Night drive outside Zakopane, Poland

Today I’m in Budapest, back in civilization after four days of camping and hiking in southern Poland and eastern Slovakia. Sunday I met the group in Zakopane, Poland — as I call it, the Interlaken of the East — right above the High Tatras National Park. Zakopane has a great resort-town feel to it, featuring one of the liveliest pedestrian areas I’ve seen in all of Europe. The downtown area is small but vibrant, with musicians in the streets (including a father-daughter, accordion-violin setup) and dozens of restaurants, gear shops and pubs. It seemed to be “opening weekend,” the first weekend of July when the Poles start their summer vacations. When I got there in the afternoon, the city was flooded, but things quieted down by dinnertime. Our hotel, the Dom Turysty (Tourist House) reminded me of the aging, dusty hotels in Yellowstone, complete with 30-year-old, musty carpeting and what is advertised as the largest wooden roof in Europe. Zakopane, incidentally, is also home to the best kebab sandwich I have had on this trip, complete with perfectly seasoned lamb (spit-roasted and then grilled), coleslaw, onions and tomatoes and two tangy sauces (white and red) on a warm bun.

Drenched in the Polish Tatras

Monday we spent the day hiking in the Tatras. For eight hours we hiked through forested valleys, over rivers, up mountains and around glacial lakes. Our hike began a short drive out of Zakopane and ended up at Lake Morskie Oko (“Eye of the Ocean,” roughly), the most famous lake in the Polish Tatras. The hike was going great for several hours, but when we got above the tree line (and later above the snow line) the rain started… and because of the sunny morning, none of us had packed rain gear. So for hours, we forged ahead in sheets of ice-cold mountain rain, traversing slippery rock faces and finally descending upon Morskie Oko. Luckily, my gear was solid… the quick-drying, wicking tee kept my body warm (and sort-of dry) and my wool socks kept my feet warm. No such luck for my crappy Timex watch which bonked in the rain! The hike was rough on the legs but great for the spirit… I guess mountains can do that for you.

Dedinky tent complex

Tuesday we left Zakopane to camp in the Slovensky Raj (pronounced “rye” — the phrase means “Slovak Paradise”) in eastern Slovakia. The drive was gorgeous, winding through the High and Low Tatras. On the way, it started raining, so we took refuge in the local Tesco hypermarket in a hilariously Soviet-looking town called Poprad, consisting of concrete high-rises and more concrete high-rises. Don’t ever go there, it sucks!

Our campground was in nearby Dedinky, the largest town (population 400) in the southern half of the Slovensky Raj, overlooking a gorgeous lake with tree-covered hills as a backdrop. While my friends Taylor and Daniela took a nap, Serge and I set up our $8 tents and covered them with two plastic tarps, one for rain stoppage and the other to make a large front porch (the smoking lounge), held up by my trekking poles and stabilized by several ropes and tent pegs. It was a marvel of half-assed engineering and gave us something to be proud about while the rest of the campground huddled under umbrellas by the beer stand.

Hiking in Slovensky Raj

Wednesday we set off on what is probably the toughest hike in Slovensky Raj and the most intense day-trek I’ve experienced (only two days after hiking for hours in the freezing rain in the Tatras). Just one part of our hike was listed as “an extremely demanding full-day” in Let’s Go, but we tacked on three more hours to come full-circle to our campground.

The first few hours were easy, going up and down a few short hills and winding around a country road through the park. We embarked on a 40-minute walk up a grassy hill, and then a long, steep jog through a gorgeous ravine straight out of Lord of the Rings, complete with dozens of field mice dodging our strides. We snacked on candy bars beside a mountain lake where hungry trout were jumping all over the place. Then it got tricky. The yellow trail (of death?) climbs up Slovensky Raj’s steepest gorge. For two and a half hours, we climbed up a river with minimal guidance: much of the work involved making sure we were still on the trail, finding our way from marker to marker up rocks, across the stream and down erosion-exposed, tree-root stairways.

Slovensky Raj death ladders

This section of our hike also showed us what the park is famous for: wooden ladders (and a few really slippery steel ones) going up the cliffs, with whitewater falls directly beneath, leaving us one slip from certain death at any point. These ladders are why the cascade trails are marked as one-way-only: any attempt to climb down would end ugly. By the time we surfaced on top of the gorge, I didn’t even mind the wet shoes. A few hours down to Dedinky and it was over… my ballsiest hike yet. We celebrated in style, dining on pork, potatoes, veggies, salads and dessert with no regard to weight or wallets in the Dedinky hotel restaurant, and then getting properly blitzed on Topvar Slovak beer in the bar. We deserved it.

First night in Budapest, Hungary

After a second night camping (this time under clear skies), we spent yesterday driving to Hungary. There was a brief scare at the border when the guards spent a few extra seconds examining my mangled passport, but otherwise we reached Budapest without much trouble. Roads are poorly marked and traffic was terrible, with cars driven by crazy Slovakian drivers constantly trying to pass in no-passing zones and slow buses passing even slower trucks. The ride was pretty flat and really hot (no A/C in our Czech Skoda Felicia station wagon) but Budapest is beautiful. It’s a bit similar to Prague in feeling, but things are newer and generally bigger. We spent the evening walking around the city, up and down the Danube and around the central district. Our hostel, Hotel Martos, is an active student dorm.