Raj National Park - in the Slovak Paradise

After leaving the Polish side of the High Tatras, we headed south to Slovakia. We visited the small town of Poprad and found a quiet spot to recharge our tired hiking legs for the rest of the day. We succeeded in doing so by the Hornád River, at the northern border of Raj National Park, which we planned to explore in the coming days.

After a hearty pancake breakfast the next hot morning, we first visited one of the main attractions of the park: Dobšinká Ládová Jaskyňa - one of the numerous caves located in this canyon-rich and geographically unique landscape. The special feature of many of these caves is the huge and constantly growing masses of ice and ice formations, which have made Dobšinká Ládová Jaskyňa a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unlike the scorching hot weather, the one-hour tour underground was accordingly icy, and it was also given in Slovak. Fortunately, we were given an English information sheet, which allowed us to be amazed as well. Afterwards, we went to a campsite in Podlesok, again at the northern edge of the national park, from where most of the important hiking trails led into the park. It was only afterwards that we realized that we had stood a few hundred meters away from here the night before and had taken an unnecessary serpentine detour with our cave tour. Well, never mind. From here, we explored the Sucha Bela gorge from the late afternoon, which challenged us in a whole new way with its high and wet metal and wooden ladders. After a longer but more comfortable descent, we returned and spent the evening enjoying Bohemian plum dumplings and Tatratea - which is tea in various selectable flavors with a "good shot".

The next morning, we went to the Prielom Hornádu Gorge, which led us to the Kláštorská roklina waterfalls. Unfortunately, this route was again very crowded with tourists, which even led to traffic jams or unnecessary crowding in the numerous ladder sections. At the end of this gorge, we reached the junction of most of the local hiking trails, Kláštorisko, where we decided to use the rental bikes advertised here for the longer and unspectacular descent. So we went on small and irregularly running mountain bikes, constantly braking and trying not to lose our grip on the gravel and rubble bed, slowly making our way back to the valley. Luckily, without any injuries! After a small mutual hair cutting session - which was successful this time! - we left the campsite and the region in the late afternoon and headed east towards Spiš.