Salzwelten

What put the Salz in Salzburg? White gold- salt! This afternoon, after Brett’s morning of skiing, we take the tour of Salz Welten salt mines in the town of Hallein.
I’m sorry to say, I’m not feeling well. Maybe the stress from Vienna has caught up to me or maybe the 2 days of snowy activity…but overall I’m not at full speed. When we arrive for the tour, I look over the photos that include a train, a boat and a slide. A slide? I ask at the ticket counter – “How strenuous is this tour?” Oh, it is easy, no strain. Several men my father’s age and size are cueing for the tour. I can do this.
First, we are given white scrubs to wear. After a family photo looking like a miniature gathering of the Klu Klux Klan, we straddle a miners train and descend into the mountain. These are Celtic salt mines. Millions of years ago, ancient oceans were trapped by the formation of the Alps, the water absorbed and salt deposits left for harvest by hand and later by high pressure water. The Celts were the first to harvest the bounty in 700BC. The secret treasure was undiscovered again until the turn of the first millennium, when it became the Bishop’s salt and contributed to the wealth of Salzburg.
Our tour includes a taste of crystal salt, 27% saline water (BLEH! The ocean is only 3%) and a 3 part movie telling the tale of Arch Bishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau. The tour guide announces we will cover 1 km, walking across the border into Germany and back. It’s cool, dark and damp in the mine. I’m keeping up the pace and enjoying the stories- men trapped in salt and well preserved, Celtic hand tools, tunnels collapsing at a rate of 1 cm/year from the weight of the mountain. We cross the border on foot into Germany. My children and I can brag: The first time we went to Germany, we walked.
The guide announces “Now is the slide. Feet out please and lean back- down you go!” What?
I look at the dual wooden runners and think “What is the slide?” The guide sits down to demonstrate. Sure enough- like a dual sliding banister, these wooden rungs are meant for sliding. DD6 was on my lap and down we went. A tourist camera caught her near-cry and my frozen shock as we slid the 60 meters into the dark tunnel. I didn’t buy the photo.
I wasn’t the only shocked tourist. Other Americans looked equally indignant at the lack of legal representation at the bottom. What can you say deep beneath the surface? “Excuse me I have a splinter!” Go for the burn, as Brett would say.
To calm us all after the thrill, we had a soothing barge ride across the salty lake cavern. Since it was a small group of 27, we were given an extra ride with different music and sound effects. By the time we reached the second slide, we were a jolly group of white crystal dwarves again. It was even more fun this time and we were granted permission to climb up and slide again. Remember the others the size and shape of my dad? Sometimes more fun to watch than slide.
We finished our evening with a trip to the grave of Franz Gruber, the man who wrote “Stille Nacht,” Silent Night. Unfortunately, the museum dedicated to his life was very silent, as we arrived at closing time. We found a nice Austrian restaurant and ate a very salty dinner.
www.salzwelten.at