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Leaving Poland...
Non stop across the border. Notice the Zebra crossing on the right, just in case any tractors decline to give priority. 3 trains, 2 buses and a taxi.
Another overnight on the rails, but travelling to Slovakia from north east Poland is never easy. One option had been a 0600 departure from Kraków, but that is a more of a chore than a holiday. So why not devise a complicated multi-modal travel plan instead? Now there may be better ways to get to Terchova, but this isn’t bad, at least if you can get a sleeper (we couldn’t).
We dropped in on our friend Radek in Warsaw and acquainted ourselves with some Bulgarian red wine. This eased our post midnight departure from Warsaw, which was on the top bunks of couchettes which was a bit crap. Especially as the compartment had people and belongings in there already, so faffing around at quarter to one with big rucksacks and getting into top bunks creates some interesting logistical challenges. The train rolled on, into the night, fortunately not as hot as the Slovak sauna couchette* we had been treated to for our last visit. After much to-ing and fro-ing, as the line to Zakopane is a switchback, we finally arrived at half 10. We didn’t get to see much of
Hello Slovakia
We brought some sunshine... the view, as we could not lower the bunks due to the amount of luggage. A quick breakfast in Zakopane station, and we walked over to the bus station to catch a bus to Chochołów, a village on the Podhale plateau, just a kilometre from the Slovak border. The bus runs along the foot of the Tatra mountains which were bedecked in snow and summits blanketed in cloud. We got off, and the other passenger left in a different direction. Just us two going over then.
*See
A hot night on the Hummené Express: Home of the Erotic Disco for the story of our hot nocturnal traverse of Slovakia (2007).
The road up is nicely signed and with a big new EU pavement on it, and you are even allowed to cycle on it if you felt the urge. We passed the border without stopping, (just the odd car was halted by border patrols), apart from a requisite photo and strode on into Slovakia. A few hundred metres on we were in Sucha Horá. We had enough time for a coffee break: having all the timetables pre-printed really helps. [Check out SAD buses on the internet, for the full timetable or type in cp.sk for the journey planner -
Mala Fatra
This is why we spent a lot of time getting there English and German versions are available - check out the flags at the bottom of the page].
Our bus duly turns up after we watched various Polish minibuses empty out (presumably for a large fee to get there). We approached the parked bus, but the MC bus driver refused to let us on, until he had reversed across the road. So we followed and re-crossed the road and were allowed to embark.
We got tickets for Trstená, and asked how far it is to the railway station. “’Bout 500m” was the reluctant reply. He was so miserable Kasia didn’t dare ask for further directions. Which was a pity, as once in Trstená we promptly and confidently marched in the wrong direction out of the bus station , and had to dash back to get to the railway station to get there in time. Early impressions of Slovakia included a woman staring at our passing bus from the shell of a bus in a field, as you do when its drizzling and there is a handy abandoned bus in the field. Therefore (crap joke warning) the skeletal remains of the bus was now a bus shel-ter! Wa-hey! >>Rump-tish!<<. Yeah. This was followed, in the same field, by a bloke on a bike who was holding on to a tractor and chucking in potatoes.
Somewhat hot from our little jog, we hopped onto the platform where a couple of railcars were waiting; we piled on before the little train trundled on through the fairly industrial outskirts of Trstená and on along the Orava valley. As the railway descends, along the Orava valley it gets more scenic in the lower reaches. The valley runs by the Mala Fatrá mountains, and the railway follows the river with some tortuous bends. By Oravský Podzamok, the view has been blighted by a highway on stilts! Sadly, once again the priority is for road building over the railways. The line speed is very slow, in stark contrast to the main line. Past Dolný Kubín, and all of a sudden we were in Párnica.
On the train we had phoned for a taxi to take us over the mountains for the last stretch to our hotel above Terchova. It was nice to find out that the price had gone down to 600 Skr, (£15) a fair bit cheaper than the hotel who were asking double for a pick up.
We arrived after a 25 minute journey through the mountains and the dramatic gorge guarding the Vratná valley. 23 hours after leaving Białystok, we had made it.
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Kevin Stibbe
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Seeking pictures of the switchback railway line between Krakow and Zakopane
I am hoping to find some pictures of the switchback railway line between Krakow and Zakopane.Can you please help? Thank you for your time.