Zacopane, Poland

As the guy on the bus said, Zacopane is like a different country to the rest of Poland. It's quite close to the border of Slovakia, amongst the Tatra mountains. Once we had left Krakow, the landscape soon changed from dull, square buildings to beautiful wooden houses, painted in different colours, set against the hill side. We began to see patches of snow in the fields, which increased gradually until we reached the roads leading up to Zacopane, with skiers set against the pure white slopes.

The Polish guy I met on the bus showed me where to buy tickets for my journey back and then I continued towards the town. Zacopane has wonderful open markets with interesting food and smells. I decided that I should buy a warm hat since they are so much cheaper here than in England. Prettier too.



I walked through various market stalls until I reached a funicular railway, leading up the mountain side. I took the train, which provided amazing views across to the mountains opposite. I slowly edged around, as the snow had frozen over and was packed hard. Despite this, I fell backwards hitting my back and possibly my head on the ice. I can't actually remember. Momentarily I felt a shockwave of concussion but as the sensation left, I forgot all about it and carried on taking photos. I finally found some great tasting food on top of a mountain in Poland. I passed a stall cooking sausages and sauteed potatoes on a large, outdoor grill and I had to turn back because the smell was amazing.

It turned out that they day I chose to visit Zacopane, the town was hosting a ski jumping competition, so crowds of Polish tourists filled the streets, celebrating with crazy hats and red and white costumes. It felt like the Polish equivalent of Benidorm as everyone was out to have a good time, but it was impossible not to feel part of the fun and celebration.



I took the coach back to Krakow, where I arrived in the early evening. I returned to the hostel where I made some dinner and met an English guy who teaches Polish students and decided to see the country for himself. We went out to an Irish pub and talked about the places that we had travelled to and life in England. Later, we moved on to a rock club which I felt much more at home in. It made me smile, as the long haired bartender was playing chess with one of the regulars, as black metal music played loudly in the room. Everyone was friendly and we enjoyed a great selection of mainly Scandinavian metal bands, smiling at some of the over the top mixes of club anthems that were played, all metaled up.

***

I had a really bad headache that night and it didn't become apparent until the following evening, when I returned to London and my friends noticed that I had bruises on my shoulder blades, that I remembered the fall in the mountains. I realised that I had concussion. That would explain a lot, all the falling asleep, the clumsiness and the feeling slightly off, but within two days it was gone. I don't recommend going to rock clubs when concussed.

Krakow, Poland

I didn’t have any expectations for Krakow other than the photos I had seen that looked pretty and that people told me it snows alot. However, there still isn’t any snow despite BBC saying there will be today, it hasn’t happened yet and isn’t looking likely. Krakow has a lot of character and many interesting buildings.

I arrived yesterday afternoon after a good flight and an express train to the town center. The train station is next to a huge shopping mall, which is nearly as extravagent as the one in Prague. After a short walk, I found the main town square with its gothic style church and decorative buildings. The hostel is right in the centre, so I unpacked my stuff and headed out for food. I decided to go for Polish, which came with a similar style bread and spread course to Prague, however the pork and dumplings that I ordered were quite different! Unfortunately it came in a red/orange/oily sauce with a smell that made me feel nauseous. Not a good start, so I tried to scrape the sauce off the dumplings but that didn’t improve the situation. The waiter said they were dumplings with potato in the middle, which sounded fine but the texture reminded me of a savoury version of the oriental dessert, Moochi, except they tasted of fat. I was only able to eat a few of them because they were too aweful! The pork itself was fine but the taste of the sauce was too much so I left a lot of it. I think I got really unlucky finding such a revolting flavour and hopefully next time will be better. I have no idea what the sauce was.

When I returned to the hostel, I met a Polish girl called Dorothea who knew Krakow quite well so she took me out to find cake. I bought what looked like a marble cake but even that was a bit strange. With poppy seeds and icing on the top, and a nutty chocolate mix with pieces of fruit peel, it was more of a success than the previous meal. I went to a Mexican restaurant with Dorothea and had a drink while she ate her spicey dish. Later, she showed me around Krakow, pointing out all the sites that I’d return to in the morning. We finished the evening in a coffee shop with surrealist artwork covering the wall and large yellow tulips on our table.

I spent today walking around and taking photos. I found an apple cake that I actually liked, and bought some food from a supermarket for lunch. I think I’m going to return to the hostel and see if I meet anyone who feels like going for dinner.

***

I decided to cook my own ‘Polish’ food tonight, since I thought at least that way I get to choose what I eat and hopefully make something nice. I found spinach pasta in a supermarket, and after much time working out what each sauce was, I found a cheese and mushroom mix which I thought would go with the pasta. As soon as I added water it smelt disgusting. I continued cooking it anyway in the hope that it might improve when heated. It tasted like mouldy sock and plastic mushroom sauce and was promptly binned. Thankfully the pasta was edible and I amused a group of French people in my attempts to cook. It didn’t help that there was no appropriate cooking utensils, saucepans, microwave or working oven, so all things considered, I feel it was quite an achievement.

Krakow town square, Poland from Natalya Dyer on Vimeo.

Krakow feels incredibly small compared to Prague and I think I’ve covered it pretty well. It’s a nice city, but compact. It doesn’t look like there will be any snow here so I’m planning on getting a bus to Zacopane tomorrow, known for its timber buildings and mountains. I asked the lady on reception what the roads would be like and if they were icy and she assured me that they will be ok. I might google for other travel blogs to find out how bad the journey is. It’s also two hours each way.

I have a feeling that when I return home, I won’t want to eat bread for a while! Breakfast at the hostel is either cereal and milk which I don’t have or stale bread and jam. Bread is available everywhere and great slabs of it arrive with fat at the beginning of each meal. I bought some ham at the supermarket, which even that tasted like nothing I’d had before. I wasn’t keen on the flavour. After having several mini frankfurters for lunch, I think that might be another snack that I’ll skip for a while! Polish people must really struggle with our food when they come to England, so I see why so many Polish delis have opened. It does seem to be a set of flavours completely isolated to this country. It’s a shame that I’m not enjoying them.

Prague in the snow, Video...

Prague town square in the snow:


Prague town square, Czech. from Natalya Dyer on Vimeo.

Prague, Czech Rep.

Today Prague has shown itself to be a contrast of interesting architecture and extravagant, sparkling shopping malls. We arrived in town by bus, and were greeted by fields of snow and grey buildings along the roadside, until we reached the town center. The landscape transformed into tall, grand architecture and copper domed spires. Each building appears to be different to the next in a European mixture of styles, colours and ornate stone facades.

By the early evening we were hungry, particularly after the steep uphill walk to the Castlesteps building, where we are staying. We headed out for food and eventually found U Sadlu, a medieval themed restaurant that I ate at a few years ago, and wanted to return to. Upon arriving we were told they were full, so we made a reservation for tomorrow night and ended up in a nearby Italian restaurant. They served a good pizza, a novel tiramisu and a medley of Madonna songs all evening. The atmosphere was relaxed and it was a nice place to eat.

We wandered into the cold, dressed in layers of fleeces and coats, back tracking to a huge Christmas tree which we had passed earlier. Their sense of decoration really captured me as it flashed like hundreds of tiny camera flashes and sparkled brightly in the square, so I decided to video the tree and its surroundings.

The tree stood in front of a huge shopping mall and worked like a siren, attracting us in, to take a look. It was quite incredible, even for someone that does a lot of shopping, it was breathtaking. There is nowhere in London that could match it in terms of size, design or the array of shops that it held. It felt like such a surprise after the ex communist Prague, to find a glittering, glass interiored shopping mall, like a retail palace of fantasy. The top floor even included a cake shop and various cocktail bars with futuristic lighting, as if it had been rendered by a computer program. We did lots of jewelery shopping and generally had a good time finding things that we could never get at home. It's been a fun day.