21/08/2023

We spent last night in a car park near Auschwitz. The tour Kerstin and I took, didn’t finish till gone 7.30. We showered and had supper in the Auschwitz car park as they had water and EHU as part of the car park ticket.

It was a very slow drive down to Zakopane. Single track and just very busy. Another new road is being built alongside, but not ready for us to use. So we didn’t arrive till late lunch time. Car parking everywhere, even people letting out spaces in their front gardens. A larger one (looked like they had turned the whole garden into a hard standing) just about had room for us. And suggested we moved to the back and upper level overnight. All for about £18!

I’d identified 2 walks we could do, so the intention was to stay a second night. We set off for the longer of the walks, money ready to pay the £2 National Park entrance fee. But no. No dogs. What a pain! Not allowed even on a lead. The helpful girl gave us a map and indicated the dogs allowed black route, which skirted the edge of the park. Only 2.5km each way, but beggars can’t be choosers.

On our return we found an ice cream served with avocaat and cream. Nice. J returned to Jez for a nanny nap with Corrie, so Kerstin and I went into the National Park.

Kerstin and I really fancied going on to do a loop, but we wouldn’t have returned to James until 8.00. Had to have supper … and we wanted to get up and go to beat the traffic in the morning. It might be dubbed Poland’s winter capital and be pretty, but with no dogs rule, it wasn’t going to keep us beyond the one night.