Don’t know when I’ll get a chance to post pics, but the last couple of days were SO fun and SO therapeutic and insanely physically intense. We went to Pieninski National Park, which is still in south Poland, but not quite as far as Zakopane, which is known for its picturesque, snow-capped mountains. I had never been to these mountains before, or the little towns around them, so it was a great opportunity to see other parts of the country.
Yesterday, we caught several buses and made it to the park , where we began our adventure by taking a two-hour raft-ride on a traditional wooden boat down the river and in between the main ridges. The river, Dunajca, partially straddles the Poland/ Sllovakia border. It would have been completely relaxing had I not been sitting next to a grandma who was clearly Captain Obvious, and she just looooved hearing herself talk. But the weather was gorgeous, the river gurgled and echoed throughout the valleys, so that the only other sound (besides obnoxious grandma) were songbirds and ducks. Occasionally, the mountaineer river guide would throw in some geographical facts and jokes, but for the most part, we drank in the tranquility of the river.
Later in the day, my mom found us a cute rental room in the town of Szczawnica, which is known for its therapeutic mineral waters. It lays right along the bank of the river, and is a quiet but picturesque little mountain town. We walked into town, bought a few groceries and ate at a diner ( the trout that I ordered came complete with head, tail, and fins… I had a lot of trouble cutting off that poor guy’s head…), sampled several different mineral waters (my brother’s face was PRICE-less! he was clearly NOT a fan..)and basically passed out for a few hours once we got back in our room. Side note, mineral waters are anywhere from tasting like plain water to really salty and sulfuric. The ones we tasted were pretty faint, just slightly salty. But not like ocean-level saltiness… More like tears. The lady at the tasting room had faucets that were hooked up to different underground streams. It was fascinating!
We took an evening stroll down to the water before we went to bed, and absolutely could not get enough of the peace and serentity of the place!
Today, we tested our physical abilities by taking a 7 hour hike, much of it (as in, at least 5hours worth) steeply uphill…along the way, we got caught in two thunderstorms, so that by the end of it all, when we were walking down to the town of Kroscienko, we were soaked and our legs were trembling beneath us…and I had this monster of a backpack that had served me well as a rolling carry-on on the plane ride, but weighed a ton and dug into my shoulders all day…but the hike was AMAZING! We made it to the highest peak in the mountin range (Trzy Korony, or Three Crowns), hid from the rain in a cave with an altarpiece next to the ruins of a 12th century castle, and saw a couple of gorgeous salamanders bigger than my hand. Not to mention came upon beautiful scenery and bought a roll of smoked sheep cheese (probably one of my favorite parts of coming back to Poland!) and a cup of punch from a eldery local lady who had her table set up next to the trail. The weather cleared up by the time we made it into town, and we lucked out and immediately caught a mini-bus, then a charter bus back to Krakow. By the time we got home tonight, we couldn’t even make it up the stairs to the floor we live on…had to take the ancient elevator (which I usually avoid taking, partially because I’d rather walk up the stairs and partially because it seems like it’s been hanging on the end of its rope for the last 20 years…)
Now, as I sit here in bed, showered and in my jammies, listening to the chatter and music of Friday nightlife down on the street, and occasionally the tired click-clacking of horses’ hooves as the tourist-y carriages turn in for the night, I have absolutely no wish to be down there…I haven’t been this tired–but content–in a long time.
Near the end of the 7-hour hike, overlooking the town of Kroscienko
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- Near the end of the 7-hour hike, overlooking the town of Kroscienko
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- our rental room is the first balcony on the left
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- green-sheep!
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- I have to have at least one handstand pic from every place I go…
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- mom and brother ‘reading’ all the things you’re not supposed to do in the park, haha!
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- this was the boat that was part of the official trail, since there wasn’t a bridge. We waited a good ten minutes for the quite un-sober staff lad came out of the booth to row us over to the other bank.
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- Our first scenic stop, overlooking where we had just left.
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- after several hours of hiking straight up, we made it to the first checkpoint. yay!
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- this was part of the trail. no joke.
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- the view was well worth it!
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- 550+ year-old pines, the only ones of their kind in Europe, if I remember correctly…
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- maybe it was my delirium by this point, but these trees made me laugh. I though it looked like the skinnier one had attacked the other with smooches. Mom said they looked like they were clinging on for dear life.
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- i took a lot of flower pictures, but this one, shortly after the first rainstorm, is my favorite :)
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- brother and rain shelter
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- another inspiring view!
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- we posed for a victory shot at the top of the Three Crowns. Not only were our legs about to give out, but another thunderstorm was approaching, and the ranger allowed us to quickly walk up the metal stairs while holding on the the metal railing on the ridge of the highest mountain so we could glance at the view. The view was pretty much hidden by fog at that point, but we made it!
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- the little we saw from REEEALLY high up before the fog swallowed it up
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- Trying to stay dry in the cave
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- the things I do to get the pictures I want…
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- rain, rain, where are you coming from and why don’t you leave???
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- my brother took a picture of me taking a picture of him from opposite ends of the metal staircase
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- Once we finally decided that the rain wasn’t going to let down, we left the cave and started back down…and then I found this absolutely GORGEOUS (and un-beknowst to me at the time, potentially toxic) fire salamander!
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- “…climb every mountain, follow every stream…”
