In between the mountains

Another wonderful day in Czorsztyn. What should we do? The weather is still uncertain, so hiking up the mountains is not an option. It's warm, though, and it's not raining, so that's a plus.

After a short exchange of ideas, we finally decided to go to Homole Gorge (in Polish: Wąwóz Homole). The best way to get there is to get to Jaworki and it starts right from the main road. You shouldn't miss that.

This place is beautiful. No wonder it's a nature reserve. It used to be a part of Pieniny National Park (when we visited last time, nine years ago, it still was), but not anymore. I don't know why, though. But it means that the entrance to the gorge is free (no stamp, though).

The gorge is a perfect place to start your trek to Wysoka Mounatin on the Polish-Slovakian border. We didn't get that far, though. The gorge is about 800 metres long. Towards the end of it, it gets pretty steep. Since it was raining at least the day before (we don't know whether during previous day as well) and parts of the gorge don't get too much direct sunlight (obviously), the ground was wet and slippery. Which made it even harder to get up (or down, on the way back) on the steep parts. There are wooden or metal steps on the end part, too, which help a lot. But they're not there all the way. So, at times, it was difficult. But we made it to Dubantowska Valley. Meaning, to the end of the gorge.

Once you get there, you can sit at a table and eat something. That's what most people do there. There are also stone books up there - rocks that look like stone books.

Since the summer was much prettier and drier in the mountains than it was at the seaside (where we live), the creek that runs through the gorge was almost non-existent. Especially as compared to the one that we saw there nine years ago.

Having left Homole Gorge, we headed to Szczawnica for lunch. Passing by many places (there's lots to choose from), we decided to step into Karczma Chatka and I couldn't recommend it enough. The food was delicious and we were sorry we could not get back any other time. Kwaśnica was the most delicious of all I've tried (and I've tried quite a few).

We were thinking of trying to get to Sokolica summit after lunch. But... the weather stepped in our way. We got to Dunajec (the river that you have to pass to even start thinking of Sokolica summit from Szczawnica) and we heard first thunders. Coming from the Sokolica side of the river. The sky got all black and after a few minutes it started raining. So we got back to our car and drove back to Czorsztyn. Where it was warm and sunny. All afternoon ;)

 "The stone books"