The Real Outdoors around Podhale

Sidzina morning coffee Pay a visit to Pani Janka and her family, who live in Sidzina Mala, in the middle of nowhere. A private family, with 6 children all ready to play with yours, they have a small farm with pigs, cows, chickens, dogs and cats, and you can help feed the animals and milk the cows whilst you are there. They live off what they grow, and are always busy preserving and making food. Hard to describe, as every day spent here is different. You will drink tea or coffee with the family, eat home made cakes and Granny will have you churning home made butter with her. This is a day to experience real life in Podhale, to go where no other tourist group has been before. (Star Trek). In winter, Janka’s husband will tow you into the forest behind the tractor on a sledge for up to 6 people. This is a really unique experience. In summer, we walk into the forest and search for grzyby, very tasty forest mushrooms. If you like, we can stay in the forest and have an open fire BBQ in true Podhalan style. We bring the mushrooms home, slice them and lay them out in the sun to dry, so we can store them for cooking in the winter. After your walk/sleigh ride, you are invited back into the farmhouse for soup before we drive you back to Raba Wyzna. Your payment of 50zl per person is for the family you are visiting: we do not deduct anything for our car and driver’s time.
	At Raba 500 playing with the local children Our younger guests love spending the day at home. Just being here around Raba 500 is a holiday for children. There are about 15 children, aged 2 to 16 living around Raba 500. The children play outside spring through autumn, and most homes have pets or farm animals: the children will see chickens, geese, turkeys, (many of which roam free in the lane) sheep, goats, rabbits, cows, horses, dogs, cats, hamsters, fish and, in the forest above Raba Wyzna, wild deer. Your children are sure to be invited into neighbouring children’s homes and are welcome to reciprocate as all the local children know that our door is always open to them. They may want to join the children helping their parents in the fields , raking hay, and then riding down to the farm on top of the horse drawn cart full of hay. In our garden, we have a climbing frame and slide, paddling pool, play house, swing and sand-pit. In the evening, the children can host their own BBQ, inviting their local new friends round to cook sausages over a small fire. Our daughter will accompany them to the shops to buy supplies. Summer holiday evenings, June 21^st to 1^st September, usually find all the local children playing some sort of mass game until darkness sends them inside to bed around 21.00. During school time, however, children are usually in bed around 19.00 as they start school at 07.45. In the winter, sledging groups gather and all our guest’s children are welcome to join in. We have 4 ‘apple’ sledges and 1 bigger traditional frame sledge for their use.
u Bogdalu BBQ and farm fun My best friend and neighbour, Krystyna Bogdal, lives with her family across the road from us. Their small farm is a regular venue for fun and games! You and your children can learn to milk a cow and then have the milk you milked with cereals for breakfast next morning. The family will put on a BBQ for you, and you can wander around, meet the horses and the bull, the dogs and wild cats and dance in the grass to local Goralskie music. In summer, a paddling pool is ready for children and adults alike. A very ‘real’ experience, and adults should not expect to come home sober. No transport charge of course, even if we have to drive you home (!). A very full afternoon or evening, with snacks, BBQ, drinks etc. costing 50zl each. Another ‘to go where no other tourist group has been before’ experience.
	Haymaking An ideal end to a day at home at Raba 500, summer evenings often find us wandering up the lane to the fields on the way to the forest, where neighbours energetically mow, rake, turn or harvest the hay. This is the real Podhale, with wooden home-made rakes, grass either scythed by hand, or by horse drawn mower, and the horse drawn cart to take the dried hay down to the farm. You will be welcome to join in at the lower fields: it’s best to take a couple of beers with you as the fumes keep the hay flies away as you sweat your way round the haystacks. Children can roll in the hay in the lower fields but will not be invited to the upper fields as vipers can often make an appearance there in the untended strips of land. Carts drawn either by antiquated tractors or horses are filled and the children love to pile on top and ride down to the farm, geese, dogs and chickens running alongside in the lane. Some days, we spend all day in the fields and a picnic lunch is enjoyed sitting in the shade of the haystacks.
Chocholow to Zakopane centre walk You can either get the bus to Chocholow from Raba Wyzna centre – about 8zl each - we supply you with maps so you’ll know where you are - or our driver can take you, 2-6 people, for 50zl. Our driver, or the bus, will drive south from Raba Wyzna over the ridge and across the plain where in summer you will see storks and their babies in the nests perched on roof tops and telephone posts. Ask Staszek to stop for photos anytime. Chocholow, a 400 year old wooden village, is the start of your walk: can set off across the field track towards the eastern end Gubalowka Ridge. Before you trek off, there is a general store in Chocholow if you want to stock up on water and so on. The stone church is also worth a visit, and on the main street across from the church car park where our driver will leave you, is Chocholow Museum, a wooden house that has been maintained in the style in which it was first lived in, where central heating is a little wooden panel in the kitchen ceiling to let smoke out if the room gets too hot, and contraception is a bed for the husband in the barn. The track takes you south between fields in which, in summer, there will no doubt be local people raking hay. Your greeting is “Szczęść Boże!” to which they will reply “Daj Boże!” The track becomes a lane through the forest and up to a stunning view across Zakopane in the valley, to the Tatra Mountains. Walking east along the ridge will bring you to a lovely wooden restaurant at the top of the Szymoszkowa chair lift, on which you can take a ride down into the valley, where the horse drawn carts wait to take visitors into Zakopane centre for shopping and market. The train home to Raba Wyzna leaves Zakopane at 17.33 from the Main Station, or you can pre-arrange with our driver to collect you from the market pick-up point: 50zl between 2-6 people, home to Raba 500.

	Climb Giewont in the Tatra Mountains We have a wide range of maps showing the various tracks and trails people follow to climb the Tatra Mountains. Giewont, the sleeping knight, has a cross on the summit so something to head for. You travel to Zakopane (10zl return by train, or 50zl each way, between 2 – 6 people with our driver) then take a bus, taxi or horse drawn cart up to Kuznice in the National Park, entrance fee between 2 and 5zl depending on the time of year. From here, it takes 3 to 4 hours, following tracks of varying steepness, to ascend to the cross on the summit. There’s some rock climbing involved so you’ll need good footwear, but you don’t need to be a mountain climber to follow the path. Set off early, take suitable clothing (it can easily be 15 degrees colder than Raba Wyzna on the summit of Giewont) and footwear, water and a snack. Fantastic views! Don’t forget your camera.
Fishing with Staszek, our driver near Pienazkowice We have a lovely fishing rod here at Raba 500 for your use, or you can buy yourself a new one at the ‘huntin’ and fishin’ shop at Spytkowice, or in any of the local markets. You’ll get yourself a bargain. Staszek loves fishing and will be happy to take you to one of his favourite spots and sort out permissions where necessary. Otherwise, you can visit the fishery at Wroblowka where you fish for trout, and pay by weight for the fish you catch. Or we can arrange with our neighbour, Jozef, to take you out for the night, night fishing. We can't quote you here what he will charge you for the transport as it depends where you want to go, but it'll be fair.
	Horse and cart ride from Raba 500 The horse(s) and cart(s) arrive around 17.30 outside the house, and we pack on all the supplies of beer, vodka, soft drinks, potatoes, cheese, sausages, bread rolls, ketchup, music machine with extra batteries... and all the other bits and pieces we need for a 3 hour trip to the forest! There's room for up to 5 people per cart plus driver, but we'll fit 6 on if need be. Summer or winter, we'll make sure you are comfortable with sheepskins to either sit on or hide under. Burning brands light the way, and those sitting by the beer crate can start the evening on the outward journey. We can provide up to 4 horse and cart combos so groups of up to 20 can enjoy a convoy through the village, bells ringing, horses clopping and neighbours waving us on. This is a wonderful evening out for all the family, something that local families do for fun on a summers evening. The price includes the cart driver's fee, (and makes a big difference to his monthly income by the way) and your food and drinks, and apples and carrots for you to feed to the horses, of course. (Ask to see the photos of the guests feeding the horse mouth to mouth….) We drive out around the back of Bogdalowka, onto the main road and canter through the village, starting our 30 minute drive out of town. Slowly up the hill over Raba Wyzna's sole speed bump between the junior and senior schools, we come down past the football stadium, and pull over onto a track into the forest. A wooden roof with rustic benches and tables awaits, and the drivers build a fire in the grill and a bonfire to the side. Cooking is self-service: everything will be laid out on the tables for you. You can either put your sausages, potatoes and cheese on the grill or the drivers will provide wooden sticks to impale your goodies on, and hold over the flames till they are hot through. The sausages are pre-cooked so no fear of food poisoning. The drinks go round, the food goes down, the music plays and you may get a song out of the drivers... In the winter, children can sledge down the surrounding slopes, build an igloo or snowman and then warm up around the fire. Around 20.30, we start to pack the carts and head back home singing as we pass the abandoned palace..... Cost: 350zl for 2-6 people. For example, 5 people = 70zl each = £15.55.

Driving a team of Huskies up Chocholow valley A little expensive but very popular with guests: 250zl for 2 people for 1 hour gets you in charge of a small cart (summer) or sledge (winter) pulled by a team of Husky dogs. This is an energetic and very enjoyable hour. The owner, Pan Jan is a real Goral character! http://www.fundog.pl/ . We arrange the time and date for you, and our driver will drive you down to Bialy Potok at the base of Chocholow Valley, (50zl 2-6 people each way) In winter, there is a lovely, not expensive ski slope here with both beginner and intermediate slopes, which you can include in your day out, our driver fetching you at the end of the day. Or if you want to travel on to Zakopane without our driver, there are regular buses to Zakopane from a stop some 100m along the main road.
	Turbacz hill top BBQ Summer or winter, our friends Jacek and Asia will take you on a hair raising drive up the track to their shepherds hut on Turbacz for an evening BBQ. Food, drink and transport all included, you’ll pay them 90zl each. This is another one of those Star Trek excursions, where we take you where no tourist has been before. Local people who live on the mountain in huts will hear that you are there and will come and visit, with dubious bottles of home made alcohol, and musical instruments. If you are lucky, Asia’s father will turn up and put his old Jimi Hendrix tapes on. A night to remember! If you like, up to 7 of you can stay the night in the shepherds hut. There’s no electricity, but they’ll leave you a car battery so you can listen to music, and then come and collect you late the next morning. Pay them 120zl each if you stay the night. If you stay on a Saturday night, you can go to mass at midday, at the chapel on the summit of Turbacz. http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbacz
Rabacowka Raba Wyzna has one bar, Rabacowka. The landlord, Pan Jan, is a bit of a historian and his bar is full of Partisan Memoria: the Gorals fought hard, guerilla style, against the Germans and the Russians. It’s rarely busy in the bar as the people of Raba Wyzna tend to party at home, but weekends find a variety of locals in the bar and they will be delighted to entertain you. If you want a meal at Rabacowka, let me know the day before and Marta, Jan’s wife, will do the honours. The back bar is a games room with pool, darts and an air hockey table. Its 10 minutes walk to Rabacowka from Raba 500: if you can’t walk home, Jan the landlord will happily drive you.
	Sleigh rides This section will be up-dated before the 2010/2011 winter season as options change each year, but in the meantime: children love the horse drawn sleighs that run along the Gubalowka Ridge during most of the winter. In Zakopane, on the south side near the Skoki, ski jump runs, and up to Kuznice in the National Park, you will also get a lovely sleigh ride through most of the winter months. In Rabka Zdroj, when the roads are snowed up, sleighs are out and about, and we have our own horse-drawn sleigh driver, Marek, who will come and take a group of up to 4 of you around the snowed over roads of Raba Wyzna when ever you like, evening or day-time, and he picks you up in the centre of Raba Wyzna so you can walk down and meet him then go to the pub, Rabacowka, afterwards. Reckon to pay at least 100zl per hour. These sleigh drivers have a limited amount of time they can work their sleighs during the year as the roads are kept so clear for cars!
Chabowka Skansen Steam Train Museum Just 5 minutes drive from Raba 500, a wonderful collection of steam trains, many of which still run. You can book a day return trip to Zakopane on one of these beautiful old trains which regularly run down the valley where we live. It’s lovely seeing them go by. We’ll take you there free of charge, or you can combine it with a trip to Wieliczka Salt Mines if you like. 2zl children, 4zl adults and 10zl for a photography pass. Well worth it. http://www.parowozy.pl/
	Potato planting and harvesting at Raba 500 If you come to stay with us either at the end of April/beginning of May, or at the end of August/beginning of September, depending on the weather, we will be either planting or harvesting potatoes in our garden and in the fields. It’s hard work but fun, and all our friends and neighbours join in. The horse ploughs the furrows and we jab the seed potatoes into the soil quickly before she comes round again. Halfway, we all stop for a beer or two, and then get back down to it. Harvesting includes all ages, with the children having fun collecting the smallest potatoes for seeding next year. Again, the horse does the heavy work, dragging a spidery contraption which throws the potatoes out of the soil, some 6 foot into the air. A real Podhalan experience and it all takes place in our back yard. Oh, and our potatoes are talked about on the Internet, they are SO good.
Go wood cutting in the forest with the local men Krystyna’s husband Jozek, and their sons Rysiek and Krzysiek will be happy to take you off up into the forest for some wood cutting. It’s amazing to see how they read the grain of enormous tree trunks before inserting axe blades at relevant points then with one crash of the hammer, the whole trunk falls apart into manageable logs. We do not charge for transport but get the lads a bottle of vodka on the way down, AFTER your lumberjacking: alcohol and axes do not mix well.