The Tatra Mountains, Poland

We spent the first week of June in the Tatra Mountains in the south of Poland, four or five miles outside the town of Zakopane. Even though it was overcast and rainy for most of the week, I found it to be a beautiful place... at least for the first three days. Things went downhill after that as I got food poisoning and didn't stray far from the bathroom for the remainder of our stay. (Never eat duck that has a metallic shine to it. Something I should have figured out the easy way.)

But again, the first three days were great. We got off the bus and decided to walk to our hotel, not realizing quite how far it was. Four to five miles--throwing in an extra mile or so to account for being lost--laden with heavy bags, is pretty far. Once we arrived at the hotel and rested a bit, we decided to walk back to see the town since there wasn't much going on five miles out.

This time, we decided to venture off the road because we were convinced that town was about a mile closer if approached through the woods and over a small ridge.

Long story short: beautiful scenery, bad idea.

Here are some pictures of the area.

Our hotel

We ventured into the Tatra National Park on the third day, right before I got sick. There are plenty of trails of all difficulty levels. We chose one that took us about four hours. Half-way along is a cliff that provides a view of Zakopane and the surrounding countryside... if you go on a clear, sunny day. Even with the mist and clouds, it was still a beautiful hike.

That's about the time our adventure in the Tatra Mountains ended and I took to the hotel room sick. I'd rather not write much about that part of the trip. I'm pretending it didn't happen.

- Tom