You’re rushing down or sweating uphill, but this place is worth a stop (before the further downhill or further uphill). Also, Osturňa is 9km long :-) The name of the village originates from German (Asthorn), but it was later re-funded by the Rusyns (Lemko people) and nowadays is their westernmost settlement. Osturňa is separated from the rest of Slovakia by the mountain ridges. Osturniansky Potok (Osturňa River) enters Poland just behind the village, in Kacwin. Both villages belong to the same region - Spisz/ Spiš that in 1918 was split between two newborn countries - Poland and Czechoslovakia. What an enigma.
Osturňa’s architecture - traditional wooden houses - is protected by the Slovak government. In the village you can visit the only Orthodox church along the Tatravelo route. 84% of the population declare themselves Orthodox. They are the descendants of the Rusyns (Ruthenians, Lemkos), now an official NATIONAL minority in Slovakia, but their history is complex, their distinct identity was never officially accepted by the countries they lived in (Poland, Russia, Austro-Hungary, Ukraine).
As mentioned, Osturňa is the westernmost settlement of the Lemkos. They are traditionally Orthodox and use the Cyrillic script. Sadly, after 1947, no Lemko villages survived north from the Carpathian mountains (on the Polish side and also in Ukraine, further east). They were victims of the Operation Vistula (Operacja Wisła in Polish) which meant a relocation of some 140.000 people from their homes in Bieszczady and Beskidy mountains to territories gained on Germany, some 400 - 500 km further west. Its aim was to get rid of the partisans groups that kept fighting against the Soviets after WW2 by relocating and dividing them. At least, in the communist Poland many of the Lemkos improved their life quality (by receiving post-German, generally bigger farms, brick houses, running water) - a contrary to what happened to the Lemkos within Soviet Ukraine who, in the same period, were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia and forced to an extreme poverty.
From the seven nations that formed Sub-Tatra regions (German-Saxon, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Gypsy, Jews, Ruthenians) only four groups are still here nowadays. Local Lemkos are the fourth, the smallest group (after the Polish, Slovak and Gypsies).
In Osturňa, don’t miss the pub (nº 159, Jan Pavlik, Pri Mlyne). You’ll feel like back in the Soviet 80-ies.