Tom`s travels: Zakopane & Tatra Mountains (15-16/10/2016)

Together with the others from my Euroculture group, Ania, Julia, Lara, Martin, Mona, Iva and Aidyn, we decided to go on a weekend to Zakopane and the Tatra mountains. We left Krakow around 7:30 and in 2 hours reached the town of Zakopane located just at the foot of the mountains. Considered the winter capital of Poland, due to the nice weather, it was already filled with weekenders taking their Saturday strolls in the fresh air of the area. After reaching the bus station we grabbed some snacks and then got on another small bus in the direction of the mountains. After another 30 minutes driving trough tight turns in the forest we got off at a place called Lysa Polana where after crossing the street to the other side we reached the border with Slovakia. Having never been in that country I decided to cross the border and take some pictures, and we also took one all together with the road sign. From there we started our walk, and stopping here and there for rest and pictures we eventually reached the lake 10km and 2 hours and a half later. Called Morskie Oko, or Eye of the Sea, it is the largest lake in the Tatra Mountains and part of the same national park. The sun was out and there were many families and people walking as the way was quite easy and mostly paved. We stopped at the lakeside, and enjoyed some sun while eating lunch. Then we proposed to walk further and reach another lake, though smaller and at a higher altitude, called Czarny Staw pod Rysami or the Black lake below mount Rysy. The hike up took another hour, though 2 from our group decided to remain down at Morskie Oko. The views while climbing were really nice, though the steps were covered in ice and super slippery, but the waterfall next to them was enough to keep on climbing. After enjoying the panorama and taking a group picture, we descended back down around the other side of the lake and reached the mountain hut; there we gathered with the others who had remained down and started our walk back towards Zakopane. On the way we even met some deer who came close to the people to try and get some food. After reaching the end of the hike we took the mini van back to town and headed to our hostel to leave our stuff, shower and change. We then headed into town to have dinner; we found a restaurant which had several stuff from which I took grilled chicken with vegetables. After dinner we took a stroll trhough the center and then took some drinks from the shop and headed to the hostel. After relaxing we decided to head to sleep as we were planing to get up early and hike the next day; during the night however a large group of spanish started yelling and making a lot of noise in the kitchen which was right next to our rooms. In addition, when we woke up the next day it was raining heavily so we decided not to hike and part of our group left early to go back home to Krakow. After a hearty breakfast we also decided to head home as the weather seemed not to improve. In 2 hours we were home happy at least for saturday's weather.