To the coal mine in Poland
I never thought I’d have a good time touring a coal mine, but I did. The Guido is one of the tourist attractions in Zabrze, Silesia, Poland. You can do down as far as 320 meters underground; it is the deepest located tourist routes in a coal mine in Europe. In 1982, thanks to the efforts and commitment of the Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze, on the level of 170 the Guido Mining Museum was opened to the public and several years later registered a national monument. Now the visitors descend into the ground with a speed of 4 m/s in the original mining cage, mounted on 980 meters long steel ropes.
Seeing how the mining works was quite a fascinating experience. We’ve learned a lot of interesting facts, such as they brought horses down to this level to operate the tools. True story. This was my first coal mine to visit, any mine in fact. While visiting the Level 320, we learned such mining terms as roof, floor and sidewall. The level of 320m is a real mine, you will learn how the machinery works in such condition. It was quite fascinating. There’s a post box and a souvenir shop at the end of tour (320 meters down), and I can assure you the post care arrived safely.
It is not located in the typical tourist route in Poland, but try to visit if you are in Silesia.
Visit Guido’s website to find more information: http://www.kopalniaguido.pl/index.php/en/
What a cool looking tour! I agree with you, I never would have thought touring a mine would be exciting. Now I’m convinced! I need to get back to my Polish roots and visit sometime :-p Thanks for sharing!
Oh your family is from Poland? 🙂 I really loved Poland, I’d love to go back soon. My friend who lived in Myslowice introduced me this tour. It was quite impressive.
That is pretty cool, mines are fascinating! I visited the silver mine of Potosi in Bolivia, and that was a very interesting tour. I’ll keep that one in mind when I finally get to Poland
This looks amazing. We wouldn’t have ordinarily considered a coal-mine tour, but your pictures have convinced us to look this up in Poland 🙂
I find it fascinating how all these mines are becoming tourist attractions, and it’s just a win-win for everyone. Plenty of communities exist all over the world where the coal mine is the only way to get a job, and that’s your life forever. So when the coal mine runs out, they need a solution. This seems perfect. People learn about the history of the town, the life of the people, and visitors bring business to the town as well. It might not be a solution for every mine on the planet, but I think it’ll help quite a few.