Finally a bit of climbing... The Three Crowns, Sokolica and "leftovers" of a castle ;)

Today, we’re going back to the “life-threatening” climbing experience ;) Yeah, I know that they probably couldn’t have been safer. But, hey, I’ve lived all my life by the sea so what are you expecting? I know that my hometown isn’t totally flat, it’s got its hill all around us, but still. They ain’t mountains! I have never been skiing, I’ve never seen mountains covered in snow (how many of you have seen beaches covered in snow, huh? I have, many times ;)), so all I have left and all I’m letting myself do is climbing in the summer time.

The last (and only) part of climbing to “the cross” on Zugspitze did raise my adrenaline level. That was sooo cool. This time it’s not going to be that scary but much more tiring. So, here we go!

I’ve already described that, when in Pieniny Mountains, we rafted onDunajec and we visited the two castles. During the raft we did see some of the peaks that we knew we wanted to climb to. And we did that :) Well, Pieniny Mountains aren’t high, all below 1,000 metres above sea level. However, they are quite steep for that height.

As our first goal we chose the Three Crowns (Trzy Korony). One of the routes to the peak started quite close to the place where we stayed. At first it was quite flat but looong. And then it started getting steeper and steeper. On the way we could observe sheep in the fields, shepherds’ houses where oscypki were being produced and some other little towns somewhere down there, below us. In order to get to the sore peak called Okrąglica (the highest of the peaks of the Three Crowns mountain), you have to pay a fee that allows you to enter the Pieniny National Park. That one is valid for a day, so you can get to Sokolica the same day and just show the same ticket. You wouldn’t have to pay the second time. But on a different day, of course, you’d have to pay again. When you’ve already received your ticket, prepare for climbing many stairs and waiting in a line (if you’re there in the high season). Up there on Okrąglica there is a special platform on which a limited group of people can stay for a while and look at the marvellous views. Forests, Red Monastery, villages, fields and Dunajec.

On our way back to Czorsztyn we’ve decided to visit one more place. Zamkowa Góra (the Castle Mountain). As I’ve already mentioned, I’m neither a climber nor an alpinist. So we left Sokolica for another time. But we managed to get to the Castle Mountain. I’m glad we were there, but I’m not going to write anything more about that. That’s simply enough. There are some ruins of a castle there, hence the name. But that was it for me. Was I too tired? Maybe. Don’t judge ;)

The third peak In Pieniny Mountains that we climbed to was Sokolica. That was a strange kind of adventure. It was raining that day so you can imagine that the weather was no fun. And when it’s raining in Pieniny Mountains, everything changes into pure mud! Horrible. Clouds were hanging really low, visibility was close to nothing. And people say that views from Sokolica are gorgeous.

Still we had two options. Either to miss on that one and resign from climbing altogether or to go on climbing no matter what. We chose the latter option. The guy from the National Park that e were paying the entrance fee to warned us that the clouds were so low that we wouldn’t be able to see anything from the peak. We weren’t discouraged anymore. He didn’t say anything knew to us, anything that we weren’t prepared for. And you know what? I’m so glad we kept going! At first, as we anticipated, everything was surely covered in clouds and mist (or whatever that was). But after a really short while our eyes got a chance to get a glimpse of Dunajec somewhere deep below us. And suddenly most of the clouds started disappearing! We got the whole picture! I was so happy!

There is that one characteristic picture of Pieniny Mountains which is actually taken at Sokolica. That’s a tiny, twisted, lonely pine tree with all other trees and Dunajec deep below it. Kind of like one of my pictures. The pine trees up there are up to 500 years old! Real relicts, aren’t they? So lonely, standing as if on the verge of the world…

And when we were on our way back down, sun was getting to us from between the trees! So I was truly happy for the decisions we made on that particular day! Never ever lose hope for a sun to shine. And I mean it literally this time ;)

On the way to the Three Crowns

 Views from Okrąglica

 The Castle Mountain (Zamkowa Góra)

 Refilling our water supplies

 Sokolica

 

It's finally Friday! And spring is coming!

Our son left for Egypt this morning. With my parents. They're already there, on the way to the hotel. Lucky, huh? We weren’t that lucky when we were his age. But travel possibilities back then were totally different. And when I was turning three, my brother was about to be born, our son is still an only child ;)

Now, I’m the only person in our “nuclear family” who’s remained all her life on one continent only. My husband has been to North America (for business purposes, but still) and my son is now in Africa… It’s high time for me to leave Europe for some time, right? Well, it seems like it’s not. Not yet, at least. We were to go to Egypt last year, which I already described here, but I still remain a totally European person. I still have all my life ahead of me so I know I’ll manage to visit most of the continents at least. And when I decide on doing something, trust me, I will do it one day.

In the meantime I’m planning on getting to know Europe a bit more precisely. I’ve visited most of the Western Europe, but not that precisely. And I really want to make up for it. We’ve roughly planned a direction in which we’re heading in the summer time. And during the long May weekend. And that’s it. Maybe we’ll manage to go somewhere this weekend so that you’ll be able to get to know some of my closest neighbourhood. We have too much to do during the one week off that we’re given because of our son’s holidays. We’ve just bought new furniture for the living room (yay! Finally! We’ve been planning to do that for sooo long and that means six months to me ;)) and we still want to repaint one of the little corridors in our house. Not to mention catching up with our friends and working on a regular basis. Although a week seems like a lot of time, when I started thinking what I’m about to do during that time, I realized it’s so little.

And I have to add it. I’ve come across a great blog. Try to visit if you have time. A totally different perspective for life ;) Where do such fantastic ideas come from? ;)

A lil' bit of climbing with a huge help from the cogwheel train

It's high time for a bit of climbing, ain't it? I've been writing about mountains for quite some time now and you haven't seen a bit of climbing yet, right? I'm going to start in a delicate way. I mean quite high as for European standards, that's for sure, but quite effortless.

We're in Germany again. Contrary to the trip to Polish Pieniny Mountains, in Germany it was really hot, which I've mentioned already. We managed to see the colourful streets of GaPa, we managed to drink a beer or two at the campsite just by a really cold lil' river. It was time to get to the top of the mountain we could practically see from the campsite. So off we went. We went and we went until we reached... a station. Yup, you're not mistaken. We got to the station to hop on a cogwheel train in GaPa that was to take us to the Schneeferner glacier. We could experience a bit of snow in the summer sun or eat (well, drink rather) something in the reastaurant. Then, the glacier cable car took us to the summit 2,950 metres above the sea level (at least that's what the sign on the platform says - you can see that in the last pic). There is a platform up there from which you can experience the marvellous Alpine views. 360 degrees. All around.

And there's one more thing that awaits the brave ones. Get to the peak, right under the yellow cross. It's not for the faint-hearted. I'm rather small a person and in some places it was really hard for me to reach the metal thingies in the stone wall that were to resemble a kind of ladder. And it took a lot of effort to get up there. But the views... AMAZING! And the satisfaction - ENORMOUS!

From up there (the platform or the summit) we could see the various colours of the Eibsee, totally not visible when you're by the lake. We could see other summits, forests and teeny tiny villages that in fact aren't that small.

Was it too hot for such an adventure? Well, it would have been too hot to climb all the way up there. I don't even know if that's at all possible for tourists. At least those who are not alpinists.It was definitely a lot of fun. The train helped a lot. And, nevertheless, we were totally exhausted when we got back down. Some of us even fell asleep on the way down on the cogwheel train ;) (love you, Hon ;)).

 On the way to the cogwheel train station in GaPa

 First stop - the glacier

 

 Eibsee in the middle of the forest

  Eibsee once again - yup, down there.

 The restaurant on the glacier

 On the way to the summit - to the yellow cross

 Can you see me up there next to the cross?

 The summit :) You can see a fragment of the 360 degrees platform on the left

 And on the way back to the platform

The tale of the two castles and an Incan legend

Today I’m going to stretch your imagination to its limits. Ready for that? Warn ya – it might cost you a lot of effort ;)

Imagine this. Fourteenth century. Mountains, forests and a river somewhere in the middle. It twists and turns a lot. Two nations. Hungarians and Poles. One territory divided by the said river. What do the nations do in order to protect their lands? YES! They build CASTLES! But not the ones in which princesses live. No, such castles are somewhere inside their lands, much better protected. On the borders they build defensive castles. Maybe not that big, not that pretty, not that spectacular. They look nothing like the teutonic knights’ castles in Malbork or Kwidzyn nor like the Neuschwanstein in Germany (haven’t seen this one yet but want to sooo much). No, not in any sense like them. But they are well thought through and perfect for defensive purposes. Once again, we’re talking about the fourteenth century. So loooong time ago ;)

When we were in Pieniny, we paid a visit to both of these castles. Nowadays, they look nothing like they must have looked in the best of their times. One of them is totally devastated due to a huge fire around 1795 (never rebuilt after that). That’s the Polish castle in Czorsztyn (well, both of them are Polish and have been Polish for some time now as Poland has had no border with Hungary for a very long time). Some claim that this castle is a bit older than the Hungarian one in Niedzica. The views from the castle are breathtaking. Although they totally don’t resemble the landscape of the fourteenth century, of course. Well, first of all there is no river anymore between the castles. Now it’s an artificial lake created to protect the surrounding lands from floods (met the expectations during the 1997 huuuge flood in southern Poland). And there are more houses around, less forests and more fields probably. But that’s only my guess. Nevertheless, the castle is worth seeing. Especially if you’re staying nearby just like we did. And it’s a really short visit anyway.

Then we went down to the lake and got on a kind of bridge – kind of path on water that didn’t look safe or convincing to me at all. Have you seen Shrek and that long hanging bridge near the castle where Fiona was trapped? Well, I kinda felt exactly like Donkey with a difference being that I wasn’t high above the earth but on water. The bridge was moving with my every step and was definitely too long. But! I had to pull myself together and manage to get through in order to get to the boat and then to the second of the castles. Motivation does a lot to a human being ;)

The second of the castles, castle in Niedzica, or as I’ve already called it, the Hungarian one. This castle is in a much better state than the castle in Czorsztyn. First of all, it’s not ruins but a real castle. Small, but still. There is a roof, walls, floors, windows, etc. There are some exhibitions inside. There is said to be a ghost inside ;) On the way to the entrance there is even a road sign warning everyone of the ghosts inside the castle ;) AND there is a LEGEND. What’s a castle without a legend, right? And this legend concerns not only Europeans but also a great civilization of the Incas, a civilization full of mysteries that we’ll probably never solve.

So, here’s the legend.

Long, long time ago Sebastian Berzeviczy (grandson (?) of the first owner of the Niedzica castle) went to South America and married an Incan princess. Their daughter, Umina, when she grew up, married the heir of the Tupaca Amanu family – Tupac Amanu II. They had a son called Antonio. Somewhere on the way, an uprising against the Hispanic invaders broke out. The Incas, who did not want to lose their treasures, divided them into three parts: one part was drowned in the Bay of Vigo, the other part was drowned in Lake Titicaca, while the last part was to be taken care of by Tupac Amanu II. After the uprising, Sebastian and his family left for Venice, Europe, where they thought they could feel safe. How mistaken they were showed the fact that soon after their arrival Tupac was murdered by paid murderers who were to find out (for the Hispanics) where the treasure of the Incas was. Tupac never revealed the information. Sebastian, Umina and Antonio moved to Niedzica, where for a part of the treasure of the Incas they were offered a shelter in the castle. Even though they thought they were finally safe, again their past caught them. The murderers found them. Umina died because she didn’t want to reveal the secrets. Up to now nobody knows where the treasures were drowned and what happened to the part of the treasure given to Tupac Amanu II. However, in 1946 under one of the stairs leading to the upper part of the castle, something was found. A lead round box in which a cryptic knotted string known as khipu (or quipu in the Hispanic lettering), representing the writing of the Incas, was hidden. The message encoded in the strings, however, still remains a mystery. 

Castle in Czorsztyn

 Castle in Czorsztyn as seen from the lake

 View from the castle towards the lake. See the tiny boats? Weren't that tiny in reality ;)

 Castle in Niedzica as seen from castle in Czorsztyn

On the way out from the castle in Czorsztyn

 The big, scary "bridge"

Castle in Czorsztyn as seen from the boat

  Castle in Niedzica

  Most of the information in the castle was given both in Polish and in English