“Zakopane, isn’t that the town with the ski jump? Is it in Poland?” This question encompassed all my knowledge about the historical Polish ski resort my sister wanted to visit. I looked it up on the map one week before departure and noticed we would be going into the Tatra mountains, towards the Slovakian border. Not sure I even knew that Poland HAD a border with Slovakia.
There may be many people as ignorant as I in Europe, but the Poles sure do know Zakopane. We joined the humongous crowd milling on Krupowki street, dazed, thinking we arrived at a festival day. “No, it is just a regular Saturday”, said the friendly hotel concierge. Indeed. And out on the hiking trails it was a regular Saturday traffic every day.
But if one manages to look past the crowds at the buildings in Zakopane, one is in for a surprise. The local style dominated in the early 20th century, born by the artist/architect Witkiewicz, who mixed Art Nouveau with folk carpentry. Oh, the attention to detail! Each door post must have at least one flower carving.
And each house must have custom-made furniture.
And today the Zakopane style still inspires – for example to build hobbit houses such as this B&B. Only in Zakopane.
(Zakopane, Poland; July 2015)
July 24, 2015 at 4:40 am
Wow, it looks so amazing. It is wonderful to think about all those people visiting there, and also to imagine just what it is like inside that hobbit style B&B. So whimsical.
July 24, 2015 at 8:56 am
It’s really interesting how that style became so popular mainly because of one person’s inspiration and conviction.