Zakopane is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Province; since 1999, it has been part of Lesser Poland Province. As of 2017 its population was 27,266.  Zakopane is a center of Goral culture and is often referred to as “the winter capital of Poland”. It is a popular destination for mountaineering, skiing, and tourism.

Zakopane lies near Poland’s border with Slovakia, in a valley between the Tatra Mountains and Gubałówka Hill. It can be reached by train or bus from the province capital, Kraków, about two hours away. Zakopane lies 800–1,000 meters above sea level and centers on the intersection of its Krupówki and Kościuszko Streets.

The earliest documents mentioning Zakopane date to the 17th century, describing a glade called Zakopisko. In 1676 it was a village of 43 inhabitants. In 1818 Zakopane was a small town that was still being developed. There were only 340 homes that held 445 families. The population of Zakopane at that time was 1,805. 934 women and 871 men lived in Zakopane. The first church was built in 1847, by Józef Stolarczyk. Zakopane became a center for the region’s mining and metallurgy industries; in the 19th century, it was the largest center for metallurgy in Galicia. It expanded during the 19th century as the climate attracted more inhabitants. By 1889 it had developed from a small village into a climatic health resort. Rail service to Zakopane began October 1, 1899. In the late 1800s Zakopane constructed a road that went to the town of Nowy Targ, and railways that came from Chabówka. Because of easier transportation the population of Zakopane had increased to about 3,000 people by the end of the 1800s. In the 19th century, Krupówki street was just a narrow beaten path that was meant for people to get from the central part of town to the village of Kuźnice.

The ski jump on Wielka Krokiew was opened in 1925. The cable car to Kasprowy Wierch was completed in 1936. The funicular connected Zakopane and the top of Gubałówka in 1938.

Because of Zakopane’s popular ski mountains, the town gained popularity this made the number of tourists increase to about 60,000 people by 1930.

In March 1940, representatives of the Soviet NKVD and the Nazi Gestapo met for one week in Zakopane’s Villa Tadeusz, to coordinate the pacification of resistance in Poland. Throughout World War II, Zakopane served as an underground staging point between Poland and Hungary.

From 1942 to 1943, 1,000 prisoners from the German Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp were set to work in a stone quarry.

Zelené pleso (popularly Green Kežmarok Lake; pol. Zielony Staw, Zielony Staw Kiezmarski, German Grünsee, Grüner See, Kesmarker Grüner See, Hungarian Zöld-tó, Késmárki Zöld-tó) is a moraine lake in the Green Valley . Located in altitude 1,545 m above sea level. m., has an area of ​​1.78 ha and is 4.5 m deep. On the northern side of the lake stands the Cottage at the Green Ball.

The striking greenish color of the ball fascinated the first treasure hunters, chamois hunters, who could not explain what caused this unusual color of the water. They devised romantic fables about a gem that collapsed into a ball from the walls of the Hawk’s Tower. This fairy tale was easily accepted by the first tourists and researchers who appeared on the banks of the ball. An explanation was found later. The water has a greenish color from the springs that spring from the bottom of the ball. It is said that the lake was originally larger, but Count Tököly had the natural dam demolished when they were looking for his lost son. In older literary works, it is written that the lake originally reached as far as Jastrabia Tower. In 1880, the Hungarian Carpathian Association dealt with the plan to return the ball to its original area, but in the end it came to it because it did not have the necessary funds to implement the project. The name of the ball first appeared in the press in 1644 with David Frölich in the form of Grünsee. The first map that captures it is the Spiš Plan from 1760, where it is marked Grine S. Pleso is incorrectly drawn in this plan north of the Belianske Tatras.

Location: High Tatras, Prešov District

Time: August 2020

Mountain cottage is a building designed for the needs of tourism, to provide rest or protection against adverse weather, in the case of larger cottages and the provision of accommodation and meals, tourist information, and exceptionally the rental of tourist and sports equipment. In some, especially larger cottages, there is also the seat of the Mountain Rescue Service.

The construction of tourist shelters and cottages began in the 19th century. The first cottage on the Slovak side of the Tatras was Rainer’s cottage (shelter), which was built in 1863 by Ján Juraj Rainer on the Starolesnian meadow. In Poland, a cottage by the Sea Eye has stood since 1836. The cottages were first created spontaneously, later they were also built by enthusiasts from the Hungarian Carpathian Association (Magyarországi Kárpátegyesület) founded on August 10, 1873 in Starý Smokovec. The most famous of its founders were František Dénes and Samuel Roth, professors from grammar schools in Levoča and Kežmarok, Mikuláš Szontágh, a doctor from Smokovice, and Edmund Téry, ​​a doctor from Banská Štiavnica. Later, however, the Spiš Germans prevailed at its head, and so in 1891 the Hungarian Tourist Association (Magyar turista egyesület) was founded in Budapest. After the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak Tourists’ Club continued their maintenance (in Slovakia, before the disintegration of Hungary, there was also the Tatra Tourist Board, which joined the KČST after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic).

Several cottages and cozy cottages grew up in the Tatras, but many of them disappeared or burned down (for example, Egid’s cottage in Predné Meďodoly, Kežmarok cottage near Biely plesy, Blásy’s cottage and Hunfalvy’s cottage in Velická dolina and others). At present, alpine huts do not have a single owner or administrator.

Location: Cottages, High Tatras, Prešov of District

Time: August, 2020

Cold stream waterfalls.

The waterfalls of Studený potok are located on Studený potok at the mouth of the Malá and Veľká Studená valleys. They consist of Small, Hidden and Long Waterfall. Marked footpaths from Tatranská Lesná, Tatranská Lomnica and Starý Smokovec lead to them.

It is located at the mouth of the Malá Studená valley and its subsoil is formed by granodiorites. The waterfall is created by the Malý Studený stream, which is 0.5 m wide at an altitude of 1355 m. It is approximately 15 m high.

Location: High Tatras, Prešov District

Time: August 2020

Hrebienok is a small ski resort in the Tatra Mountains, in northern Slovakia. It is connected by the Starý Smokovec–Hrebienok funicular to the town of Starý Smokovec, which is in turn part of the Tatra Electric Railway.

Location: Hrebienok, High Tatras, Prešov District

Time: August, 2020

Štrbské Pleso (Hungarian: Csorbató or Csorba-tó, German: Tschirmer See, Polish: Szczyrbskie Jezioro) is a favorite ski, tourist, and health resort in the High Tatras, Slovakia located on the lake by the same name. With extensive parking facilities and a stop on the Tatra trolley and rack railway, it is a starting point for a host of popular hikes including to Kriváň and Rysy.

Štrbské Pleso is part of the municipal lands of the village of Štrba. It was incorporated in the municipality of Vysoké Tatry from 1947 until 2007. The ownership reverted to Štrba on 1 January 2008 when the Supreme Court’s decision of 14 August 2007 took effect. Štrbské Pleso comprises the commercial and residential buildings in the vicinity of the glacial lake of Štrbské pleso (spelled with a lower-case p in Slovak) and the nearby small, man-made pond of Nové Štrbské pleso built in 1900. It has about 200 inhabitants.

The future resort began to emerge in 1872 when Jozef Szentiványi [sk] (“of St. John”. 1817–1906, from a noble family with roots in the nearby village of Liptovský Ján, originally: Sv. Ján, “St. John”) built a hunting lodge on the banks of Štrbské pleso. Access to the High Tatras was made easier the year before when the railroad reached Poprad in their foothills. Szentiványi rented the lot from the village of Štrba whose municipal lands included the lake and which gave its name to it. He opened it to tourists a year later and allowed the Carpathian Union, a hiking society, to build its own Chalet Joseph nearby in 1875. The accommodation facilities that Szentiványi kept adding made it a popular destination. The rack railway connecting it to the main railroad was built in 1896. The first ski school was organized in 1899. The Tatra trolley linked it with other resorts on the Slovak side of the Tatras in 1912. The resort was acquired by the government in 1901.

The adjacent area of Nové Štrbské Pleso began to develop in 1897 when the land was purchased by the architect Karol Móry of Banská Bystrica. He dammed the Mlynica Brook in 1900 to flood a minor marsh, create the small “New Lake of Štrba”, and enhance the charm of his property.

A treaty of alliance between the governments of Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia was signed in Štrbské Pleso on 27 June 1930, that created a regular consultative structure for the Little Entente and registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 3 October 1930.

Štrbské Pleso was considerably modernized in the 1970s, including the construction of several hotels, ski jumps etc. Another big reconstruction of almost all the hotels and sport areas took place in years 2007-2014 before the 2015 Winter Universiade.

Location: Štrbské Pleso, High Tatras

Time: August 2020

This post contains latest pictures during my staying at very special Poprad location, due to following reason: celebration of my 32. Birthday.

Poprad (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈpɔpɾat]; German: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia, with a population of approximately 50,000.

The Poprad-Tatry Airport is an international airport located just outside the city. Poprad is also the starting point of the Tatra Electric Railway (known in Slovak as Tatranská elektrická železnica), a set of special narrow-gauge trains (trams) connecting the resorts in the High Tatras with each other and with Poprad. Main line trains link Poprad to other destinations in Slovakia and beyond; in particular, there are through trains running from Poprad to Prague in the Czech Republic.

The territory was since the Migration Period inhabited by Slavic settlers. The first written record dates from March 16, 1256 in the deed of donation of the Hungarian King Bela IV. It was colonized in the 13th century by German settlers and became the largely German town Deutschendorf meaning ‘Germans’ village’. From 1412 to 1770, as one of the Spis towns, Poprad was pawned by the Kingdom of Hungary to the Kingdom of Poland, resulting in a strong Polish influence on the city’s further development. In the 17th century, the number of Germans began to decline. In January 1919 this territory was placed under the control of Czechoslovakia.

Poprad itself was for 690 years (up until 1946) just one of several neighbouring settlements, which currently make up the modern city. The other parts of the current municipality are Matejovce (German: Matzdorf; Hungarian: Mateóc, first reference 1251), Spišská Sobota (German: Georgenberg; Hungarian: Szepesszombat, 1256), Veľká (German/Hungarian: Felka, 1268), and Stráže pod Tatrami (German: Michelsdorf; Hungarian: Strázsa, 1276). The most significant of these original towns was Georgenberg, now Spišská Sobota, which preserved its dominant position in the area until the late 19th century.

In 1942, during World War II, most of the transports of Jews to ghettos and concentration camps in German-occupied Poland were sent from the Poprad railway station. The first transport of about 1,000 Jewish girls and young women left Poprad on March 25, 1942 for Auschwitz-Birkenau. By the end of 1942, when the deportations stopped, over 58,000 Jews had been deported from Slovakia to Poland via Poprad.

Poprad was liberated on January 28, 1945 by troops of the Soviet 18th Army. The German population was expelled afterwards.

After the war, with the development of winter sports, Poprad became the starting point for expeditions to the High Tatras.

In 1999, Poprad put in a bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics, but lost to Turin, Italy.

Geography

Poprad lies at an altitude of 672 metres (2,205 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 63 square kilometres (24.3 sq mi).^[3] It is located in northeastern Slovakia, about 110 kilometres (68 mi) from Košice and 330 kilometres (205 mi) from Bratislava (by road).

Poprad is situated on the Poprad River in the Sub-Tatra Basin, and is a gateway to the High Tatras. Mountain ranges around the city include the Levoča Hills in the east, Kozie chrbty in the south, and the Low Tatras in the southwest. The drainage divide between the Black Sea and Baltic Sea lies a bit to the west, near the village of Štrba.

Location: Poprad, Prešov District

Time: August 2020

This post contains lastest pictures during my staying at cottage buit by my family members, relatives. Please, electric and gass, could you please pay for this purpose as my top wish?!

Location: Zemplinske Hamre, Snina County, Prešov District

Time: Summer, August 2020

Private sports and recreation area Lake L.A. is located in a natural environment in the village Lackovce, near the river Cirocha, just 3 km from the center of Humenne. The dominant feature of the area is a newly built organic swimming pool measuring 60m x 35m with two deep zones, separated by a pier, for children and adults. The adjacent external biofilter with a size of approximately 700 m2 is used for water filtration and purification and effectively emphasizes the natural character of the entire area. The area offers visitors not only the opportunity to swim, but mainly to relax, play sports or barbecue.

The dominant feature of the more than 4 hectare area is also a large lake, which is available to fishermen again from September 2018. In summer it serves as a relaxation center. You will also find wooden gazebos with barbecues, a beach volleyball court and children’s playgrounds. The remaining adjacent high-quality grass area is intended for relaxation, sunbathing and sports such as football, golf, Frisbee or kite flying.
The garden restaurant, barbecue, tap stalls with various types of beer, cuisine and a newly built minibar with a selection of mixed drinks will probably satisfy even the most demanding visitors. Sanitary facilities, showers and a guarded car park inside the complex are also available free of charge.

This post contains my pictures during summer in resort of Lake called L.A., in Lackovce.

Time: August 2020

Location: Jazero L.A., Lackovce, County of Humenne

This post contains my summer selfie, especially during hot weather, special location. My dress, sunshine.

Time: August 2020

Location: Hažín nad Cirochou, County of Humenné

Let’s discover the history of mining and iron production in Vihorlatské vrchy

Due to ore mining, the settlement of Josefsthal, today’s Zemplínske Hámre, was founded at the foot of the Vihorlat Hills in the 19th century. Gradually, several quarries were built here, a charcoal blast furnace and ironworks, which at the end of the 19th century were already among the most important producers of iron ore in Zemplín.

In the forests above Zemplínske Hámre, a narrow-gauge railway still ran in the 20th century, one of ten built in Vihorlatské vrchy for timber weighing. The Vihorlat Mountains are known for rock cliffs of volcanic origin, lakes, swamps but also beech forests inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. One of the entrance gates to the Vihorlat Protected Landscape Area is also Zemplínske Hámre – a marked tourist route leads directly from the village to Sninský kameň. The Zemplínske Hámre are connected with the surrounding municipalities of Snina, Stakčín and Kolonica by the cycle routes “Po sninskej narrow-track” “Po stakčín narrow-track” and “Planet Trail”. Their intention was to combine the conditions of the beautiful surrounding nature with the little-known but very interesting history of the former industrial production on the northern slopes of the Vihorlat Hills.

In the framework of the call of the Swiss Financial Mechanism no. 2010-03, which supports the Regional Development Initiatives in the peripheral and disadvantaged regions of the Prešov and Košice regions, the municipality of Zemplínske Hámre submitted on 12 July 2010 a project entitled “Zemplínske Hámre – discover the history of mining and iron production in Vihorlatské vrchy”. The evaluation of projects took place in two rounds. After the approval of the project in the 1st round, the documentation necessary for the submission of the final project proposal to the 2nd round of evaluation was provided in 2011 on the basis of the Agreement on the implementation of the Project Preparation Tool from the SFM funds.

Thanks to this, historical research was carried out, historical technical documentation of destroyed technical monuments and project documentation for the building permit were prepared. In the 2nd round, 6 projects were finally approved in the Prešov and Košice regions, including the project of the municipality of Zemplínske Hámre. The project implementation agreement between the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic and Zemplínské Hámry was signed on 23 February 2012. The project resulted in the reconstruction of the original buildings and replicas of destroyed technical monuments, the Hámor Nature Trail, the municipal museum and the tourist information center.

Thanks to the involvement of professional partners and other cooperating organizations, we have gained the experience necessary to start and manage the museum. They have prepared a program of year-round offer of the Hámor Nature Trail, including accompanying activities, with the aim of making Zemplínske Hámre – a member of the Slovak Railway, one of the most recognizable places on this European cultural route connecting former sites of iron ore mining, production and processing of iron and other metals.

This post contains my summer activities in resort of Barnova Rika, especially their history, nature moments, sport, swimming, sunshine.

Time: July – August, 2020

Location: Resort of Zemplinske Hamre, Barnova Rika, County of Snina

This post contains picture of my summer activities as follows: preserving plums from my own garden, preserving of cucumbers from my own garden, preserving of called “camalada”, picking up my own mushrooms during walk through forest. Hand made, home fruitful garden.

Time: July 2020

Location: Hažín nad Cirochou, County of Humene, Zemplinske Hamre, County of Snina