As the autumn arrived, we knew we have only few more sunny days so we decided to spend the 1st day of October in our beautiful and most famous mountains ­ Tatras. The High Tatras mountains are situated on the border with Poland in the Northern Part of Slovakia, and this is one of the biggest symbols of our little but glorious country. Our trip started in the morning on the station in Košice, where 22 Erasmus students, 2 ESN members were already prepared for a hike. We went by fast train to city called Poprad. After that, we went by Tatra Electric railways, which are typical transport services to one little tourist resort called Starý Smokovec, And here it all started, our unforgettable trip in the National Park of High Tatras. After first 45 minutes, we reached a significant tourist and ski centre Hrebienok (1285 m), where we had a little break and then continued to our first destination Rainerova chalet (1295 m). Rainerova chalet is the oldest chalet in High Tatras with more than 140 years old tradition.

We didn ́t even have time to realize how soon we got to Zamkovského chalet because everybody was fascinated by the beautiful nature and landscape. Few meters from Zamkovského chalet we were welcomed by a friendly fox, which was very unique to many Erasmus students and unexpectedly they were making hundreds of selfies with it. Zamkovského chalet is 1475 m above the sea and is situated in Small Cold Valley. As we were a bit tired and hungry already, we stopped here for a while and decided to take a rest.

Our next stop was Lomnická vyhliadka or Outlook (1529 m), where we had beautiful views to the whole Sub­Tatra Basin. After a longer hike we finally reached our last stop Skalnaté pleso or so called Rocky Mountain­Lake (1751 m). It is situated in Skalnatá Valley under the Lomnický Peak. There was again a gorgeous view and we had also a chance to see a tarn. Some of the students decided to go down by funicular to Tatranská Lomnica, where our Tatra tram leaves, and the others went down by foot, even if they knew, it would be the hardest part of the hike. We ended the day in one pizzeria near Poprad railway station, where we had a great time together and were showing each other lots of beautiful photos from our hiking­day. Even if we arrived home at late hour and we were so exhausted, for us it was a very special and beautiful day .

Author: ESN Košice member: Nicolette Olléová
Photos: ESN Košice & Erasmus students