Zakopane

Together with my boyfriend we really eagered for some off-time from work. Unfortunately we were not able to head any more distant place, so we decided to go to ZAKOPANE. 

[ For all the Non-Polish people (as Wikipedia says): Zakopane lies in the southern part of the PODHALE region at the foot of the TATRA MOUNTAINS. It is the center of the GÓRALS culture and is known informally as "the winter capital of Poland". It is a popular destination for mountaineering, skiing, and tourism. ]

As we wished for some peaceful and elegant place, but still showing some traditional style of Zakopane, we booked our stay at the LITWOR HOTEL. That was definitely not a mistake, as we were in the centre (it's situated right on the main street KRUPÓWKI), we had a lovely view on the park, it was quiet (which I appreciate very much lately!) and the staff was very friendly! Not to forget for all the food-lovers - their breakfast is great!

My boyfriend and me are biiiiiig food-lovers, so after checking in we had to go to one of our favorite spots  - STEK CHAŁUPA. It's also right in the centre and most of the time you have to wait for a free table. Beeing there we ordered a traditional cheese plate (with OSCYPKI, BRYNDZA and GOAT CHEESE), a piece of bread with SMALEC (=lard) and a pickled cucumber, hot beer with honey and Mountaineer's-tea (black tea with spiritus). We also had some steak (which isn't on the photo and which I don't recommend) with baked potato with garlic butter (yummy!). We talked with the waitress for a while and she spoke with us in dialect which was kind of funny to listen.

Most of you propably recognize MORSKIE OKO because of the club and the amount of people partying on weekends there. However, Morskie Oko is also the name of the largest and fourth deepest lake in the Tatra Mountains. Unfortunately I haven't seen it yet as it says there is traffic jam stretching for miles everyday!

"Into the Tatras, into the Tatras dear brother ..."

The weather the next day was pretty awful so we went to the Tatra-Museum. Below you can find pictures of typical homes called "CHAŁUPY" of people living in the Podhale region. We also appreciated the exhibits which showed the plant and animal life in the Tatra mountains. I also took a picture of the fashion-exhibition ("Beauties on snow") which I hope to check soon, hehe.

Here you can see photos I took while heading back to Cracow. Hope you enjoyed my post and those who haven't been to Zakopane yet, will visit this traditional city soon! ;)

Weri