Slovakia border to Zakopane May 16-17

By Eric
 

This time we changed some money at the border. We didn't want to have a repeat of our Slovakia entry. The rate was awful but be we learned from our last border crossing that you should always have something. So we changed the minimum, 10 pounds sterling (US$16). This got us 55 Zloty.

Immediately inside Poland it started raining harder and seemed to get darker. We had debated about taking a back road that showed up on one of our three maps of the area. We had decided to take the safe route because we figured it wouldn't be as hilly and in these mountains we really didn't want to climb any more hills than necessary. But the road sign directed us on the back route. We figured they wouldn't direct all the traffic over a steep road.

The road was fine. It was a bit hilly but not too bad. It went through a forest so was rather dark in the rainy twilight. This was no problem since hardly any traffic passed us.

The outskirts of Zakopane, a Polish mountain resort on the opposite side of the Tatras from Stary Smokovec, came upon us a little sooner than we had expected. For once, in the rain and the dark we had found a shortcut.

Zakopane was said to have lots of "private rooms." (Rooms rented by individual families in their homes). We were really counting on this. We were in no mood for a difficult arrival.

On the outskirts of town we saw a sign saying, "Zimmer/Room" but kept riding for some reason. We went about 100 meters up the road to a little bar but it was closed and only then did we decide to try the place we had passed.

At first no one was home but as I looked for a another door the family walked up from behind us. They were smiling and friendly and the father led us upstairs to a wonderful clean dry room. We nervously asked the price, terribly afraid it would be more than the 55 zloty on us.

"Fifteen," he said. We knew that couldn't be right. "Fifty?" we asked.

"Yes. Fifteen." Okay so his English was a little weak. It was 50. We had just enough.

We moved in tout de suite, emptied our panniers so they could dry and had stuff hanging all over the radiator in a matter of minutes.

It took forever to pack the next morning but everything was crispy dry. I remember arriving in Bilbao, Spain on a similar day to an unheated place. Our stuff didn't dry the entire time we were there.

Zakopane was a much bigger town than any of the towns on the Slovakian side of the Tatras. It had a pedestrian street with lots of businesses. Most importantly it had lots of great pastries. We were glad to see this. Some countries have good pastries, some don't. Poland did. We indulged heartily.

On the way out of town we stopped at the tourist information center. We didn't get much information but outside we met an English man and a couple of his Polish friends. The bikes had intrigued them. We told them where all we had been and what not. Then we met a couple of young Polish guys from the north of Poland, near Gdansk. They said they had spent a year in Spain and the Mediterranean coast. I asked them what they did there and they said, "it's a long story. We went for a couple weeks and didn't leave. For three months we had no money and no passport." But they loved it. They told us not to bother going to their town. "Just a bunch of prostitutes," they said.

These guys were just great. They made us feel great. They made us feel great about Poland.

We needed a little encouragement. The highway for the next 30 km or so wasn't great. Narrow, no shoulder, heavy traffic. The cars gave us room but they went fast. And big noisy, smelly buses seemed to be constantly passing us.

In Nowy Targ we had what would become a fairly typical experience in Poland. We entered a nice town square, crowded with people on the sidewalks. It felt energetic. We rode around the town square looking for the perfect place to get lunch. But we didn't see a single restaurant. So we headed toward the highest steeple. Mostly in Europe, head for the highest steeple in town and you'll find the center. But nothing was going on at the old red Brick cathedral.

So we went back to the town square, still finding no restaurants or even bars. We found an internet cafe, with big glitzy signs all over the place, but it was out of business.

Finally we found a restaurant. But it was Chinese. We're fond of Chinese food, but not as our first meal in Poland. Eventually we found a pretty decent place about a block off the main square.

The stores on the square sold books, furniture, groceries, flowers, antiques, clothes, etc. No cafes or restaurants though. We bought an excellent map of southern Poland. But Poles didn't seem to eat out much.

We climbed a lot of hills the rest of the day. Traffic was heavy at first but we found some quieter back roads for the last half. The weather also improved.

Even on the quieter back roads, we were almost never completely out of sight of houses. Tractors passed us, and we passed tractors very frequently. We also saw the occasional horse drawn cart. The horses looked huge and healthy. The tractors and horses both usually pulled a long narrow wooden cart with two car type wheels in the middle.

We rode later into the evening than we would have liked. Riding clear till sunset had the hazard that we wouldn't be able to find a place to sleep, so we'd have to ride in the dark, exhausted and hungry. But that evening was absolutely gorgeous. The rounded hills, half forested, half farmed, and all lushly green, looked superb in the warm afternoon glow.

Two things happened that made it an even better evening. First we had 30 km of downhill. Second, when we got to the town at the bottom of the downhill, Dobczyce, and asked if there was camping nearby, the gasoline station attendant said, "100 meters that way." And he was right.

I believe in the conservation of luck. If you have good fortune, you will eventually have equal and opposite misfortune and vice-versa. Hopefully this good fortune was payoff for a past misfortune.

The man at the campground spoke French so check-in was a snap. We had a fun time talking to him about the weather and his campground. We were his only guests that night.

In the morning we checked out the town of Dobscyce, hoping to find some breakfast. We found one cafe that had pastry and coffee. The price was only 5 Zloty but all we had on us was a 50 Zloty note. The little cafe didn't have nearly enough change. But another customer immediately came to our aid. She simply paid for our coffee and pastries! She would not even accept the 3 Zlotys we had in change. That's one of the nicest things that's ever happened to us.

Next: Poland Chapter 2 - Off to the Salt Mines

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