The Tatra Mountains

April 6, 2021

This is a first look at the geography of Slovakia.

Slovakia is a landlocked country, this means it has no access to the ocean. It seats in the middle of Eastern Europe bordering with Poland and the Czech Republic to the North, Austria to the West, Hungary to the South and Ukraine to the East.

Looking at the map a range of mountains to the North immediately caught my attention. They are called the Tatra Mountains and they are part of the second biggest range of mountains called The Carpathian Mountains. There are two ranges a high one and a lower one. The High Tatras are situated more to the Northern part of the country and they form a natural border with Poland.

This is view from Wiki Commons , Paweł Opioła.

“The mountains rise steeply from a high plateau and extend for approximately 40 miles (64 km) along the Slovakian-Polish frontier, varying in width from 9 to 15 miles (14 to 24 km). About 300 peaks are identified by name and elevation, the highest being Gerlachovský (or Gerlach) Peak (8,711 feet [2,655 metres).” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

South face of Gerlach Peak, in the High Tatra range of the Carpathian Mountains, Slovakia.
GSouthFace Cr. Encyclopedia Britannica.

“The Tatras are protected by law by the establishment of the Tatra National Park, Slovakia and the Tatra National Park, Poland, which are jointly entered in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. In 1992, UNESCO jointly designated the Polish and Slovak parks a transboundary biosphere reserve in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, under its Man and the Biosphere Program. (Wikipedia)

HERE are the amazing views of the Trata Mountains in Google Maps. SO gorgeous!!!

These are two videos. The first one is of the High Tatras:

And this one of the Low Tatras:

That is a very adventurous young man! He didn’t even have a jacket!

I found these videos that give one a great tour of the Tatras. It includes all kids of attractions. The good thing about them is that they name all the places and they have them listed in the description. But they are more like tourist advertisements than a learning video.