The conversation went something like this:
Boff: "I want to go to Krakow."
Me: "Why? What's in Krakow?"
Boff: "Well, it's a day trip to Auschwitz and there's also a salt mine."
Me: "!!!"
Who knew there were such things as salt mines?! Who mines salt, anyway? Not the Poles any more. They got rich centuries ago with the discovery of rock salt but stopped when it became unprofitable in 1996. Amazingly, they used horses to do some of the work down there (once down, the poor things never saw the surface again) and the last horse must have led a strange existence until its death in 2002, not working for six years but not retired in a meadow either.
Anyway, the salt mine is located in Wieliczka, about a 20-30 minute bus ride out of Krakow. It's a fairly sophisticated tourist affair, with 2-hour tours leaving every hour for something like six different languages. Boff and I caught the 10am English tour and took the 340 steps down the mine. I thought they should have had a fireman's pole arrangement, myself.
The tour is part fascinating history, part being herded around. Because of the number of tours, each guide needs to time his/her group to perfection so there's no hanging around the bits you find interesting. There are, however, many interesting morsels of information, such as the horse thing. Also, except for the first century of operation, miners were all paid rather than slaves/prisoners. And all the sculptures in the mine were done by miners, not artists.
Apart from the operational parts of the mine, there are some incredible rooms. One was a salt lake chamber where the guide played us some Chopin. There are also (inexplicably) two chapels, a small one a few metres long and the photo of the day, the cavernous version replete with a nativity scene, sculptures of Jesus on the cross, the Virgin Mary, former Pope John Paul II (who apparently used to visit frequently as a student but never made it back there after he was made Pope). The photo is of a salt rock carving of The Last Supper, a couple of salt rock chandeliers and a horde of tourists.
At the end of the tour you need to line up to catch a lift back to the surface. Our English tour guide left us in the hands of a more militant shepherdess who stridently yelled "There is holy mass, so please be quiet!" as we filed past an empty chapel.
When we returned to Krakow, Boff left for Auschwitz and I decided to go to Oskar Schindler's factory. Unfortunately I decided to go via a currency exchange bureau (which was located next to a sex shop and manned by a guy who looked like he was about 15) and the markets to stuff my face full of berries. By the time I caught the tram down there the factory museum had closed to admissions, which happens 90 minutes before they shut for the day. Bummer.
Ended up at a place called Demmers Teehaus and had three pots of tea: one was pu-erh with cherry rum and the other two were green tea with pink grapefruit and pink peppercorn. I bought the second one, the pu-erh was too smoky for me. My friend Skippy says I have an uncanny ability to find teahouses wherever I go (I've found ones in inner city Brisbane, for example, that she hasn't even heard of and she lives there).
Tried to see the mummified monks again but the church was completely closed so failed at that, then wandered around one of the minor squares and hung around the very Melbourne looking Bunker of Art. That too was closed.
Had a hearty meal at Babci Maliny, which had decor that was a cross between an elegant hotel lobby and your grandma's place. The food was good and the service even better—I even managed to try honey vodka. Two thumbs up.
Caught the train to Prague, which Boff joined at Auschwitz. Our carriage contained a Nigerian student who is doing his Masters in Petroleum Engineering in Norway and a guy from Manchester who has worked at Nando's for so long he has long service leave. He's using it to travel around Europe with his mate (who snored the entire way to Prague).
P.S: Those of you who have heard of salt mines may well ask how I thought we obtained salt. I was always of the opinion that we evaporated it from briny water.
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