In a Transylvania, Romania, ex-salt mines have become a health ritual among the inhabitants, and now tourists, as people bathe in the old quarries and on the mudflats.
1. A salt mining town
The town of Turda in Transylvania was famous for its salt mining industry, from the Middle Ages through to the early 1900s. However, after the closure of the salt mines in 1932, much of the local community was left unemployed and the salt quarries were left empty. European Union funded renovations to the salt quarries in 2009 led to the uptake of wellness tourism in the area, as health spas opened and the benefits of the quarry mud were popularised.
Mud baths #transylvania pic.twitter.com/9lcydofPMh
— Brown Eyed Girl JFT96* (@loltom29) July 29, 2017
2. The healing properties of mud
Local elderly people from the town began to use the ex-salt mine quarries to help with degenerative rheumatic conditions by bathing in the quarries, now filled with water, and on the mudflats around them during summer. Smoothing the mud all over their bodies and lying in the sun as the mud dries and cracks on their skin. The mud has regenerative and healing qualities, and now tourists also come to visit the old salt-mining area and take advantage of its wellness properties.
3. Salt mine spas
At Salina Turda Spa, you can enter Turda Salt Mine, which describes itself as the world’s most spectacular underground formation and one of the most spectacular tourist destinations in the world. Millions of years ago, salt was deposited here after the sea that used to cover the entire region evaporated. The people mined deep down to access the salt, forming the Turda Salt Mine, a vast underground formation 120m down into the depths of Transylvania. Now, the salt from Turda Salt Mine could cover the salt requirement for the entire planet for 60 years! The salt mine and the spa that is now located there attracts over 680,000 visitors a year, with an underground amusement park, a Didactic swimming pool, exterior salty lakes and several wellness treatments. Tourists come from all over to take the salty waters, an extension of the wellness rituals performed by the locals. A healthy dose of salty water and some soothing muddy baths!
