Salzburg; the Salt Mines

26.06.2023 - 28.06.2023 75 °F
View Grandkids Trip 2 on Miss Chris's travel map.

Our last day in Salzburg was busy, a morning in the Salt Mines, Salt=Salzburg, then a train on to Vienna.

We’ve never been to the salt mines so this was new to us, but the trip started out with a series of missteps. We thought we’d never get there.
The salt mines are outside of town and we needed to take 1 bus to the center, then another out to the mine. Well, we didn’t look to see which direction the 1st bus was going and, of course, it went to the end of the line where the driver took a break. Finally, it headed back into the center but we missed a bus out to the mine.

The bus to the mine only goes 1 time per hour but we didn’t know exactly where to get on. If I’d paid more attention to my gps I probably would have figured it out, but it wasn’t really clear and we were concerned about getting on the bus. Anyway, we asked along the way and found the stop for our bus. Then the driver only wanted cash and fortunately, we had just enough so that wasn’t a problem.

We saw our stop on the overhead sign but the driver didn’t stop, we only then realized that, unlike the tube, one must push the stop button in order to get the bus to stop. We ended up going to the end of the line and then back again to the mine.

This mine has been in existence since the early 1500’s and salt was considered “White Gold”.
https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/excursions/salt-mine-berchtesgaden

We were not able to take photos inside the mine, but the tour is really good! It starts putting on a jumpsuit/coverall type thing. Once dressed then there is a tram into the mine and then a slide down. The slide is wood, you straddle it and hang on to the others in your group. It is steep at first but tapers off quickly so it looks worse than it is and the slide is really fun.

The tour has the group walking thru tunnels of an area mined many years ago, but it explains how, when the earth was forming, the salt formed. You also see the steps involved in processing the salt.

Several years ago, I’d bought salt rocks from Salzburg and we used them. The salt was really, really good. I bought some for gifts this time and a bag for ourselves.

After lunch, we were on our way to Vienna, alas, forgetting our fancy water bottles at the lunchroom. (Maserati and Porsche). Hopefully, this is our crazy travel day.