The photo I’ve included as a header banner is of Morskie Oko, an alpine mountain lake in the Tatra Mountains in Poland.

Morskie Oko is near Zakopane, Poland and is surrounded by spectacular mountain peaks rising over 1,000 meters above the lake’s surface.   The lake covers nearly 35 hectares (860 m by 560 m wide) and reaches a deapth of 50.8 m.  The lake is in pristine condition and the water is very clear to a great depth.  There are trout in the lake.

Morskie Oko literally means “Eye of the Sea” and legend says that it is connected via a subterranean passage with the Adriatic Sea.

The most captivating peak is Mnich, which means ‘the Monk’. The sharply pointed peak of Mnich resembles a monk’s hood.  At the left corner of the lake is Rysy, which at 2,499 m is the highest peak in the Polish Tatras.

Part of my family originated in the foothills of the Polish Tatras, and this area has always captivated me.  The people of this region are called Gorale.

About the Gorale (thank you mytarg.net)

The Gorals settled all around the Tatras, but were mainly concentrated in far northern Orava, Slovakia, the Podhale area of Poland (north side of the Tatras), in the Pieniny mountains to the east, and northern Spis county, Slovakia. They have always been a very independent people and loved their “Szlebodu” or freedom as they say it in their Goral dialect. In 1651 they rose up and ousted a particularly feared tyrant named Mikolaj Komorowski who ruled Zywiec, Nowy Targ and Zakopane.

Their ornate costumes of wool and flax are very regional in design, but the men’s trousers bare the kind of military stripes once common to Hungarian troops in Orava and Liptov counties in Slovakia.

During World War II the Goral were very much persecuted and killed by German troops. They responded by fighting the Nazis as partisan freedom fighters and kept the courier routes across the Tatras open.

The Goral are revered throughout the Slavic world — especially in Poland — for their wisdom, self-sufficient nature, work ethic, bravery, rich cultural dress, music, tales of the mountains, and hearty cuisine.   The majestic Tatra mountains are still where they feel most at home.