We flew from Gatwick to Krakov and then had a 2 hour bus journey to Zakopane, arriving in time for dinner. There were 11 walkers and two leaders on this Holiday Fellowship trip.The hotel and meals were excellent, days and nights were hot, walks were interesting and company was friendly.The scenery was not quite as spectacular as the Dolomites, for those of us doing the lower level walks, most of it was below the tree line, - a bit cooler but not many views. This holiday had a more 'social' feel to it.
This was not our hotel! Hotel Wersal was down this lane.
This was our hotel................
..................... with our own balcony! Good for drying clothes and airing shoes!
........................
and this was the view.
The main street - pedestrian and horse and cart only. It was drizzly this day.
A central area with stream feature.
Some climbing mates??
One of many little 'barrows' selling bakery items.
Some rather brightly coloured icecream. we didn't try any!
Three walking colleagues with hot chocolate drinks!
These wooden statues were at the entrance to a 'mall', with Chinese lanterns hung about.
The whole of the street is lively at night and we were told it is beautiful in winter.
These are typical houses in this area and it all looks rather affluent around here.
A rather chunky restaurant building at a chair lift.
A country 'cottage', possibly used in winter for a skiing chalet.
A town house with traditional wooden roof tiles.
A modern church at Zakopane.
A country church.
We had wondered what these were for - stacked up in fields............
..and realised they were for the hay. Farming here is what they call 'strip farming'.
Guess it is easier, when raking by hand, to walk up and down long fields?
Different forms of transport we used for getting around ..... in the streets......
...
..................in the parks to get to the start of walks (Feeding time for the horses!)
..........
it saved long walks with the crowds...............
...................this was our driver with his two (rather slow) horses.
We used this gondola one day. It meant we could get to the top quicker and have views before walking down.
In one of the parks we used this train .........
............and Graham and his group picked up one of these bikes to complete their walk.
You come across shrines in the most unexpected places.
This was taken beyond the top of the gondola stop.
.....and this even higher.
Below,Graham is in the middle.The group split here with Graham's
group going off along the ridge to the left, and we went back down.
Graham's group ............the border marker, the letter P indicating the Polish side of the ridge......... the opposite side is S .....for Slovakia, the ridge being the boundary.
These nuns were heading for the same place as Graham.
.................the other side of the cross we could see from our balcony.
......looks like everyone had the same idea! The peak is called Giewont, 1894m.
The parish church of St Michael the Archangel in Debno Podhalonskie was built in 1490, with a spire added in 1601. In 2003 the building was entered onto the UNESCO World Heritage list.
A carved wooden panel.
These are scenes taken on walks.
A restaurant in splendid isolation - used as a ski chalet in winter.
A farmers hut.
A collection of huts............
..................with cheese making the main activity. It is like a smoke house inside.
On our free day a group of us went on a rafting trip, stopping briefly here at the Niedzica dam and castle before .......
.............all aboard for a 3 hour trip on the Dunajec river ..........
Each raft will hold 14 people plus two 'punters'.
We wondered how they got the rafts back up stream - just untie the sections and load on a truck!
A floral peacock at the end!
Graham's walking areas were not generally as popular as the ones I went on.
Some of Graham's walks involved a bit of via ferrata..................
.................would be tricky if wet!
The view from Kominiarski Wierch, 1829m.
........................and this was the view. 
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