Pieniny National Park

Listen first. Under the voices and the birdsong there is a steady sound, the rush of the Dunajec River as it pushes over stones between pale limestone walls. The air here is cool, even in summer, and it smells of wet rock, pine resin and river water. If you stand still for a moment, you can feel the gorge narrowing around you. This is the Pieniny, one of the smallest mountain ranges in this part of Europe. In its own quiet way, it is one of the most unusual places in Central Europe.

You are standing in Pieniny National Park, on the Slovak side of a range shared with Poland. The nearest town is Spišská Stará Ves, a small market town in the historic region of Spiš. Spiš is a land of wooden churches, old castles and farming villages. The park covers only a modest area by national park standards. But almost everything that makes it special is packed into a short stretch of river and rock. Most visitors come for one thing above all, and that thing is the gorge.

The Dunajec is the river that shaped this place. Here it forms part of the border between Slovakia and Poland. Instead of going around the mountains, the river cuts straight through them. It bends in tight loops, turning back on itself again and again, with cliffs rising on both banks. Geologists describe this landscape as part of the Pieniny Klippen Belt. That is a long, narrow band of hard limestone blocks, called klippen, that stand out from softer surrounding rock. Over a very long time, the softer rock wore away and left these pale towers behind.

Here is something many visitors miss. This is one of the oldest cross-border conservation areas in Europe. The Polish side became a national park in the early 1930s. The Slovak park followed in the 1960s. Since then, the two parks have worked as neighbours, protecting one landscape that a political border happens to cut in half. When you look across the water, the forest on the far bank is in Poland. But the trees, the birds and the river do not know that.

The classic way to see the gorge is from the water, on a traditional wooden raft. The rafts are made from several narrow, shallow boats lashed together side by side. Raftsmen steer them with long wooden poles, standing at the front and back. Many of them wear the traditional dress of the Gorals, the highland people of this border region. That means embroidered vests, felt hats and sometimes a band of shells. The ride is slow and calm for most of the way. It is a ride for watching, not for thrills.

Listen to the raftsmen if you get the chance. Their commentary is half guide talk and half performance, full of jokes, local sayings and stories passed down through families. They will point out rock shapes and give them names. One cliff looks like a monk's face. Another looks like a sleeping figure. Locals say that each bend in the river has its own tale. These are folk stories, not history. But they are part of the living culture of this valley, and the raftsmen tell them with real pride.

If you prefer to stay on land, there is a path along the Slovak bank of the river. It follows the gorge for several kilometres, and it is popular with walkers and cyclists. The surface is mostly flat and easy. That means you can keep your eyes on the cliffs instead of your feet. In the morning, mist often hangs low over the water. By midday, the sun lights up the white rock and the river turns a clear, cold green.

At the start of the gorge, near the village of Červený Kláštor, you will find an old monastery. Its name means "Red Monastery", and it was built for Carthusian monks in the Middle Ages. The Carthusians were a strict order. They lived mostly in silence, each monk alone in his own small house within the walls. Later, another order of hermit monks, the Camaldolese, took over the site. Today the monastery is a museum. Its walls stand just above the river meadows, a calm stop before or after the gorge.

The monastery has one story that everyone here tells. It is about a monk called Brother Cyprián, who lived here in the eighteenth century. He was known as a healer and a collector of plants, and he kept a herbarium, a book of pressed and dried plants. But the legend says more. According to the popular tale, he built a pair of wings and flew from the Pieniny cliffs. The tale says he flew a long way before landing. No one can prove the flight ever happened. But the legend has kept his name alive for centuries.

The herbarium part of the story is easy to believe when you look around. These limestone slopes are home to many plants and animals, including some that grow almost nowhere else. Limestone soil, steep sunny cliffs and the cool, damp gorge create many small habitats side by side. In late spring and summer, the meadows fill with wildflowers. Above the water, you may see birds of prey circling on warm air. And in the river itself, the clean, fast current suits fish that need cold, oxygen-rich water.

The highest peaks of the range rise on the Polish side. The most famous is a cluster of limestone summits called the Three Crowns. From the Slovak bank, you can pick out their jagged outline above the trees. Look for a group of grey teeth against the sky. On a clear day, people on top of the summits look back down at the river where you are now. From there, the rafts look like small matchsticks on a green ribbon of water.

The human texture of the valley matters as much as the rocks. The villages around the park are Goral villages. That means wooden houses, hay meadows, sheep on the hills and a strong tradition of folk music. In the small restaurants, you may find sheep's cheese, smoked or fresh, and simple, filling mountain food. This is not a wilderness empty of people. For centuries, families have farmed, grazed and fished here. The park protects nature, but it also protects a way of life that grew up around it.

Before you move on, take one more moment by the water. Look at the colour of the river where it meets the base of the cliffs. Notice how the rock changes from bright white in the sun to grey in the shade. Listen again for the current over the stones, the same sound you heard when you arrived. The gorge was here long before the border, the monastery and the rafts. As you walk away, keep an ear open for that sound. It will follow you further than you expect.