The Tatra Mountains, Slovakia
Untamed Wildness and Natural Health Amidst Slovakian Forest Peaks
© Ja Woolf
In Eastern Europe, the High and Low Tatras areas offer unspoiled scenery, amazing landscapes, natural attractions and an active, healthy environment for visitors.
The Tatra Mountains area is the main centre for Slovak Republic’s tourism. Bordering Poland, the area specialises in healthy and natural attractions, and is an ideal place for those who yearn to get their system into tune the old-fashioned way. Since the end of Communist rule, efficient modern hotels and facilities have become more common there, but the overwhelming impression is still one of untamed wildness amidst an unspoiled landscape of heavily forested mountain peaks
The mountains soar to 2600 metres, and most of the area is a protected national park. The remoter parts of the High Tatras shelter bears, wolves and some enormous birds of prey, and there are many detailed hiking routes available for adventurous hikers.
Hiking ,Skiing and Alpine Plants
Civilisation comes in the shape of several inexpensive ski and hiking centres like Strbske Pleso, a sports town set amidst dense forests with stunning mountain views, and Tatranska Lomnica, a larger town which also houses the Museum of the National Park and a botanical gardens. The latter, known as the Tatra Nature Exposition, is open every day in summer, and offers gardening enthusiasts three hectares of local alpine and subalpine species – about a hundred altogether. There’s also a section devoted to medicinal plants, and seeds and pot plants are on sale.
Natural Cures
Natural cures are popular in Slovakia, and the Tatras also bubbles with hot springs. They're recommended for people with arthritis or respiratory problems, and what is more, they're fun, because they're so warm you can swim outside even during snowy weather. The ultra-modern thermal complex at Besenova, in the Low Tatras, has a large number of steaming outdoor pools (including a special children's pool) of varying temperatures of up to sixty degrees. The waters, which rise from nearly 2,000 metres down, are rich in magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese and various sulphates and other minerals A well-designed cafe and massage rooms make Besenova a tempting place to spend a whole day
Amazing SightsSome sights are truly spectacular. The Tatras' most famous ice-cave at Demanovska can be reached after a short forest hike. The temperature underground always hovers around freezing, and it offers an incredible spectacle of frosty stalagtites, ice-pillars and round shining balls as clear as crystal. There are also piles of enormous prehistoric bear bones which people once thought were dragon bones, and in the cave's eerie atmosphere that seemed almost believable.
Equally dramatic in its own way is what must be one of the most striking buildings in the Tatra region. The spired and turreted Orava castle towers on a crag above the tiny village of Oravsky Podzamok. It's actually a museum, but on a winter’s day, glimpsed through snow or swirling mist, it looks more like a vampire's lair.
