We woke at
6.00am to the sound of church bells immediately next door which seemed to last
for several minutes, not sure why they were ringing. There was a large funeral in town later that
day so that may have been the connection.
We were in no
hurry to rise and shine, and the weather was a bit overcast and rainy.
The view from
our hotel was still magical but we were very glad we had seen it in the sun
yesterday. The tops of the adjacent
mountains were covered in cloud.
After a
leisurely breakfast overlooking the lake we ventured out with our umbrellas and
meandered through town. Before long the rain had stopped and the cloud began to
clear and blue skies appeared.
We then decided
that the time was right to take the funicular up the mountain behind the town,
and a short time later we were in the funicular car heading up the
mountain. At the top there is a stunning
viewing platform which looks straight down on to the town and across the valley
to other more distant villages.
Sabine stayed
and admired the view while Sam headed off the visit the salt mine, he got there
just in time for a guided tour.
The mine is the
oldest salt mine in the world, it has been operating for 7000 years, and is
still producing salt to this day. We
learnt how the salt deposits were formed millions of years ago by continual
drying out of salt lakes until they were several hundred metres thick, and then
with geological events such as volcanic activity they were covered with rock
and before long were deep under the surface.
Original mining
techniques were by using simple tools such as deer antlers as picks, eventually
evolving to bronze implements during the bronze age. Salt was literally chipped from the rock
face. In recent years human remains have
been found within the mine presumably from accidents over the years and the
bodies and clothing have been preserved by the salt. The oldest wooden
staircase in Europe has been discovered in the
mine.
Modern salt
extraction methods are by dissolving the salt in situ and pumping it out to a
plant 40 km away where the brine is heated to evaporate off the water.
As part of the
tour we slid down two miners slides to get to lower levels of the mine, on the
second slide which was 64 metres long Sam was measured as travelling at over 31
km/hr, it was such fun.
The whole tour
was fabulous and lasted 90 minutes, by the time we got back the sun had gone
and it was raining, but not too heavily.
A quick stroll
back to the hotel for a bit of a rest.
Shortly after
that we heard the sounds of church bells and a brass band so we looked out our
balcony and could see a large funeral procession passing along the streets,
with the band leading followed by the altar servers, the priest, the banner
holders, the cross holder, the coffin on a special trolley, and the
mourners. It was a good hour and a half
later that the procession finished in the town plaza and the coffin was placed
in the hearse and driven away as the band continued to play and the church
bells continued ringing. Everyone then
dispersed, it must have been a person of great importance.
Later we went
out for a bite to eat, but it started to rain again so we did not go far.
In the morning
we are back on the ferry again for another big day on the trains to get to
Lugano in Switzerland.
Sabine and Sam
