{"id":7809,"date":"2023-06-12T22:52:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T20:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ilupin.com\/en\/?page_id=7809"},"modified":"2025-06-10T17:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T15:40:08","slug":"2023-06-08-salina-turda","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ilupin.com\/en\/travels\/eastern-europe\/romania\/2023-06-08-salina-turda\/","title":{"rendered":"Salina Turda: NaCl underworld"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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  1. Good morning in Cluj-Napoca<\/a>. Neo-baroque Hotel Continental.\n<\/li>\n\n
  2. A rally in Union Square in support of the nationwide strike of education workers.\n<\/li>\n\n
  3. Not only teachers, but also students and their parents are participating in the protest.\n<\/li>\n\n
  4. Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus<\/a> (was born in Cluj, but had quarrels with its rebels and impaled some) near the St. Michael\u2019s Church.\n<\/li>\n\n
  5. Porcelain St. George is a funny copy of the 1373 bronze statue of the Cluj brothers<\/a>, installed in Cluj, Budapest and Prague.\n<\/li>\n\n
  6. Obelisk in honour of the visit of Francis I<\/a> (aka Francis II) and his wife Caroline Augusta, who toured the provinces of the Austrian Empire in 1817.\n<\/li>\n\n
  7. Lights, camera, action!\n<\/li>\n\n
  8. Memorial to the 18,000 Jewish men, women and children deported<\/a> from Cluj to Auschwitz in 1944.\n<\/li>\n\n
  9. Pharmacy on the corner.\n<\/li>\n\n
  10. Already familiar Michael the Brave and a giant poster for Imagine Dragons, who collect halls, not lands (even better<\/a>).\n<\/li>\n\n
  11. About half an hour\u2019s drive from Cluj is the town of Turda and its famous salt mine. That\u2019s not it yet. \n<\/li>\n\n
  12. Reformed Church on the road to the mine.\n<\/li>\n\n
  13. A picturesque wall near the old entrance to the mine.\n<\/li>\n\n
  14. Old tunnel to Salina Turda<\/a> (about 600 m). Twice as long as the new one, but still saves a lot of time and effort.\n<\/li>\n\n
  15. Balcony over the bell-shaped Joseph<\/a> hall (laid a year before his birth). The echo here repeats high-pitched sounds up to 20 times.\n<\/li>\n\n
  16. Infernal machine of 1881. In the light of torches, 4-8 horses turned the arms, lifting bags of salt. Went blind in two weeks, retired in six months.\n<\/li>\n\n
  17. Would you please pass the salt?\n<\/li>\n\n
  18. Rudolf<\/a> main hall is 42 m high, but the only elevator can accommodate no more than 7 people. If you don\u2019t wanna wait, go tramp on the stairs.\n<\/li>\n\n
  19. The thousand-year-old mine was closed in 1932 as unprofitable, until in 2010, for a mere six mil, they turned it into a cultural leisure centre.\n<\/li>\n\n
  20. Underground lake in Theresa<\/a> mine (to the left of the main hall).\n<\/li>\n\n
  21. If you go down to the lake and lift your head up, you can see the elevator shaft in a beautiful frame. Theresa mine is 112 m high.\n<\/li>\n\n
  22. \u201cIce\u201d on structures is salt deposits, virtually all surfaces here are covered with them.\n<\/li>\n\n
  23. Outside view.\n<\/li>\n\n
  24. Back to the main hall in time to ride the ferries wheel.\n<\/li>\n\n
  25. The ceiling gallery is not for the fainthearted (view from the ferries wheel below).\n<\/li>\n\n
  26. Salty stalactites.\n<\/li>\n\n
  27. At five, everyone is asked to leave. It can be tempting to discreetly lick the corridor wall (but it\u2019s better not to).\n<\/li>\n\n
  28. Ceramic insulators do not look that appetising, I admit it.\n<\/li>\n\n
  29. Back to Cluj. Gothic St. Michael\u2019s Church of the 14th<\/sup> century managed to be Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian, now it\u2019s Catholic again.\n<\/li>\n\n
  30. A good animator with an interesting program.\n<\/li>\n\n<\/ol><\/div>\n\n\n\n