Back after a three-week break from blogging, of which one week was spent
450 kilometres away from the capital, at Poland’s alleged back of beyond, the
country’s south-eastern corner, in Bieszczady. I must confess this has been my
first trip to that region of Poland and my first mountain-hiking holidays since
2004 (high-school times). Bieszczady mountains are famous for being the least human-affected
region in Poland. I believe with development of tourism and influx of EU funds,
this holds no longer true. On top, with limited opportunities to travel abroad,
the region experienced an invasion of holidaymakers this year, which kept on
even after the beginning of the school year.
Getting there if you do not move by car might be a nuisance. Public
transport at that end of Poland is poorly developed, yet anyone willing to get
there from Warsaw should consider taking a Pendolino to Kraków and then changing
to a bus run by one of private operators (timetables need to be matched). Moving
around the area is an even bigger nuisance (one bus per day at inconvenient
times for hikers), hence travelling by car was a costly salvation.
Accommoda- tion-wise, we stayed at Cisna, an anti-PiS stronghold in that
part of Poland. I can recommend our lodgings –
Troll at the very heart of Cisna
– a room and large breakfast for 100 PLN per person per day (a lot in today’s
prices?).
Sightseeing-wise, not many trips could be taken there. We finally have
not dropped in on
skansen near Sanok, but on any rainy daily (it drizzled
from dawn to dusk) we took a trip to Polańczyk (photo to the right), Solina water
dam, Lutowiska and Ustrzyki Górne, just to find out the region is attractive as
a whole, but lacks place which are particularly noteworthy.
On the first sunny day, we ascended up Smerek. The elevation was nearly
600 metres and the ascent was rather long than steep, but as in every hiking
experience, views from the summit (1,226 metres above sea level) compensate for
the physical effort.
On the next day, we climbed the highest peak in Bieszczady, Tarnica (1,346
metres above sea level). The starting point for the trip was located on a
higher altitude than on the previous, yet the elevation gain was similar. The
ascent was steep again and was less pleasurable, due to abrasion of my right foot
(two weeks of walking in my shoes had proven too little), yet we have made it
to the peak. This was the most crowded of the hiking trails.
On the last day we scrambled up the trail to Połonina Wetlińska. The
lowest elevation gain (350 metres to some 1,200 metres above sea level), yet view-wise,
not least rewarding. Seeing the world from a top a hill looms as a reward to
the sweating uphill.
When it comes to eateries, I wholeheartedly recommend Chata Wędrowca in
Wetlina (being a picturesque place anyway), famous for legendary pancakes, which
are anything but overrated. Queues prove it best!
On our way back we popped over for an afternoon in
Zamość, a city I had
yearned to visit for months. A broader description of thereabouts can be found
on W-wa Jeziorki blog (no point in writing it up again).
And for the record, this was the first holiday trip with my girlfriend
met via Tinder in early July. No spats over six days spent together all the
time seem to bode well for the future.
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