… or how I walked to Poland and saw nothing of it 😛 Rysy peak is apparently exactly on the border between Slovakia and Poland.
the way up
The route begins right next to the Horsky hotel near Popradske lake and is really well marked. It took around 3 hours to get to a chalet (Chata Pod Rysmi – 2250m) where we had some tea and warmed up and then another 45 minutes or so to the peak. It was raining and it barely stopped while we were going up. It was also very foggy as you can see in the pics. But even so, what we could see of the scenery was amazing! But from the peak we couldn’t see a thing 🙁
The rain only decided to stop and the sun came up when we were more than halfway down. So at least we got some sunny pics 🙂
view of Horsky hotel and the Popradske lake
The hotel is set right next to the Popradske lake, there’s a footpath going all around the lake and on the other side of it there’s a symbolic cemetery. It was built as a memorial devoted to people who worked and tragically died in the High Tatras, exceptionally even to some famous people. There are loads of memorial-boards and hand-carved wooden crosses. Originally all the memorial-boards were scattered all around the High Tatras, more or less at the places of tragedies. The idea of making this symbolic cemetery belongs to Otakar Štáfl (1884 – 1945). The cemetery was finished in 1940 and open to public with the following motto: ”As a remembrance to the death and a warning to the alive”.
I would have loved to be able to see more of these mountains, so I’ll surely come back to take this hike on a sunny day and also try more hikes. The highest peak from Slovakia (and also from the Tatra mountains and Carpathians mountain chain), Gerlachovský – 2,654 m, can also be reached from Horsky Hotel. And also, they serve the yummy Tatra Tea at the hotel 😛
Enjoy the pics!
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Useful info:
- closest town is Strbske Pleso
- I stayed at the Hotel Horsky – Popradske Pleso, it can be reached by car or a walk of about 1 hour from Strbske Pleso
trip date: July 2014