Bel-Ami Zakopane

The Tatra Mountains are the natural border between Poland and Slovakia, and there has always been this question of which part is more beautiful. The secret is as follows: they are too different to compare. The Polish part is full of people, noise, activities, shops and festivals. The Slovakian part is quiet, peaceful and almost virgin-like, despite its well-developed infrastructure. It's simply because it's much ...

... is no longer as cheap as it used to be.

The castle itself is a 1h30min guided visit. The tickets are cheap but the queue tends to move really slowly; normally you need to wait for a group to form, there are Slovakian, Polish, English, French and German speaking tours available. In reality, you join any of the group you wish, as you are going to get a booklet describig briefly the history of the castle ...

... with jacuzzi but, nonetheless, it still has the atmosphere of a small hamlet nestled at the foot of the mountains.

So as not to come out too biased, let me describe briefly the biggest drawback of Bukowina Tatrzańska, which is its location. It is situated on the hills, and thus no street is horizontal. If you want to go anywhere, you should take into account that at least one way you'll be climbing up. It's a problem if ...

... Here is the clincher and it really is, I, being G, is seriously needing a poo!! Anyhow, as luck would have it S managed to flag down a private minibus to Zakopane who would accept Euros to cover the cost of the journey and G resolved his situation. ATM at Zakopane bus station, phew, and on to another bus to Krakow pretty much straight away that took 1hr40mins, not 4hrs...........

skiing....better than sex....the most fun id had in a very, very long time...

the beer was cheap,. the meat platters were like something out of alice and wonderland...and i was proper pro by the end of our 3 week stay in zakopania...look at the videos

... got given some boots to try on but with no space to move. John helped me out and we decided on a pair and then got scratched out skis that John wasn't impressed with. The cow hide porno ski boots he could cope with but he draws the line at bad ski hire. Not having much expectations of what Poland would actually be like we were happy enough with our very basic room so spent the afternoon taking a nap since we were exhausted and talking about how this holiday ...

... was that I found myself looking down on the summit of Mt Giewont, with its huge iron cross. Every time I'm in Zakopane I find myself gazing up at Mt Giewont, taking in how steep and rugged it is. It was a tough climb in the snow to reach the summit six weeks earlier, which included sections with chains where I physically had to climb. Now, after just three hours of hiking the summit was more than 100m below me! It was a pretty easy climb ...

... All in all we had a fun and incredibly informative time in Krakow and the three of us hope to make it back to Poland in the very near future. Perhaps in 2012 when Poland has won the UEFA Euro soccer titles and I've had a chance to remember more of the language. So in closing I hope there are people still reading the blog. If so send us a comment and let us know whether we should keep updating from the road or not. Hope everyone is well and see you all way too soon, Amy xox

... a bit, with it still raining and got a horse and carriage back down the mountain to the bus station. Had a very long, hot shower and felt a little better. Messed around for a little while then went to the main street to the same restaurant we were at the night before, which had an awesome band playing there, and had a meal of kebabs and soup. Had several drinks, then walked home and got a bit more drunk at home and dropped Iza's soap out of the window (4th floor).

... decided to take a quick tour of the town knowing the sun would set very early. I started by visiting the Hansior Museum. This museum is famous for its unique artistic pieces. The artist, Hansior, decided to do something no one has done before. Instead of the regular everyday painting material, he uses meniquens, dolls, scrap metals, glass and some weird object to create his master pieces. These paintings are 3-D and carried a cultish flavor along with voodoo magic ...