Wieliczka Salt Mine by Levi

We decided to go to the salt mine just outside of Krakow, Poland. To get down in the salt mine we had to walk down steps that seemed to go down forever.

Once we got to the bottom, our tour guide showed us white stuff on the walls called cauliflower. This was salt coming out of the walls as water leaked out.

The mine is over 700 year old and has many large rooms with salt sculptures.  They used carts on train tracks pulled by horse.  When they are dragged, they sound like dogs barking.  They use wood to support the mine and the salt preserves the wood so it becomes as hard as rock.

This is Pope John Paul II.  He visited this mine. There are also many chapels in the mine.

This chapel is the biggest in the salt mine.  They still have weddings here.

There is even a lake in the salt mine.  You don't want too much water because it will dissolve the salt and destroy the mine.  The lake is man made.

Luckily for us, we got out of the mine in an elevator that took us to the surface very fast.