the salt mines would rock as a task..
Salt mines intro
For centuries, salt was mined near Kraków and brought wealth to the region. Two mines can be visited, of which the one in Wieliczka is the most spectacular. About 20 million years ago, this area was covered by a shallow, salty sea. Unfortunately for Kraków the beaches have gone, but left behind were some huge salt deposits that ended up 10-200m underground due to tectonic movements. Ever since the Stone Age, locals have been boiling brine to extract salt from the easily reachable layers; from the 13th century people started to dig for rock-salt. The mines gradually developed from small shafts used by local farmers and operating only in wintertime, to complexes of tunnels with horse-powered winches until finally into the modern mines that were eventually closed in the 1990s. Both the Bochnia and Wieliczka mines can be visited on tours that last about two hours, with witty guides who give insight into ancient and modern salt mining techniques and the artworks, chapels, lakes, sports facilities and sanatoriums you now find underground. The temperature in both mines is a constant 15°C. If you want to impress the guide, memorise the wonderful words Szczęscie Boże (stench-tsh boh-zhe); this essential, unpronouncable bit of salt miners’ lingo means as much as ‘may God protect you
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