Down the Wieliczka salt mine

This morning we headed for the Wieliczka salt mine. We found ourselves an amenable taxi driver and for a mere 65 zlotys (about $20) he drove us to the mine. We then embarked on a two hour walk down many steps to 130 metres level and through many tunnels, rooms and two chapels. We saw salt sculptures of Copernicus and Pope John Paul ll amongst other famous Poles. Each sculpture was made by a miner. The guide described the history of the mine which goes back to about the early 1600's and showed us a couple of salt lakes. The second of the two chapels we saw was quite large and plays host to weddings as well as regular church services. It had salt chandeliers and a carved salt floor as well as reliefs on the walls. One of the Christ child sculptures was made from 2 million year old salt coloured with iron oxide.
This is a world heritage site and is still a working mine although not where we went. There are about 20 kilometres of tunnel in all.
It is also said that the air in the mine is curative for allergies and people are able to go into a special treatment area and just breath the air for several hours!