Rafting down the Dunajec river

Today was an all day trip---one of several different excursions in the countryside around Krakow. We drove two hours in the direction of the ski resort Zakopane and the Tatra mountains, the high alpine type mountains in the background. We zigzagged toward lower hills, the Pienniny mountains, and the Dunajec river---in former centuries the border between Hungary and Poland, today between Slovakia and Poland. We took a raft on this quiet river which is at maximum 18 meters deep. For over a hundred years now, boatmen called "fliscacy" pole a barge made of 5 sections lashed together (for easy disassembly later). Twelve people travel together, eat sandwiches, snooze, get windburned, and breathe the fresh air. The current carries the raft down the river starting at a castle fortress at Niedzica. In Polish history, Niedzica dates from the 14th century when king Casimir the Great took control of this area. The raft ride ends 2 hours later at Szczawnica, a health resort in the mountains. The trip is quiet; no frothing rapids, no life vests. It passes through the Pienniny Mountains State Park, a strict wild preserve. Birds and ducks abound and the air is clear and bracing.