Welcome to the ZakopaneGO Travelbloggers Q&A sessions. Today we’ve got the pleasure of talking to another great travelling family, fulfilling their dreams of exploring the world. Tell us a little about yourselves and your project!

The Family Without Borders: a family of 4, which is Anna – Polish journalist, Tom – German photographer and web-designer, and little travellers Hanna (6) and Mila (4,5). We live in Berlin but spend big part of the year travelling – sometimes for long (up to 6 months), sometimes far away (like to the Pacific islands), always close to the people (in Maya villages in Central America, with Chechenyans in Caucasus or from tiny island to another in Fiji). We have visited more than 30 countries, because we simply like to be on the road together.

As travelbloggers, you know how globetrotting can change a person’s life and open them up to new cultures, perspectives and experiences. What made you choose Zakopane as one of your pit-stops?

Anna is Polish, so Zakopane was deep in her heart from the childhood times. She always wanted to confront her old memories with the reality. And to show to Tom and the girls “her mountains”. But for many years it was somehow not on the way. But finally we made it!

We’re glad you did! What time of the year did you visit and why?

Summertime! Zakopane was the beginning of our trip down south, to the Balkans.

Where did you stay and how would you rate the facilities?

Usually we stay in our car or in the tent, but during our little Tatra’s trip we got invited by visitzakopane, who hosted us in one of their flats. Everything was supernice: from the location, up to little oscypek on the table waiting for us!

That’s a delicious way of saying hello! What would you say was the highlight of your trip to Zakopane?

For Anna coming back to the old graveyeard was an expierience – she had many memories and could tell me many stories about the people. Girls were the most impressed by the colour of Morskie Oko Lake.

The old graveyard is indeed a magical place, where only the merited citizens rest while the region’s most popular mountain lake is stunning and very popular among hikers. What activities would you have liked to see made available to travellers visiting the region?

We would love to be able to talk more with the local people, but just random local people, not those ones, who have a bussiness in talking to tourists. To learn more about the culture of Gorale, songs, traditions of making oscypki or taking care about the sheep. That would be of course possible, but we spend too short time in the region.

I think it would be a fabulous idea to organise these sorts of activities and make them more accessible for tourists. What else could the city improve on to enhance the experience of tourism in the area?

Maybe limiting the amount of people?;) I mean, Morskie Oko is beautiful anyways, but first you have to cross the crowd to be able to see it!

That’s spot on. The amount of people can be slightly overwhelming. The way the Tatra National Park dealt with a similar problem on mount Kasprowy was limiting the validity of a return cablecar ticket to two hours, which made perfect sense and perhaps a similar initiative will be introduced around Morskie Oko. Alternatively, what we here at ZakopaneGO are trying to do is tell people about places like Czarny Lake in the Gasienicowa Valley, which is spectacular and, luckily, less frequented. Your top travel tips for visiting the city/region?

Come not in the main touristic season! Come in the spring or autumn to avoid all the people. Get the detailed map of trakking tours and choose those less popular ones. Eat a lot of Polish food and drink a lot of miod pitny! Try to find friends between the locals – that your kids might get a chance to cuddle little sheep or little mountain dog. Visit the churches and listen to the singing!

Miod pitny is absolutely delicious. It’s well known in Poland and has a long tradition, stretching back to the forefathers. Tell us, other than a return to Zakopane at a later date, where’s next on your bucket-list?

We are divided between Madagascar, Tajikistan, the Azores, Sweden and visiting granny in Warsaw 😉

Anything else you’d like to share with the readers at ZakopaneGO.com?

I’m sure that when our girls will be a bit bigger and willing to walk more (their little legs can take much but they are alredy too heavy to carry them for longer) – we will come back to have serious walks in the mountains, I’m sure about it.

We hope you do and get to explore the entire Tatra range. The scenery is absolutely magnificent and when the crowds leave, the animals come out of hiding. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the hikes and possibly spot some of the symbolic marmots or mountain goats. Guys, it’s been fantastic chatting to you!

You can follow The Family Without Borders’ adventures on the blog thefamilywithoutborders.com or follow them on Twitter @TheTravelFamily.

Check out their Zakopane blog post:

http://thefamilywithoutborders.com/?s=zakopane&lang=en

or flick through their travel pages on:

https://www.facebook.com/TheFamilyWithoutBorders

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