Stuck in Greenland then on to Slovakia

One thing about travel is that it teaches you things. When we were taken to that hostel in Narsarsuaq in  Greenland when our flight got cancelled I realised how much our lives have changed since we travelled in our 20's. In those days, we stayed in hostels all the time. Some had dozens of bunk beds per room. We shared kitchens and bathrooms and put up with people snoring, farting and coming and going at all hours. Now in our 60's I stood in a room with four bunk beds, the other three of which were taken by men, and it felt like a foreign world to me. The communal living area was so full of people that I felt claustrophobic. There were RULES. I was mortified at the thought of staying there. Had we got soft? Had we got old? Had we just got too comfortable?

It wasn't just me that felt like this either. Two English geologists, much younger than us, who had been working nearby, abandoned the youth hostel at the same time as us. One of them later said, with his tongue just slightly in his cheek, that he has travelled extensively and the scariest experience he had ever had was going into that hostel.

Our hotel room was nothing flash but I was so grateful we were there. Normally I'd be critical of the missing shower screen doors, but I'd just think of the hostel and I'd be grateful that we had our own shower. Normally I'd be critical of the way people slammed their doors at 6am but I'd think of the hostel and I'd be grateful that people in our room weren't getting up and down at all hours. We later heard that in some towns in Greenland when the weather has been bad and multiple flights have been cancelled, they've had to put blankets on the floors of basketball courts to accommodate everyone! It's been a long time since I remember being so grateful for a simple hotel room.

As much as we would love to have returned to Qaqartoq, or to go anywhere but Narsarsuaq, we couldn't leave because we didn't know when the replacement flight would be. It took us ages on the first day to rearrange flights and accommodation. At least there were a few nice walks in the area. 

The hotel was used to this sort of thing happening and they did their best to provide food for everyone, including those who were in the hostel. The airline was paying for all the meals and accommodation and the hotel was the only place that provided meals. They were buffet-style. The first couple of days that we were there the food was great, however once we were all stuck there, they clearly had to get a bit more creative with what they had in the kitchen. At one lunch there were hot dogs. Clearly there was plenty of them as, that night, sliced hot dogs turned up in the both the tray of chips and in the stew. The next day there was pasta with carbonara sauce with more sliced hot dogs in it. We weren't complaining but it was interesting to see what they had to do.

Finally, notification came through that the replacement flight would be two days after the original flight. We all rolled up at the airport again and a cheer went through the crowd when the flight in from Reykjavik finally landed. No doubt the people on that plane were relieved too! Obviously our original plane wasn't available because this was a flash new plane that was far bigger than we needed. I watched our last view of icebergs backed by enormous mountains as we flew out, trying to embed every detail in my brain. I have no idea when we will ever see scenery like this again.

I watched a few Icelandic documentaries on the plane and one was on elves. Apparently, 10% of Icelanders believe in elves and 15% don't. The remaining 75% aren't sure!

We had a wonderful flight to Reykjavik with a stunning sunset to welcome us back.

We caught a taxi from the airport and our Kenyan driver was wonderful. He had lived in Iceland for 10 years and loved it. It wasn't until we arrived at our accommodation that John realised he had left his daypack in the airport trolley with our passports in it! Our fabulous driver came to the rescue, calling ahead and having it found and ready to pick up. He parked outside the parking area at the airport to avoid us having to pay for airport parking and ran in himself to pick the bag up. To our amazement, he refused a tip!

Similarly, John had a haircut the next day. The somewhat inebriated Polish owner of the salon was great value although every second phrase was "fuckin' shit". John went to pay the listed price but they charged him less because his hair was short. Again, such honesty is surprising, especially as these immigrants are presumably here to make money.

It's always a different experience coming back to a country you've visited before. We felt at home in Iceland straight away. After the remoteness and rawness of Greenland, Iceland felt ultra-modern and so comfortable. Its two big downfalls became obvious immediately though - the weather was rubbish and it cost us $60 for two falafel wraps and two coffees!

We had two nights here but, with a late arrival and an early departure, we decided to stay near the airport at Keflavik, supposedly Iceland's most boring town! It was actually pretty good and worked well for us. We visited the Rock n Roll Museum and saw lots about Bjork but not a lot about Ragga Gisla, the singer we saw a few weeks earlier. Maybe she's not as big as we thought!

We passed by a "Troll House" after dinner one night. Many Icelanders believe in trolls too. Apparently, this troll is only available from 10am til 5pm but she still growled scarily from inside as we checked out the outside of her house. 

Knocking at the enormous door to see if she's home.

Resting in her enormous chair. It was all a bit of fun.

To get from Iceland to Poland, our next destination, our original plan had been to go via Helsinki and spend a couple of days there as neither of us have been to Finland before. We had to change these plan though as we were now three days behind our bookings and ended up just transferring flights at Helsinki and going straight through to Poland.

After all the dramas we'd had, we couldn't believe it when we boarded our flight to Poland and were taxiing out when the plane stopped then turned around again. There was a long pause. Staff opened the door to the cabin and there was lots of discussion. The captain announced an apology for the delay but there was no explanation. After about 10 minutes stairs were brought out to the door. Was there a mechanical issue? Were they going to unload us? A few minutes later a van pulled up. Three uniformed men got out and boarded the plane. There were more discussions. Then the three big, burly guys with guns attached to their belts started making their way down the aisle of the plane. As they passed us, I saw a badge on one of them that said. "Border Control". They walked right to the back of the plane and as they passed each row of passengers, that row turned around to see what they were doing. It was quite comical watching the flow of turning heads.

At almost the back row they stopped and spoke to a man. He got up, got his bag and they escorted him out of the plane and into the van. What the? We later learned that someone overheard something about him being aggressive but he seemed ok on the plane. I guess we'll never know! Finally we took off and landed in Krakow.

It was almost dark by the time we picked up our rental car. We pulled out onto a very busy highway. A bulging half-moon the colour of old teeth hung fatly in the sky. It was the first time we had seen the moon in two months and it made up for lost time by hanging in our vision for the entire three-hour drive. We thought we would be driving on quiet country roads but the traffic was awful. The Tatra Mountains are a popular holiday destination, even late at night apparently. We finally arrived at Tatranska Lomnica, found our apartment and went straight to bed. We had made it!

We woke to green grass, tall pine trees and soaring mountains. Then a storm set in. I had some weird sort of cold coming on anyway so we had a quiet day. So much for starting with the 'easy' four hour hike that John had planned!

We soon learned that thunderstorms are a regular occurrence here. Lightning flashed. Thunder didn't rumble, it crashed. And the rain poured down. It made it really hard to fit a decent walk in without running the risk of getting saturated. 

The Tatra Mountains are beautiful. They rise straight up from the flatter landscape around them and their jagged peaks look wild and awe-inspiring. The slopes are clad with forests that harbour deer and bears. Hundreds of kilometres of walking tracks lead hikers through areas of great natural beauty. Unfortunately for us, these things attract Slovakians and people from other countries in droves at this time of year. Some of the tracks were really busy.

Tatranska Lomnica is a typical European village in that everything is central - there are no sprawling suburbs like we have. The only thing between sections of the small town were parks and it was lovely having to walk through a park to get to the bakery and shops. These next two pics were taken within metres of our apartment building.

We didn't even have to drive to get to beautiful walks. We just walked from our apartment. Too easy!

I still had my cold which was nothing more than an annoying cough and - wait for it - insomnia! How strange! Being so tired, I returned early from our first walk and John kept going. Much to my amazement, on a main road on the outskirts of town, I saw a deer! She had a cut on her leg and the flies were driving her mad. In desperation she tried sitting down to block the access to her cut but they just moved to her head so she gave up and got up again. We later saw a few more deer but none as tame as this one.

This is a big skiing area in winter and there are a number of chair lifts. We got caught in the rain on one walk so we caught the chairlift down. It had a coloured canopy which, together with the rain, made it hard to see a thing!

Tatranska Lomnica is a beautiful town and the walks were gorgeous, but it was these two ladies that made the place special for us. Lila and Katerina were waitresses at the steakhouse next to our apartment and were the friendliest ladies you would ever want to meet. Thanks to them, we ate there every night. (They had more than just steaks on the menu). They told us at the end of the first night that we had a special energy. Lila said this energy gave her goosebumps! As much as I'd like to take some credit, I wasn't feeling 100% - it was John that was giving them goosebumps!

We also loved sitting in their outdoor dining area. A babbling brook ran past and the cool air descended in the evenings.

One walk we did started beside the main road and led up to a waterfall. It was so beautiful.

We caught glimpses of the mountains through gaps in the forest.

A river tumbled down along a rocky river bed.

There were lots of people on this hike. We were continually impressed by the number of young kids in hiking boots giving these decent hikes a go with their families. We didn't see many of them complaining and they seemed to be really enjoying themselves as a rule.

We drove to a nearby town called Stary Smokovec. You think that's a strange name? The next town was Horny Smokovec! Stary Smokovec was full of old half-timbered houses and grand buildings of yesteryear.

The weather was quite warm - high 20s and very humid - so we slogged up the hill on a walk with sweat pouring off us. We only got a few glimpses of the mountains from here but they were stunning.

On the trail we saw this tiny snake. It was so small that my heart didn't even skip a beat when I saw it!

Our biggest walk involved a long and interesting day. Chair lifts and cable cars service this area in the ski season but many of them also run in summer for the hikers and tourists. We started our day by catching a cable car from the bottom of the mountain to the next station. Instead of continuing in another cable car, we walked to the next station. We climbed over 600 metres in altitude. It was a tough walk but we did it reasonably well. 

There were some lovely wildflowers on the way.

Looking back along the ski run to the cable car station that we walked from. It looked suitably far away.

It was quite cold at the second station but there was a cafe that had the best soup ever! We then caught another cable car right to the top of the mountain. These expensive tickets had to be booked ahead and we had very little choice about when to go so we had to wait an hour or so until it was our booked time. Much to our disappointment, clouds hung around the top of the mountain. If only we could have picked a different day!

We watched the cable car arrive through the clouds to pick us up. It's a very steep ride to the top. Note the angle of the cable behind the car.

The ride to the top is supposed to be quite hair-raising, however a few minutes after we left the starting station, we rose up into the clouds and didn't see a thing!

It was freezing at the top. We rugged up and checked out the views. They were largely obscured by cloud but the wispy clouds just added atmosphere to the views.

Just beneath us, a huge jagged ridge rose up and ran up and down for a while. To our amazement we saw people climbing along this! Not only did they climb what is a hell of an impressive ridge, but how did they even get to it?

Look very closely at these pics. You might have to zoom in. This is not for those with a fear of heights!

Cold and tired but happy at 2,634 metres. The peak is called Lomnicky Stit. We called it Lickedy Split.

We saw unusual things in our travels. You'll never guess what this is. That's electric cabling around it. It's a rubbish bin location! All rubbish bins are in closed in buildings, but this is the only one we saw that was electrified. It's to keep the bears and deer out!

I love this bus shelter. They've used real trees to support the roof.

We dragged ourselves away from Tatranska Lomnica and drove a short distance to Poprad, a larger city of 50,000 people. Our apartment here was amazing! It was quite large and had fantastic views of the mountains.

The view from our window.

Poprad was an interesting place - large enough to have all the shops you'd need but only a 15 minute drive to the mountains. We found great Asian food here!

John was fascinated by the way they pour beers. You can have standard froth, half froth and half liquid beer, or all froth! This would never work at home!

My weird cold was hanging on and sleep was becoming a real issue. Then John started coughing and couldn't sleep...... Anyway, we were in the best place to be unwell. This apartment was so wonderful that we spent one entire day just lolling around. We caught up on things and watched an amazing sunset with the city and the Tatra mountains in the foreground one night.

Thanks for following along.

Heather and John