Going down
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2004
1
5
6
Trip End
Aug 09, 2004
Poprad, Slovakia
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
But to my opinion, dips belong to a journey. Just like they belong to normal life. I could skip them and mention the facts, for example, like this. "The High Tatra mountains offer superior views." Now the impression is not complete; the feeling that accompanies the moment is missing. That is also what I miss in pictures: you see (part of the) landscape, but you miss the feeling. Maybe the photographer has climbed a long way to get the impressive view, and he is very content to have the view. Or perhaps the photographer has been lying awake all night due to some annoying mosquito and doesn't even notice the panorama at that moment. To complete my impressions, I add the feelings I have to the description. Even if they were negative. I write this text also as a reminder for myself.
August 3
We were afraid that J.'s muscles would block. The day before, he had been complaining about muscle ache, and he had put so much tiger balm on his legs that there was a yellow cloud surrounding him. But this trip would not give him any trouble.
We were on the impressing mountain pass Sedlo pod Ostrvou, after having climbed the Great Zigzag. I was very happy to be at that place, and so were A. and J. I mean, with our own legs, we had climbed from 1500 to 2000 metres by ourselves.
After the pass, we had to walk another two hours. Although the view into the valley remained marvellous during a long time, I didn't enjoy it that much. It's like cycling, in the Tour de France, when the cyclists have to climb the Alpe d'Huez, and directly after that the stage leads 100 km through flat terrain: the climax is in the middle. I was very happy to reach the mountain hotel where we would eat and stay during the night. The last part of the hike I was getting thirsty, and so I had increased my speed.
Now I am too negative. There was a mountain like, underneath the Gerlachovsky stit (highest mountain of Slovakia). The water was perfectly clear and the slopes behind it were overwhelming. At that moment I thought: wow!
In the mountain hotel we had to check in for a room. My god, what a bureaucracy! It seemed like I didn't book a room, but that I entered the Socialist Republic of North Korea! They wanted to have all possible data; just the checking in cost us a quarter.
We managed to get a room with three beds. If you imagine that we had to sleep in a hut, you're wrong. It was a four-storey hotel, with restaurant, bar and shops. Probably it had been built during the communist era to accomodate the party members that wanted to breathe some fresh mountain air (whereas the workers still had to breathe the brown coal air in their cities, equality for all). We ate and drank a beer. I went to bed early, thought about some things, and fell asleep, until the next morning I was woken by the early rays of sunlight.
August 4
Today would be the second and last stage of our High Tatra hike tour. This part of the trip would lead downhill to the village of Smokovec, where we would have to find accomodation for the next night.
The weather was outstanding for hiking: the temperature was around 20 degrees and it was partly cloudy, just like the day before. The first part we remained at an altitude of around 1600 m. The path was formed by flattened rocks; walking meant jumping from rock to rock. Next to the path, the soil was covered with shrubbery.
Then the descent started. It was easy, and around 13:00 we reached Smokovec. After a small lunch, we headed for the Information Office for accomoadation. The lady at the office kindly arranged that for us. It was Hotel Junior, situated in the village of Horny Smokovec. I know what "horny" means in English, but in Slovak it means "upper".
By the way, there was another funny Slovak word. If you don't speak Dutch, skip this part. In cities, there are public toilets where you have to pay according to the size of your message. If you have something solid, you pay more and the toilet lady gives you some toilet paper. You can also take a shower. But there was another option, the "(utymie) ruk"... You can use your dirty imagination to find out what it means, but it means cleaning your hands.
Enough of this dirty, childish stuff. In Horny Smokovec, and also in Stary Smokovec (the mian part of Smokovec), there was not much to do. I checked a cinema, but all they had was Shrek 2. We didn't go to the movie for three reasons. 1) We had already seen Shrek; 2) The movie was dubbed in Czech 3) The movie was almost over.
Smokovec is a winter sport village in summer: deserted, except for some tour groups. At that part I started to get a dip. We were three, and we almost met no backpackers like us. As a logical result, annoyances and irritations started to arise. Me, I was glad that this day was over in the evening. I looked forward to go to Kosice the next day. Originally, we planned to go to the Slovensky raj, a special nature reserve with gorges and an ice cave. Unfortunately, every pension mentioned in the Lonely Planet was full. So we carried out plan B: go to the east.
