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Ask Poles to define their country's natural attractions and they often come up with the following simple definition: the lakes, the sea and the mountains. The mountains consist of an almost unbroken chain of ridges extending the whole length of the southern border, of which the highest, most spectacular and most revered are the Tatras - or Tatry as they're known in Polish. Eighty kilometres long, with peaks rising to over 2500m, the Polish Tatras are actually a relatively small part of the range, most of which rises across the border in Slovakia. As the estimated three million annual tourists show, however, the Polish section has enough to keep most people happy: high peaks for dedicated mountaineers, excellent trails for hikers, cable cars and creature comforts for day-trippers, and ski slopes in winter. What used to be a prime Eastern Bloc holiday region is now being transformed into something of a Western tourist enclave, the legions of East Europeans that used to descend on Zakopane rapidly being replaced by new hordes of Italians, French - and increasingly English - taking advantage of the low cost of holidaying in the Polish mountains. Podhale - the Tatra foothills, beginning to the south of Nowy Targ - is a sparsely populated region of lush meadows, winding valleys and old wooden villages. The inhabitants of Podhale, the gorale , are fiercely independent mountain farmers, known throughout Poland for their folk traditions. The region was "discovered" by the Polish intelligentsia in the late nineteenth century and the gorale rapidly emerged as symbols of the struggle for independence, the links forged between intellectuals and local peasants presaging the anticipated national unity of the post-independence era. As in other neglected areas of the country, the poverty of rural life led thousands of gorale to emigrate to the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The departures continue today, with at least one member of most households spending a year or two in Chicago, New York or other US Polish emigre centres, returning with money to support the family and, most importantly, build a house. Since the demise of communism, the traditional bonds between Podhale and the rest of the country have been shaken by what many locals see as central government's insensitivity to their specific concerns. Tensions surfaced following Solidarity's refusal to adopt a popular gorale community leader as their main candidate in the elections of summer 1989, choosing instead a union loyalist. Subsequent governments have shown somewhat more concern for regional sensitivities, encouraged, no doubt, by the economic benefits to be reaped from its burgeoning tourist development. Despite the influx of holiday-makers, the gorale retain a straight-talking and highly hospitable attitude to outsiders. If you're willing to venture off the beaten track, away from the regular tourist attractions around Zakopane, there's a chance of real and rewarding contacts in the remoter towns and villages. The gorale are also the guardians of one of Poland's most vibrant folk music traditions, retaining an appetite for the kind of rootsy, fiddle-driven dance music that has all but died out in the lowlands. Traditional bands regularly appear at local festivities and weddings (which are usually a high-profile component of any given Saturday), and also appear regularly in the bars and restaurants of Zakopane - which is also a good place to seek out CDs and tapes of the music.
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