The Journey Continues...

Wow and WOW!...
I never knew it would be so beautiful!

Next time I will stay longer...

It is a short trip of under 400 klm, $40Ausd to get to Poprad and back by train which took only 3 1/2 hrs, in 2 trains, from Fuzesabony to Poprad, changing at Kosice (pronounced roughly as Charshitcha).
Poprad is the gateway city to the Tatra mountains with roads into Poland and stands at the foothills of the Tatras.

I really liked the energy of Poprad, the air was crisp and clean, the mountains in the background were simply majestic and the place was vibrant and clean.
The fabulous new railway station complex with its the massive viewing areas over the entire foothills and the rather lovely Europa Hotel also overlooking them were both great places to eat and drink and spend a lovely few hours.

I spent 2 hours there before embarking on the wondrous hour long bus journey from Poprad to Zdair, my final destination for 3 nights at the Ginger Monkey, right slap bang in the middle of all the action.

For just under 5 Euro you can get a return hour long, both ways, beautiful bus journey through the Tatra mountain ranges. This magnificent bus trip is an attraction in itself as it pops into a lot of resorts along the way back to collect people and bring them to Poprad...added bonus!

Ice cream in winter...in Europe...not an easy thing to find. The beautiful Europa Hotel, Poprad.

Early morning set off to the Tatras...6am train to Fuzesabony from Tiszafured...

I stayed the night with Gabriella and Tibi...They live at the railway station.

We went out for a late night dessert as some do over in parts of the world!

Nice train...carriage/cabin to myself on the way back and shared on the way there...

Beautiful train station somewhere along the way!

All the larger towns along the way had all those communist looking apartment buildings...So many cities/towns had them...Amazing, when there were miles of space for a home for everyone!

A frozen river from the train windows. They were very cloudy due to the double glazing not being airtight and then it goes foggy inside. A nuisance really, as the scenery was very beautiful along the way.

You get off the train in Poprad and come up the steps and WOW, you are greeted with this lovely setting. I arrived before mid -day...

So, I had a hot tea and admired the view for 45 mins or so...gathered myself together and went across the road to the bus station to catch the regular bus to Zdair...about an hour, by bus, away...30 mins if you have a car.

Bus leaves from platform 5 very regularly, so I chose the next bus after 2pm...and went and looked around town, did some food shopping and went to the Hotel Europa. on the corner at the bus station.

So many private ski resorts in the area, plus it seems a lot have their own ski lifts??? Insurance is included with all official lift/ski passes. Look at this one...that's just on $16 Ausd for the ski pass!

Very nice coffee area, (restaurant is in the next room,) but you can eat here too...whilst gazing out the windows to the mountains...

I loved the "little tables for 2"... up the middle...and the lovely floor runner.

My possie at the window...

So i had a mulled hot wine whilst waiting for my ice cream. just as well I don't go away too often...I'm developing bad eating habits.

Good, bad or indifferent...who cares when it's ice cream, chocolate and hot raspberries!

In the bus...A really milky sky day today...

A really clean and seemingly tidy town/city Poprad.

Real shop type windows in real shopping streets...not houses like here in a lot of Hungarian towns...

Nice houses in the local areas...

Out the bus windows...pretty wobbly at times, but I was lucky to get a few lovely shots.

This is a great shot I think...

Getting up into the mountains now...

The road became noticeably harder for the bus to climb...

Everywhere was beautiful scenery. Many mountain walks in here...

Cars were constantly streaming past...so busy...even for a Wednesday afternoon about 3pm ish...

Never ending lines of cars for the entire hour in the bus

Lots of interesting buildings...most made out of stone/block and clad with wood up here...

Many different colour schemes too...

Bus stop in one of numerous stops along the way from Poprad to Zdiar...

Another similar building to one before...

And yet another similar one!

Snow on both sides of the roads now as we climb higher...

Swirling clouds...

We have come from the plain down below...so it is getting a lot more snowy up here...

Another private "Pension" as they call them over here...

And another...

Real alpine country now...

This one got shuffled...it is leaving Poprad for Zdiar...

Back again in the snow country...

Higher and higher into the mountains we go...

And still the cars come...

A ski area we went to on Friday with some new friends I met over there.

Can you believe the amount of cars coming and going here? Amazing really...

At last a short break with no oncoming cars...only in the distance!

Another break in the traffic...

Here they all are...resting up for a coffee break...

Off again for a few hundred mtrs...to collect more people...

Another little parking area...

I don't think they'd get too far in this snow...but people were riding bikes out here! Amazing...

On the road again and the traffic starts again...

We are now in the mountains we saw from Poprad!

This place was cute...squished into a little cul-de-sac...

We have arrived at the bus stop in Zdiar...The Ginger Monkey is 50 mtrs up the hill, past the church, so not too hard to find.

Ski hire car park...

Past the ski hire shop, turn left...20 mtrs...

Pass a few eye opener paint jobs...

Play a game of "Hunt the house"

...and look right...There it is...up the hill, 50 mtrs past the church on the right, as it said...The brown roof in the pic...

Going past the Church with the best cemetery views in the world!

There's the Ginger Monkey...the left end of the building. 2 Pommie guys bought it 11 years ago...

Here is the view from the front patio!

A bit of an icy path today...Going out for a look around, now my booking in is completed.

The neighbour's yard!

A little stream that is running and not all frozen!

Love all the different designs and paint jobs...

Going up the street a hundred or so metres to the local supermarket, to get some food for tea...

Ewwwwhhh...A bit snowed in here I think...

Well, here's to it...The rest of the exciting trip to the Tatras continues in the next blog...

That's all for now folks,

I arrived home at 9pm last night and am about to do the washing etc.

Have lit the fire, cleaned up here and have completed 1 of 3 of the Tatras!
Will get the rest done over the next 2 blogs...so much to see and do up there...

Hoping all is good with everyone,
Stay well, be safe and love one another,

Cheers and love to all,
Mary
xxxx

Surprises in store this past week...

Due to Imre fixing most all little jobs whilst waiting for the timbers for all the remaining floors to be done...(mid Feb they said) I decided to get the floor in the bathroom finally done...no stop gap jobs while I decided what to do in there this time.

So, now the bathroom floor is done...and that also will include the final painting job with the proper finish paint, and lastly, lighting.

It was a big job for a small area as Imre had to pull out the vanity, take out the loo, dig across the floor for extra plumbing, power and waste pipes for the washing machine.

Then he had to chop into the wall and remove all the old power points from when the bathroom used to be the kitchen...and put them in place for the shower coloured light show, washing machine, hair dryer and heater!

This was a bonus as I thought it would be the last floor on the list...not halfway through the first!

Then, as we were walking out of the hardware shop with the floor tiles...all the remaining floor timbers arrived...covered in snow.

So we have to wait until the timber dries out before it can be sanded to firstly be fitted onto the floor, then to dry out a lot more before it can be finally sanded and finished.

So it looks like the entry will be next as we wait for 13 boards to dry out enough to lay in the front room...sighhhh...So fwustwating over here getting stock supplies without a car and someone to help go hunt things down.

And after all that, for over 12 months going back and forth to hardware shops looking for timber and fighting Imre to do it how I wanted...Imre says...""oh, blah blah shop has "not wet" timber"!!!

Dem's de times ya feel like 'sploding all over da place!!!

Anyways...
It's all good...I'll just have to get other jobs done first and stay a bit longer in a ramshackle jumble of extra furniture from the big front room...all crammed into the kitchen and the bedroom.

The snow has all melted this past week and it is quite warm...from 5C to 14C this month and only minus 2-4 C for a few nights expected, the rest being around just zero or so for the rest of February