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.