Krakow, Abel Hostel
Well this was quite a day. I had a most awful sleep, just two hours. It was so noisy. Towards midnight some awful Scots went down the road singing “The Bonny Banks of Loch Lommond”. Made me ashamed to be Scottish.
We got up at 6.30, had our breakfast and headed off for the bus station at Krakow Glowny.
We got a bus very quickly to Zakopane. But what a long journey through some lovely countryside.
Zakopane itself is a bit of a dump. I expected alpine meadows, a quaint little village and goats and sheep with bells round their necks. It took three quarters of an hour for the bus to get through Zakopane because of traffic.
These were taken from the bus.
At Krakow Glowny
Even telegraph poles are different.
Reached Zakopane.
We went to the disgusting toilet in the bus station. Think I may have typhus fever. The attendant was a joy.
We went up a hill called Nosal (1206 metres, or 3857 feet).
We headed up using the satnav to find the start of a route I had downloaded off the internet. This was more difficult than it seemed. But we eventually got going. And it took us up the most steep path you could imagine. Poor Anne. She found it an ordeal.
We had to pay to get into the National Park. Only 5 zl which about £1, So it is nominal but a bit surprising. You pay at a wee cubicle.
But we got to the top of a mountain with the most fantastic views to the Tatra mountains. We were up a “Munro” or maybe in Poland a “Lachmansky” or whatever. We reached almost 4000 feet, but Zakopane is at almost 3000. It was actually probably about 800 feet of ascent, far less than Fyrish but it seemed more.
At one point we were just 2.5 miles from the Slovakian border!
We had our lunch very soon after starting the climb. It was mobbed with people. All Polish. We met no other nationalities on the whole walk.
But it was stunning and quite exposed. I would have liked to have gone further but Anne wasn’t so keen. She was well out her comfort zone. This is where we stopped for lunch. It was so steep and so busy it was hard to find somewhere to sit.
This is at the top. Kind of busy like our Ben Nevis.
This touristy spot is called Kuznice.
One thing you don’t worry about on Fyrish is bears. There are wild animals out here – bear, wild boar and elk, I believe.
We were up there just a wee while ago.
Tethered Polish cows. They are chained round the horns.
We came down by a much easier route and then headed further down to Zakopane.
Some Zakopane houses were interesting.
We got a couple of things at gift stalls. I got a wee Zakopane Jew! Anne got me a weather house.
We got a bus very quickly leaving at 3.35. It didn’t get into Krakow till 6.45. I saw a bloke getting off early and thought it would be a good idea to get off with him. I thought it would be shorter. It was actually longer. When will I learn?
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We trudged then back to our area and went to the Milk Bar where we had experienced the awful Polish dumplings – ‘Od zmierchu do switu’ (From dusk to dawn). We had grilled chicken with chips and it was delicious. But had to have mineral water again. I hate it. Anne gives it a good description – tastes like aspirin.
Then it was back to Hostel Abel and a rest. We phoned Mairi.
I took pictures of our hostel.
Anne’s photos
There is a deer in this picture in the river. It was quite large and we didn’t recognise it.
She just gets so much better pictures.
From the bus.
