YOU WON'T BE ALONE IN SEEING THE EYE OF THE SEA (Morskie Oko (Tatra National Park))

Member Name: Richada

Product:	Morskie Oko (Tatra National Park)
Date:	01/07/07 (527 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Outstandingly Beautiful. Easy enough to walk. Accessible......

Disadvantages: .....Maybe TOO accessible! The Crowds. Disgusting (Car Park) Toilets.

Whilst, naturally, our primary objective when holidaying in Poland is to spend time with my in-laws, we do also like to get away from the confines of their small flat and enjoy what the Polish do – the great outdoors.

And indeed Poland has some GREAT outdoors to enjoy!

Over the years I have written several reviews about Poland, my second home, some of its attractions and hotels. During the last six years that I have been visiting the country it has been possible to get under the skin of the place, talking to locals one tends to pick up on THE places to go. One of these places is known outside of Poland – the ski resort town of Zakopane, nestling under the Tatra Mountains, the highest and most accessible in Poland.

As mountain areas go, this one is unusually accessible, being a mere 90 minute drive from Krakow airport. There is a huge variety of places to stay in the area – from hostels, B&B type rooms, cheap hotels, to up-market four star hotels in the centre of Zakopane.

Last year we visited this area for the first time, discovered the wonderful Hotel Redyk in Zab, about 10km from the centre of Zakopane and were blessed with……pretty awful weather! The many of you who have spent time in the English Lake District, or Scotland perhaps, will know the difference that the weather can make when experiencing mountain and Lakeland scenery.

In 2006 we made the big mistake of visiting the Tatra Mountains during the first week of August, the whole area was heaving with tourists – many of them English. Too many people as well as thick cloud covering all of the mountains is not a great recipe for sightseeing in my book.

Being Polish, my wife was well aware of some of the beauties that the area had to offer, if at first you don’t succeed – return the next year!

Welcome then, to the last week of May, 2007.

The evening that we checked into the Hotel Redyk, the receptionist informed us that the cable car apparatus on Mount Kasprowy Wierch was currently being renewed and that it would not be running through the summer season. There goes Zakopane’s number one tourist attraction then - damn (probably not!) - my first cable car ride would have to wait for another year.

The second tourist “must do” whilst in this area is a visit to Lake Morskie Oko, translated “Eye of the Sea”, probably Poland’s most well known beauty spot. Setting our hearts on seeing this, if nothing else, this year; we were not to be disappointed!

Dooyoo's 50,000 visitor figure at the head of this review is a gross under-estimation, more like half a million visitors per year come here. Statistically 50% of all visitors to Zakopane visit Morskie Oko. We were about to prove that statistic.

The Highlanders of ancient time christened this lake “Eye of the Sea” due to their belief, so legend would have it, that the mountain lakes (sometimes referred to by the Poles as “ponds”) were linked by underground rivers to the sea. In Morskie Oko’s case further evidence of this was offered by the presence of fish here!

We had been advised to set out early in order to visit the famous lake as comfortably as possible, whilst May is not the high season – that actually starts around the first week of July – there were however many school parties out and about in the countryside at this time of year.

We had an 8.00am breakfast and set out from the hotel before 9.00. From the Redyk in Zab – or indeed the centre of Zakopane, Morskie Oko is very easy to find, the car park is located immediately adjacent to the Slovakian border post at Lysa Polona. The road that approaches it is, by Polish standards, unusually well surfaced, if still very tortuous in nature, being steep in places and with several hairpin bends.

As we climbed up into the mountains our hearts began to sink and for two reasons. Firstly we seemed to be trapped in the middle of a very slow convoy of coaches – all of which were obviously heading for “our” destination, secondly, there was a heavy drizzle in the air, which I was assuming would mean low cloud enveloping the lake, once again thwarting our serious sightseeing intentions.

Having read our, now rather out of date, “Lonely Planet Poland” guide last year, we were aware that there is no choice but to park 9km from the lake and either walk, or take one of the licensed horses and carts up there from the car park.

We filed into the car park, the coaches being directed to the back – cars to the front and were issued a parking ticket, to be redeemed on the way out. The charge? 2PLN (Polish Zloty) / 34p per hour.

Incidentally, if you are in Zakopane without your own transport, there are many public and private busses running up to Morskie Oko, all of which leave from the centrally located bus station and are very reasonably priced. Many however arrive here by chartered bus as part of a day excursion on a package holiday in the area.

THIS IS POLAND – IT PAYS NOT TO BE PUT OFF BY YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF……

……THE WORLD’S WORST TOILET!

Having had breakfast an hour previously, our first need was for a toilet.

OK, I’ve not travelled the world extensively and I am sure that many of the globetrotters amongst you will contend the above statement. However, from this public toilet (no charge – they wouldn’t DARE!) both my wife and I staggered out of our respective sides, with fingers tightly pinching my nose – my comment was “My God I’ve just used the world’s worst toilet!” Mrs R was unable to utter – her eyes were watering from the smell!

It actually looked lovely from the outside, an ecologically friendly mountain style log cabin, nestling under the trees……

……the horror lay within!

Inside were sited a row of “Portaloos” – except that these had no form of flush system. The plastic seats, such that they were, were fixed, meaning that one had to urinate over them into the open cesspit below. There were piles of untreated sewage immediately under the seat.

I was alone in the toilet cubicle apart that is, from the hundreds of flies in there with me – and no I was not going to close the door behind me! Looking up I realised that the “flush” system was provided by the drain pipe running off the roof of the log cabin! Quite where it drained to is anybody’s guess.

This was 10.00am, it was not very hot (around 16deg.C) outside, later in the day when we returned to the car it was 23deg.C; we gave the toilets a very wide berth!

TIME TO ENTER THE TATRZANSKIEGO PARKU NARODOWEGO (Tatra National Park)

All of the Polish Tatra Mountains fall under the administration of the National Park, where special rules and regulations apply. One of these is that you have to pay a nominal charge to enter the park – on a daily or designated number of days ticket. Being May, we paid a mere 3.20PLN (57p) each to access the Park on that one day. Children and various concessionaires pay 1.60PLN.

The “high season”, running from mid-June to mid-September sees this charge rise to 4.40PLN / 2.20PLN.

TO WALK OR TO RIDE?

The screaming hoards of schoolchildren were being marched off up the track. We spoke to the lady where we paid our admission charge to the National Park, she advised us that it would take around two and a half hours to walk up to the lake, as against an hour and twenty minutes by horse and cart. Had it not been for the noisy, jostling, school children, we may well have walked, as it was, we opted to pay 30PLN (£5.35) each and ride in a 15 seater open carriage pulled by two splendid shire type horses.

The carriages climb the mountain from fairly early – 8.00am in the summer, the last ones setting out at around 4.00pm, and during the summer they make the return journey until about 8.00 in the evening. During the winter months, when snow is guaranteed, the horses pull four seater sleighs – and the trip costs a little more.

In actual fact less time was saved than expected, the Highlanders who run the horses have to wait until all 15 seats are occupied before setting off up the mountain. Due to the levy that they pay to the National Park, to run less than full ensures that they make a loss. We waited approximately 25 minutes for the last three passengers to climb aboard the carriage.

Our 7km (4.4 mile) journey, climbing 339 metres (1112ft), up the mountain in the horse cart was a great experience in its own right.

Apart from one Polish couple, all of our fellow passengers were English, from the North Country, on a package trip to Zakapane. Obviously I had the advantage in having a Polish speaking wife! The driver, a genuine Highlander, who spoke not a word of English, was not only an amusing “host” but full of information about the workings of the National Park. The road used to be accessible by cars – and coaches, but the sheer weight (literally) of numbers saw the mountain road subsiding in places. Pollution too was an increasing concern, this combination of factors lead to the closure of the road to general traffic.

As we climbed the mountain on this twisting and, in places, steep and narrow road, the sky became progressively brighter – more blue than grey, more sun than clouds. On the way up there was less to see than I had been expecting, with fir trees clinging to the sides of the road, only fleeting glimpses were gained of the mountains ahead or occasionally the mountain stream below.

It was not a particularly comfortable ride, the solid bench seat proving an uncomfortable perch on which to sit for such a long time – especially bumping over a mountain road! We were both glad to reach the car park at the top and be able to stretch our legs. From here, the last point at which the coaches can turn around, there is still a twenty minute walk, still on a fully metalled road, to the lake.

Whilst the twenty minute walk is shared with hundreds of school children we are, at a comfortable walking pace, overtaking them all. Obviously having walked for over two hours up the steep road they are getting pretty tired, towards the top they are far less noisy than they were upon setting out!

At this height – somewhere above 1200 metres (3930ft) the trees are more sparse and we are surrounded in mountains – several snow capped that are over 2300 metres (7500ft) in height. The lake however remains illusive, expecting at some stage to see it stretching out in front of us, we are first alerted to its presence by the only building here – the wooden hostel, built over 100 years ago, the first of its’ type in the Tatras.

THE WHOLE WORLD AND HIS WIFE HAVE BEATEN US TO IT!

Climbing the steps to the top of the ridge in front of us, it is not the stunning view of the lake and mountains now revealed, but that of the thousands of people thronging this north shore that first takes your breath away. A beauty spot, undoubtedly yes, but even at this time of day we are at the back of a queue of thousands!

My heart sinks, I am not keen on crowds at the best of times and surely here, in this place of undeniably stunning beauty, their presence is incongruous to put it mildly. I have to pinch myself – this is the “low season” – what on earth can it be like when the crowds arrive?

(In actual fact, as were leaving Poland some ten days later on the Saturday morning, by 10.30am there were pleas going out on the radio for people NOT to attempt to visit Morskie Oko. The car park had been full since 9.00am and the queue approaching it was seven kilometres long – the border crossing to Slovakia was closed thanks to the jam!)

The world and his wife are exhausted! Having walked 9km, they are rewarded with a stunning view of Lake Morskie Oko and the surrounding mountains, but they have the energy to walk no further. We on the other hand decide to escape the maddening crowd and set out to walk around the lake.

THE CIRCULAR LAKE PATH

Approximately five minutes walk away from the hostel and the crowds are left behind, yes there are people walking the same stone laid path, but they are more serious walkers, of all nationalities. Within fifteen minutes we encounter the first serious “obstacle”, a huge snow drift across the path, stretching right down to the waters’ edge and high up the mountain above us. The snow was as hard as concrete and had a black layer of dirt – air pollution presumably – on top of it.

At every twist and turn in the rocky path circling the lake there was yet another more stunning view than the last. This had turned into a perfect day, better even than a clear blue sky, a bright blue sky peppered with fluffy white clouds. A superb day for photography, especially as I had packed my polarizing filter!

The lake itself is, under this sky at least, incredibly blue, or green, dependant on the direction you view it from. The pictures published below do not exaggerate the colour of it. There are stunning reflections of the snow and waterfalls leading into it, I can well understand why so many are drawn to visit this miracle of nature, it is incredibly beautiful.

The path does not exactly follow the shoreline, dipping and twisting, climbing steeply in places too. All of it is comfortably walkable, providing you are wearing a pair of good walking shoes or boots. In several places you find yourself fording waterfalls, they are shallow, but obviously care is required in order not to slip or trip.

According to the excellent maps available on the area, the walk around Morskie Oko takes a mere three quarters of an hour – from that you will gather that we are not talking about a lake the size of Windermere here! However, for Mrs R and I, it took more like two hours, so incredible is the scenery that we stopped frequently to simply drink it in – and of course to photograph it. My photo file on Morskie Oko contains no less than 226 pictures!

At the far end – the southern point of the lake, there is a marked path up to another lake, a thirty minute climb taking you to the more remote Czarny Staw (Black Pond). We decided to leave this for another day, a good excuse to return here for another visit.

Morskie Oko is unusual amongst Polish Tatra lakes in that it is actually inhabited by fish. These you can clearly see as the beautiful clear water allows you a good view of them. Quite how they survive through the frozen winter up here, apparently the lake always freezes over, is a mystery. No fishing is allowed.

The path on the eastern shore offers a slightly different experience to the more rocky and twisting one on the west. To the east the terrain is a little less mountainous, there are more trees and you find yourself walking in the shade and taking photographs through the trees of the lake and mountain beyond. The views however are no less spectacular.

You can hear the crowds before you actually see them as you approach the hostel and north shore of the lake, the path too starts to become more crowded. Nailed to a tree here we even find a tiny shrine dedicated to the safe return of those who have gone missing – many presumably in the mountains hereabouts.

Reaching the hostel, having walked a full three hundred and sixty degree tour of the lake, one is not inclined to linger – that way the best memories are maintained of the relative solitude afforded along the way and of the fabulous views – unspoilt by the masses gathered here.

THE FACILITIES

Apart from the hostel, which doubles as an information centre, and serves a limited range of food, there are no facilities as such actually at the lake. A couple of kilometres below it, where the horses stop and turn around, is however a complex offering a choice of food and refreshments – good clean toilets too – at a cost of 3PLN for the two of us!

Before returning down the mountain, and having worked up a fair appetite, I enjoyed a good kielbasa (Polish sausage), served, as tradition would dictate, in a slice of bread with mustard. This was cooked freshly on an open grille in front of us and after all that fresh air was the tastiest sausage I believe I have ever consumed!

As well as the out door kielbasa bar, there is a more conventional café here as well as tables and chairs to eat outside – but under a wooden canopied roof. I was actually surprised that the prices were not higher in such a place, after all, they rather had a captive audience as far as trade was concerned.

THE RUN BACK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

Lazy us! Yes, we chose to ride back down again in the horse-drawn cart! Our main excuse for doing this was that we wished to cross the border and spend a few hours in Slovakia – viewing the southern side of these same mountains. The two hour walk back to the car would not be the most economical use of our limited time here.

Once again we waited maybe twenty minutes for a full compliment of passengers. Taking about 50 minutes, the return ride is naturally much swifter than the upward one – the driver having to brake the carriage almost all of the way down. Whilst 30PLN is charged to go up to the lake, 20PLN is charged coming away from it.

Those amongst you who may share my concerns about the working horses here, may be reassured to know that each pair of horses only do one round trip per day and are rested, fed and watered for several hours before making the descent.

RICHADA’S TIP!

If you really want to see this lake at its’ best, I would recommend staying the night in the hostel there – get up early at dawn and hopefully you will see the lake without the crowds. Speaking to a Polish friend since returning to England, he was saying that you will pay 40 / 50 PLN per night for a bed in the hostel – likely to be in a dormitory type room. He had not stayed in this one, probably the most popular in all the Tatras, but apparently they are of a uniformly clean standard. Eating there is reportedly expensive by Polish standards though.

Far be it for me to make any attempt to contain the numbers of visitors to Morskie Oko. If every single person who reads this actually goes, it will make precious little difference to the crowds already there.

Rating this particular attraction is probably the most difficult task on any review that I have written. The lake itself and mountain views here are five star PLUS material. If like me you are not comfortable with huge crowds and disgusting toilets it would be easy to deduct several stars from that. As it is, after much thought, four stars hits the correct note.

I do heartily recommend a visit to Morskie Oko, however, at all costs avoid attempting to go there at any time after the second week of July and before the second week of September and also on any other sunny weekend, or national holiday during the year. We were advised that Easter and the May Day Holiday were the busiest of all at Morskie Oko.

© RICHADA: JULY 2007.

Summary: Probably the most outstanding "beauty spot" that I have ever visited.