Londoner's Diary: Zakopane

We decided to spend long weekend in Zakopane. It is Polish winter capital, a center of national culture and the largest Polish center for hiking and winter sports. I was is this town about 15 times and it wasn’t the last one for sure because I really, really love this town! It’s full of attractions!

We took a bus to get to there. It was a long way so I took a lot of things not to die from boredom: books to read, ipod and book with jokes. Believe me, when you are in such long journey you will be tired for sure and than this jokes seems to be extremly funny!

We decided to stay in guest house Dawidek. We were there 3 years ago and we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately during this stay I haven't taken a lot of pictures. So here I put some photos downloaded from the Internet.

http://najlepsze-noclegi.pl/ogloszenie/979/

All restaurants in Zakopane have beautiful, regional design. Owners take care of every detail. Even menu looks like highlanders ax. In most of restaurants after 6 pm there are life music played by highlander band. What is more service is great. They really take care of clients satisfaction. Not like in some restaurants in Tricity. I can tell you that in Gdańsk some restaurants have attitude like : come, eat and fuck (przyjdź, zjedz i spierdalaj).They have so many customers that they don’t care whether you will come back or not.

http://www.owczarnia.com.pl/galeria.html

As far as food is concerned I am very finicky. I usually eat only white meat like chicken. I have never, ever eaten golonka or flaczki just because of the name and the way it looks like. In Zakopane I had small problem because most of the meals were very hard and greasy. I decided to dare and tried the bread with lard. To my surprise it was very delicious!

On Saturday we went for a walk in the town. We did small shopping. Łukasz bought slippers, funny T-shirt and I choose socks, postcards, tea cups and vodka glasses with funny pictures and texts. I know it’s come kind of kitsch but I really like it.

We took hill funicular to Gubałówka. From the top of mountain there stretched the most beautiful view on the highest part of Polish Tatra mountains and over the city. It started to rain so we went to the shelter to warm up with herbata z prądem (tea with spiritus).

This is how we see world after few mugs of tea.... ;)

Next day, on Sunday, we decided to reach the mountain peak. When we walked up to Nosal it was raining so we were wearing rain cape.

There is only 710 km back home.

In background there is the Great Krokiew (in Polish krokiew means rafter). It is a ski jumping venue.

Next day, next mountain. On Tuesday we went to Morskie Oko. Morskie Oko it is the largest and the most beautiful lake in the Tatra mountains. It’s really easy to get there because you are going on a concrete. But on the other hand walk is really long. You have to go 9 km one way.

View at Morskie Oko is breath taking! And the water is sooo clean!

In the evening I went to cinema 7D. Łukasz didn’t feel well enough to enjoy this attraction. Movie lasted only 15 minutes. On such show besides sound and picture you can also feel smell, temperature, water breeze, breath of air, touch on the back and on your seat.

We really enjoyed our stay in Zakopane. Why we love this city and its citizens? Why because they are very:

witty:

when we were going on a walk while it was raining, a man talk to us: “I am really sorry for the weather” hahaha
it takes 2 hours to get up to Nosal

+ 1h when you are wearing high heels

-30% when you are experienced walker, hehe :)

religious

during our stay there was beatification of John Paul II. Each house was beautifully decorated. There were beautifully waved flags and pictures of Pope in every window.

We took a train to come back home. We had bedroom compartment just for ourselves. It’s really comfortable. There are two beds with bed linen, small wardrobe with clothes hanger, sink, mirror and food (two bottle of water per person and 7days crossant). After few minutes train departed from platform Łukasz began to be hungry. I bought some food on the way like knoppers, haribbo etc but Łukasz didn’t like it. I wonder why..? heh By mobile phone we search pizzeria in Sucha Beskidzka, than we call them and order pizza to train platform. It worked well! Łukasz was soooo happy and gratefull when he got his pizza to train!

At Monday night we came back from Elbląg. Now we are doing laundry and on Friday evening we are going to….ZAKOPANE. We decided to catch night coach. So we will be there on Saturday morning. I hope I will sleep well on the way there. Now I am going to prepare list of things which I should take and read guide book. I am so excited!!!

We pack different stuff for a holiday by the sea, different for a bike ride and different for a trip to the mountains. Below I present my list things to take. Did I forget about something important? What do you take for such trip?

What take for a trip to mountains?

ID (I'm going to buy a train ticket with a discount for people up to age 26)
food on a way (water, chocolate bars)
kleenex
moist cleansing towels
pillow
blanket
rucksack
small hand bag
book
ipod
mobile phone+ charger
book with a jokes
guide book
map
hotel address written on a card
sunglasses
first aid kit (especially adhesive tape )
vanity case with your every day cosmetics (toothpaste, tooth brush etc)
nailfile
hand cream
suncream for the face
cotton buds and cosmetic pads
comb
hair dryer
thongs (you should wear them when you take a shower)
rain jacket
gaiters (pl: stuptuty)
hat, scarf, thin gloves
pajamas
socks
two pair of shoes (trekking shoes and sneakers)
binoculars
compass
torch
camera+ loader

Most people advise to take soap, shampoo, towels etc. In my opinion you don’t have to bear such things because they are usually in the hotels and if it happens that there are no such things that you can always easily buy it in shop or pharmacy.

What to do before going on a trip to mountains?