Zakopane: Poland's Vacationland

Zakopane: One of Poland's vacation areas, even the Poles are tourists. Riding thru beautiful mountains; all buildings are alpine style; flowers planted where ever a place available; every home is a small family business taking advantage of tourist traffic. Every building has intricately carved w decorations. All carvings,cate no matter how large or elaborate are of one piece of wood.
We have a Blog for those receiving this for the first time. Yes, we are in Poland. The Blog is: SeekingPolishRoots.Blogspot.com
Stopped to see typical Polish wood church. Wood is Linden and left natural. The drying before using of the wood must be a fantastic process; not a hint of a split anywhere. Next to the church, a stunning cementary. Like New Orleans the vaults are slightly above ground. Every grave site has fresh flowers and candles. Yes, fresh cut flowers. Seems someone from the family visits every week.
Pouring rain ended plans for a river raft ride; got 3 hrs of walking around Zakopane open air market, which was mostly covered (no rain). A pleasant surprise, our fellow tour group turned it all into a terrifically fun stop! Despite the rain, we were determined to have good time,ee and we did. The market is like the ones in the US, only much larger, with literally everything available: cabbage and cauliflower, honey and preserves, footwear and fur coats, knitted sweaters and baby clothes, Polska banners and huge elaborate hand carved of single pieces of wood bas wall hangings, smoked goat cheeses and fresh berries, wood toys and wood kitchen utensils, lace table cloths and beautiful hand painted Polish pottery. Got some wonderful pictures of the women selling the many items they handmade.
Lunch was even more fun. A group of us gathered in Polish version of a beer garden. Nona and I had some delicious potato pancakes. We shared with a fellow group member, who gave us some of her scrumptious perogies. All had a glass of absolutely great Polish beer.
The ride to Krakow is showing us Poland's most significant issue--roads. Maine is a superhighway everywhere compared to Poland. Even many of the main roads are very curvy thru every hamlet two lain paths that reduce average speeds to crawling (average 30-60 kilometers per hour or 25 MPH). Introduce construction and standing still is fast moving. It does allow roadside vendors of blueberries and watermelon to strike up conversations and complete sales. (Red's Eats never had it so good.) Makes for very long trips although covering very short distances. Our tour guide when asked about this stated: "Although we appropriate much money for road construction and repair, no one knows where the money goes; the roads are still not fixed!" Sound familiar?!

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