Tatra Mountains - Tatranska Lomnica

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Tatra Mountains - Tatranska Lomnica Day 14-15 (May 31-June 1)

We had the morning to fill in, in Krakow and thought a visit to the local Shopping complex would be a good start. However, it turned out to be a public holiday for Pentecost, so waiting for the shops to open turned out to be fruitless. We filled in our time by catching up on our internet mail, as the weather wasn’t looking great.

We then caught a bus to the border with Slovakia, where we then had a mini-bus that took us across the border to a stop where we could catch our third bus. However, the bus timetable had been changed and we would have had more than a two hour wait, so we organised for a local taxi to collect us. We arrived, after a fairly adventurous taxi ride, at our guest house after a rather hair raising drive through the mountain roads.

The weather had turned wet and we were unable to see the mountains behind. Slovakia being on the Euro, meant that I could use the ATM to withdraw my next trips local payment, so I headed out in the rain to do so.

However, I also managed to fit in one of the best hot chocolates I’ve had in a small café while sheltering from the rain, so thick you had to eat it with a spoon. The guest house had a restaurant and as we were all hungry an early dinner was had, enjoying the open fireplace.

Next day we caught a two carriage train up to a village higher up the mountain, where we then caught a cable car up the mountain. Along the way there was evidence of a storm from 2004 (locals called a cyclone)that had uprooted large areas of forest.

After checking with the local information office we were informed that it had been snowing and all the walking paths were impacted and so we opted for coffee at the top of the mountain. There was limited visibility and the rain was fairly steady.

Back at our village we stocked up at the supermarket for the next days train journey. We had half price pizza at a different local restaurant, and when we came out finally the clouds had lifted and we could see the mountains in the dimming light. It’s a pity that the weather impacted our experience of them but at least we managed to catch a glimpse.

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