HEADING SOUTH
Zakopane in spring
There's a long weekend ahead of us and instead of wasting it in Warsaw, you'll be far better off heading to Zakopane, the country's flagship mountain resort in the Tatras, to celebrate the 2nd annual highlander's folk and food culture festival, called Wielka Majówka Tatrzańska. The event begins on May 1 and lasts through May 4, and features a highlander's folk song festival, mountain-bike races, the usual Tatra tourist attractions, some typical sheep-breeding customs, as well as the famous Oscypek and Other Cheeses Fair.
Zakopane, called the winter capital of Poland, may not necessarily be the perfect ski resort when comparing the size of its mountains and facilities to its French or Austrian counterparts, but it certainly has quite a lot to offer in terms of its unique folk culture, architecture, music and food. And the May festival is a perfect opportunity to sample all of these.
The Warsaw Business Journal strongly suggests taking part in the Oscypek and Other Cheeses Fair on May 3 at the foot of Mount Gubałówka. Oscypek (smoked sheep cheese) made by shepherds in the Tatra mountains has been a distinctively local specialty for centuries and only recently has become a bone of contention in the country's adoption of European Union standards. The cheese - produced in highlanders' wooden huts by steaming unpasteurized milk in wooden bowls and later shaped by hand and left to hang to smoke above the fire - surely doesn't meet any of the EU's myriad sanitary norms related to food production. Fortunately, oscypek remained unscathed when the international Slow Food organization - established in Italy to stop the hegemony of the fast-food culture - came in to protect and promote regional foods. Thanks to the organization's efforts, in the near future the name oscypek as well as its production process should be well guarded under EU regulations.
At the cheese fair, you will have a rare chance to try all varieties of oscypek and other cheeses, and stock up on this specialty for the rest of your life. As usual, there will also be stalls filled with other local handcrafts, such as squeaky leather slippers, sheepskin rugs to lay in front of your bed and thick woolen jumpers.
When you get tired of walking up and down the main strip, Krupówki, and hearing local bands singing and dancing to vigorous folk tunes, there are always numerous walking paths to take in the two adjacent valleys - Kościeliska and Chochołoska. And at the end of such an eventful day, there is nothing better than to pop into one of the numerous karczmas for traditional mountain fare.
How to get there
There is a direct train connection between Warsaw and Zakopane, with at least six trains leaving daily from Warszawa Centralna. We recommend taking the express train that arrives in Zakopane in approximately six hours; if by any chance you find yourself on an ordinary train, you may as well miss the whole event. A complete train timetable and advance booking information are available from www.pkp.pl, in English, Polish and French.
Where to stay
As any resort, Zakopane is not a cheap place to stay, but there is a wide choice of accommodations, from private apartments in typical wooden houses turned into guesthouses to ugly post-communist relics to posh hotels perched atop hills, offering lovely views of the mountains and a complete set of creature comforts. Prices vary from E20-E180 per person per night. For more info on the city's offerings, go to www.zakopane.pl.
