Day 11: Dunajec raft ride

Saturday, May 15---the Dunajec raft ride or "splyw nad Dunajcem" is the last excursion for us; it's one of the obligatory things to do when visiting the Krakow region.  It's about an hour's ride to the Dunajec, a branch of the Vistula.
The wood rafts are made of sections that are lashed together.  As many as 10 or 11 people can bobble along the river and view the protected landscape of the Pieniny National Park. The park is a great place to hike; none of the trails in this limestone formation is very difficult.  In Polish and mountain tradition, all trails are marked by color for difficulty.  Years ago, I climbed Trzy korony ("Three Crowns).


You can see this region and the rafting schedule at http://www.flisacy.com.pl/page,27

Two raftsmen or flisacy pole each raft--one fore and one aft---along the current. Their felt, shell ringed hat iresembles that worn by the gorale or mountaineers in the Tatras. It's a local business (I care barely understand the flisaks' dialect) and the raftsmen have their own association or union. The Dunajec river divides Poland from Slovakia and so we can look across at our right onto the Slovak side and see a buggy driver there.
Today the river is very high due to all the rain we've had since we arrived on May 5. Fearing the worst, I bought plastic rain capes in Krakow for our entire group. So we are prepared.

Because the current is swifter than usual, there's less chat from our head raftsman and less wildlife is visible too. But the steep, forested gorges are beautiful.  We end up, after about an hour and a half of twists and turns, at the mountain resort town of Szczawnica where the raftsmen breakdown the raft and transport it back to the launch  point and our van meets for the return to Krakow.  The van ride to Krakow (about 100 km) goes through beautiful countryside; the main town in the area is Nowy Targ (traditionally the place to buy sheepskin jackets). The land is farmed in the long, narrow traditional strips, but houses seem fairly prosperous.  Commerialism has made inroads of course, but tourism is an economic mainstay.  Houses along the road advertize rooms for vacationers.
And after two hours rafting in the rain in the mountains, what do you do? You stop in for mountaineer's tea or goralska herbata, that is, hot tea and a shot of cherry liqueur (wisniowka).