In which I climb mountains in the sunshine, eat the beigest meal of my life and end up on a cross-country adventure on the wrong train.
Day 22, 25th September 2023: Krakow to Zakopane
After a little bit of walking around in circles, I managed to find my stop at the bus station and got the coach down to Zakopane at 9. It was nice to see the terrain get more mountainous on the way, and after leaving Krakow in thick mist I was glad that this had lifted by the time we got there and the sun was out.
Zakopane is a bit like a mini Polish Chamonix and my hostel was handily right on the high street, so I dumped my back and headed straight out to make the most of my time in the mountains.
My route took me up a river valley through the woods, did a quick nip up to the small peak of Sarnia Skala and then descended via another valley via the Siklawika waterfall. It was so nice to be back in the hills again after my flyby visit in Innsbruck!
Back in Zakopane I refuelled with some traditional Polish food and sat on a table outside to people watch. I got stewed beef cheeks with crispy potato pancakes, pickles, cabbage and a beer and it was fantastic. It was a bit more expensive, around the £15 mark, but my hostel was only a tenner so I could afford to splash out a bit!
Day 23, 26th September 2023: Zakopane
I had booked an 8am bus to the trailhead for Morskie Oko, apparently one of the prettiest lakes in the Tatras, so I helped myself to the free hostel breakfast and headed out to the bus station at about 7.30. The bus took around 50 minutes, and once again I paid my entrance fee at the park gates and set off into the mountains.
I had been warned that it was a long slog along the road to get to the interesting bits of the hike, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the 7.5km of monotony that lay ahead! However, once I got to the lodge by the lake it was worth it, as it was a really beautiful lake and I’d managed to get there before it got really busy. I’m not sure I’d ever seen water that clear, as you could see lots of brown trout swimming round even quite a depth below the surface.
I carried on around the lake and headed a little higher up the mountainside to Czarny Staw pod Rysami, another lake. It was a little breezier up there so the choppy water wasn’t quite as crystal clear, but it was still really beautiful and a lot less busy. I sat in the sun and contemplated my options for a bit.
Rysy, the highest peak in Poland, was directly ahead of me and I could see the start of the path, but a quick check on Komoot told me that to get up and back to the bus would have been another 7-8 hours. It was already 11am and I also had no idea when the last bus back was, as finding a timetable had been impossible. Although I really wanted to summit something, I grumpily made the decision not to go ahead as I didn’t fancy getting marooned in the dark with bears about. The peak will always be there, and I didn’t want to ruin a good route with worrying I’d miss the last bus back.
I made my way back down to Morskie Oko and stopped on some sunny rocks for a long lunch, taking the opportunity to enjoy the stunning views and a nice steady walk rather than going at my normal, somewhat faster pace. After nearly an hour I made the move and headed back down along the road to the bus stop, along with the stream of hundreds of other people. I’m not a headphones-while-hiking person, but I had to put on a podcast to stave off the boredom!
Even without doing a summit, my walk had still been 19km with 670m of elevation, earning myself another heavily beige Polish dinner in town.
Day 24, 27th September 2023: Zakopane
After yesterday’s grump at not summitting anything, today I aimed for Kasprowy Wierch, which I could do without getting a bus. Over breakfast I found out from another hosteller that the bus from Morskie Oko actually ran until 8pm, which was a bit of a bummer, although he did say that he’d had to run some of the section on the road to make it back in time!
I set off around 8.30 and picked up a selection of baked goods, then made my way through and out of town to the entrance of the national park and the start of the trail. There was a cable car that ran almost to the summit, but I opted for the hiking option. The views on the way up were fantastic, with a huge vista over Zakopane and beyond. Again, it was another day with wall to wall blue skies – I’ve been so lucky with the weather here. The top was even more impressive, with views over into Slovakia and all along the ridgeline that divides the two countries.
Even with the close proximity of the cable car stop just below the summit, the top wasn’t as rowdy as I’d expected and I sat for a while ploughing through my hummus. Lots of photos taken, I dropped back down to the next lake, Zielony Staw Gasienicowy. Again, it was really clear with lots of fish swimming around, and I made my way past a few smaller lakes and then back up to the small ridgeline of Maly Koscielec, which had great views across the valley and down to the next lake, Czarny Slaw Gasiencowy.
I stopped a little while by the water’s edge to enjoy the view, until my perch got shaded by the sun going behind the ridgeline. I then started the trek back to Zakopane in much better spirits than yesterday as my route was more interesting, I’d summitted something and the lakes were just as nice!
I picked up some pierogi and fruit for dinner on the way home, but unfortunately someone had managed to break the hob during the day out. Undeterred, I learnt that microwaved pierogi are surprisingly palatable, although definitely one of the beigest meals I’ve ever eaten!
Day 25, 28th September 2023: Zakopane to Krakow
It was my last day in Zakopane so I squeezed in one last hike and decided to do Gliewont, the ‘local’ peak closest to Zakopane. It was a bit quieter on the trail which was nice, but my legs were definitely feeling the effects of doing a few big hikes!
The climb up to the peak was a lot steeper than yesterday and there were parts where the wind was really blustery, but the sun was shining yet again so it wasn’t too cold. The final leg up to the summit was on some of the most polished limestone I’d ever seen in my life, some of which was essentially a mirror. Luckily there were chains to cling onto and a one-way system to avoid chaos, as naturally the peak was a lot busier.
I descended on the route back to the cable car station, then headed back into town for an ice-cream. I got my bag from the hostel, then went and sat in the park until it was time to get my coach. It was a lovely bit of grassland with mountain views and even a few very big and very tame deer.
I got back into Krakow about half 7, and managed to successfully find my way out the station and my way to the hostel (luckily not in someone’s apartment this time!), then showered and eagerly rolled into a comfy bed.
Day 26, 29th September 2023: Krakow to Bratislava
My train to Bratislava was at 10.45, so I had time to head out and search for some breakfast. I went to Milkbar Tomasza and got poached eggs with bacon, spinach, cream cheese and toast, and it was nice to have something involving a vegetable for the first time in a little while! I loaded up with snacks and supplies for the journey, then headed to the station.
Somewhat confusingly, my train was heading to both Prague and Budapest and splitting at some point, so I checked with the ticket inspector that I was in the right section to go to Bratislava. I got a vague yes, which wasn’t particularly reassuring! The other girl in my carriage was also going to Bratislava, so at least we were in the same boat.
After a few hours of slow chugging along and her offloading all her relationship problems onto me, we spent a suspiciously long time at a station. I asked another guard if we were in the right bit, and he laughed and told us no, the Budapest section had already separated and gone – oops! We quickly bailed onto the platform with our bags and had two and a half hours to kill in Bohumin, a Czech town that seemed to have a disproportionately big station and not much else. It was then about two hours to Breclav, another hour or so waiting there and finally another hour to Bratislava. We eventually rolled in at 9, rather than 5 like we were supposed to!
I was pretty exhausted by the time I got to my hostel, even though I’d barely walked anywhere, so I was quite happy to roll into bed with my book once more.
Day 27, 30th September 2023: Bratislava
I had booked another free walking tour for 10, so I headed out for breakfast and sourced a lovely pistachio croissant and cappuccino at Kep’s Caffeteria, then did a little bit of a wander round the town before I went to find my group. The tour was good and took about two hours, and it was nice to get the lowdown of the sights and key historical moments.
After the tour I was starving, so ended up getting a very messy chicken burrito, but it was nice to have something spicy and non-pork based! I had a wander along the river and up to the castle, and then checked out a good open-air photography exhibition on the Hviezdoslavovo Namestie.
In the evening, I met up again with a few girls I’d met on the walking tour, as there was supposed to be an art and light festival on. The owner of my hostel had said it was ‘sometimes good, sometimes shit’, but we decided to give it a go. It was definitely more on the shit side, though with a few good pieces, but we still had a good two hours or so of wandering round the city, and it was nice to see it busy and lively.
Day 28, 1st October 2023: Bratislava to Budapest
I had the morning to kill in Bratislava before my train to Budapest at 12, so I headed into town for another croissant, coffee and a wander. Apparently yesterday I’d missed that you could go inside the castle walls without paying, so I headed back up the hill to enjoy a much better view than I had yesterday. I did a bit more walking around but felt like I’d seen most of what Bratislava had to offer, so I headed back to the hostel to have a cup of tea and do some journaling.
It was 2 and a half hours down the Danube to Budapest, and I managed to navigate the metro system to my hostel at the complete other side of the city to the station. It was nice to be in a bit of a bigger and more commercial hostel, as I’d been in small ones for a little while, so I immediately made use of the overpriced laundry service!
It was another lovely day so I headed for a walk around along the river bank and over the Szechenyi Chain Bridge. I hadn’t actually realised how big, wide and blue the Danube was until this point! I walked past the parliament building, which was really impressive, then crossed back over to the Pest side via the Margaret Bridge. I was getting pretty tired and hungry at this point and I knew Budapest would have an overwhelming amount of food options, but I ended up at a place called Hummusbar. Despite being a chain, it was really good and cheap, and the fresh bread and crunchy salads really hit the spot! I then went back to the hostel bar to have a beer and do a bit of planning for my time over the next week or so, with my step count looking very healthy!
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