Rainer's nature trail

What is worth seeing on the nature trail and in the area

Starý Smokovec. One of the three parts and the administrative center of the town of High Tatras, located at the junction of the central part of the Poprad Basin and the Tatra foothills north of Poprad on the Freedom Road at an altitude of about 1,000 m. It consists of eight settlements: Horný Smokovec, Dolný S., Nový S., Starý S., Tatranská Polianka, Tatranské Zruby, Nová Polianka and Vyšné Hágy. The Starý Smokovec settlement is the oldest Tatra tourist and recreational settlement. The basis of its name can be derived from the pagan cult of the Slavic Zmok, the patron saint of metallurgists who smelted iron ore here since the La Tène period. In 1465, the district became the property of the Zápoľský family, who sold it to the Csáky family in the 17th century. The Evangelical preacher and naturalist Tomáš Tobias Mauksch initiated the establishment of the settlement in Kežmarok. In the years 1833 - 1867, the tenant of Smokovec was Ján Juraj Rainer, an inn from Spiš and Sobot, and his wife Alžbeta, who built an inn here and set up tourist hostels. The main function of the settlement in this period was hydrotherapy based on acid - natural, bicarbonate, calcium magnesium, carbon, cold hypotonic water. The development accelerated after the construction of the Košice-Bohumín railway (1871) and especially after the connection of the settlement by electric railway to it from Poprad in 1907. It was extended in 1911 to Tatranská Lomnica and in 1912 to Štrbské Pleso. In 1908, they also put into operation a funicular to Hrebienok (length 2,019 m, height difference 254 m). The oldest preserved buildings are near the springs of Smokovec sour (Swiss House, Villa Flóra). One of the most beautiful buildings in the entire High Tatras is the neo-Gothic church in Starý Smokovec, built in 1888 according to the project of Gedeon Majunke of Spišská Sobota in the alpine Alpine style with characteristic half-timbered masonry and richly carved and decorated gables. painter Vincent Hložník, his wife and daughter. Architecturally very remarkable is also the building of the former sanatorium Dr. Szontágh by architect Milan Michal Harminc (project 1916, construction 1925) at the TEŽ Nový Smokovec stop, where the monumentally historically designed northern façade meets the modern purist simplicity of the southern façade with terraces.

Slavkovská dolina National Nature Reserve. Extensive protected area in the High Tatras and Tatra foothills declared in 1991 to protect the rare area of the southern slopes of Slavkovský štít with unstable alpine geosystems with glacial landforms on granodiorite and mylonites, rare and endangered natural communities and plant and animal subterranean species. It lies within the Tatra National Park, the Tatras Biosphere Reserve as well as areas of European importance of the Tatras (part of the Natura 2000 system).

Combs. Location on the upper edge of the Tatra foothills in its eastern part on a short sharp ridge at an altitude of 1,285 m above sea level on the eastern ridge of Slavkovský štít, converging to Tatranská Lesná. Since the construction of the funicular from Starý Smokovec in 1908, it has become an attractive destination for visitors to the High Tatras. It is a tourist starting point to Veľká Studená dolina, Malá Studená dolina, Slavkovský štít or the main road to the Silesian House in Velická dolina. The predecessor of today's building of the Sorea Hrebienok hostel was the Šport Hotel (1928), which created a slalom meadow, a ski lift, an illuminated toboggan run, referee towers (1968), a bobsled track. At present, new attractions are constantly being added: a 2.4 m high Kubo iron bear with eyes made of semi-precious stones - the Hrebienok patron -, another ten wooden bears in the relaxation zone on Dolná lúka, and in winter the Tatra Dome ice church. Every year, a unique winter event of the Tatra Ice Master takes place here - the unofficial world championship in ice sculpture. Another local attraction is the table, which was discovered by the British Queen Elizabeth II at the beginning of the barrier-free sidewalk leading from Hrebienok to Rainer's cottage during her visit to Slovakia in October 2008. as a reminder of his visit to the High Tatras.