Tordai Sobanya - The salt mine from Torda

During our Easter break at home, we visited the newly renovated salt mine from Torda (a.k.a. Salina Turda), a giant salt mine about 30kms from our home town Kolozsvar.

Salt was first extracted here during the antiquity and the mine continuously produced table salt from the Middle Ages (the mine being first mentioned in 1075) to the early 20th century (1932). (from Wikipedia).

The salt mine has a unique microclimate the temperature remains constant (10-12 °C) all the time, at any time of the year. Humidity in the air remains constant, too, at about 75-80%.

The mine can be accessed through the newly built entrance site at Salina-Durgău, via the Franz Josef access adit:

From EUROPE - ROMANIA - Tordai sobanya

Once inside, the mine comprises 4 great mine galleries, out of which two can be visited:

• The bell-shaped Theresa Mine:

From EUROPE - ROMANIA - Tordai sobanya

• and the Rudolph Mine:

From EUROPE - ROMANIA - Tordai sobanya

We had a great time during our visit

From EUROPE - ROMANIA - Tordai sobanya

and we believe the Tordai Sobanya should be on the to-do list of all visitors of the Kolozs county.

Surviving the winter... with skiing therapy

We sometimes wonder how can people who do not enjoy wintersports survive the long, cold and dark winter-time, especially in Switzerland...? Well, luckily we can not complain as we spend most of our free time on the slopes. This year we probably hit our record with the 15 skiing days in our favorite Swiss resorts:

- Starting the 'season' at Hoch Ybrig on 1st of January:

From Hoch Ybrig

- then spending a very cold team event (-20C) at Pizol with my colleagues from JnJ:  

From Pizol

- and of course, some days at Grindelwald (still our number one resort):

From Grindelwald

- and another typically cold destination - becoming our favourite towards the end of the season when temperatures are getting milder and the snow is already melting in other areas - Engelberg-Titlis:

From Engelberg, the eldorado of via ferrata

Even Gulliver joined us for some practice (picking of course the sunniest day of the year :-)

From Engelberg, the eldorado of via ferrata

And finally, an area only 1-hour away from our place we just started to explore this season (with great potential to becoming another favourite) - Meiringen:

From Meiringen

And the season is not completely over yet, the last skiing days of the season we spent in the country's spectacular Jungfrau region, where the "SnowpenAir 2012" (the highest-altitude open-air-concert on snow) was taking place at Kleine Scheidegg

From Grindelwald

- offering just the perfect season-end with world-famous stars like Kim Wilde

From Grindelwald

and Bryan Adams

From Grindelwald

Needless to say, the atmosphere was incredible, with Swiss and Americans and all the other nationalities singing along and just enjoying the weather:

From Grindelwald

For the very last day of the skiing season, we woke up early to be sure to catch the fresh tracks left behind by the pistenbully:

From Grindelwald