We were up early so we were at the Traditional rafting marina at 8am. 

We bought tickets  and then we were onto the rafts before 9am. We were the first boat down the Dunajec river.

The boats are made up of 5 long narrow wooden sections that are roped together. They have been running these tours for over 200 years. The boatmen wear traditional hats and jackets. 

Our 2 boatmen were very relaxed – the older one had been doing this for 22 years. The younger one was his nephew and doing this on his student holidays learning to be a paramedic. 

The river is mostly shallow so they use punts to push us along. 

We managed to avoid the fishermen that were catching trout and large salmon. They were Slovakian and fishing regulations in their country are more lax than the Polish ones – according to the boatman.

There were lots of lovely sights including lots of birds including eagles on the mountains, kingfishers, herons, swans and a stork.

It was a lovely peaceful cruise down the river. 

The main boatman told jokes and gave information as we moved along – mostly in Polish unfortunately. He did what he could as his English was limited. 

He also played us a little tune on his shepherds flute.

The outcrops from this mountain all had names. The right hand one is Hairy Mary.

The cruise lasted for 2.5 hours and we were starting to get cold as it was cloudy with a couple of showers. 

We arrived in town in Szscwanica and said goodbye to our boatmen who went further down the river to where the boat is picked up by truck and taken back to the starting point.

We then caught the bus back to the original launch site and our van. We then got back to the campsite and after a quick lunch drove off towards Zalipie.

There were many rolling hills and churches. It took longer than expected – around 3 hours.

At last we arrived in Zalipie to see Sean and Lisa just arriving. 

After getting parked up we had a wander around the area –  we were in at a local community library and painting workshop. 

The painting had started when womens houses inside having no chimneys were covered in soot. They painted the walls white and then started adding flowers as decoration. They then started on the outside of the houses – and then on everything. The town is now a women’s art centre. 

We sat outside for a while until it got cold.

Sean cooked up a warming chicken pesto pasta and we all went to bed exhausted.