Grandhotel Praha Vysoke Tatry

... turning back.

While in the Polish part of the Tatry you can hike any time of the year, in the Slovakian one there are more restrictions. Between October and May, entering the Slovakian Tatra National Park is prohibited. As far as tthe Polish Tatra National Park, the rescue team always displays a note both in each mountain hostel and at every entrance to the park about the level of the avalanche danger.

... sme zopar tyciniek. Chceme ist do potravin, no mame smolu, je zatvorene.

Obchadzame Hnilecke vrchy smerom na Sykavku, kadial oficialne pokracuje cervena Hnilecka cyklomagistrala. Za Hnilcom sa vsak cesta meni z asflatovej na lesnu. Ideme lesom a lukami tesne popri zeleznici a potoku. KRASNE ! Vona ihlicnateho lesa nas sprevadza aj tu ... a v lese je prijemne vlhko, zeby tu prsalo ? Je aj dost mokro, co si hned obidvaja odskusame padom do blata :)

Woke up at dawn, and found mushroom which I'd been told were good to eat, cooked them with olive oil and pepper, delicious.

Funny things fungi, sometimes they make magic and sometimes fanno fatale.

At this point I'd done about 300 km of really mountainous terrain and was ready to spend at least a day ...

... did not return until after 10pm, so even if I was feeling well, I'm not too sure how happy I would have been after a 9hr hike...

My second day here was spent chilling out, catching up on reading and just chatting with the other guests in the hostel (who had just arrived or who were recovering from previous days worth of hiking) swapping stories and information about places we've visited.

... place is its proximity to the mountains and to a variety of things you can do if you are not particularly keen on hiking. It's close to the Morskie Oko lake, and the red colour trail to Rysy, the highest peak of Poland. It's close to the Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich, which is a valley of six lakes surrounded by the mountains. Last but not least, it's close to Slovakia, which is just 10 km away. It has a huge thermal swimming ...

... because you can go skiing and it would cost you half the price. Trent and I will try and make our way back over there for some winter fun! There are quite a lot of adventurous things to do and one of them, pretty much a right of passage for everyone who stays there in the warmer months, is to hike the High Tatras mountains. Wait but not just any hike, the 7 and a half hour hike - 3 of which are straight up! So on our 3trd day there ...

... preplavat Dunajec - co by v dnesnom teplom pocasi bola asi odporucana moznost. My sme vsak z rodu trochu lenivsich na tejto dovolenke a tak vyuzijeme sluzby miestnych pltnikov a 10 km sa nechame organiavane unasat po prude rieky. Dokonca so skvelym vykladom plnika a posatkou plnou poriadne sibnutych ludi z ktorych najvacsia starost na zaciatku plavby bolo zistit ...

... traced out a route on my map which I thought we could complete in the 7 hours or so of daylight we'd have. We began at the small village of Stary Smokovec, and made our way on foot for an hour up an icy road to Hrebienok, a popular site for skiers. Given it was a monday, we weren't surrounded by tourists, but instead hundreds of school children. We squeezed our way past them and after a brief stop at the Bilikova Chata we continued onto a different ...

After driving about 350km eastwards through the pouring rain (again), we came to a town called Spissky Nova Ves, which borders the Slovensky Raj national park. After being advised against staying in our chosen campsite, we had to drive about 15km away to the town of Levoca which had a pretty, although wet and uneven, campsite at which we could stay. The following day, we drove into Levoca town for a quick look around and to try and find (a) some hiking boots and (b) a car battery ...

... the labels (usually its easy to find the non gas one) so i just stood there until an old lady came to by water, and chose the other bottle. It worked! If a cashier asks you something, just shake your head no - 99% of the time they are asking if you have change or a smaller bill. Sometimes ( i started noticing this in sicily but it just happend to me here in slovakia) if you dont have the change they will just ...