Turda Salt Mine

Last Friday we took a day off and went with Pastor Simi and his family and another family from the church to a salt mine about an hour from Gherla.  What an interesting place!  Salt was extracted from this mine beginning probably during the time of the Romans until the 1930's. 

From the entrance to the mine we walked down about six stories of stairs to the highest level of the mine.

Here we saw a pulley system used to lift the salt from the mine which was originally powered by horses.

The first miners brought the salt up in baskets.  Later, rails and carts were used.

This is a picture of a wall of salt with streaks of other minerals.  The rock is shiny and translucent. The salt from this mine is black because of the impurities in it.  After refining, it is white.

An enormous amount of salt was removed over the centuries from several deposits.  The room we visited is a huge, bell-shaped area over thirteen stories high.

In this room is an amusement park complete with Ferris wheel, mini-golf, skeet ball, billiards and ping-pong. 

Down a few more stories is the bottom of the mine that was flooded.  Here tourists can rent rowboats to take out on the salty lake.

The air in the mine is said to be good for the lungs, so people with diseases and weaknesses of the lungs come to spend time here as therapy.  There are even places to stay for a week or ten days at a time with special treatments available.

It was great to get away for a day and visit such an interesting place.  The best part, though, was being with our friends.