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| Tips and photos of unusual, out-of-the-way Wieliczka attractions, posted by real travelers and locals. Wieliczka Map |
 | Wieliczka Off the Beaten Path | Tips 1 - 10 of 13 |  |
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The Krakow's salt-work manager Boner presented the brotherhood of salt diggers this silver-covered horn of real aurochs.
The brotherhood of salt diggers was established in the Middle Ages.
Btw what is (or rather was) aurochs?
The aurochs is thought to be the original wild stock from which all European cattle breeds eventually descended.
The aurochs was the great, black bull. In prehistoric times, the aurochs was endemic throughout temperate Europe and Asia.
The Europeans had pretty much wiped out the Aurochs by the Middle Ages, and by the year 1300 or so it only survived in East Prussia, Lithuania, and Poland, and would have disappeared completely during this time if it weren't for a royal decree in Poland that protected it under threat of death.
The last aurochs was reported to have died in Poland ( in the Jaktorowski Royal Forest in Mazowsze) in 1627.
Is it possible to re-live them using genetic engineering? Who knows? Maybe?
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This coral on the picture derives from warm Myocen Epoch (5-25 mln years ago). Lucky epoch, it seems they haven't any cold winters that time :-).
BTW what is coral?
Coral is an animal that belongs to the phylum cnidaria. A phylum is a group that scientists place animals in which share certain characteristics. Cnidarians are radially symmetric, which means that they are the same all the way around, 360 degrees! They are built like sacs with a hole in one end that is surrounded by stinging tentacles. Jellyfish are cnidaria. Now, you are probably thinking, jellyfish don't look anything like what I thought coral was! That's because the most common pictures of coral are colonies called reefs.
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The Crystal Cave (or rather caves: lower and upper) is a strict reservation area, out of the tourist route.
This area was created by nature itself without any human activities.
The cave was discovered in the second half of 19th century. You can find here many islands of crystal salt.
The transparent and cubic salt crystals can measure up to 50 cm (20 inches) here - unbelievable.
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You can see various strange salt rocky formations along the tourist route (and out of it). They maybe white, green, yellow.
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There were various kinds (3 if I remember well) of carts used for salt transportation in the past.
The salt rocks or semiproducts (so called "balwans" - cyllinder in shape) were transported to the bottom of shaft:
- on the back of the tranportation workers,
- using push-carts then horse carts and waggons.
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Water and fire were (water still is) the two calamities for Wieliczka Salt Mine.
In the past they built the complete salt-water transportation system made of wooden chutes which carried salt-water to the shaft bottom Water Mountain.
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Thanks to good friends I was lucky to visit a few places out of the tourist route. To be honest it's not so easy to give such permission.
On the picture you can see the end of the tourist route.
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This underground tunnel - out of the tourist route - leads to Crystal Cave. You must have your own light to go there. And it looks really much more wild and mysterious then any part of the tourist route.
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I found a cone imprisoned in salt cone. My guide said that it's the example of flora from Myocene Epoch.
I found Myocen was 5mln - 25 mln years ago, a little old cone, isn't it?
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Miners used to sign the place where somebody died (mainly from underground methane explosion or collapse) with Holy Cross on the mine's wall.
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on December 29, 2002
