Zakopane-ic over!

 After a full three days of it being off on its own adventure, my bag finally returned to me!  (still no thanks to the Turkish Airlines baggage tracking website which still shows that they are "in the process of locating your bag").  With the exception of a rather dubious fashion look yesterday, I had coped pretty well - but it was a relief for the worry to be over - so I could now fully relax into my vacation.

The last couple of days have been spent exploring the region in and around Zakopane.  Zakopane is in the south of Poland, about a 2hr drive from Krakow.  Visible from pretty much everywhere here are the stunning Tatras mountains (part of the Western Carpathian range) and the entire region is incredibly scenic and picturesque.  I've been getting serious Bob Ross vibes since I arrived!  In the winter it's a popular ski resort and, in the summer, has many hiking trails and mountain climbing routes.  The last couple of days have been great weather again - but as I look out of the window right now, my luck would have appeared to have run out, as its raining, grey and cloudy.  Fortunately, I am now in possession again of my waterproof rain jacket, so no worries!

Inside the synagogue

In my last post, I had just started to meet some of the other ladies on this trip as the adventure had not yet officially started.  Now, a couple of days in, and I've met everyone - and everyone is very nice!  Lots of different personality types, obvs, but no-one who is unbearable or crazily annoying - which is a relief.  The overall structure of our trip is broken into two main parts - first, we head down to Zakopane to explore the region there, then come back to Krakow for the remainder of our time.  Krakow used to be the old capital of Poland, housing all the Polish kings and queens in times past.  From the limited I've seen (remember, I spent more time in shopping malls up to this point!), its really very impressive and was designated a European City of Culture back in 2000.  The Old Town was built around Europe's largest medieval market square - which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  On our way out of Krakow, we made a couple of short stops - one was explore Kazimierz, the old Jewish district where we toured inside a synagogue and the old Jewish cemetery.  I'd not been inside a synagogue before, so it was interesting (although I didn't understand the significance of all the things I was looking at, tbh) as was the cemetery, where you saw pieces of paper with wishes tucked into the headstone of one of the most beloved rabbi's grave (think Wailing Wall).  Also interesting was that the grounds of the cemetery were fairly overgrown with weeds and not carefully trimmed and tended, as we are used to with non-Jewish cemeteries.  Apparently this is because these places are not visited regularly (maybe once a year on the anniversary of someone's death) as they are considered unclean due to the association with death, so they are not places to visit and hang out in.  Interestingly, there was a place you could wash your hands, just by the exit, so that you could cleanse yourself after your visit.

Overgrown cemetery

handwashing station to purify you
after your visit

notes left on the tomb of a prominent
rabbi asking for help and good wishes

poignant empty chairs in krakow 
ghetto

We also briefly visited the site of (one of?) the ghettos in the second world war, where the Jewish population was rounded up, so as to "cleanse the city" and forced to endure horrific conditions (the allocated living space was 2m/2 per person - or 3 people to one window).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Ghetto   The ghetto was "liquidated" in May 1943 - those who were considered fit to work were sent to Auschwitz - those who were not (elderly, children, pregnant women, disabled - about 2000) were brought into the main square and executed.  Of the nearly 70,000 Jews who used to live in Krakow, it is estimated that only about 1,000 survived the war.  Indeed, there are still only about 120 Jews who live in Krakow today.   Today, around the square, you will see many empty chairs - these are to symbolize who was lost and serves as a poignant and stark reminder of the terrible history of this place.  

interior of wooden church - note the elaborate
wooden carvings - a signature of this region

After this somber stop, we got back onto the bus to start the drive out to Zakopane.  En route, we stopped at our first wooden church, so we could appreciate the traditional style architecture this area is famous for.  During our time in this region, we'd have the opportunity to go inside several of these churches to have a look.  The three main traditional occupations here in Zakopane were woodcarver, shepherd - and robber!   They have their own version of Robin Hood, stealing from the rick to give to the poor etc - it didn't end quite so well for their chap, though, as he was caught and  executed.

ummm... I think this dispenses holy water??

exterior of the church - made from larch.
the larch.

much nicer than your average garden shed

After a bit more of a drive through this simply lovely countryside, it was time to stop for a late lunch in the village of Dolina Chocholowska, where we would get our first taste of the famous oscypek smoked cheese and to taste highlander tea (which was basically hot vodka!).  I am 2 days into this trip and I think I'm already at least 2lbs heavier, as the food here is robust!  I'm gonna to group all the food stuff into a separate blog post so you can get a better sense of the range of local specialties all in one go!  The process to make the oscypek cheese is very tightly regulated and you have to follow strict rules to be able to call it oscypek - if not, you can be heavily fined!

cute and cosy village restaurant lunch stop

a sight to warm the heart of any Brit

Adventure Women!

weird gaudi-inspired wooden house 
en route to our hotel! (taken from 
inside the bus....)

By the time our giant lunch was done, it was already after 4pm - and we were to meet for our official welcome dinner at 7.30pm! Yikes.  It was a short drive to our hotel, the very nice Nosalowy Park, where we had time to (briefly) relax before dinner.  Dinner was nice enough- but would have been a lot more enjoyable if I'd have been even in the slightest bit hungry - which I was not!   The dishes were elevated versions of traditional regional favorites - I did sample everything and it was tasty - but it was too much for my already overburdened digestive system!!  

The next morning, we were all due to meet in the lobby at 9.30am for a full day of food, culture and outdoorsy stuff.   Breakfast was a giant buffet feast with tables and tables laden with every conceivable food type imaginable (including a LOT of desserts) and - I was pleased to see - a mechanism for making toast.  Let Toastwatch recommence!  (single passthrough with toast exit out the back, in case you were wondering).  As we were gathering and waiting after breakfast, one of the hotel staff members approached our group and asked "Is there a Ms Holloway here?  I have her bag here"  YES YES I'M HERE!!!  WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!  I rushed over to give him a huge hug (he was a little taken aback) then gave my bag an equally heartfelt welcome.  Such a relief - and a great way to start the day!  

Our first activity for the day was a cooking class at a cultural center in a village about an hour's drive from our hotel.  It was run by a group of very robust, red-cheeked highlander women who would share with us their recipes for making all sorts of local delights, including potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage leaves, pierogis, vegetable soup, rhubarb cake and more!  We all had our matching Adventure Women aprons on (which the ladies signed at the end of the event) and got to try our hand at whatever we fancied having a go at.  It was really fun and, of course, we got to eat everything we prepared for lunch a little later (I was glad I'd opted for a light breakfast!).  And while we were waiting for things to cook, we also got to play dress up and try on a few local outfits - some of the skinnier ladies managed to squeeze into the tiny woolen pants that the menfolk traditionally wear - I stuck to the flowy skirts and really quite lovely embroidered woolen jackets.  Lunch was lubricated with homemade rhubarb vodka (not in the tea, this time) which was surprisingly tasty!

Highlander women, ready to teach us 
their cooking secrets!  

Getting handsy with the pierogi dough

The least efficient butter churner 
ever (the top bit kept falling off!).
Krusty was no help at all!

elaborate embroidered pattern on the 
front of traditional men's highlander pants

with handy dandy easy access flap!

as modeled by two of our most
adventurous women

a serenade of depressing love songs from our 
highlander lady hosts after lunch

Following lunch, it was back on the bus for another hour or so's drive/nap through the countryside, passing some beautiful bucolic scenery (including giant storks nesting on the top of telephone poles!) and more amazing wooden buildings and churches.  Our local guide Ala had been using the bus rides to try and teach us all some Polish phrases - completely impossible!!!!  She also tried to teach us to sing a traditional song, sung by a lovesick boy to Rosemary, the object of his affection - basically, I will tell you I love you and - if you don't love me back - I will go become a soldier and die.  Clearly a bus full of ladies of a certain age did not see that as a romantic gesture ("Gaslighting!" "What a manipulative POS!" etc etc) and the melody was so depressing such that if a guy was singing that to me, I'D go off to war just to escape it!  But its all part of the cultural immersion, so it was a unique experience!  (sidebar: people seem to burst into song here at the slightest provocation - the Robust Highlander Women also sang to us, our guides have been singing at us constantly - maybe I unknowingly booked myself into Poland - The Musical! version of this trip!).  

Our afternoon's adventure was to go rafting, in a traditional style boat, down the Dunajec river through the Pieniny National Park.  This activity was very weather dependent, and so there had been some question as to whether the sunshine would hold enough for it to take place (you do NOT want to be stuck on a bunch of floating logs on a river in a thunderstorm).  Yet again, my luck with the weather had followed me as it was gorgeously sunny and actually quite hot, so we were a GO!  These boats were originally used to transport logs down the river and are several long canoes lashed together with rope and man sweat.  Surrounded by the Tatras peaks, we had terrific views of the Dunajec River gorge - with Poland on one side of the river bank, and Slovakia on the other side!  The cruise lasted about an hour and a half and one of the two local chaps steering/driving the boat regaled us with local stories and nuggets of info and, curiously, Mother-In-Law jokes.  Not sure they all landed (again, read the room - you are telling these to a boat full of women!) but it was harmless enough and I could just imagine that guy in a tavern, with a flagon of sudsy beer, holding court.  And - just as we came in to dock - the clouds rolled in and the weather started to turn.  We had been very lucky!!

perfect afternoon for a lazy float down the river

very manly men were responsible for lashing
our canoes together

i got my suitcase back, the sun is shining, life
is good

enhanced by pierogi socks and too short 
linen pants

Eagle Mountain

Hanging with the ladies

Picture perfect

Blue heron

Clouds starting to darken the sky as we docked - 30mins
later it was chucking it with rain!

Just lovely!

Umm....OK.

On our drive back, we stopped at the oldest wooden church in the Zakopane region and had the opportunity to look inside.  This church dates back to the 14th century and contains incredibly well preserved paintings and Gothic sculptures from the 15th and 16th century.  It was really amazing with the colors still so vivid after hundreds of years (reminded me of the tombs in Egypt) - apparently, they don't actually know why the colors are still so bright - its a bit of a mystery.  Its also a UNESCO world heritage site and we listened to a short audio presentation (narrated by the plummiest English accent I've ever heard!) that gave us more details about the church (33 colors on the walls with 77 patterns; a tabernacle from the 15th century that's not been used for 300 years etc; a glockenspiel that "defies the laws of physics" - not entirely sure how). It didn't take much imagination to picture how it must have looked 500 years ago - cos it looked exactly the same!  The only thing that was different was that the floors had been replaced and there was electricity - other than that, nothing had changed.  It was a remarkable time capsule that is in use every single day as an active, working church.

Not entirely sure what is going on in this 
poster from outside the church.  Its clear
the lady is not Playing It Cool

Incredibly old wooden church - amazing it
hasn't been destroyed by fire!

Obviously the chandelier was a
new addition - made in the 80s I think

Original colors in the wooden interior
carvings

Its crazy how bright this is!  It looks like
it was painted yesterday, not the 14th century!!

World's cutest trash can!

With that, we all piled back into the bus for the remaining drive back to the hotel.  We got in around 6pm, so there was enough time to reunite with my case properly, chill out for a bit before heading to the spa for a massage I'd booked at 8pm, to help me get all the tension of the last few days out of my body.  (also, a 50min massage here is only $80, so its a lot cheaper than back home!).  The spa was very nice and smelled amazing (lemongrass, apparently) and my massage therapist was pretty good, scrunching away at those knots in my shoulders with steel thumbs and pointy sharp elbows.  It was one of those spas that gives you paper underwear to put on - fortunately as my case had now arrived, I wasn't tempted to try and keep the paper thong and bandeau bra as that need had passed - but the paper thong wasn't the most comfortable piece of disposable underwear I'd ever worn in my life.  Also, I'd skipped dinner as I was still too full from lunch - but had had some dry-roasted peanuts as a snack instead about an hour previously.  Not perhaps the wisest choice - there's nothing relaxing about having a massage when you are trying desperately hard Not To Fart.   Somehow I managed to keep it together and not embarrass myself (although I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time someone has let one go) and despite that challenge, I think she did some good in my neck and shoulders.  Tomorrow, our next adventure is hiking through the Chocholowska valley - the weather is supposed to be a bit shitty though, so we'll see.  Light rain - no problem.  Chucking it down?  Nope.   I've already done enough hiking in crappy weather for one year.  I will have no hesitation in bailing on that and scheduling another spa day!!    We'll see what happens!!