Mountains and a castle

---

Stayed in the small town of Lomnica in the foothills of the High Tatras Mountains. We had an early wake up every morning as the room is great apart from having only net curtains on the windows and the room faces East, so 4:30 every morning the sun shines into the room!



The High Tatras are big and beautiful mountains and the weather was bright and sunny for our whole stay. They are on the border with Poland which also has resorts from which to visit them, we chose to stay here so that we can go hiking straight from the hotel. Did 2 days of big hikes; the first we were out for nearly 10 hours! Walked up the mountain to the top of the main cable car run, in a relatively easy round-about way that was not too steep. In fact when we took the cable car up the following day we were surprised just how far up it was. We carried on to some waterfalls and walked back down again. None of it was too hard, nothing as steep as the hikes we do in HK. The views were stunning all the way, both down into the huge valley or up the stunning mountains. Lots of flowers out, altogether very refreshing.

The second day we took the cable car up and then a ski lift up again to close to the top of the mountain (it’s very expensive and difficult to get on the cable run to the peak). Stunning views including over to the other side that we hadn’t seen the day before. From there walked up one of the big valleys, again all very enjoyable, even saw some wildlife, a red fox and a marmot.

The third day here we did a day trip out to Spis Castle. Stunning big castle on a hill, a proper castle with defense walls, baileys and keeps. IT’s been really well restored with a good commentary on a free audio guide. Beautiful countryside it looked out onto, again enjoyed all the wild flowers that edged the fields as we walked up the hill to the castle. Also visited the nearby small town of Levoca. It is surrounded by thick Medieval walls and has a very pretty main square with a big church, town hall and basilica. The church is known for its huge wooden altarpiece, we paid to go in only to find it was under renovation, just a big picture of it! (Reminders of Japan last year). Still there was good info in English that explained the other things in the lovely old church. Colourful buildings all around the main square, the road around was being renovated, putting in a cobblestone street instead of the current tarmac.

Another long journey ahead as we go into Hungary, yes we will be there for the F1 Grand Prix and have tickets!

---