The best thing about a TBT (Throw Back Thursday) post is that I am writing this in Poland and most of my readers are in the USA…which is 6 hours behind in time…so I have extra time to get my thoughts together.

Last week I recounted our adventures driving to Krakow.  One of the biggest tourist attractions is the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which is visited by more than a million tourists each year!  The mine was built in the 13th century and produced table salt continually until 2007 and is one of the oldest working mines in the world.

The first part of the tour (once you’ve gotten your tickets and stood in the “English” tour line) is to descend into the mine….by stairs….wooden stairs….wooden stairs that wind down a shaft….260 stairs to be exact.  (It was a physical therapy workout!).  Once you were down those steps….you entered into a mine full of passageways and tunnels that lead you deeper down into the mine (and yes, there are more stairs…178 more!).  The tour is a 1.9 mile journey….but you only see 2% of the mine!  So you can imagine how HUGE this mine is. Continue reading →