Jane the Brave

My friend Mary Novak, a visitor to this part of the world many times, told me, "You HAVE to tour the salt mine!" I also vaguely remember reading good reviews about this tourist attraction on TripAdvisor so when The Mister asked if I wanted to go to Salzbergwerk, the Berchtesgarden Salt Mine, I said, "Sure."

They have been mining for salt for 500 years at this mountain!  In 2007, they created a tour for visitors to understand more about salt mining.

If I had known what it was going to be like, I would have never gone -- and that's a shame because I would have missed out on an absolute amazing experience. Mary was right!

While we were waiting in line with our tickets to start our tour, I asked Earl, "What is this all about?  Do we ride a tram ... maybe see a movie?  Do you know exactly what happens here?" He didn't. We knew that at some point during this tour you get to go down a slide like how workers used to enter work spaces and I said that since I've had two spinal surgeries, I wouldn't be doing that. But other than that, we didn't know what was going to happen.

Tour time! After a group of us had assembled, it was time to suit up! And time for a selfie.

I think this is all fun and games! I'm excited to be dressed like a salt miner.

No photos are allowed during the visit so I am borrowing internet photos to show you what this was like.

All suited up, we board this little mine train (below), riding toboggan style ...

I sit behind Earl so I can hold on to him.  A sign in four languages says to keep "calmly seated" and keep your arms and legs in. "Calmly seated"?!? "Arms in"?!?? What's going on?

Holy moly. 

This mine train revs up and goes flying through a tunnel into the mountain. Did I mention I hate tunnels? What am I doing here? The mine train is screeching along. It turns, it rocks -- and I realize if I reach out, I could lose a hand. I'm not kidding. I look at Earl's head and he's about a foot from the top of the hole we're driving through. There is no advanced caution about what this was going to be. No signs like we would have in the U.S. saying, "If you have any of these 53 conditions, do not board this ..."

We travel a good six minutes and I realize we are deeeeep into a mountain. Me. Who hates tunnels. I feel utterly stupid about being here and a tad claustrophobic but mostly TRAPPED because I'm in a mountain and this whole "adventure" is going to last more than an hour.

I make a resolution: I will not let Earl know how badly I want out of here. I don't want to ruin it for him. That motivation was something I could hang onto.

But the train stops in a cave where we can stand up and walk around, and our driver starts telling us about salt mining. (Earl and I use an audio guide translator that they provided.)

Then we start walking through parts of the mine. We start walking down one pathway and then another. We walk about 2-3-4 across and the height is a bit taller than in the photo below but not by much.

In pretending to like it for Earl, hey, I'm enjoying this.  I'm learning a lot and seeing some cool stuff. Every time a negative thought comes into my mind about being underground, I shove it aside --and that works.

We come to the first part in the path where you can slide down (below).

Earl does it -- and I take the deserted pathway option. No way am I risking doing something my very sensitive spine doesn't like. But people are loving the experience and I don't blame them.

We're seeing some really cool things as we march on. I am flabbergasted that we have one guide for our group of maybe 25 people -- and he's always at the lead and these are low-light pathways with uneven surfaces at times. No one checks to see if we'll all keeping up? Wow. This is not Universal Studios, that's for sure.

We learn about how salt formed and how people tunneled into this mountain 500 years ago.

We ride a funicular ... and then comes my favorite part. We enter a cave with a lake in it, called Mirror Lake because what you see in the water is a reflection of the cave roof! We are in awe just looking at the lake -- and then we see a boat!  Our group boards it to travel across the lake (photo below, keep in mind I got these from the internet). Look how the water is -- well, it's a mirror image. You're pretty close to the ceiling and how deep is this lake? Who cares! Look how stunning this place is! Will wonders never cease.

Wonders don't cease because it's time for another slide down to a deeper part (below). Earl had fun sliding -- and you can see my path that I walked. I watched him and didn't regret my choice. (I really don't have a choice.)

We really covered the territory in our walking!  I knew the end would be another mine train ride to get us out of here and it was. This one was even faster but I handled it.

We emerged to the outside world and I admit I was very glad to see sun, sky, and wide open spaces.

I confessed my anxiety to Earl while quickly telling him I was glad I didn't know what this was going to be because I would have shouted, "No, thank you!" as loudly as possible. (Hmmm. Are there other things in life I have passed on I shouldn't have?)

Anyway, Earl said it was one of the best things we have done on The Grand Tour and I agree. Thanks, Mary, for urging us to consider this. I, too, will highly recommend it.

Today (Wednesday) is our last day in Bavaria. We are pulling up the "anchor" and traveling to Vienna and then Prague as the next parts of our journey. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will make our last descent down our mountain, saying goodbye to the sheep (below) who run away every time they see our car ...

 
... goodbye to our little village Marktshellenberg (below) ..

... and I'll take a last look at how beautiful the church steeple (below) looks as it comes into view on our drive down ...

 ... and say goodbye to the green water of the river (below).

I have really enjoyed sharing Bavaria with you!  Thanks for the nice texts and emails I get.

Can't wait to see Vienna for the first time ... and tell you all about it! 

Jane