The High Tatras

After Bratislava, the main highlight of Slovakia has to be the beautiful countryside, in particular the mountains. And so it was that we found ourselves heading back to the ski fields... only this time we'd be happy to find the pistes bare and not a snow flake in sight!

The High Tatras (on a good day!)

The High Tatras are a narrow range of mountains bordering Slovakia and Poland which happen to be the highest in Eastern Europe. But they are only a mere 25km wide, soaring up from plains extending out to the north and south and, do actually appear to have just been plonked there quite out of place. The sight of these 2,600m plus mountains rising from the flat countryside below is supposed to be very striking, but the drama of it all was diminished somewhat by the rain clouds that seemed to be clustering around them the whole time we were there.

View through the storm ravaged forest

It has a very similar feel to that of National Park, our local ski area in the North Island of NZ, which is based upon a rather large (volcanic) mountain which also appears to have been dropped there in the middle of it all, rather like a pimple. The sleepiness of the resort was another similarity, as were the open fields of grassland around Tatranska Lomnica, the village we stayed in. However this was not always the case; this vast area was previously covered in quite mature forest that was almost entirely destroyed by a huge storm in 2004. What's left are the gnarled and mangled tree stumps, looking like a giant had just come in and trampled all over it. Most of the logs were removed to be used for their timber, with the stumps being left in place. It's quite a sight, and it's hard to imagine the forces that must have been required to tear these trees apart. And quite hard to comprehend that the damage from this one storm is going to need 100 years to recover.

A very depressing sight

At a few points along the Tatras there are lifts to take people up the mountains, normally to ski in winter, but they also run in the summer months for sightseeing opportunities. At Tatranska Lomnica there is a two stage gondala that rises to 2600m from the township at 800m. Unfortunately the top half was absolutely clouded in so there was not much point going up for a totally obscured view! Plenty of treks left from the half way point at 1900m so we took a one way ticket up and then intended to trek across the mountain to a waterfall and the back to Lomnica via a different track.

The view at mid station

The information center was surprisingly blase about treking in the alpine regions and this came as quite a surprise knowing that mountain conditions can change very rapidly. After some very vague directions of which tracks to follow we ended up treking to the wrong waterfall and actually getting tantalisingly close to the Polish border too, by heading up a 2000m pass. So what was billed as an easy 4 hour walk ended up in a 6 hour sunset trek... The scenery was well worth it and we had a great day out in the fresh alpine air, but our legs were definitely going to pay for that the next day!

Crossing the snowline, en route to Poland!

The waterfall we were supposed to reach, several hours later!

Early morning in the High Tatras

The next day brought more walking on our exhausted legs around the remains of an amazing fortress, Spis Castle, that is famed for managing to hold out against the Tatars (Mongols to you and I) in the 13th century. Although parts of it are in ruins, it is still pretty much intact and had a great exhibition inside, displaying some rather gruesome torture instruments and ancient weapons. I even got to fire an antique musket pistol!

Spis Castle - the largest in Europe

Bang!

From there we cruised up to the border of Slovakia and Poland, via the Dukla Pass which witnessed some severe fighting during WWII. Today Soviet and German tanks, and the occasional gun emplacement still line the road, left in situ following the Soviet liberation of what is now Slovakia at the end of the war.

Eric the Liberator!