 Mural mosaic from the communist
era on a wall in the heart of Poprad.
|
 From Zakopane we traveled by
minibus to a skii lift which took us all the
way up to an altitude of approximately 2000 meters above the ocean.
 Click to enlarge! On our decline, which lasted
for over four hours, we had to take it
nice and slow because of Carina's transplantation which she had done to
her left foot long ago. Conseq- uentially we felt almost like two old
freight carriers as young people literally bounced and leaped
past us equipped with their immaculately fabricated trekking shoes and
mountaineering clothing!
 Click to enlarge!
 As if it wasn't enough, we took
on an even more adventu- rous hike into the Tatras mountains about half
a week later! By this time we had crossed the Polish border into the
north eastern part of Slovakia and made the town of Poprad our new
residency.
 Click to enlarge! The wild and rugged beauty of
the mountains was on that particular
evening draped in gray inveigling mist while the higher we went, the
more the rain pelted down on us.
 Click to enlarge! Then after having returned all
soaking wet to
Poprad, dripping all over the red carpet of a Chinese restaurant and
finally jumping into bed, we woke up the next morning immediately
deciding to have a
second rendezvous with the same
wild forests to take some better photos and to have the opportunity to
enjoy the landscape in day light.
 Here are some photos showing parts of the devastation caused by that major storm.  Click to enlarge! Thousands of acres of flattened woodlands.  Click to enlarge! View facing the mountains from the town of Poprad.  Looking beyond Poprad towards the mountains. |
 Click to enlarge! We were very fortunate to have
such sunny weather and could see for miles and miles
across both Polish and Slovakian territory, gazing down at myriad's of
mountain lakes and admiring the mighty Tatras peaks when facing south
or south east.
 Click to enlarge! The sun was going down and so
were we as, on our journey back to
the lower world, we followed along steep, meandering trails which led
us
on top of tretiorously narrow cliffs, down into gorges and eventually
through wild coniferous forests. Although all the young climbers rushed
past us at an
incredible speed,
there were a few who obviously had gone over their top and had great
difficulties in taking those few, last serpentine miles down to the
waiting
mini buses below, some with sprained ankles or injured knees, others
just being overly fatigued by the looks of it.
 Click to enlarge! And after walking in the rain
for more than two hours with hardly any
sunlight to guide our way, we finally made it down to a solitary
hotel where the staff told us we were lucky to have arrived at that
moment and not an hour later
when the local bears would come around as they usually do looking for food. Not that these animals would inflict any real danger on tourists but the personnel of this lodge did make it sound just a little bit scary. And besides, for the last hour or so of our wet and slippery descent into the lowlands, our imagination had begun to run wild with us imagining all sorts of beastly animals lurking along our trail, ready to pounce at us all at once! 
 Click to enlarge!
 Click to enlarge! This mountain range actually
comprises
the highest part of the Carpathians, which cover a large part of
central to eastern Europe all the way into
the Ukraine and down into Romania.
 Click to enlarge! Carina among uprooted pine trees.  Click to enlarge! Stratus clouds hanging over Lomický peak in the distance.  The train of Tatry running along the southern and eastern flanks of the highlands.  Click to enlarge! These shots taken on that rainy day before we nearly lost our way. |
 Back to previous PAGE! |
 |
 On to next PAGE! |