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Comment by hammock | Hacker News Reader

Off topic, but I visited the Atlas Obscura-worthy “Wieliczka” Salt Mine which is a short drive from Krakow. Incredible place.

I have been to my share of mines and caves but never to a salt mine. This mine is massive and has entire underground lakes and even a chapel, with a beautiful Last Supper relief and altar and chandeliers all hand-carved from the salt walls - by tradesmen no less, not artists. They actually have mass in the chapel every week.

The massive salt deposits were what enabled the Polish kingdom to even be a thing. It was a huge economic boom.

Highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine

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This summer I visited the remarkable Slanic mine in Romania [1]. No matter how much you prepare, it's still breathtaking when you get there. The chambers I visited were all about 50 meters tall. You could have football fields in there, bleachers included. I took pictures, but I just don't know how to share them; still, I found this one [2] that gives a sense of the scale.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C4%83nic_mine

[2] https://www.romania-insider.com/planetarium-slanic-salt-mine

For anyone interested, they do tours in several languages.

Additionally, the tours have two sections - the first half that everyone does, and then they offer you the choice of going back up, or going to the museum area; definitely worth spending the extra time (particularly as it seems few people actually do it, so you'll have a chance to actually speak with the guide in more depth).

I've been twice and would happily go again - couple years ago now, so maybe things have changed.

I really should curate my photos - I took hundreds :)

What does the air smell like? Is it like being by the ocean? Is the smell stronger?

It smells incredibly clean. The air is very pure, apparently, and it's meant to be good for your healthm I noticed this - my cold cleared up while I was there (and started again soon after). There's a slight cave smell, but not really. I don't know what it's like to smell like being by tue ocean, but I don't remember it smelling much like british beaches.

It smells pretty clean/normal.

You can lick the walls and they taste like salt.

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