"Hiking Up The Tatras..." Tatrzanski Park Narodowy by coceng

Tatrzanski Park Narodowy Travel Guide: 86 reviews and 191 photos

Lake Morskie Oko...

POPRAD<<<<<TATRA MOUNTAINS>>>>>ZAKOPANE

POLANDThursday 16th May 2002
Started the day with Marek; Checked out from our hotel in Poprad, Slovakia. Went to the bus station & waited for the bus to enter Poland ! Yippee !
2 British oldies were there as well, chatty as usual...kept me wonder what they really wanted !
Anyway, the bus journey was so good, as the morning sceneries amidst the Tatras caught my eyes again & again, I wish the bus would stop for me to take photos ! So, you could see all those shaky photos in my tips below...Actually, our original plan was to take direct bus to Zakopane, but no more ticket left even when we arrived in the afternoon the day before...
We got off at the Polish border, a place called Lysa Polana. Smooth imigration check...then, as planned with Marek the previous night before we hop on into our tight sleep, I decided to go to do a bit of hiking to see Lake Morskie Oko ! While Marek & the 2 oldies, (Yep ! They were there too at Lysa Polana !...wonder what they really wanted ...) continued with the bus to Zakopane.
So, it was really a blessing for me that the direct bus ticket to Zakopane was sold out !
I took a short bus ride to this big field (from Lysa Polana...), it was early still so no activities just yet. My problem was to look for a place to put my luggage; I had a bit of problem because there's no 'left luggage' place there !
Luckily, a nice lady said that I could put my luggage just underneath her table, of which she put really nice Polish/Tatras souvenirs...to sell.
So, I bought the ticket & started walking ! In fact, not just me but I could see school kids & old folks also walking towards the direction where I was walking to...It was great ! Sometimes I would compete with them, walked pass them...me, with cigarette in hand...Of course that didn't look well to some youths (who also wanted to have a ciggi in their hands also...). The feeling was just that...normally I dislike school kids but they were forgiven by me because the atmosphere was just so nice ! Really really amazing Tatras high mountain sceneries ! I felt I was somewhere on top of the world ! So to speak...
Took photos, lots of them & you could see them all in my tips below...Walking & walking,....smiling to some people & they all looked at me asking themselves where I was/am from ! I felt good about them, let them wonder, me thought.
Finally I reached the top to the Lake Morskie Oko ! Oh My God ! So Achingly, Stunningly Beautiful ! You could see the above photo, couldn't you !
First, wanted to drink something...had a small meal even, at this mountain cottage by the lake. People started to arrive, the school kids, the old folks...
I decided to encircle the lake ! I knew I could do that...it was easy, it was about 1 hour or so, so my Lonely Planet guidebook said.
I saw & touched my first real (melting) snow ! I didn't care 'cos it was snow allright ! The feeling was just ace ! I was really on top of the world ! The water was so beautiful ! I could go on praising the sceneries because I really really mesmerized by what I saw ! Took lots of photos too !

The Shortcut Path...(left)

A MUST SEE...

All good things come to an end, I had to walk back down...I could stay long, but as more people came in, arrived at the mountain cottage, it got noisy...No, not because of noise actually, but I started to think about Marek ! Maybe the oldies did something bad to him ! Maybe they asked Marek to leave that Asian guy...I just had to get my Marek back ! I still had to spend more journeys with him !
Walking downward was easy than climbing/hiking up of course...Although the road paths (tarmac) were winding in S shape, but it's easy to walk anyway; Think of the walk as a good exercise ! It took me about 2 hours plus to hike up but it took me about 1 1/2 hours to walk down !
Reaching down, more people of course ! More coaches...with packaged tourists ! I went to the lady who kept my luggage underneath her souvenir table, got my luggage back & to thank her, I unzipped my luggage & took out a recipe book (on Malaysian cookings !) that I bought prior to this trip...& handed it to her ! She spoke no English but she was so happy & I could see that in her eyes ! She started to call her friends nearby & showed them the recipe book...I just smiled...Feeling really really good !
Took a van heading to Zakopane...Again & again, beautiful south Poland sceneries just grabbed me ! I was really crying with joy in my head looking at them all !
I want to be there again ! I want to hike up Lake Morskie Oko again, maybe with my friends....One day,...one day.

A Mountain Refuge...(right)

Stunningly Beautiful !The Tatras are the highest range of the Carpathians & the only alpine type, with towering peaks & steep rocky sides dropping hundreds of meters to icy lakes.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Amazingly Beautiful Mountain Sceneries !
Cons:People Think Hiking Is Not Easy, But If I Could Do It So Could You Guys !
In a nutshell:A Hike Up Lake Morskie Oko Is A Must !

Last visit to Tatrzanski Park Narodowy: May 2002
Intro Updated May 19, 2004
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Comments (9)

Bonobo2005 Jun 5, 2003 at 3:35 PM Report Abuse

you surprise me...didn't know it was that beautiful up there! Did you take some snow back to KL, just for souvenir :-) ?
diamonddog May 5, 2003 at 10:40 AM Report Abuse

Alot of usefull info and awesome pics !! will try to go a bit further up :-) excellent page !!
mr.jacob Apr 27, 2003 at 6:53 AM Report Abuse

sounds great! can't wait to go there myself!
eviltooth Apr 16, 2003 at 5:20 AM Report Abuse

Did you enojoy the bigos? ;)
ysio Apr 14, 2003 at 11:33 PM Report Abuse

beautifull!! very good :)
ania70pl Apr 13, 2003 at 10:01 AM Report Abuse

Super page! Tatra mountains are beautiful.
marishabandb Apr 13, 2003 at 5:43 AM Report Abuse

Well done. Stunning pics. I also walked right around the lake with 4-yr-old Sasha on my shoulders. It was August and we could still have a snowball fight.
Wiktoria Apr 12, 2003 at 5:19 PM Report Abuse

I love Tatra Mountains! Great page.
gale.blog.pl Apr 11, 2003 at 10:59 PM Report Abuse

Hey, let us see more of your Tatra pics!