The High Tatras

 Some years ago Vicki and I traveled to Budapest to meet our hiking group from Mountain travel/Sobek, the Adventure Travel Company with whom we had travelled many times.. From there we all took a bus to the High Tatras Mountains of Slovakia. The Tatras ran along the border of Poland and Slovakia, and at one point it was possible to have one foot in each country.

The hiking was interesting and fun. Some days were harder than other, but when you are walking and talking with interesting people, you find that the kilometers go by quickly. At night we ate interesting food and drank the many beers for which Slovakia and the Czech Republic are known.

One day we were driving through rural Slovakia, when a grouping of “out of place” high rise buildings came into sight. Theses ugly structures were built years earlier by the communists, after they took over the country. Later we went to a spa in Poland that had been a favorite of Russian leaders. The building was “grand” in the sense that it was large and ostentatious, but it took up too much space. The hallways were oversized as were the different rooms. It was a pompous structure that tried to boast importance. However, I found the building to be grim and heartless.

The spa in contrast to the architecture of Krakow was striking. That city was perhaps the most beautiful, urban place I had ever seen. A large square was surrounded by beautiful decorated buildings. Music was everywhere, and horse drawn carriages took tourists here and there. A river encircled the town.

Later we spent some days in Prague, another beautiful city. The city was alive with visitors, many of them students. The beer was cheap and tasty. I could buy a glass of Pilsner Urquell for fifty cents.  The food was good and the people friendly.

After some days Vicki and I hired a driver to take us to Karlovy Vary, a spa town about 80 miles from Prague. We stayed in a small, comfortable hotel and hiked for miles through the forests that surrounded this quaint town. We had wonderful meals and were sorry, when our driver picked us up a few days later to return to Prague.