Easter Sunday we took a bus tour to Zakopane.
South of Krakow is the Tatra Mountain Range, also called "the Polish Alps", and the most popular town of Zakopane. This is where Poles take their winter vacations if they can't swing the Zloty-to-Euro conversion (for a ski trip to Austria or Italy).
There were only 5 of us, plus the driver, in a Mercedes box van for the two hour drive through the countryside and up into the mountains. Yet again, we had a beautiful, warm, sunny day!
Upon arrival we had to make the decision -- take the funicular/tram to the top and see what's there... or explore the main street of the town. We chose to go up first.
Just off the funicular at the top is a toboggan-style ride, where you sit in a toboggan (for lack of better term) that has a braking mechanism which you control for the downward part of the ride. The brake then turns into a hitch for the upward part of the ride. Amanda wanted to do it, so we enjoyed the sun while she rode. In this weather you can see that the track is a wide metal groove into which the entire toboggan sits... I can only assume that in the winter the snow is hard packed and the ride more accurately looks like an Olympic run... Also, I am totally ignorant of winter sports...
It's Easter in a country that likes to consider itself the most Catholic country in the world -- so by 11am we haven't seen any food being sold except ice cream, dozens of restaurants are shuttered, and I'm beginning to panic. You know how fresh mountain air (and last night's alcohol) makes ya hungry. Oh jeesh, what have we dooooooone!
So we kept walking the non-boarded boardwalk, enjoying the views and diving out of the way of the angry NIMBY Januszes barreling down the single lane unpaved street. We strolled until noonish in one direction, and when we turned to come back we saw 1) a sweet church service where many of the congregants were in traditional Polski clothing; 2) food shops were beginning to open.
We sat, had a meat based meal, and people-and-dog watched. Then strolled back and went down the hill for a different stroll.
After careful reflection I've determined that the town at the bottom is very Jackson Hole-ish, while the area at the top is a Gatlinburg-Coney Island-any state state fair mosh pit.
We arrived back in Krakow at 4:30pm and discovered that (yes!) sinner restauranteurs existed there as well... as does UBER!!!!!!! So, with those modern conveniences we had a nice dinner.
On the stroll back to the public trans we went through a square I'd never seen before -- which I really love! Plac Szczepanski, I'll definitely visit you again.
F
