Atlantic Provinces

High Tatra - Day 5

Due to bad weather we decided to spend a day in Krakau. Krakow is a bit more than 100 km north of Zdiar.

We started our visit of Krakow at the Wavel. The Wavel was former residence of the polish kings of Krakow and together with the old city of Krakau UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rynek Glowny (Market Square) - one of the largest medieval squares in Europe.

The following pictures shows Market Square with the Church of St. Adalbert in the background. St. Adaobert Church is of romanesque origin and one of the oldest stone churches in Poland.

Excavations revealed a wooden structure built in the 10th century which was followed by a stone structure in the 11th century.

One of the most impressive sights at Market square is certainly the Church of the Virgin Mary.

Especially the interior of the church is amazing. In particular, the high altar by Veit Stoss is really impressive.

Town Hall Tower

St. Florian's gate controlled the main exit to the city. Beneath the medieval walls you can see colorfoul pieces of art by local artists.

The Barbican was built as an extension of the Florian Gate

Local market

Julisz Slowacki Theatre

The Dominican Church

The Small Market Square

The Church of St Peter and Paul

The Church of St Andrew

Kazmierz - The old Jewish district of Krakow

The Wavel in evening light

High Tatra - Day 4

Today was the highlight of our stay in the High Tatra - an alpine climbing tour :-). Together with our mountain guide Pavel (many summits in the High Tatra are only accessible with mountain guide) we started very early in the morning and drove to Popradské Pleso (1494m), about half-way up Mengusovska dolina. From there we hiked to the base of Vodia veza where we started our climb.

Volia veza (in german Ochsenrücken)

Hiking to the base of Volia Veza

Volia Veza (in the background)

Pictures taken from the base of Volia Veza

There are several options climbing Volia Veza from which we chose a rather simple route (UIAA 3). When we started climbing the weather already started to turn bad - it got increasingly windy and foggy, but still stayed dry. Climbing itself - though not very difficult - was really great due to the wonderful solid granite.

Pictures taken from the summit of Volia Veza right at the Polish / Slovak boarder

View into Poland

View into Slovakia

Since the weather was really about to turn bad we just took a few picures and quickly started our descent (UIAA 1-2). Back at the lake heavy rain started and even hailed briefly. We were very glad that we managed to climb and descent the most difficult parts while it still was dry.

High Tatra - Day 3

Today we had more luck with the weather and the whole day was warm and sunny :-). Our hike started in Strbské Pleso from where we hiked into Mlynická Dolina.