Slovakia 2013

May 11th – 12th

By Watracz Is Traveling

Day 1: Krakow, Zakopane, Námestovo, Liptovský Mikuláš

May 11th, 2013

View day 1 route on Google Maps

Since a trip to our southern neighbors was going to be my first international motorbike trip, I’m really excited about it. Paweł starts out from Rzeszów early in the morning, and he’s in Tarnów at 7:30 am. We meet at a gas station a couple of kilometers south of Krakow. The morning is chilly, but we don’t mind and we set out for Zakopane, grateful for every ray of sunshine. On the way we stop by a flock of sheep.

Zakopane

We didn’t really prepare all that well for our first longer trip. We don’t have any navigation software that would show us the best route, and we don’t have the currency exchanged. We stop in Zakopane to exchange zlotys to euros. The road to Zakopane is traditionally congested, so we only reach the town about 11:30 am. We ride around for a while, then park the bikes at a paid lot by Krupowki. The sun is shining, and it’s getting warmer. We put our jackets in the trunk of Paweł’s bike and go look for an exchange office.

It’s a Saturday, so the first office we find is closed. We have a quick pow wow with some local shopkeepers, we find out where we can find another one, which should still be open. We get the euros, we buy some food, and quickly get back to the parking lot.

From Zakopane, we ride for Chochołów, and it takes us only a couple of kilometers to go through the border and get to Slovakia. We’re going towards Námestovo, and pass a police patrol doing speed checks. Naturally, we don’t want to get tickets, so we ride within the speed limits.

The Orava Reservoir (Slovak: Vodná nádrž Orava)

We stop for a quick rest on a hill with a view of the Orava Reservoir.

The dirt road we’re on leads us to the forest by the lake. Paweł goes to check if we can take the road all the way to the lake, and I stay to take some photos. Paweł’s back soon. Since there’s nothing interesting at the end of the road, we get on the bikes and go.

We make the next stop just a couple of minutes later. The gorgeous view can’t be ignored and we have to take more photos. We stop next to the dam that’s also a bridge to the other side of the lake. The bridge is closed, though, so we ride around the southern end of the lake to get to the other side of the dam.

By the lake, in Námestovo, Paweł doesn’t even get off his bike; he waits impatiently for me to finish taking my photos.

Oravský Podzámok

We ride through the forest for about 40 minutes, and we reach a parking lot by the castle hill in Oravský Podzámok. It’s past 3 pm, so instead of a tour of the castle we take a walk around the area and move on. We get on the expressway, where we get a great view of the entire castle hill. The view is stunning, and I regret we haven’t taken a tour after all.

We pass the village of Kriva and the town of Podbiel. The winding road takes us through mountain valleys where the amazing vistas and the countless turns are a real thrill. On the way, we take a short sandwich break.

Liptovský Mikuláš

We reach the Liptovská Mara lake and pass the famous (in Poland, at least) Tatralandia water park. From far off, we can see a police patrol stopping bikers on the road. We slow down rapidly. The exciting ride on the mountainous hairpin turns made us go too hard on the throttle – and that could have meant a costly speeding ticket.

We looks for a place to stay the night in Liptovský Mikuláš. It’s past 6 pm, and it’s starting to get dark. We pass a couple signs that read “Penzión” (Slovak for a bed and breakfast). Paweł goes one way, I go the other, and we look for the best offer. We manage to find two spots and decide to pick the cheaper one, 13 euro per person. Neither of us speaks Slovak, but it’s so similar to Polish we manage to communicate and get the info we need. Our host is pretty talkative and tries to get a lot of details out of us. We can’t understand half her questions at all. She doesn’t understand half the answers. While we’re talking, she keeps glancing suspiciously at Paweł’s t-shirt: it’s got the Punisher emblem on it. The whole thing is pretty funny.

We manage to find out the location of the nearest supermarket and we go shopping. We buy fresh bread rolls, cold cuts, cheese, potato chips, a couple of beers, and go back to the apartment to make toasts. Paweł suggests that I should borrow his lock and put it on my wheel, to be on the safe side – it seems like a good idea.

After dinner, Paweł powers up his laptop and we watch a movie, sipping on the beers. I’m so tired after a whole day of riding, that I’m pretty much falling asleep halfway through mine. We turn off the laptop and go to sleep.

Day 2: Štrbské Pleso, Starý Smokovec, Tatranská Lomnica

May 12th, 2013

View day 2 route on Google Maps

We wake up around 8:30 am. We try to talk to the landlord while we pack our bikes, but we still have a bit of a language barrier. When everything’s in place, I get on the bike and back it up. Then I hear the crunch of plastic breaking. I forgot about the lock on the brake disc. The lock hit the mudguard, and the plastic broke. I silently curse Paweł who told me to put it on the night before.

Tatralandia water park

We head for the Tatralandia water park. It’s a bit cold and there aren’t many tourists there. The outdoor pools are closed. The water park is under renovation, getting ready for the tourist season that’s going to really kick off in a couple weeks.

On our way back through Liptovský Mikuláš we head towards the mountains. It starts to rain heavily as we leave the town. When we stop on the side of the road and put on our rain suits, we hear a woman calling out to us: she’s inviting us to wait out the rain under her roof. We pass of the offer and decide to press on, though.

A couple kilometers further, my rainproof, membrane-equipped gloves are full of water. Since I don’t have any navigation apps, every so often we have to stop to see which way to go. It’s really tiresome and I promise myself I’ll get the proper software and a waterproof case for my phone as soon as I get home.

Some kilometers before Štrbské Pleso, after almost an hour and a half of riding in the rain, we finally get a breather from it. As we enter the higher parts of the mountains, we can feel the fresh, crisp mountain air, and we can see the peaks of the Slovak Tatras around.

Štrbské Pleso

We take a tour of Štrbské Pleso and the nearby ski jumping hill. The mountain villages and towns that we pass through leave quite an impression on me. The picturesque landscapes and the inimitable architecture make me look around, rather than on the road. We get lost for a while in Starý Smokovec, when we take a wrong turn towards the Poprad. It takes us a couple of kilometers to realize that and turn back.

We pass through Tatranská Lomnica, then turn towards Poland, and reach the border through Ždiar.

When we get to Białka Tatrzańska, my bike’s running low on fuel. Paweł can access the Web, so he looks up the closest gas station. Turns out we need to get back to Zakopane to get fuel. And it starts to rain again as we ride.

We fuel up, have our last meal of the trip, and ride through the rain to Krakow. Luckily, it stops raining after we pass Nowy Targ. We separate by the highway entrance near Krakow. Paweł goes back to Rzeszów, and I begin to think about the next trip.