nights. This gives us a chance to do laundry. Not only did we get lost getting to the building, we also got lost finding our specific apartment. We were in the wrong building. We eventually figured that out and finally got there.
After all the driving around and getting lost today, we are confident that tomorrow is going to be a better day. Mainly because no driving is involved.
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