24 | Zakopane

Last night I got back to my apartment after a low key hellish seven hour bus ride. Imagine being stuck in traffic, having an old man constantly grab the back of your chair to see what was in front of the bus, people calling their relatives on speaker phone, and the bus shaking enough to make you nauseous for the first three hours until your body just got used to it. So ya, it wasn't grand. But it was completely worth it, because Zakopane was one of the most breathtaking places I've ever been. Ok, so let's chronicle what all I did, because I don't want to miss anything.

Before I force you to read a minute-by-minute account of the past three days, I figure that I should give some background info on Zakopane, Poland. This mountain village is located in the southern part of the country about 2.5 hours from Krakow and nestled in a valley surrounded by the Tatra mountains. It is very close to the border with Slovakia if you consider scaling a few mountains a fast route. Zakopane is both a great winter and summer holiday destination, because it offers some of the best skiing and hiking in the country. It was also one of the few places that holiday papers were granted for Polish citizens during the Soviet occupation, and it remains a popular location for Polish tourists. This meant that every other tourist was Polish except for a few families I came upon. This also meant that entire tourist websites are only in Polish, which made this trip a little extra challenging.

I left Warsaw on a 7am express bus. I didn't realize that an express bus meant making three stops, but it's chill, because I was that excited. Also, since this was a 7am bus on a Wednesday, it was pretty empty. I finally arrived in Zakopane around 2:30pm and promptly ran to my Airbnb, which was about 12 minutes away. And when I say ran, I mean that fast walk I do where I'm basically running but not picking my feet up as if I was running. It's quite the funny sight, I'm sure. So, I checked in, dumped my clothes out of my backpack, loaded it with snacks and warm clothes, and ran back to the bus station. After frantically looking around for a bus to Kuznice, I finally found an annoyed Polish woman who told me that those buses left from across the street. I did my funny speed walk across the street for the mini-bus to arrive two minutes later (#score). After making several stops in town to pick up and drop off passengers, we finally made it to Kuznice, which is where the bottom station of the cablecar to Kasprowy Wierch is. I had booked my tickets online, so I got to hang out until my time came. As someone that isn't super comfortable with heights, this cablecar ride was kind of terrifying. There were towers along the way to hold up the wires, and when you go over them, the car shakes wildly, and all of the Polish people go "wooooaahhhh" as if this was a fun death roller coaster. We eventually made it to the top after having to change cars halfway up, because it is that far up. There is a 20 degree temperature difference, and on this particular day it was fairly cloudy, so we were essentially hiking in the clouds. Please enjoy the photos:

Eventually I pulled myself away and took the cable car back down and walked back to town. I found a milk bar where I got my favorites: spinach pierogi and black currant juice. 

At this point I was pretty pooped, so I headed back to the Airbnb (obviously getting lost along the way). 

The next morning I woke up at 5:15am (for the second day in a row, mind you) so that I could be on the first bus to Morskie Oko, the deepest lake in the Polish Tatras. This hike was essentially what made me want to go to Zakopane in the first place, so even though it was supposed to storm that afternoon, I was too stubborn to think twice about heading out on this six hour adventure. After doing another fun run to the bus station at 6am, I boarded a bus that then waited another twenty minutes to become full. I honestly thought that some of the women on the bus were going to riot, because they wanted to leave that badly. Honestly, I wanted to leave too, because Morskie Oko is understandably one of the most popular destinations from Zakopane and can quickly become overrun by tourists the later in the day it gets. 

Eventually we left, and after forty minutes we arrived at the trailhead aka the entrance to the national park. After paying my 2.5 zl entrance fee, I began my march to the lake. It usually takes about two hours, but I was able to shave it down to 110 minutes, because at one point I was surrounded by bugs (including a few bees), because I had a pear that I guess they smelled, and I was running in vain away from them. They eventually picked a new target, and I was able to arrive at the lake unscathed. 

Do you ever imagine somewhere for so long and look at so many photos that when you get there it's underwhelming? Well, I did both of those things, but I was still in such great awe when I arrived that I even shed a few tears. This lake is so stunning that I truly couldn't stop the happy tears (and I knew I would be getting potato pancakes in a few minutes, so that added to the excitement). So ya, I logged 5.5 miles, cried (a few times), and ate two breakfasts all before 9am. Ok, now for the photos: 

So, these are all from the hike up (sorry I couldn't help myself). Now for the good stuff.

Pretty amazing, right? Definitely worth the long hike! All of the people I was passing on my down, including a woman in her wedding dress, seemed to think so too. After getting back to town, I immediately took a shower and napped for about an hour. Understandably, my whole body ached, and I wasn't too keen on going back out. Thanks to some prodding from Eli, I went back out to explore the main street of Zakopane to sightsee and rustle up some food. I went to bed with a happy tummy and memories of my beautiful morning. 

It rained overnight, which meant it was 46F and overcast when I woke up. I had planned to get up early and go to the hill overlooking the town, but I wasn't even sure if I would be able to see it with the clouds. I lazed around the Airbnb until around 11am, then headed out for the funicular. By this point, the temperature had raised to 50F, but it was still way too cold for the shorts I had packed. So, I just did that run everywhere to keep warm. I also bought some grilled cheese to up my mood when I got to the bottom of the funicular. 

This delicacy can be found in Warsaw, but it is really native to southern Poland

After scarfing down the cheese, I bought my tickets and went up. Fun fact: it was colder up there and you couldn't see the mountains. An all around bust of a day. 

The "view"

I walked around the area a bit more (it's fairly built up with lots of bars and stands selling souvenirs) and found a few more picturesque places. 

I went back into town and found some lunch at a cafeteria-style restaurant that happened to be in a low-key dungeon. 

From there, I went back to the Airbnb to pack up all of my dirty clothes and head to the bus station for the ride home. And here I am now - only a few days away from coming home! I'm so excited to get home and hug my family (doggos included) and eat some Moe's (and brownies and, hopefully, some apple pie on the Fourth @Mr. Lind).

See y'all soon!!