Day 6, Saturday, August 31, 2019
We had a quiet day today. I rested and did some blogging and Bob checked out the train station and where to buy groceries. He had a great idea, to use our empty carry on suitcase to haul our groceries. So mush easier than carrying heavy bags.
Day 7, Sunday, September 1, 2019
The Wieliczka Salt Mining Tour is on the agenda for today. It is a twenty minute drive and we arrive early so we sit in a nearby park where it is cooler until it is time for our tour. It is going to be 31° today, so going into a mine where the temperature is a constant 17° seems like a good idea. Immediately upon entering the mine we descend 54 flights of stairs, 380 steps down to the first level of the mine which is 64 meters deep. This photo is looking down the crack between the flights of stairs…and we were already almost halfway down when I took this!
There are dioramas showing some of the old mining techniques and machinery. These men are lifting ‘salt logs’ which weighed between 200 kg and 2 tonnes. The first shaft was sunk in 1280 and salt is still mined here today. The salt was formed 13 million years ago by an inland sea.
The salt preserves the logs that are used for reinforcement. These are newer ones but we see others that are hundreds of years old.
These sculptures are carved out of salt by the miners in the 20th century. These figures illustrate the legend of how the salt mines were discovered in Poland.
Horses were used in the mines from the 16th century until 2002. Up to 350 horses worked and spent their whole lives underground. Interestingly, they did not go blind being in the darkness most of their lives.
These horses operated a machine that moved the salt logs from one level to another. There are nine levels and 2 km of shafts and tunnels but we only visit about 1% of the mine.
There are white seams of almost pure salt in some places. Most of the salt mined was between 80-90% pure. 
There are some strange creatures living in this mine.
Stairs go down and down and down…there are 800 steps that we descend in all!
Apparently gnomes make good miners!
Looking down one of the long tunnels that we are not allowed to enter.
Wow! This is St. Kinga’s Chapel. It is entirely constructed from the salt in the mine. Most of the stairs on our route are made of wood, but these two staircases we walk down are made of salt.
The miners built over 40 chapels In the mine. It was very dangerous work so they would pray before their shift that they would be safe and then they would offer thanks before they went home. This representation of da Vinci’s last Supper is carved in salt, as are… 
all the sculptures…
the main altar. Even the chandeliers are made of salt crystals!
The floor looks like stone but is salt worn smooth by the millions of visitors to the mine.
An underground lake with scaffolding and stairs high above.
Another of the mine’s inhabitants! This guy is a bit scarier than the little fellow we saw earlier:)
This chamber connects the two levels of the mine and is 35 m. high. Because the roof is so high it needed to be strongly reinforced with all these high timbers.
Another underground brine lake. The water in these lakes is 33% salt. Ocean water is only 3% salt. Luckily we do not climb this set of stairs! They disappear in to the darkness at the top of this chamber.
One of the many long tunnels we walk through.
At one time visitors rode boats through this part of the mine and were treated to a fireworks display 90 meters underground! Today the mine has over 1.5 million visitors a year so it is impossible to still offer this experience.
There is an underground banquet hall and restaurant.
Another of the chapels we visited.
A close up of the mine walls. We were invited to lick the walls, and taste the salt. We only licked our fingers and then touched the wall so we could taste the salt. I didn’t relish the thought of actually licking the walls!
This enormous chamber is 135 meters below ground on the third of nine levels. The entire mine occupies about a 5 km x 5 km area. The ceiling here is 36 meters high and a Guinness World record was set here for an underground hot air balloon flight!
I was hoping to sketch underground but there just wasn’t the time, so I made notes instead, but I did sketch one of the tourists before we went underground.
On our way back to our car, these comical characters caught my eye, but there just isn’t room in my suitcase. 
Doesn’t everyone want to ride on a turtle? I almost went right over backwards when I climbed on!
The Holy Trinity Column dominates the town square. “The column is dominated by 
We wonder what this shop sells? These figures were made out of straw. It was closed so we couldn’t go in to find out.
We climb another bell tower in the Church of St. Michael just off the square. There wasn’t any place to see outside and get a view over the city, which was too bad.
The same church had steps to a crypt so we went to explore,..
and we found this little shrine and a small pool of water.
These ladies caught my eye. 
St. Wenceslas Cathedral was originally built in 1131 and was rebuilt in the second half of the 13th century. The facade was renovated in 1999-2008. It is very impressive.
Of course the interior is just as impressive.
We visit 
More fountains in the town square as we make our way back to our car.
This bar catches my eye. I am sure I know this name and look it up. Sure enough, it is the name of a show on Netflix about a gang in England in the early 1900’s.
When we cross the border into Poland we are surprised that there is no indication that we were leaving one country and entering another. One of the interesting things about travelling is how different things are from home. Sometimes the differences are challenging and sometimes the differences make me smile. This is what I saw in the first bathroom I entered in Poland.
We were frustrated when our SIM card stops working once we cross the border. We were told it would work in all the countries we were visiting. We finally find a MacDonalds so we can contact our bnb host, who is waiting to hear from us. It is late when we finally make it to our new apartment, which wasn’t very easy to find in the dark, but we are here, and tomorrow will be a rest day for us.
Giant formations inside the cave.
The Macocha Abyss is a surprise. Like an underground world with trees and a small lake. The first discoverers of this cave lowered themselves by rope 138 meters into this abyss.
Next we are loaded into boats and travel along 440 meters of an underground river. The overhanging rocks are very low and we need to duck at times to avoid banging our heads. No photos were allowed on the boats.
We stop and disembark to view this beautiful white cavern then back onto the boats to finish our tour.
After sampling the local fare we go for a hike to the top of the Macocha Abyss that we saw from inside the cave. Lots and lots of stairs!
This is a picture of a picture, but it shows looking up from the bottom of the abyss better than any of my photos.
Cave bear remains are found in this pile of rocks and bones and there is an assembled cave bear skeleton on display. These were very big bears who lived 50,000 to 30,000 years ago!
This is called the Bamboo Forest with its high, stick shaped stalagmites. These are unique and not found in any other caves in this country.
Crazy beautiful formations.
We are allowed to touch this stalagmite. It is said that if you touch this formation with two fingers your wish will come true. Here’s hoping…
The entrance to St. Catherine’s cave. The temperature inside these caves was about 8 °C and the humidity is 99%. We emerge into the 29° weather and our glasses and camera lens all fog up.
One of the many small towns we pass on the road to Telč.
The town square at 
At the far end of the square we see the bell tower so of course we go see if is possible to climb to the top for a view of the town.
The first 50 stone stairs are very narrow…
but soon we are climbing another 100 steps on old wooden timber steps up to the bells. This bell is named Marie and she was cast in 1550 and weighs 950 kg!
A bit more climbing and we are looking down on the two bells, Jacub and Marie, before climbing to the viewing platform at the top.
The view from the top was wonderful. Telč is a very pretty town.
This crucifix was at the end of one dark tunnel . We were the only people on the tour who actually went and explored all the tunnels. Everyone else stayed in the larger rooms that were used for some displays and a short video about Telč.
Back above ground we walked through the grounds of the palace. We didn’t have time to take a tour of the inside, but Bob got a chance to try wielding a sword. They are very heavy!
We also met some interesting creatures. This ten year old python and…
his 4 year old albino friend.
This beautiful ironwork was on one of the doors of the palace.
We visited our first (and certainly not our last) church, the Church of St. James the Greater which dates from 1273, but has been rebuilt many times since then.
This panorama gives an idea of just how many houses line just one side of the square. They are all in a row, not in a curve as they appear in the photo.
These houses continue on from the right side of the photo above. It is hot, 28° and we finally feel like it is summer. It was a cool wet summer at home so this is a nice change. 
I have no idea what this is supposed to be but it is certainly unusual. I wonder if someone lives here? 
We finally arrive in Brno, find our apartment but can’t figure out how to get into the building! Finally we message our host who comes down to meet us. It is a beautiful 
If you look down in the lower right corner you can just make out some of the headstones of the old Jewish Cemetery which located beneath all the trees in the bottom of this photo.
Prague is a pretty city with lots of parks and green spaces.
The old 
There are ten six foot tall babies
We go home to pack for the beginning of our road trip tomorrow through the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, .
This was our first International flight that left in the morning. It was very strange to have two full days without any night time in between. We take a bus to the train station which is a enormous beautiful building. It is basically a shopping mall with a train station attached. We take a taxi from here to our apartment. We decided last trip that this is money well spent, as we are tired and in a new city. It is so nice to be delivered to our front door.
So glad you are following our blog and we hope you enjoy travelling along with us.
trudymason.com 