June 19: Tatra National Park
Left Slovakia and crossed the border to Poland….
There’s a nice story about Pope John Paul II, linking him to an iconic Polish treat, napoleonka. This layered puff pastry is filled with whipped cream, creamy buttercream and vanilla pastry cream. It’s usually sprinkled with powdered sugar and sometimes decorated with more cream or a layer of icing. It’s also known as kremówka, but in the late 1990s it earned another name: the papal kremówka.
The link between this iconic Polish treat and the Catholic Church began in 1999, when Pope John Paul II—himself Polish and an important figure in Polish history—shared an anecdote about the day he completed his matura exam, or his final test to finish high school. After he finished the test, he and his friends went to a cake shop in his hometown of Wadowice, where they made a wager on who could eat the most kremówkas. The schoolboy who would later become the head of the Catholic Church and playmajor role in the fall of the Soviet Union ate 18 kremówkas but he failed to win the bet, bested, presumably, by one of his classmates with a larger stomach but a less illustrious future.
I loved this story because I could imagine how yummy the cake would be.
Anyway, today we did a delightful and fairly easy walk through the Tatra National Park, which went through a peaceful forest which then opened up to an open meadow, a popular spot for picnics
Interesting to see a modern female shepherdess, who clearly was using her mobile phone (perhaps an app for securing your flock?)
A small wooden chapel was tucked into the trees.
Time for our final lunch and farewell to our guides, Alina, Pavol and Kasha, who were amazingly helpful, caring and patient, looking after our every need
Not a bad view from the restaurant either….
Reached Krakow around 4 pm, and tonight we had dinner in the Jewish quarter. Lovely restaurant serving modern Polish fare,Pierwszy Stopien.
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