Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

Here we are in Starý Smokovec, for the last of our three nights.

We made it here a couple of days ago, via the Dobšinská ice cave. That was an amazing experience, not least because the weather had turned and there were thunderstorms happening overhead as we entered the cave.

It was 25°C as we went inside, but within ten seconds the temperature had dropped to freezing point. The ice was 20 m thick in places inside. There were two power-cuts while we were inside the cave, deep underground, which plunged us into total darkness. We had to be led outside, up the steep staircase, by torch-wielding guides after the second.

The ice cave was fantastic, however. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in the neighbourhood of Eastern Slovakia.

That brought us to the High Tatras, a mountain range in an area that has been declared a national park. To say it’s beautiful here is to fail to do justice to the area, and yet, so few tourists (even Western Europeans) have heard of it.

Our hotel, The Grand, is also quite luxurious, especially by Slovakian standards. Not only is the food very good, but Sarah and I both had massages yesterday and the whole family went into the swimming-pool this afternoon. Eloïse turns out to have no fear of water; she really enjoyed herself in the pool.

The massage last night reminded me of the wonderful massages I used to get at Google, just one of the many things I miss about the place. I’ll be enjoying another of the hotel’s massages this evening.

Yesterday, we took the funicular railway to Hrebienok, about 1280 m up (we’re at 1010 m in Starý Smokovec). From there, we hiked several kilometres uphill, crossing a couple of lovely waterfalls, to Sliezsky dom, next to a huge waterfall (fed by melt-water, I think). The waterfall fed into a huge, ice-cold lake, by the side of which I found a rather large frog, one of the few notable wildlife sightings on this trip.

We found something to eat at the chata by the lake, then hiked all the way back down to ground level. Once again, it was a full day of hiking and we were very tired by the end of it. Our baby-carrier is now well and truly worn in, I would say. I estimate that I have carried Eloïse some 40 – 50 km in it since we set out on this trip. If only someone would carry my fat arse over the mountains.

This morning, we set off early to take the cable-car from Tatranská Lomnica to the winter ski area and lake known as Skalnaté pleso. After walking around the lake and taking photos of the snow-capped mountains, we took a second cable-car, which departed much less frequently and had to be booked a couple of hours in advance, to the summit of Lomnický štít, at 2634 m. It was very cold up there, so we had already changed into winter clothing. Indeed, our thick fleeces and winter coats were brought on this trip for just this one day, as we knew they would be needed.

At the summit, we were afforded wondrous views across the Tatras. Occasionally, the clouds would come rolling in and obscure everything, but after a few minutes, they would disperse again, allowing us fantastic views across the jagged landscape the snow-covered mountains.

Tomorrow, we’ll leave the High Tatras National Park and head for the Pieniny National Park, situated snugly against the Polish border. There, weather permitting, we’ll go rafting downstream. It remains to be seen how well this will work with Eloïse along for the ride, but she and we are game, so we’ll soon find out!

Once we’ve finished rafting, we’ll need to get a taxi back to the spot where we hit the water, eight kilometres upstream. From there, we’ll drive on to Bardejov, where we’ll spend the night.

We spent a good eight hours hiking through the Slovenský raj today. It was seriously hard going.

We began with a long climb to the Tomášovský Výhľad look-out point, with gorgeous views out across the wilderness.

From there, we hiked down to the gorge of the river Hornád. The gorge is so sheer in many parts, that no ground trail is possible. Instead, the park authorities have drilled into the side of the gorge and inserted small metal platforms, the size of steps, which are held by rods. One literally has to hug the wall of the gorge, hopping from platform to platform, whilst not paying much mind to the sheer drop just centimetres away from the edge of one’s foot.

To make matters worse, the metalic grid surface of some of a few of the steps is worn out and giving way, and the rods of others are buckling under the strain of the hordes of visitors of summers past. At times, the rocky wall of the gorge juts out at chest or head level so far, that it overhangs the platform at that spot. This forces the intrepid hiker to clutch a chain running along the face of the gorge, and lean with all one’s weight fully backwards, out over the gorge, whilst tucking one’s feet under the overhang and ambling over the platform. In my case, that meant that Eloïse, strapped to my back in her baby-carrier, was completely suspended over the sheer drop to the river below; not an experience I want to repeat at any time in the future. I’m not afraid to admit that I was, at one point, quite frightened. I’m curious how many people take a tumble off these aging platforms in any given year.

Anyway, the hiking was such heavy going, that we had to veer off from the route we had planned to follow and take a shorter route back, although that meant negotiating a long, steep climb to the top of one of the hills. An hour later, we arrived at the top, Wiesje fast asleep in her carrier, but her mother and father drenched in their own sweat and gasping for water. We had used up all of our water and were very hungry by that point, but thankfully there was a place here where we could buys snacks and rehydrate at our leisure.

Once we were refreshed, it was another two hour walk back to where we had parked the car in Čingov.

I was left feeling like we had cheated ourselves by taking a shorter route back, but in truth, we would have been in trouble if we had gone the long way, as we had run out of water and it was an extremely hot day today. Not only that, but the route we did take ended up consuming eight hours of our day; we’re just not very fast hikers and Eloïse slows us down yet further.

Tomorrow, we head for Starý Smokovec, where we’ll spend three nights in the snow-topped High Tatras (or Vysoké Tatry, as they’re known locally). That will be the high point of our trip, literally speaking, if not also figuratively.

On the way there, we’ll pay a visit to the Dobšinská ice cave.

The Slovak Paradise National Park, they call it; or to be more precise, the Národný park Slovenský raj. That’s where we are now. We’ve made it as far as the town of Čingov for a two night stay and will be spending tomorrow hiking outdoors in the mountains.

It was a long drive today from the lovely town of Banská Bystrica, with a detour at the start of the day to Banská Štiavnica, a mediaeval mining town. To be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed by it. Although it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, it’s in a state of decay and the repair work isn’t keeping pace with the dilapidation.

Anyway, if I’m going to survive a full day’s hiking tomorrow, I’m going to need my beauty sleep, so off I go to bed. Our hotel has an unadvertised, wide-open 802.11 network, so I thought I’d take advantage of it to post this.

We crossed the Slovakian border on Wednesday and spent a couple of nights in Žilina. Whilst there, we enjoyed/suffered our hardest day of hiking yet, in the Malá Fatra National Park: lots of elevation change, rough terrain and a fat baby on my back.

We’re now in the town of Banská Bystrica, where we’ve extended our stay from one night to two, because it’s such a pleasant town. We’ve now driven more than 2000 km on this trip.

Tomorrow, we’ll start heading up towards the Tatra mountains.