| Low Tatra |
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| Low Tatra |
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On our way from the High Tatra to the Low Tatra, we visited the ice cave in the Demänovská Dolina (gorge). Although the cave was all right, we were a bit disappointed. Most of the cave is a normal cave, with stalactites and the impression of a giant Batman. Only the lowest chamber has some ice, a lot less than we hoped for.
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We walked over the hill between the cave and the village (also) called Demänovská Dolina. The first bit was steep upwards, but then we came on the crest. There we passed a symbolic cemetery. We suppose it is for mountaineers who got killed in the mountains. A bit further on are several monuments for World War II. As the dates on these are pretty obvious, we were able to make that out. The Slovakian texts on the gravestone stayed a mystery to us. |
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The next day we really walked in the mountains. Starting out on a well-paved path, we soon gained height.
A self portrait at the crest of the hill. Can you imagine a group of a hundred school children passing by, all of them very friendly saying "Dobry den" ?? |
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| After a lot of climbing, we reached the saddle of the Palony, at 1837 m. From here you can already see the Chopok a bit further along the crest. Or a bit, it is 1:20 hour walking. On our way we met a Slovak who started talking very agitated - in Slovakian. After some time we could interrupt him and explain we didn't understand a word of what he was saying. He produced his digital camera, showed us a picture of a marmot, while pointing at some rocks. And right, there he was. He is a lot bigger than our guinea pig, as you can see on his own website. |
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At the Chopok itself there are a lot of people. First we think
that is strange, but then we find out the cable car is working. Halfway down
to Trangoška we decided to cheat as well, so we
travel the last 500 meters down very fast. Mirjam is still shaken when
she thinks about the trip.
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The Low Tatra is mainly a mountain range from west to east (or the other way round). But at some places, it has some branches to the south, for instance at the Dumbier. So when you want to walk from Trangoška to Vyšna Boca, you climb again to 1800 meters and then down again. East of the Dumbier is a large reservation for chamois, and we walked quite some time on the opposite mountainside. But unfortunately, we didn't see any. They were probably on the North side of the Dumbier. At the Stefanika is a chata which was not yet open for coffee. We didn't mind, as we brought our own. And the birds and beetles didn't care either. |
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| The part downhill went through an Alpine (or Tatrian?) pasture, with lots of flowers. In the middle you can still see Leon, already far away as Mirjam took some time to make pictures of the flowers. Near the village, we noticed a lot of people were bringing their wood somewhere else. This man had a van and cart, some-one else had an old Ford Taunus loaded and at the end of the village some people used a large truck. Probably it was wood-carrying-day. |
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