Around the World with Hardy(T)Around the World with Hardy(T)The border crossing at Lysa Polona is quite an ordeal. The bus goes to within a few hundred yards of the border control, then you have to walk across, in an eerily heavy mist as it happened, then it's a further couple of hundred yards to the bus stop on the Slovakian side. Very John Le Carre...
Once over the border I headed straight
for Smokovec. The ride itself is pretty entertaining, the bus being full
of leather clad farm workers carrying buckets of fresh manure! Starý
Smokovec turns out to be an off season ski resort catering to Germans. My
'O' Level German comes in really handy for a) ordering meals, drinks, bus
tickets, etc and b) explaining to anyone who'll listen that I might speak
German but that doesn't mean I am German! Just to the back of the
Park Hotel is a walking trail up to some quite magnificent waterfalls near
the Bilikova Chata chalet, which I take a walk up prior to what I hope will
be a hearty evening meal. Little did I know that Starý Smokovec closes
at 8pm - I couldn't even get a beer to go with my measly bread and cheese
supper. Worse is to come the next morning, when an influx of German tourists
means I have to leave Starý Smokovec and move on the the marvellously
named neighbouring village of Horný Smokovec. This actually turns
out to be quite a blessing, as Horný is actually a much better base
from which to explore the Tatry.
After about an hour waiting on the wrong railway platform, I eventually leave Horný Smokovec on a crowded bus to the dour industrial town of Poprad-Tatry. Neither German nor English is spoken here and I take in some serious carbon monoxide trying to find a bus to Cerený Kláštor. Still, the bus station has a lovely view of the grim, grey apartment blocks. Not knowing where on Earth I'm heading, I only manage to catch a bus as far as Spišská Stara Ves, but it'll do. Another bus ride later, and now three hours after leaving Horný I find myself at the popular Dunajec Gorge, some 35km away from where I started!
The journey was,
however, well worth it and, although I've now only got 90 minutes until
the bus returns, I manage a quick dash up and down the Gorge to catch the
spectacular scenery of this geological fault that separates Slovakia from
Poland. Huge cliffs rise up from the river and eventually slope off to form
the vast pinnacles of the Polish Tatra. The river here is also popular for
rafting trips. Not quite the white water experience I'm used to, but a rather
serene affair involving traditional, lashed together, wooden rafts skippered
by locals in national costume.
I'm back in Cerený Kláštor in plenty of time to get the return bus. This becomes somewhat irrelevant when, despite my frantic waving and chasing, the bus goes straight past! Luckily it's only a 9km walk to Spišská Stara Ves and I've got all of an hour and a half before the next bus leaves Spišská Stara Ves for Poprad-Tatry. Nothing to worry about, until I get to the outskirts of town with about 5 minutes to spare and realise I haven't got a clue where the bus station is! I end up walking right out the other side of town to a place where the bus absolutely must go pass to get to Poprad and eventually get a bus about an hour later. Two lessons learnt: 1) Slovakian bus timetables bear only a passing resemblance to reality 2) to attract the bus driver's attention you must be a wizened old peasant women carrying at least three milk churns and you have to leap out from a bush at the very last moment...
At least the ride home affords spectacular views of the High Tatry, which are now emerging from the blanket of cloud and drizzle that has engulfed them for the past few days. Things are looking distinctly up when at Poprad station, there's a direct train to Horný Smokovec stood there waiting for me, so I eagerly hop on. Five minutes later everything is back to normal, as the train breaks down! I eventually get back to the not-so-salubrious Hotel Sport just as night falls and tuck into a particularly shabby plate of fish and potatoes and a couple of well-deserved beers.
Go to High Tatry (2) for more Slovakian adventures...