This story had to be mainly about the
cheap route of how to get from Krakow to Slovakia (and Banska Bystica in
particular), but due to some difficulties it turned into my personal
mini-adventure.
If you wonder how to get from Krakow to Slovakia, you
might find different options. Direct bus to Banska Bystrica for 200 zl. (almost
50 euros), via connection trains(one of them might lead you even to the boarder
of Czech Republic), via bus to Bratislava(service provided via Polskibus), via
Katowice (depends on your timetable), Lysa Polana and Chocholow.
I decided to try out the latter one. On my way, I
decided to visit Zakopane, a prominent and famous Polish skiing resort. But
just for sightseeing this time. Anyway after a pleasant time spending in
Zakopane and enjoying beautiful landscapes, market called Krupowki, house
upside-down, I had to leave. Story is not about that.
After a confusing bus seeking process, I
finally found it and literally jumped into it, as it was already leaving. So
the bus costs 5 zlotych(Polish money) and goes through Witow to Chocholow.
Asking the driver to stop there and mentioning the Slovak boarder might be a
good tip, since basically no signs will tell you that.
Once you are at the "bus stop", you have to
turn left one the first turn and...just walk. On your way you will find a sign
that the bridge was constructed by the money of EU, and stuff like that, and
frankly speaking that turned out to be confusing for me. But nevertheless I
kept on going and finally cars coming along the road from the other side, with
Slovak numbers made me assured that I am in right direction.
It took me round 20 minutes of fast walking to come
from the bus stop from Chocholow to Sucha Hora, which is approximately 3 km.
And as I arrived I learned that the bus has left 9 minutes ago, and the next
one is in one hour. If I would catch that bus, maybe the story would be
different. But that's "if". So as I waited for the next bus, I
learned from the bus driver that I have no chance of getting to Banska today.
That was quite reassuring of him, but also quite right, so my mission changed
into getting as close as possible to Banska Bystrica and wait.
The bus took me to Trstena, a small city,
where I had to wait for the train to Kralovany. As I had some time, I took a
little walk round the city, to discover synagogue and a market square. Not much
one may think, but that's something at least for me and my curiosity.
On my way forward(?!) I took the train from Trstena to
Kralovany (via Dolny Kubin). Last one is a small village, where I decided to
get to Ruzomberok - at least a bigger city, which would give more options.
Also, I kept in mind an option of hitchhiking. After arriving there, I immediately
went there and tried it. However I was unsuccessful with the attempt. But the
car numbers were mostly from Ruzomberok, so no blame for the drivers for not
stopping. I also asked the taxi driver of how I can get to BB at this time
(still 9 pm). He said only taxi or hitchhike (and little chances, which it
was). And that's 54 km between the cities in big and mighty Europe and central
part of it. Oh yes, and the price for the taxi would be 50 euros.
Other news was also that the building of
train station was closed until 3.45, so I had to wait somewhere. I was even
considering an alternative option to go to hostel or pension (popular in
Slovakia hostel lookalike house). Though two of them were closed so I decided
not to try other, so I went back to the center to look for some nonstop cafe or
bar. With almost no people around (10 pm!), I bumped into policemen, who
answered that there are no non-stop bars except of gambling place with playing
automats. I had to charge the phone and drink some tea, so I was going for that
option. A place called Admiral, looked more or less fancy, but as I was
approaching it, I heard some music, to discover, that 10 meters away, there was
a cafe called People's Lounge. It was written that it is opened till 12 on
Monday, so it was definitely good news for me, as it looked quite ok. After
ordering tea, finding comfortable place there and going online - a process of
time-killing began.
I managed to finish a book by Ian McQueen
"Amsterdam", plan my next month schedule, next trip (hope that will
be more successful in terms of time management). I was even close to writing a
poem with 4 verses. But stopped only at the amount of 2 and some drafts for
future. Another good news for me, where 4 drunk and willing to drink more
Slovaks (god bless them), due to whom the waiter didn't close the cafe until
2.40. After that time I had to go somewhere. Luckily not far away there was a
gas station, where another cup of hot tea waited for me. Again there was free
Wi-Fi, so I had more time to read and kill thus the waiting process. This time
some Spanish words and grammar. Magnifico)
At around 3.50 am I went to the train station, which
was opened, but extremely cold there. Having waited there for 10 minutes, I
went to the almost empty, but warm train. My next stop was Vrutky. A connection
towny (tiny town),with 8 thousand people. At that time (around 5 pm) it was
rather crowded, with people going to work/study/fun(?) on the direction to
Banska Bystrica. Finally hearing Banska Bystrica from the announcement was like
eating a cucumber with honey - not so tasty after all, but sweeet!
The route of trip was - Krakow(bus) -
Zakopane(bus) - Chocholow(walking) - Sucha Hora(bus) - Trstena(train) - Dolny
Kubin(bus) - Ruzomberok(train) - Vrutky(train) - Banska Bystrica. The total
price - 9.86 euros. With all the tea drunk and some food - 14.00. Still quite
cheap I think and the priceless for me mini-adventure in addition.
I will remember this trip quite an interesting and
adventurous one. Of course it’s not that exotic as if I was in India or
somewhere, however in my terms, I enjoyed it somehow, and got this, what I call
travel fever - desire to explore even more.
Hope this story might have some travel tips for
somebody as well. The route is a lot easier and more cheaper if you don't stay
in Zakopane. There is also other more direct options available during the day
(for example not going from Ruzomberok to Vrutky, but directly to BB(I had to
do it because of not having a desire to wait more)).
See you soon somewhere!
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