The goal of our visit to the town of Wieliczka was to visit the salt mine. This salt mine is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and so it definitely is something worth checking out.
Our tickets were timed, so we had an hour or so to burn before we were let in. Hence we first checked out the town and its small market square. But we went back in time to get entrance. And while it was a guided tour, we definitely needed the guide, as the underground setting of the mine is definitely labyrinthine, and it's easy to get lost underneath. You don't want that to happen.
The visit begins by a very long descent on a staircase. I think it was more than 50 stories downward climb. I thought it was never-ending until we eventually reached a large clearing, where we re-grouped. And from there we went through many corridors and tunnels. As we went, we saw plenty of mining equipment.
Somehow, as the mine flourished, someone decided to make it pretty. So sculptors went to work and installed statues. We would later see plenty of salt statues all over the place. Later on, we even saw an entire cathedral carved out of salt. But for now, we saw sculptures depicting important people, as well as dioramas and presentations of how mining life was like back then. Salt mining was stopped apparently in the late 20th century due to various economical reasons.
As I mentioned, there's an entire cathedral carved out of salt. I was told that this cathedral is in use. You can get married here if you want. All the things and objects you can expect from a cathedral is here, made of salt. And yes, there's even a statue of Pope John Paul II, also in salt.
The tour lasts about a little more than two hours. Aside from the above, we also passed by some bodies of water. After two hours, I learned a lot about salt mining, and so I think I had enough to mentally digest. Hence we skipped the other attached attractions. If we were still up for it, we could have visited a salt mining museum, but then again we were not the most eager salt miners there, we just wanted to check out an underground site with salt sculptures.
