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Remember a while back when I was telling you about my recent collaboration with Discover Cracow? If you are searching for a good tourism office in Krakow, I recommend Discover Cracow. I have been their mistery shopper for the tours to Auschwitz I and II and for Wieliczka and they were wonderful to work with. Right on time and always with a smile :) Now I have to admit one thing... if something is lost in the mists of time, everyone has forgotten it because it happened such a long time ago. I want to extend a big thank you to Discover Cracow for keeping the stories alive!

On the lovely day of Tuesday 28th of October - as a gift for my bday also - my lovely husband and I went on the trip hosted by Discover Cracow to the lovely castles around Krakow. The Trail of the Eagles Nests is one of the most beautiful tourist trails in Poland. 

The Trail of the Eagles Nests (Polish: Szlak Orlich Gniazd) of south-western Poland, is a marked trail, named after a chain of 25 medieval castles which the trail passes by, between Częstochowa and Kraków. The Trail of the Eagles Nests was first marked by Kazimierz Sosnowski. Since 1980, much of the area has been designated a protected area known as the Eagle Nests Landscape Park (Polish: Park Krajobrazowy Orlich Gniazd).

The castles date mostly to the 14th century, and were constructed by the order of King of Poland Kazimierz the Great. They have been named the "Eagles Nests", as most of them are located on large, tall rocks of the Polish Jura Chain featuring many limestone cliffs, monadnocks and valleys below. They were built along the 14th-century border of Lesser Poland with the province of Silesia, which at that time belonged to the Kingdom of Bohemia.

The Trail of the Eagles Nests is considered one of the best tourist trails in Poland, marked as No. 1 on the official list of most popular trails in the country. It encompasses all 25 castles and watchtowers, and is 163 kilometres (101 miles) long (the bicycle trail is 188 km (117 mi) long). Most of the sites can also be reached by bus.

The first town of the trail is Ojców, with a caste built under the reign of Kazimierz III the Great in the second half of the 14th century. According to the legend, the name of the fortress (initially "Ociec") was supposed to commemorate the kings father.

Ojców is a village in Gmina Skała, in Kraków County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is one of the sights of the Eagle Nests Trail (Szlak Orlich Gniazd), as there are the ruins of a gothic castle near the village. 

The village is where the authorities of the Ojców National Park (the smallest of Polands 23 national parks) have their headquarters. It lies approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) south-west of Skała and 18 km (11 mi) north-west of the regional capital Kraków.

We started early in the morning. The pickup on our vouchers was listed at 9:00 am @ the headquarters of Discover Cracow in the Main Square @ Jana Street. The morning was cold and foggy so I decided to wear the winter jacket as it allowed me to have just a tshirt underneath. I hate sometimes to layer up as I feel like an onion...

We had to wait a bit - for almost 10 minutes - for the mini-van to come and pick us up but I know it is still regulamentary to wait 15 minutes past the time settled. Our tour-guide and driver approached us and presented himself - his name was Jan - and he showed us to our means of transport for the day.

Now for you lovely expats and travellers who will want to do the same tour as we did - and I recommend it with all my heart! - let me tell you this: The Eagles Nest Trail is very popular in Poland but not so popular abroad, so only the people who researched ahead might want to try it out, hence a lower number of participants. The trips to Auschwitz I and II and for Wieliczka are on a weekly basis - or more often during the summertime - but this one is done upon demand.

The car we went with was for 7 people + driver but it was booked just for me & my wonderful husband + a couple from Belgium (from Bruxelles). It was lovely as I usually had tours with about 10 or more participants but this one was extremely friendly and very intimate. We had time to look around, take pictures as much as we liked and we heard wonderful stories about the castles history.

The trip lasts for around 8 hours in total - it includes an hour and a bit of lunch time + the time spent on the road (around 4 hours) + the time spent visiting the 3 castles. Fear not as in this post I will share with you only Ojców. The next 2 posts will be about the other 2 lovely castles we visited: Ogrodzieniec & Bobolice.

The tour is supposed to get you to the castle in Pieskowa Skała near Ojców (the one in the picture above, taken from the car, in motion, so sorry for the bad quality). Unfortunately this year was closed for renovation for an indefinite time and cannot be visited at this point. Instead the trip takes you to the Bobolice castle, a royal castle built in the middle of the 14th century and renovated in 1999 - but more about that next week ;) 

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The trip costs around 75 Euro / person and it is available during these dates: 01.04- 31.10, due to weather conditions and calculated number of participants. As I said, this trip is based more on the request of the possible participants. But this includes pickup and drop off from your hotel + guided tour with fascinating legends and stories and pieces of history. It also includes the visitation fees at all the castles that will be visited - and you get to keep the tickets as a souvenir ;) Now I dont know about you, how much you like mountains/history/medieval stories but I am a sucker for those and I enjoyed the trip immensly! It was my first time inside a Polish Castle except Wawel Castle and I loved it! And Marek remembers them since he came with his class on field trip, when he was in 7th grade, so I believe it was lovely seeing them after so many years :)

Yours truly,

The LadyBug - A Fan Of Polish Castles

This is the 3rd post I will make about the lovely trip I had with my husband, to The Trail of the Eagles Nest - courtesy of Discover Cracow :) The 3 castles visited (on foot) by us were: Ojców National Park & Castle Ruins + Ogrodzieniec + (last but not least) Bobolice Castle. The trip lasted for 8 hours - including the drive there and back + the one hour break in the afternoon, for lunch. The driver/tourist guide was adorable, the day started with dense fog (the kinda you cut with a knife...) but bloomed up into a lovely sunny afternoon :)

Along the way we also caught a glimpse of other castles - like Pieskowa Skała (on the way from Ojców - hopefully it will open up to visitors back in 2016) or Mirow (right next to Bobolice). The tour was amazing and I loved every minute of it! It really felt like a mini-vacation and a late present for my bday - thank you again Discover Cracow for the lovely gift :) I recommend this tour with all my heart and it is even better if you will manage to do this with your significant other :)  you will be able to consider it as a date ;) 

The Royal Castle in Bobolice was built during the reign of Kazimierz III the Great, in the second half of the 14th century, most probably around 1350-1352. It was part of the defensive system of royal fortresses which protected the western border of the state on the Silesian side, and was known as the Eagles Nests.

The castle rose from a steep and rocky hill, its round tower soaring above it. This superb observation point allowed the knights of Bobolice to communicate with their twin stronghold, Mirów Castle. In 1370, on the occasion of his coronation, King Ludwig of Hungary handed Bobolice Castle over to his nephew, Władysław Opolczyk. In 1379, he, in turn, handed it on to his courtier, the Hungarian, Andrzej Schoeny of Barlabas. He used it to garrison a crew which attacked and robbed the merchants and local inhabitants whose way took them close to the castle. In 1391, King Władysław Jagiełło took it back by force of arms and it became a royal possession once more.

The ownership of the castle changed hands time and time again. During the late 14th, and the 15th centuries, it belonged to the Szafraniec, Trestka and Kreza families, while later times saw it in the hands of the Chodakowski, Męciński and Myszkowski families. It was during the invasion of Poland by Archduke Maximilian III of Habsburg, in 1587, that the castle was first conquered, suffering heavy damage in the process. However, it was swiftly retaken by the Polish army, commanded by Jan Zamoyski, and was restored by its owners.

The castles years of splendour were to last until 1657, when it was almost totally destroyed by the Swedes. In the 17th and 18th centuries, following the wars with Sweden, the castle fell into an ever greater state of disrepair. In 1683, when King Jan III Sobieski broke his journey at Bobolice Castle as he was making his way to Krakow, the location of the military build-up prior to the relief of Vienna, he was forced to spend the night in a tent. He was probably accompanied at the time by Hrehory Lasecki. A constitution (as the laws enacted in the Sejm at that time were known) of 1677 makes mention of the fact that he was imprisoned by Moscow for his loyalty to the Republic, and king Jan III Sobieski intervened on his behalf.

During the 17th century, the castle was no more than partially inhabited. An inventory from 1700 shows it to have been in a fairly dire state of repair. Despite attempts to rectify matters, it slowly but surely collapsed into ruins.

In the 19th century, an immense treasure was discovered beneath the castle. The treasure seekers put the final touches to the devastation. There are those who believe to this day that not all the treasure was found and that the main part of it still lies in the tunnels connecting Bobolice Castle and Mirów Castle.

Following the Second World War, the castle walls were partly demolished and put to use in building the road linking Bobolice and Mirów.

At the end of the last century, the castles current owners, the Lasecki family, undertook the challenge of saving this beautiful historical building from complete annihilation. Archaeological work, commissioned by the familys representatives, Senator Jarosław W. Lasecki, and his brother, Dariusz Lasecki, is being carried out with the assistance of Polands leading scholars, as is work on securing and reconstructing the castle, with the aim of saving this, an historical building of national significance.

Once upon a time and countless years ago, the twin castles of Mirów and Bobolice belonged to two brothers, Mir and Bobol, from whom the strongholds took their names. Under the brothers rule, the castles grew in power and strength and the local people prospered and thrived. The brothers went to war together, returning with wagons overflowing with wondrous spoils, which they then divided fairly between them.

Wishing to keep their many treasures safe and sound, the brothers hewed an underground tunnel out of the rock, and thus their two strongholds were linked. They set a terrible witch on guard. With her red eyes, she smote all who dared aspire to venture after the brothers treasure, petrifying them with her glance. She was aided in this by her companion, a fearful black dog. Thus protected, the tunnel was soon brimming with tremendous riches.

One year, on the Kings orders, Bobol set out to war with Russia. Many months went by without his return and with neither sight nor sound of him. This good lord was missed not only by his brother, but also by his servants and the local people. Then, one day, a retinue led by the Lord of Bobolice arrived at the castle.

The wagonloads of treasure seemed to stretch further than the eye could see. Yet there was no treasure to compare with the grace and beauty of the captive woman Bobol had brought back with him. In honour of his brothers return, Mir held a wonderful feast in his castle, inviting all his liege subjects. There was dancing and revelry without end.

The following day, as was their wont, the brothers set about dividing the spoils between them. As ever, they were in perfect accord, until it came to the moment when they must share out the beautiful woman. They had both fallen in love with her at first sight. Unable to find a solution, they decided to draw lots for her. Fortune favoured Bobol, and in the twinkling of an eye, the princess had become his wife.

But sadly, she had fallen in love with the second of the two brothers. To avoid even so much as the merest whisper of suspicion, the princess and Mir met in the tunnel beneath the rocks whenever the witch flew off to attend a Sabbath. During one such rapturous night, the lovers awoke the sleeping hell-hound. His infernal barking roused Bobol from his sleep.

Seeing that his wife was gone, he began to seek her. Led to the tunnel by echoes, he spied Mir there, Mir and his own wife. Consumed with rage, he drew his sword, smiting his brothers breast, then ordered that the captive woman be walled up in the tunnel guarded by the witch.

And to this very day, on the night of the Witches Sabbath, when the witch departs from the tunnel, the figure of the woman can be seen, casting sorrow-filled glances toward Mirów from the tower of Bobolice Castle.

Another legend of Bobolice Castle has it that a White Lady appears on a stone balcony. The White Lady is connected with the niece of a representative of the Kreza family who, according to 15th century legends, abducted a woman and held her captive in Bobolice Castle.

In the 19th century, an immense treasure was discovered beneath the castle. It is highly likely that this was a part of the treasure which, as countless legends would have it, lies largely in the tunnel running between Boblice and Mir.

Before starting reconstruction work on Bobolice Castle, archaeological and architectural research was conducted, over a period of several years, by the distinguished experts, Waldermar Niewalda, Ph.D., Sławomir Dryja, Ph.D. and Stanisław Karczmarczyk, Ph.D., Eng.

The results of their expert appraisement were presented to the Historical Sites Preservation service, in reports on the 1st and 2nd phases in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The research demonstrated that malformation of the rock floor threatened the outer and inner walls of the castle with collapse.

Attention was also drawn to the enormous difficulty of securing the remaining walls, which are around 10m high, by the means favoured by the Historical Sites Preservation service, namely external cantilevers, as well as to the dangers this would pose to visitors.

Giving due consideration to these, and to many other factors, it was therefore decided that the only effective way of saving the remaining historical substance would be the reconstruction of Bobolice Castle.

Once the restoration of the walls and gatehouses was complete, work began on the reconstruction of the upper castle. The necessity of accepting every detail put forward by the Department for the Preservation of Historical Sites, as well as the plethora of administrative procedures connected with this, caused the restoration process to be significantly protracted.

The owners tenacity and determination meant that, despite enormous difficulties, it proved possible to plough through these obstacles in order for Bobolice Castle, so many years on, to finally regain its former glory.

It is thanks to the investment of commitment and effort that Bobolice Castle will shortly be in a condition which will enable tourists to discover for themselves its interior spaces and the defensive role it filled. A tourist service point is being set up at the castle, and the reconstructed interiors will house historical apartments and a museum.

DISCLAIMER: All information taken about the history of the castle, the misteries and legends, the reconstruction work on Bobolice was taken from the bilingual site maintained - you can also check more information out here and also have a virtual walk inside ;)

If you wish to read more of the delightful posts I have done in collaboration with Discover Cracow, I recommend with all my heart all the below listed: