Zakopane is a ski town in the Tatra range of the Carpathian Mountains. Unlike many other ski towns with their "faux Tyrolean" architecture, Zakopane has its own. Zakopane style was pioneered by Stanislaw Witkiewicz who took his inspriation from nearby Chocholow. The houses are characteriszed by intricate carvings and decorative details on the gables and balconies. We would call it "Arts and Craft" in America. One building stands out like an inspiration from Gaudi but constructed in wood. It was built in 2006 but somehow fits in well with its early 1900 neighbors.
Gaudi-like but iin wood
Chocholow which lies seventeen kilometres east of Zakopane, represents the most complete survival of an old Goral village. The majority of the houses here were built during the 19th Century around one main street, and its wooden houses mirror each other on either side. Virtually every building echoes the next, the curious anomaly being the stone gothic church, (the old wooden one was replaced in the mid-nineteenth century). One house, #24, is said to have been built from the wood of a single fir tree felled nearby.
Three in a row, Chocholow
It's amazing how the weather changes from valley to valley. When we left Willa Halka in Zakopane it was a beautiful autumn day, crisp and cool with a hint of burning leaves in the air. Chocholow was socked in with fog but the sun was out again back home. A wrong turn here and you are in Slovakia. By mid-afternoon all was misty and moisty and droplets fell from the eaves. Such is life in the mountains.
