Hallstatt Salt Mine: a trace of times past.

We ride up on to the mountain in the panorama funicular to trace the mysterious power of attraction of this mystical area. The path leads to the tunnel mouth and into a unique underground world: many kilometres of tunnels, which people had once opened by hand more than 3,000 years ago, lead deep into the rockface interior. The beams of light from the torches sweep over the naked, glistening rockface and briefly illuminate the places where hard-working miners once laboured so very long ago. Fast miners’ slides finally lead us into the heart of the mine to the subterranean salt lake and its unusual presentations: it represents the “white gold” that has been mined since time immemorial in Hallstatt. After a brief pause we finally return on the miners’ railway to daylight and the Hallstatt Upper Valley, which appears in a very different light after this experience.