Hiking in the High Tatras

Two Saturdays ago, Eric and I woke up early because we had plans to spend the day hiking in the High Tatras Mountains. While Eric had been to the Tatras before, this was my first trip – and I was pretty excited. We arrived at the Tisovec bus stop at 7:15 to catch the first of three bus connections. Our first bus ride was departing Tisovec for Muran at 7:20. Unfortunately, the Slovak Transportation Department (in all its divine wisdom) sent a large van instead of a bus to run this popular route. Eric and I didn’t even come close to making it on to the all-ready packed van. The next possible bus out of town would not arrive for a couple of hours, and I figured our day was scrapped. Eric, however, had a Plan B. He suggested we hitchhike. (Now, before any of you reading the blog get excited --- please note that hitchhiking is very common and safe in Slovakia.) Because hitchhiking is something that’s been on my list of things to do here (don't wince, Mom), I jumped at the chance.

So, we started walking in the direction of Muran with our thumbs out. After several cars and a truck went by, a car finally stopped for us. The three women in the car agreed to take us to Muran. As we rode with them, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of them spoke very good English. She explained to me that she and her friends were on their way to a drama competition in Revuca (a town just north of Muran). They too were supposed to be on the same “bus” (ahem… van) that we were supposed to take. We lamented the woes of Slovak transportation together, and after fifteen minutes of more small talk, we arrived in Muran.

Unfortunately, we missed the next bus connection to our second stop by FOUR MINUTES. So, we decided to hitchhike again. We set off walking in the direction of Poprad, and this time a car picked us up rather quickly. Our travelling companions for this leg of the journey were a family of three: a dad, a mom, and their twenty-something daughter who were travelling to Poland to go shopping. Again, we lucked out. The daughter spoke decent English. We had a great time talking with them. They gave us advice on where to go and what to see in Slovakia. We talked with them about the Slovak education system. We learned about the windstorm that destroyed some of the forests in the High Tatras in 2005, and we got a chance to add to our Slovak vocabulary. Our ride was relaxing and fun. They drove us almost all the way to our final destination – and when we offered to pay for petrol, they declined saying how happy they were to take us where we needed to go. Hitchhiking was a huge success! Another thing to check off the Bucket List.

After a very short train ride, Eric and I arrived at Strbske Pleso. We spent the morning walking around the lake and taking pictures.

This is Strbske Pleso.



Because the High Tatras are at a high elevation and in Norther Slovakia, it is much colder there than in Tisovec. It had snowed three days before we got there, and much of the snow had yet to melt. The lake was still covered in ice.
From the lake, we headed into the mountains on a hike towards one of the Tatras’ many waterfalls.

Check out the mountains in Slovakia! Aren’t they gorgeous?





We stopped at the waterfall for lunch and pictures. The waterfall was partially frozen, but it was still beautiful.



Our trip home was of a more traditional nature - - - we made all three bus connections, so there was no need to hitchhike. I am so glad that I had the chance to explore the High Tatras before I left Slovakia. The Tatras are one of the places in Slovakia that takes your breath away.