"Rusinowa Mountain Glade" Bukowina Tatrzanska Things to Do Tip by evaanna

The Rusinowa Mountain Glade is one of the most beautiful places in the Tatras accessible from Bukowina. The view from there is stunning - the whole panorama of the High Tatras is right before you. You can sit on one of the boulders lying there and look and look .... The more ambitious can climb the mountain called Gesia Szyja or Goose's Neck because of the way it looks from a distance to get an even better view. But the grass there can be quite slippery, so you will need good shoes. There is a shepherd's hut "Bacowka" in the glade where you can buy 'oscypek' or smoked sheep cheese made on the spot. You can try and persuade the highlander to put you up there on some hay in the loft, which can be reached by ladder. Just imagine waking up in the morning to the brisk clear air and to the great silence of the mountains before you and then washing in the icy cold water of the brook there. Unforgettable experience!
You can walk to the Wiktorowki Chapel nearby, one of the favourite places of Pope John Paul II, where the highlanders sometimes attend Mass. On 15th August they all come here dressed in their colourful traditional costumes to celebrate Our Lady's, their patron's, day. It's a whole pilgrimage as everybody feels they must be there on that day.
A word of warning: the path leading to the chapel from the glade can be muddy and slippery, especially after rain. To get back to the main road you can now take the path down to Zazadnia.
To get to Rusinowa Polana from Bukowina, take a bus to Wierch Poroniec (on the way to Morskie Oko Lake, one stop after the Glodowka Glade) and walk along a marked trail from there. On the way you pass a brook with a waterfall. The road is stony and muddy at places with tree roots making the walking difficult. Once I was there with a tourist group in horse-drawn carts, but preferred to walk all the way back, it was so bumpy.

Address: Rusinowa Polana